What Are Mobile Ad Networks?

How Do Mobile Ad Networks Work?

A publisher informs an ad network that ad inventory is available and shares its requirements to fill the ad space. 

These requirements could be a floor price (or minimum acceptable bid) for the space and the type of ad space available – whether it’s a video, banner, playable ad, or other. 

Mobile ad networks help an advertiser grow its app’s user base. When an ad network is notified that ad space is available, advertisers compete to win the space. Ad networks consider multiple factors, such as the price an advertiser is able to pay and a potential match between the ad and the ad space to decide which  advertiser will win the placement and serve its ad to users.

Advertising networks can offer various targeting capabilities (some more niche than others) and support a variety of different ad formats, including banner ads, native ads, and video ads. 

Why Are Ad Networks Important?

Advertising networks act as an intermediary that handles the technical integrations and commercial aspects of buying and selling mobile ad placements. 

A key benefit from both an advertiser and publisher perspective is that both parties save time and money through working with mobile ad networks.

Benefits of Ad Networks for Publishers

• help publishers secure buyers for ad space 
• give access to quality and well-targeted ads that advertisers want to pay premium prices for
• unlock additional ad inventory to ensure a high fill rate 
• diversify their ad mix and maximize revenue quickly

Benefits of Ad Networks for Advertisers

• provide an opportunity for advertisers to reach users 
• help advertisers find inventory that fits their audience and budget
• help optimize advertisers’ reach, campaign placement, user engagement, and installs by serving their ads to their target demographic
• simplify buying – advertisers can purchase ad inventory from multiple publishers through a single interface, making the process more efficient
• connect advertisers to supply directly (usually though a direct integration with publishers)

What Is the Difference between Ad Network and DSP?

The key differences between an ad network and DSP are as follows:

• An ad network aggregates ad inventory from various publishers with whom it works directly via an SDK integration and contract. The ad network then directly sells this inventory to advertisers. 
• DSPs on the other hand can only connect with publishers through an ad exchange. 
• An ad network has control over how ads are served and rendered through the SDK integration; intermediaries serve ads on behalf of a DSP.

How Do You Choose the Best Ad Network?

Before selecting the ideal advertising networks to work with, advertisers and publishers should consider various factors:

• The ad network’s reach – especially within a particular vertical
• If an ad network offers machine learning optimizations for better targeting – this affects how the ad network can match ads to target audiences
• The ad formats offered – from display, playables, interstitials, or banner ads

Another way to choose the best mobile ad network is to find indices online, which rank the best mobile ad networks out there, based on various factors, such as best ad networks for Android or iOS, highest-retention ad networks, and best ad networks for vertical and region.

Here’s a list of the ad network rankings developers should take a look at:

• Appsflyer Index
• Singular ROI Index
• Business of Apps Top Mobile Ad Networks

Finding a suitable mobile ad network usually means running a test with various ad networks to see which networks tick the most boxes and deliver the best performance metrics.

Conclusion

Being able to identify a suitable ad network based on the criteria listed above, app developers will be able to reach a wider – ideally, higher-quality – range of users for their apps or generate greater revenue with their available ad space. 

With the growing popularity of programmatic advertising, it remains to be seen whether the technologies ad networks offer can offer app developers solutions to advertise or monetize their apps.

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