Best Practices for Maximizing Revenue with MoPub. Publisher Playbook

Transcription

1 ! Best Practices for Maximizing Revenue with MoPub Publisher Playbook

2 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Ad Formats 4 Singleton Ad Unit for Banners 4 Interstitial Ad Unit 5 Video Ads on MoPub Marketplace 6 Native Ad Unit 7 SDK Updates 8 Sending Location Data 8 Integrating the Latest SDK 8 Setup and Settings in MoPub Interface 9 Updating Network s 9 Segmenting Networks by Geographic Markets 10 Setting Minimum s for MoPub Marketplace 11 Optimizing Refresh Rates for Banner Ads 13 Removing Outdated Block Settings 14 2

3 Introduction The insights provided in this playbook are designed to increase the value of your inventory and grow your app s overall ad revenue from combined demand sources. MoPub has developed the recommendations in this playbook to showcase an ideal integration with the MoPub platform and SDK, highlighting valuable optimizations from the tools we provide to you. Learn about the following best practices and use cases: Ad units that preserve your user experience while delivering the highest s How to maximize the value of your inventory with simple changes to your app set-up Taking advantage of all the controls MoPub has to offer to ensure you re driving more ad revenue at all times 3

4 Ad Formats As you lay out the monetization flow of your app, we suggest incorporating the following ad formats to drive higher s and increase overall ad revenue. Singleton Ad Unit for Banners Advertisers are willing to spend more on apps that have users who engage with their ads. The metrics advertisers use to value the performance of an app are clicks and conversions. MoPub has found that for banner ads (320x50 or 728x90) the best way to maximize clicks is to maximize the amount of time the ad is visible. Therefore, MoPub recommends using the Singleton ad unit - one ad unit per ad size in your application, persistently displayed. This approach creates a single fluid ad experience between screens as shown below. A new ad request is not made each time a user switches between screens, but rather only during the preset refresh rate in the MoPub interface (learn more about optimizing Refresh Rates later in this playbook). Enabling the Singleton Ad Unit for banner and leaderboard ads (320x50 or 728x90) through the SDK can be done by implementing the web view for your ad call. This ensures the ad unit crosses all views in your application. User Navigation User Navigation Same ad view across different screens to maximize the time on the screen 4

5 Interstitial Ad Unit The term interstitial originated from the desktop world as it refers to the in-between page that is inserted in the normal flow of content. In mobile, an interstitial ad simply means a full screen ad, and is typically used in apps that have logical breaks in the user experience. We recommend inserting an interstitial between levels of a game, before or after a video clip, or between other dynamic content to preserve your user experience. The interstitial can be rendered as both 320x480 and 480x320 on phones or 768x1024 and 1024x768 on tablets. See an example of an interstitial image below: This ad unit occupies the full screen in your app. For many publishers, the s are higher than banner ads. We have laid out easy steps for app developers to integrate interstitial ad units here: ios Integration Android Integration 5

6 Video Ads on MoPub Marketplace MoPub video ads are an extension of interstitial ads and offer a valuable opportunity to drive more revenue from your interstitial inventory. Video ads provide a more interactive experience for your users and typically deliver s that are higher than regular interstitials. With MoPub Marketplace, you can automatically introduce video ads into your app experience without burdening your app with more SDKs. Simply follow these steps to enable video ads on your inventory: 1. In your MoPub account, click on the Marketplace tab. 2. Click on the Settings tab. 3. Scroll to the 'Video Settings' section. 4. Select 30 second skippable videos, 15 second non-skippable videos or Both 15 and 30 second videos (recommended) to enable video ads on your interstitial inventory. Video Ads Are Currently Only Available On Landscape Interstitial Ad Units (480x320 & 1024x768 Ad Sizes) A countdown timer will always appear to keep users engaged. For 30 second videos, users can close the ad after 5 seconds. All videos are pre-cached and automatically play inline with your app. 6

7 Native Ad Unit MoPub Native Ads offer an opportunity to monetize your apps more effectively by matching the original content s look and feel. This ad format creates an additional revenue opportunity for you while maintaining the same great experience for your users. MoPub allows you to run native ads from the following demand sources: Marketplace: Demand partners buying on Marketplace have growing budgets for Native, which means you can drive more revenue through MoPub Marketplace. Direct advertisers: Scale your direct deal opportunities without building anything custom. Promotional: Effectively promote your other apps within your app s natural flow. Networks: Work with native ad networks to maximize your fill rates. We ve seen native ads work well with apps that have feeds, such as news or social networking apps. Icon image Text Title Main image Call to action Implementing native ads on MoPub is easy. Follow these integration guides for the ios and Android SDKs: ios integration Android integration 7

