Video marketing is one of the most efficient ad delivery methods in today’s adtech environment. According to the latest known statistics, the digital video advertising market in 2022 is estimated to be worth $180 billion, with an annual spending growth rate of approximately 20%.

As a publisher and depending on your monetization strategies, video advertising may be the backbone of your ad revenue. Consequently, finding the best video ad network is crucial for publishers who need to maximize their earnings. Here’s everything you need to know about video ad networks and how to select the best one.

What is a Video Ad Network?

As with any other ad network, the essential purpose of a video ad network is to serve as an aggregating platform facilitating deals between publishers and advertisers. Ad networks collect ad space from publishers and unsold ad inventory from advertisers, then handle transactions between both parties to ensure the most relevant ads fill available ad spaces.

Where a video ad network differs from a standard ad network is the type of ads they handle. As the name implies, a video ad network specializes exclusively in video ads. Consequently, they only accept ad inventory in video format and will only match these ads to compatible ad spaces.

Why Do You Need a Video Ad Network?

As a publisher, a video ad network is a highly efficient method of filling any unsold ad space for video creatives and maximizing your earning potential. Video ad networks ensure that you can find advertisers with the creative types and relevant ads you need to monetize your website, app, game, or another digital property with video ad content.

These networks also use automation to manage each transaction, eliminating the need to manually contact each advertiser and broker deals for each of your ad spaces. These features make video ad networks the ideal solution for cost-efficient monetization.

Types of Video Ads

Although functionally similar, there are two primary methods to serve video ads: in-stream delivery and out-stream delivery.

In-stream Video Ads

An in-stream video ad is a type of ad integrated into video content displayed on a dedicated player. These ads typically take the form of a segment within a video posted to a video-sharing platform (e.g., YouTube).

The length of these ads usually ranges from 5 to 60 seconds, typically giving the user an option to skip the ad after a set period (after 5 to 30 seconds).

In-stream video ads may be linear or non-linear. A linear ad briefly pauses the content the user is currently watching to display the ad, whereas a non-linear ad is an overlay that partially obscures the content with a banner.

Linear ads are further categorized by when the ads appear relative to the video content’s runtime. Three categories are distinguished: Pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll.

• A pre-roll linear ad plays as soon as the user starts the video or clicks the Play button, displaying the ad before the content. This format is ideal to ensure ads reach the user but comes with an increased risk of skipping.
• Mid-roll linear ads play at a specific point in the middle of the video content, usually determined by the publisher. The primary advantage of mid-roll ads is their positioning; users are less likely to skip them as they are already engaging with the content. However, if not placed correctly, they risk interrupting the content with poor timing (e.g., mid-sentence)
• A post-roll linear ad plays at the end of the video content. This type of linear ad is the least disruptive but also has the lowest reach, as many users click away from the video before reaching the very end.

Out-stream Video Ads

An out-stream video ad is a self-contained video ad that is not played into or over existing video content. Instead, it appears to the user as a video player built into a webpage without using an existing video-sharing platform.

Initially designed for the mobile market, out-stream video ads also proved to be a powerful advertising tool on desktop devices. Today, out-stream video advertising is one of the most widespread website monetization methods.

There are three categories of out-stream video ads: in-slide ads, in-banner ads, and in-content ads.

1. In-slide ads are a type of video ad displayed in the corner of the page, usually inside a miniature video player (mini-player).In-slide ads are intended to attract the visitor’s attention without obscuring the content from view. They achieve it by using a mini-player that follows the user as they scroll up or down the website (scroll follow). Although every aspect of an in-slide ad is configurable by the publisher, a typical example is an auto-playing ad that starts muted and offers an option to skip or close after a few seconds.
2. In-banner ads are a type of video ad that uses the ad space of a website’s banner. That space will display the video creative instead of a standard banner ad when configured to accept an in-banner video ad.While in-banner ads do not possess the scroll follow feature of in-slide ads, this format helps publishers reuse existing spaces and can provide added interactivity to users.
3. In-content ads place video ad content into a website’s editorial content, popping open after the user has reached the page position where they have been embedded.Typically, these ads are designed to load but not auto-play until the user scrolls to the correct point. In-content ads are popular on websites with high amounts of editorial content due to the seamless experience they provide.

