Guest Piece: eCPMs to Ad Placement – Monetization Tips from the Pros

23 October 2013

Guest Piece: eCPMs to Ad Placement – Monetization Tips from the Pros

Jessa Moon is the communications manager at SponsorPay, which fuels the app economy through smarter ad monetization solutions. SponsorPay’s comprehensive ad monetization platform includes mediation, an ad marketplace and ad serving capabilities to empower app developers to integrate, manage and optimize all sources of ad revenues.

Last Wednesday, a group of San Francisco techies gathered in SOMA to talk eCPMs, ad placement, fill and mediation – in other words, mobile monetization – at Corona Labs’ Monetizing Cross-Platform Apps panel.

SponsorPay’s very own David Diaz, senior director of developer relations, joined moderator David Rangel, COO at Corona Labs, and panelists Ben Bear, VP of sales and business development at Vungle, Maggie Mesa, director of publishing at Inneractive, and Tim Doyle, publisher development manager at PlayHaven, for a lively discussion on how to navigate the complex landscape of app monetization.

Check out the video below for the full dialogue or take a quick look at the following outline of key takeaways.

Monetization Terms 101

Three-letter acronyms abound in the world of advertising. CPM and eCPMs are commonly used to describe the cost and effectiveness of advertising. Unfamiliar with these terms? Not to worry, our panel provided a summary:

• CPM – Cost Per Mille is a measurement of the cost for every thousand ads shown and is used in speaking to advertisers. In case you’re confused with the inclusion of “m” in the acronym, mille means thousand in French.
• eCPM – developers use “effective Cost Per Mille” to represent the actual amount of revenue per thousand impressions. This measurement is directly impacted by inventory in that if a developer has 1000 opportunities to show an ad, but only fills 500, then the revenue made by the developer (eCPM) would decrease by 50 percent.
• LTV – Lifetime Value refers to users and generally relates to retention and their inclination to complete IAP (see below).
• IAP – In-App Purchases.

Android vs. iOS

The difference in monetizing for Android and iOS was a hot topic. Several of the insights included:

• Incentivized installs are banned on Apple, which affects how developers monetize on the platform. iOS is generally viewed as reaching a more premium audience.
• Because LTV (lifetime value) and IAP (in-app-purchases) tend to be lower on Android, advertising is commonly more aggressive.
• Apple is a closed environment, so processing payments are uniform across the globe. This isn’t the case for Android, and as a result, this process is more difficult country to country.

Tips from the Pros

One theme came through loud and clear – everyone is a newbie when it comes to mobile monetization. Read up – developer forums and networks can help. And of course, the pros did a little educating of their own:

• Place ads thoughtfully – Ads that are distracting or interrupt the app experience drive users away, lowering eCPM. Alternately, users do appreciate well-placed advertising. For instance, ads placed in gaming apps when a player dies can reward users with life for watching a video unit.
• Establish analytics – Advertisers are interested in audience segments, so the more information gained on user gender, age, location, etc., the better.
• Mediate – Mediation solutions available in the industry integrate and draw advertising from multiple networks, increasing ad fill and optimizing eCPM.