Rewarded Ads Embedded In Gameplay Generate 2.5x More Revenue, According to Vungle’s New 2021 In-App Ad Placement Revenue Report

The first-of-its-kind report analyzes 6.3 billion ad impressions across 14 common placement styles to show which implementations drive the most revenue for publishers

Vungle, a leading mobile performance advertising platform, today announced the release of its 2021 In-App Ad Placement Revenue Report, a first-of-its-kind study that lets mobile publishers forecast the revenue impact that different types of ad placements can have on their games and apps. The report identifies key differences in earning potential between rewarded ads placed at different points throughout the user experience, as well as differences in revenue produced by display ad formats like banners and medium rectangle ads (MRECs). Specific findings are broken out by gaming and non-gaming apps, with revenue scores ranked across a relative index.

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The results provide a deep understanding of the ad strategies that will yield the highest effective cost per mille (eCPM) for publishers. Some of the most valuable insights revealed include: 

• Context Drives Rewarded Revenue: Rewarded ad prompts placed within the context of an engagement loop generate 2.5x higher eCPMs than those placed in static menus or in-app storefronts
• Non-Gaming Apps Are Ready For Rewarded Ads: Rewarded ads generate nearly 2x higher eCPMs than interstitials and more than 3x the top display ads in non-gaming apps
• MRECs Beat Banners: Medium rectangle ads produce 5x higher eCPMs than banner ads
• Rewarded Ads Reign Supreme in Gaming: 3 of the top 5 placements by eCPM are rewarded, including the #1 spot
• Don’t Discount Interstitials: Despite the industry’s recent shift towards rewarded ads, interstitial placements deployed at the end of gameplay still generate the second-highest eCPM overall.

Unlike similar reports that only examine revenue by format or app category, the 2021 In-App Ad Placement Revenue Report leverages Vungle’s years of in-app monetization experience to group placements into categories such as “End of Level,” “Home Screen,” or “In-App Purchase Storefront” in order to better understand the impact that user experience has on revenue for publishers. The result is an actionable set of insights that publishers can use in the earliest stages of development, or when considering changes to an app’s existing monetization systems.

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“Mobile ad monetization is forever evolving,” said Scott Silverman, SVP of Global Revenue at Vungle. “Publishers need actionable, data-driven reference points if they’re going to keep their strategies fresh and effective, especially as privacy changes continue to reshape the foundations of the mobile advertising industry. Our 2021 In-App Ad Placement Revenue Report gives publishers the insights they need to make the smartest possible choices when it comes to ad monetization across their mobile app portfolios.” 

In developing the report, Vungle analyzed the revenue generated by more than 6.3 billion impressions served across its in-app advertising network of more than one billion devices. Ads were classified into one of 14 user experience categories representing the industry’s most common ad placement styles found in both gaming and non-gaming apps.

The in-app ad monetization experts at Vungle will be presenting additional findings from the report, alongside deep dives into the performance characteristics of individual placements at its upcoming GDC session, F2P Ad Placement Takeaways.

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