In-content ads function using one of four models:

1. 0% Visibility: Although the ad loads alongside the rest of the page, the mini-player remains hidden from view until the user scrolls to the exact point where it is embedded in the page. Auto-playing only begins when the mini-player is active.
2. 50% Visibility: When the page loads, the mini-player immediately activates and pre-loads the ad creative. However, it delays auto-playing until the user has scrolled the page enough to bring at least 50% of it into view.
3. Over 50% Visibility: Similar to the 50% Visibility model but with one difference: the player begins auto-playing only when over 50% of the player is visible. In other words, auto-play doesn’t start if the player is exactly 50% visible.
4. 50% Scroll-Past Visibility: This model is similar to 50% Visibility but with reversed visibility conditions. Instead of starting auto-play when 50% of the player enters the user’s window, it begins when at least 50% of it leaves the view, inciting the user to scroll back to the video.

Difference Between In-stream Video Ads and Out-stream Video Ads

The primary difference between in-stream and out-stream ads is the type of video player required to play each ad type. In-stream ads need a dedicated platform’s video player, whereas out-stream ads can play on any website.

Which is the Most Popular One?

Although in-stream ads were once dominant, partly due to the prevalence of YouTube and the video-sharing features of specific social media platforms (e.g., Twitter and Facebook), out-stream ads have become the most popular type of video ads.

The primary reason behind their popularity is their versatility: they can be played on virtually any website without relying on dedicated video platforms. Additionally, they can be configured by publishers with no prior experience in video advertising, making them more accessible.

What to Look for in a Video Ad Network

If you are a publisher seeking a video ad network to monetize your website or digital property, here are the most helpful features and functionalities you should look for to optimize your revenue.

1. Full-featured Analytics

A full suite of performance measurement features, such as an analytics dashboard, numerous Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and comprehensive data reporting, is critical for any publisher seeking to gather data about every aspect of a video ad campaign.

A quality video ad network should offer these features out of the box and let you change or modify your ad campaign even while it’s in progress, allowing you to adjust to the changes and measured fluctuations in performance as they happen.

2. Wide Range of Video Formats

A wide range of video formats is crucial to ensure that the video ads have the means to reach the highest possible number of website visitors. Users employ numerous device and browser combinations, requiring publishers to ensure their chosen ad network has access to ad creatives that are compatible with as many of them as possible.

3. Precise Audience Targeting

One of the best tools an ad network can provide to its publishers is robust audience targeting functionality. The more precisely the network allows a publisher to target its audience, the more likely the served video ads will be relevant, increasing the likelihood of views, clicks, and conversions. In other words, high-precision audience targeting tools are crucial for improving the revenue-earning potential of your digital property.

4. Brand Safety Tools

Two critical elements of brand safety are eliminating low-quality ad inventory from view and maintaining a high level of quality and relevancy when serving ads. Quality ad networks should commit to combating fraud by providing publishers with a curated selection of security features and other brand safety tools.

Common examples include block lists and allow-lists to let publishers control which advertisers and ad creatives appear in their ad spaces. Another example is the possibility of implementing brand-safe ad formats.

5. Robust Customer and Tech Support

Many ad networks contain numerous features and options that can be challenging to use and fully understand. High-performing ad networks should provide multiple avenues to help customers use the full extent of their functions.

Essential tech support should at least include free access to comprehensive documentation detailing each function. Other, more advanced forms of customer support include a helpdesk system or a live tech support platform, providing customers with a way to contact trained staff that can help and guide them into using the ad network’s features.

6. Technology and Backing Infrastructure

No matter how many features an ad network claims to offer, it is critical to ensure they have the technology and infrastructure required to provide high-quality services. Video ad creatives need significant amounts of data storage to keep each ad creative in as many different formats as possible.

Additionally, video ad networks must also be able to reliably serve ads to each ad space, with as few errors and service interruptions as possible and rapid remediation of any issues preventing ad serving.

16 Best Video Ad Networks for Publishers

Below is the list of the 15 highest-performing video ad networks for publishers. Discover what each network has to offer and why they are reliable choices.

1. Vidazoo

Vidazoo is a leading video content and yield management platform that offers publishers some of the industry’s most comprehensive automation tools to help manage multiple video placements as well as optimize demand, all under the same platform. This video vendor is a certified Google Video Technology Partner and provides leading video solutions to more than 200 publishers worldwide, delivering over 6 billion unique impressions monthly.