8 SDK Updates MoPub s open-source SDK allows you to customize the set-up of your ad configuration. The recommendations in this section require you to make updates to your app in order to maximize results and drive more revenue from your inventory. Sending Location Data Many demand partners will increase their bids on impressions that include a user s location data. In fact, there are a handful of advertisers on MoPub Marketplace that will not advertise at all on inventory that does not share the user s location. If you already capture latitude and longitude data in your application, consider creating the following to ensure you pass it properly to the MoPub SDK: Android: Latitude and longitude is passed automatically. ios: When setting up the ad view, set adview.location="latitude, longitude". You will have to ask for coordinates through your app and pass them through the ad view individually. If you are not already capturing your users location, consider creating a function within your application that can gather this information. Having this data and making it available to demand partners will create additional demand for your ad inventory, increasing your fill rates and overall revenue. Integrating the Latest SDK The latest SDK provides the newest features that MoPub has to offer and includes the latest bug fixes. We have product and engineering teams that are dedicated to updating our lightweight SDK on a regular basis to include the most robust enhancements. SDK updates have included new features like: Video Ads inventory The Creative Flagging tool Automatically blocking auto-click ads on both ios and Android Additional access to server-to-server network partners As we deprecate older SDKs, it is important to update your SDK any time you update your application(s) or at least every 2 months. You can find the newest SDKs here: 8

9 Setup and Settings in MoPub Interface After you implement the previous strategies in your app through the SDK, the MoPub platform offers powerful controls for you to segment and increase the value of your inventory. The following recommendations are all relatively simple changes that you can make in the MoPub interface. Updating Network s The MoPub platform relies on the s you enter in your Networks page to properly mediate across all your demand sources. When auctions are run on MoPub, the platform views your network s as a potential bid to determine which demand source will win the impression and serve the ad. Updating your network s regularly will ensure you re maximizing ad revenue from your combined ad sources. To ensure your s are correct, review the s that you re receiving from your network partners, and then follow the steps below to update your geo-segmented inventory with the accurate s: 1. In your MoPub account, click on the Networks tab. 2. Click on your Segments tab. 3. Click on a running Segment to update the s for the ad units in that segment. Note: We recommend doing this at least once per week. 9

10 Segmenting Networks by Geographic Markets If you are working with ad networks and the MoPub Marketplace, we recommend segmenting out the networks by groups of countries that generate similar s. This will enable the ad server to make better delivery decisions. For example, the price a network pays for a U.S. impression will likely be different from the price it pays for one from Japan or Brazil. By segmenting network prices properly, the MoPub ad server can ensure that the best paying ad in each market is what gets selected. To set this up, you will need to create network market segments, where you can group together countries by their relative performance. For example, you could create a "US / UK / CA" segment, and a separate "BR / AR / MX" segment, then price each network differently based on the respective s for those segments (groups of countries). We recommend having segments for groups of countries which receive a high volume of traffic and where the for those countries is significantly different from the other countries where you have ad inventory. If you ve already set up your networks, you can create a Segment for your networks by following the steps below: 1. In your MoPub account, click on the Networks tab. 2. Click on the Segments tab on this page. 3. Click on the Add a Segment button on the top right. 4. Name your Segment. 5. Add the Inventory you wish to add for this Segment. This could include select apps, ad sizes, or operating systems. 6. Add the Geo Restrictions for this Segment. 7. Add the Networks that you d like this Segment to apply to. Once you have your Segments set up, you will need to set the s according to how each group of countries within each Segment is performing for each network (note that not all networks provide countrylevel reporting, but many do). As per the recommendation from earlier in the Playbook, too, you should try to update these s by country regularly, so the ad server can always make the best decision when selecting which demand source should serve the impression. 10

11 Setting Minimum s for MoPub Marketplace If you re working with ad networks and MoPub Marketplace, it is important to understand how real-time bidding works in MoPub Marketplace. This chapter will cover the auction dynamics, and explain different scenarios to help you determine ideal minimum s for each region in your account. Auctions in MoPub Marketplace are explained in more detail with the examples below. When an ad request occurs in your app, an auction between your networks and MoPub s real-time buyers (demand-side platforms or DSPs) occurs. MoPub will automatically fill your ad request with the highest paying demand source, whether that be an ad network or a DSP. In this example, the ad network has the highest. 1 Ad Requested 2 Auction Between Networks and DSPs 3 Auction Results Network 1 Network 2 Network 3 $2.00 $1.50 DSP 1 DSP 2 $1.90 $1.30 Network 1 DSP 1 Network 2 DSP 2 $2.00 $1.90 $1.50 $1.30 $1.20 Network 3 $1.20 Winner In the event that this ad network does not fill the ad request, MoPub will fill the ad impression with the next highest paying demand source. In this example, the DSP fills the ad request at $ Ad Requested 2 Auction Between Networks and DSPs 3 Auction Results Network 1 $2.00 DSP 1 $1.90 Network 1 DSP 1 $2.00 $1.90 Ad does not fill Winner Network 2 $1.50 Network 2 $1.50 Network 3 $1.20 DSP 2 $1.30 DSP 2 Network 3 $1.30 $