Among the many features offered to publishers on Vidazoo, the most significant include its fully customized video player solution to monetize video content, fully managed services, and direct and marketplace demand for optimal monetization.

Payment features:

2. Xandr (previously AppNexus)

Although the platform changed its name to Xandr in 2018, it was previously known as AppNexus and is one of the oldest and most trusted names in the video ad network industry.

In operation since 2007, Xandr is one of the top video ad marketplaces, with access to over 175 supply-side platforms (SSP) as partners, integrations in over 80 demand-side platforms (DSP) worldwide, and an optional sub-platform to facilitate direct deals between advertisers and publishers.

Xandr also offers publishers access to a highly sought-after feature: video header bidding, opening their video ad unit inventory to multiple buyers simultaneously, allowing them to sell their ad space more efficiently. Although video header bidding primarily benefits larger publishers with high quantities of unsold ad spaces, this feature is available to all platform members, regardless of size.

Payment features:

3. Primis

Primis is a leading video discovery platform offering publishers some of the industry’s most comprehensive video ads and features. This ad network is trusted by hundreds of top-performing publishers worldwide and serves over 350 million unique impressions monthly.

Among the many features offered to publishers on Primis, the most significant include its extensive library of ad units, compatibility with in-stream and out-stream ads, and a wide array of brand safety measures and technologies, including ad fraud protection systems.

Payment features:

4. OpenX

OpenX is both an ad network and an ad exchange with access to hundreds of partners on both sides of the advertising ecosystem: SSPs and DSPs. OpenX’s platform allows publishers to monetize property on all types of devices: desktop computers, mobile devices (phones, tablets), and televisions (CTV, streaming TV ads).

OpenX is renowned for its highly comprehensive real-time analytics engine, advanced infrastructure, and support for virtually any video player and ad format (both in-stream and out-stream). Publishers looking to improve their reach, create audience profiles, and serve high-relevancy ads can also use the platform’s natively-developed OpenAudience customer targeting solution.

Payment features:

5. SelectMedia

SelectMedia is a full-stack video ad network specializing in cross-platform out-stream advertising in the Asian markets. SelectMedia offers all types of out-stream ads (in-slide, in-banner, in-content) plus video ads for connected TVs.

Over 650 premium customers trust SelectMedia for their advertising needs. The platform offers real-time bidding (RTB), a fully-featured ad server, and numerous brand safety and anti-fraud mechanisms, ensuring safety for both publishers and advertisers by combating bots and other forms of invalid traffic.

SelectMedia is primarily intended for medium and large customers. The platform imposes a minimum traffic requirement of 10,000 unique visitors per month to publishers looking to join. However, customers that meet the requirements benefit from low minimum payout requirements and multiple convenient payment models and methods.

Payment features:

6. AdPlayer.Pro

AdPlayer.Pro is a newer ad network founded in 2016 specializing in web-based video ads powered using HTML5 player technology. The platform aims to be a comprehensive ecosystem suitable for publishers, brands, companies, ad agencies, and other entities.

AdPlayer.Pro offers a built-in, HTML5-powered video player that can support numerous ad formats for both in-stream and out-stream ads, compliant with all modern industry standards (VPAID, VAST, Google IMA).

The network also offers a comprehensive analytics and reporting engine, providing publishers with real-time, daily, and weekly measurements of ad performance KPIs. The report generator is also fully configurable, opening the possibility of creating 100% custom performance reports.

Payment features:

7. Unruly

Unruly is a British adtech company and one of the world’s leading video ad networks. The company was founded in 2006 in Shoreditch, London. Initially a 3-person startup, Unruly is now a world leader in ad technology with access to hundreds of DSPs and a comprehensive library of video ad creatives.

Unruly provides solutions to ensure even publishers with no video content can use video ads to monetize their digital properties. The platform and its ad library are 100% compliant with consumer protection and brand safety standards, including the Better Ads Standards (BAS) and the GDPR, ensuring a high-quality, high-relevancy, fraud-free experience.

Payment features:

8. PubMatic

PubMatic is a California-based online advertising firm with access to over 200 worldwide DSPs and media buyers.

PubMatic’s video ad network is a world-leading programmatic advertising solution offering publishers an easy-to-use interface, consistently high-quality ad creatives, highly competitive payouts, and an option to access a private marketplace (PMP) for premium deals.

PubMatic has offices in seven locations across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. The company’s services are trusted by some of the world’s largest publishers, including eBay, the Huffington Post, and other high-ranking ComScore firms.

Payment features:

9. Adsterra

Launched in 2013, Adsterra is an advertising network with a global reach and a long history of successful partnerships with advertisers and publishers of all sizes. Adsterra’s services serve over 30 billion ad impressions per month, with over 70% of ads served on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. Over 13,000 brands and 21,000 publishers work using Adsterra.

Signing up on Adsterra’s platform allows publishers to benefit from one of the easiest-to-use dashboards and interfaces available, ensuring a high-quality user experience (UX) and a high degree of control over ad campaigns. All ads served through the platform are protected against malware, ad fraud, scams, and other threats to brand safety using internally developed security software.

As an additional benefit to publishers, Adsterra offers one of the industry’s lowest minimum payment thresholds, short payout frequencies for more frequent payments, and a plethora of payment methods, from standard bank transfers to cryptocurrency.

Payment features:

10. Magnite (previously Rubicon Project)

The advertising platform known as Magnite today is the result of a merger between the Rubicon Project and Telaria, announced in December 2019 and completed in March 2020. The resulting platform is the world’s largest independent SSP.

Although Magnite is an omnichannel SSP, the company’s video ad network services serve over 65% of the world’s top publishers, from Bloomberg Media and CNN to ESPN and the Economist. The platform is primarily intended for large publishers, with a minimum requirement of 5 million monthly pageviews to qualify.

Magnite lets publishers deliver all types of video ads on numerous device types, from in-stream and out-stream ads to in-app interstitials, rewarded video ads on mobile games, and many other formats. The platform also offers unique monetization options, such as ad podding, an ad serving grouping multiple ads into a single segment, similar to a television ad break.

Payment features:

11. Fyber

If you are a publisher primarily seeking monetization avenues on mobile platforms, you may have heard of Fyber. Formerly known as RNTS Media, Fyber is a German, mobile-first adtech company specializing in all types and formats of video ads.

Fyber allows publishers to monetize mobile applications and other mobile digital properties through VPAID ad tags. Developers and publishers can easily integrate Fyber into a mobile application with the Fyber SDK, supported by highly comprehensive documentation.

The Fyber ad network has access to over 180 trusted DSPs and serves ads in the following formats: in-stream, in-app videos, rewarded videos, interstitials, and rich media.

Payment features:

12. Meta Audience Network / Facebook Audience Network

The Meta Audience Network, better known as the Facebook Audience Network (FAN), is the social media giant’s dedicated ad network.

Publishers looking to monetize their properties using video ads on Facebook can use FAN. The platform allows publishers to join Facebook’s in-stream video ad system. Although FAN works on all platforms supporting Facebook, revenue streams are best optimized on mobile due to the prevalence of mobile traffic on the social media platform.

Payment features:

You’ve created the ultimate app and are now looking for ways to monetize it. Here at CodeFuel, we have created this guide to help you plan your monetization strategy and select the best networks. It’s going to be a handful, so let’s get started.

Short in time?
Here you have a table of contents to help you.

What Is In-App Advertising?

First, let’s start with the basics. In-app advertising is a monetization strategy in which application developers — publishers — get paid to show ads within their mobile apps. The type of ads you find in mobile apps may include banners, videos, and images displayed right when you play the app.

Using this monetization strategy helps developers offer their apps for free download while earning an income from advertisers.

How In-App Advertising Works 

To use In-app advertising, you dedicate a portion of your app’s digital real estate, installation, or workflow to advertising. To do this, you pair up with an advertising network specialized in in-app advertising.

To understand how in-app advertising works, first, we need to understand the mobile ecosystem: 

There are many actors in the mobile ecosystem, both on the buyer’s and seller’s sides.

The mobile ecosystem has two sides: the buy and sell sides.

On the buy side: you have the app developers, agencies, and marketers buying the in-app ad space. You also have Demand-Side platforms, which help advertisers reach the inventory of multiple publishers.

On the sell side: you have the app owners selling ad space. You also have Supply-Side platforms, which help publishers to offer their inventory to multiple buyers.

Orchestrating all these buy and sell movements is an ad network. The ad network receives requests from the apps offering space to display ads, and by using advanced algorithms, it identifies the right advertisers.