12 Should you wish to implement minimum s on Marketplace, the below example shows you how this would work in the auction, if everything remained constant except the minimum. Auction Example Minimum set to $0.05 Auction Example Minimum set to $1.95 Network 1 $2.00 Ad does not fill Network 1 $2.00 Ad does not fill DSP 1 Network 2 $1.90 $1.50 Winner Minimum DSP 1 $1.95 $1.90 Ineligible to fill DSP 2 Network 3 Minimum $1.30 $1.20 $0.05 Network 2 DSP 2 Network 3 $1.50 $1.30 $1.20 Winner Ineligible to fill When an ad network is the highest paying demand source but is unable fill, the request continues to the next highest paying demand source (in this example, DSP 1 at $1.90 ). Above, DSP 1 is given the opportunity to fill the ad request because the minimum is correctly set to allow Marketplace to compete against all other demand sources. If the minimum was raised to $1.95, and the highest paying ad network does not fill the ad request, the DSP bid of $1.90 is now below the minimum and ineligible to fill as the second highest demand source. Your ad request would fill at the next highest paying demand source, not including Marketplace bids, which is a $1.50 in this example. By increasing the minimum s on Marketplace, it limits the amount of demand sources that could fill your ad request. Therefore, we recommend keeping the minimum at a level that is less than your lowest paying ad network. This will ensure your ad requests are filled by the highest paying demand source at all times. Important: MoPub Marketplace defaults to a minimum, or price floor, of $0.05. Keeping your minimum s at this level will help maximize s and revenue from all of your demand sources. 12

13 Optimizing Refresh Rates for Banner Ads Determining the refresh interval for your banner and leaderboard ads (320x50 and 728x90) that will yield the highest revenue will differ from app to app. There is no universal refresh rate that consistently performs the same for all audiences. In order to ensure you are maximizing ad revenue without jeopardizing your user experience, our interface empowers you to test different ad frequencies. This can be a very strategic way to increase inventory and revenue. However, keep in mind that there are sensitivities around making these adjustments and you ll need to closely monitor your s and revenue after 3-5 days of making the change. By default, MoPub sets the refresh interval for an ad unit to 60 seconds. This is considered to be on the higher end, so we recommend adjusting your refresh interval to between 20 to 45 seconds and evaluating the impact to revenue. Follow these steps to update your refresh interval settings: 1. In your MoPub account, go to the Inventory tab. 2. Click on the Ad Units tab. 3. Click on the ad unit (either a 320x50 or 728x90 ad format) that you wish to optimize. 4. Click on Edit ad unit settings. 5. Make the adjustment to your Refresh Interval. 6. After 3 days, review your s for this ad unit in the Dashboard. 7. Compare the s over the past 5-7 days to the same days from the prior week to see if the refresh interval change resulted in increased revenue. Repeat this process to determine the optimal refresh rate for your app. The perfect balance occurs when revenue is maximized and user experience is not affected. 13

14 Removing Outdated Block Settings There are several ways to control the ads your users see on MoPub Marketplace. You can apply Marketplace blocks at the creative ID, advertiser URL or advertiser domain levels and we offer additional content filtering for specific audiences on Marketplace. Over time, your list of blocked advertiser domains or categories may no longer apply. By removing outdated blocks, you open your inventory to high volume demand partners or ad campaigns that you may not have realized were available. Follow these steps to update and remove your outdated block settings: 1. In your MoPub account, go to the Marketplace tab. 2. Click on the Settings tab. 3. Scroll down to the Content Filtering and Blocklist section. 4. Remove any outdated or irrelevant blocked ad categories or advertiser domains MoPub, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Twitter, Inc., MoPub, Inc, the Twitter logo and MoPub logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Twitter, Inc. and MoPub, Inc. respectively. All other trademarks and logos are the property of their respective owners. This data is provided for information purposes only and while efforts are made to ensure accuracy, errors may arise. 14