All these happen in a matter of seconds, thanks to programmatic advertising. So let’s explain this briefly.

How Does Programmatic Work for In-App Advertising? 

Programmatic advertising is an automated way to connect buyers and sellers of advertising space. Buyers bid on ad space, and the programmatic system conducts a real-time auction when it is time to display the ads. The highest bidder gets the ad space.

Mobile programmatic buying offers several options:

• Open Auctions: Regular, second-price auctions in real-time with all buyers.
• Private Auctions: Closed, private auction, usually invite-only. Publishers can select the advertisers they want to participate in the auction.
• Preferred deals: These are direct deals between publishers and buyers before the auction.

Programmatic advertising offers more transparency for buyers and helps publishers reach more advertisers.

Three Easy Steps To Monetize Your App

There are three key steps to monetize your app using in-app advertising:

• Choose an ad network: this is perhaps the more critical step. You need to choose the mobile ad network that caters to your niche and can bring you to the right pool of advertisers.
  Learn more: Best Mobile Ad Networks for Publishers
• Select the type of ad: there are several types of ads you can leverage for your application. You can place the ads at the start of the application, in between stages, or at the end. Be careful that the ads won’t disrupt the user experience. Learn more: What Are In-App Ads?
• Choose the right pricing model: Depending on the ad network, you can work under a CPM, a CPC, or a CPA model.
  Learn more: CPC vs. CPM Bidding: What’s the Difference in 2022?

What Are the Benefits of In-App Advertising?

In the U.S., as much as 88% o mobile time is spent in-app. It allows publishers to maximize their gains and advertisers to reach more customers. Here are some of its benefits:

It Improves User Engagement

Since users seem to be on all the time on their phones, placing the right ad, one that enhances the user experience when they’re using the apps, increases the user’s engagement with the application. 

For instance, gaming apps usually give rewards for watching in-game video ads. Duolingo, the popular language learning app, rewards with points needed to continue learning every time a user watches an ad.

It Increases In-App Purchases

App owners can double their revenue sources by combining in-app advertising with in-app purchases. Users that are served in-app ads tend to view more products per session. Offering in-app purchases in addition to in-app ads can increase the chances of conversion.

Helps Monetize Freemiums

Free apps have few ways to monetize their content. Usually, app owners don’t make enough revenue from in-app purchases alone.

Gaming or gamified applications have an ideal interface to insert ads without disruption. Users served in-app ads see more products from inside the apps and have higher conversion rates.

In-app ads are useful for all types of applications if done right. Platforms like CodeFuel, leverage user intent and behavior to serve relevant ads that enhance the user experience.

What challenges can you face with In-App Ads?

In-app advertising is not exempt from challenges. Here are some.

You need to stand out against thousands of competitors

Since over two-thirds of brands use in-app advertising to expand their brands, advertisers look for applications that carry their ads. With over 3 million apps in the Google Play Store and the Apple Store, your app needs to stand out if you want to catch the eye of high-paying advertisers.

What can you do? Check your app provides a great user experience and attracts and engages users and downloads.

Poor ad formatting

The wrong ad format can push users away. Also, publishers may have to test several formats until they find the format that works.
What can you do? Test in the early stages, and check your competitors’ ad formats – no need to reinvent the wheel.

Lack of Customization Options:

In theory, you can customize an app, but the options are limited, especially when you want to monetize the app. The ad network can limit your options for customization.
What can you do? You can refine your targeting as much as possible and offer in-app preferences to your users.

Types of Ads You Can Find in an App

The right ad can make or break your monetization strategy. According to the ad type you choose, you can drive clicks or annoy users. You can use video or image ads, text, and interactive. As we saw above, native and interstitial ads perform better than banners. Let’s see which types of ads are the most popular.

Pop-up ads

You can include these ads in any kind of app. They can appear at pre-defined moments when the person is using the ad or during transitions. You can set them to appear triggered by opening the app or doing a specific action.

Despite the detractors, pop-up ads work. According to a study by SumoMe:

Image source

Transitional ads

These ads appear when the user transitions between screens. For instance, if you enter your breakfast data in your calorie counter, you may get an ad promoting healthy receipts.

Text ads

Text ads can appear everywhere in the app when the cursor hovers over a text or at any place on the app screen.

Banner ads

A mobile screen is too small to fit a full-size banner ad. However, you can be creative and use these ads strategically. Place it at the header or the footer, whichever it stays more visible to the user.

Search Feeds

Adding a search feed to your app gives users a useful tool to improve their experience. In-app search ads allow your users to search from inside your app. The more active the users of your app, the more you generate ad revenue.

In-App Advertising Formats

Maybe you are wondering which is the right ad format or a mix of them that will give you results. To do that, first, you need to understand how the different types of ads work. Here we explain the most popular types:

Interstitial Ads

Cover the entire mobile screen, generally at a size of 320 x 480 pixels. This size allows more content to be displayed, and the call to action becomes visible. Other sizes include 300 x 400  or 300 x 250 pixels.

They are good for catching a user’s attention and to place in games in between levels, as they minimize the disruption for users. Beware of interrupting the user experience, so don’t push an interstitial ad in the middle of a game.

Source: Amazon appstore

Best For 

Linear experiences, appear at natural stop and start points within the app.

Video Ads

Video ads are increasingly popular, as they catch and retain the attention of the user when engaged with the device. However, if the video is intrusive, it may backfire. It’s important that the video ads are short (less than 30 seconds) and placed at natural breaks in the user experience.

Best For 
Applications that have stages or stops, so it doesn’t disrupt the user experience.

Native Ads

Native ads can be of different forms and sizes, but they have in common that they are presented in a way that fits the publisher. Therefore, the ad blends with the app content.

They appear as part of the app’s content, and thus are not intrusive or interrupt the user experience. The ad is relevant to the context of the app, making them highly effective.

Best For 
All types of apps when not obscuring the app content.

Expandable Ads

This type of rich media ad is a combination of a banner and an interstitial ad. It starts with a 320 x50 pixels banner as a teaser, and then when the user taps on it, it displays in full screen. It has the advantage of being less intrusive than full-screen interstitial ads, but presenting too many can be annoying for the user.

Best For 
All types of apps.

In-App Pricing Models

The pricing model is almost always determined by the ad network. The most common are Cost per Click, Cost per Mille, and Cost per Install. Here is a brief overview:

Cost per Mille

Also called cost per thousand, it refers to a pricing model where the advertiser pays for every thousand times the ad gets viewed. 

Who is this for? It works well for publishers and ad networks.

Cost per Click

In this pricing model, the advertiser pays based on the number of clicks the ad receives.

Who is this for? While this model has advertisers in mind, and in theory, they only pay when the ads get clicked; advertisers may lose money through fake clicks.

Cost per Install

Popular when introducing a mobile app in the market. The advertiser pays based on the number of installations they get. Advertisers should be careful with fake installations, checking that installations appear in the Google Play Store, not only on the attribution platform.

Who is this for? New apps.

Best 5 In-App Advertising Networks For Publishers

Choosing a network is one of the critical steps to ensure your success with in-app advertising. Here we did the hard work for you and listed the five best in-app advertising networks for publishers.

1. CodeFuel 

CodeFuel is a complete platform that allows you to monetize all your digital properties effectively. You can leverage search, ads, shopping, and news to monetize your app by using intent-based monetization. 

This excellent ad platform is geared specifically with publishers in mind. There are over 1.1 k publishers with 9 billion annual searches, so you’re sure your digital property will be monetized.

Key features

• Presents relevant display ads inside your app.
• You can add a search feed based on user intent that presents shopping ads
• Enhances the user experience.
• Increases conversions by keeping the user engaged.
• Integrates with Microsoft Bing, Google AdSense, and Yahoo.
• Performance tracking and analytics.
• CodeFuel also offers search mediation if you want to link to other networks.

CodeFuel is a versatile ad network that gives you the flexibility to monetize your app with search feeds and relevant display ads while enhancing the user experience. The platform presents ads offering multiple ad formats, including banner, interstitial and native ads.

2. AdMob

AdMob is the mobile version of Google AdSense. AdMob includes ads automatically offering multiple ad formats, including banner, video, and interstitial ads.

Key Features

• Multiple ad formats
• Ad mediation
• It is suitable for beginners and Google AdSense users
• However, it has limitations on ad placements.
• It is focused mostly (and logically) in Google products.

3. Smaato

Smaato is a mobile ad platform for publishers and advertisers that focuses on matching publishers with relevant advertisers.

Key Features

• Real-time bidding for ads auctions
• Allows video, interstitial, banner, interactive, and rewarded ads.
• Allows ad mediation.

The downside of Smaato is that it works only as an intermediary for ads, not dealing with user experience or search feeds. 

4. Unity

Unity is a monetization network specifically for mobile games by using video ads. If your app is a game, Unity is your solution.

Key Features

•  Compatible with iOS and Android
• Compatible with all game engines, including Marmalade and Adobe Air.
• You can set up in-app purchases.
• They support interstitial, video, or banner ads through CPM or CPI campaigns.
• Target demographics segmentation
• Almost real-time reporting.

5. MobFox

MobFox is an independent mobile ad network for app monetization for publishers, app developers, and advertisers.

Key Features

• Works with all advertising formats, like Unity, Cordova, AdobeAir, and GameMaker.
• You can target your audience by location, carrier, channel, and demographics.
• Allows for native, interstitial, banner, video, and rich media ads.
• Provides analytics and reports.

The downside: it seems focused on gaming monetization. It also doesn’t offer mediation or search feeds.

Why In-App Advertising Works better than Interruptive Advertising

Interruptive advertising is any type of advertising that gets in the way (interrupts) what a person is doing. It is very common, and you are most likely familiar with this type of advertising. Think about TV commercials and radio ads, for example.

While interruptive advertising has been around for a long time, it is not very effective for the digital world. When you interrupt the user, you “cut” their engagement with the app.

In-app ads are presented in the context of an app and tend to be more relevant and, therefore, more effective. Since the user is already engaged with the app, in-app advertising blends seamlessly with the user experience.

When you integrate the ad with the app experience, for example, by giving recommendations, the ad gives value instead of pushing a sale.

Why In-App Advertising Vs. Website Advertising

People access both apps and mobile websites via their mobile devices. Some companies wonder if it is worth it to create an app. After all, they have a responsive, mobile website. However, they are different things, and their impact on the user is different too. Let’s examine the differences between mobile websites vs. mobile apps.

Why is it better to advertise in-app than on a mobile website? 

More Friendly Interface 

Every person that had to zoom in or tried to understand infinitely small letters on a mobile website knows the struggle. Applications are more user-friendly.

Apps also offer better personalization. It is easier to target the offering to a specific user since most apps let the user set the app preferences.

Consumers spend more time in applications, and because one person only uses them, the level of connection with the user is higher.

Higher Conversion Rate

Because users offered in-app advertising see more products than visitors on a mobile website; apps offer a higher conversion rate. Think about it, isn’t it easier to purchase something directly from the app than having to go to the website to buy the item? Right, the convenience the app offers is a challenging rival for a mobile website.

Mobile Apps Give Instant Notifications

Receiving a notification on your phone always seems more urgent and prompts a quicker action than an email. Push notifications reach a target audience anywhere, anytime. That’s why they are considered one of the most effective forms of marketing.

Better Targeting

Contrary to websites, mobile apps allow users to adjust their preferences and create an individual experience. The resulting personalization creates unique targeting opportunities, increasing engagement.

So, Why Should You Use In-App Advertising? Here Are 3 Reasons:

1. You can guide the user experience by mixing different in-app formats

When you use in-app advertising, ads are contextual and don’t look like ads but like helpful suggestions. By doing so, you can enhance and guide the user journey. Mix ad formats, for example, video, interactive, and text, so it is more engaging for the user.

2. The user spends more time in-app 

Engaged users spend more time using the app. Therefore, providing relevant and helpful in-app ads increases the possibilities of conversion.

3. You can target ads accurately

An ad network platform can help you segment and target ads according to different groups, locations, and demographics. This helps your ads stay relevant to the customer’s journey and intent.

Tips to Use In-App Advertising for Monetization

When you put the right ads in the right context, it gives users an experience that is more relevant to their needs. As mentioned above, this increases CTR, engagement, and conversion rates.

The key to using in-app advertising for monetization is implementing the right monetization solution. This will get you an increase in ROI. How do you do it? Here are a few tips:

• Pick the right solution for your app. Not all ad networks are the same. Some solutions focus more on banners, and others are more directed to gaming apps. Make sure the monetization solution offers ads that match your audience.
• When choosing the ad format, choose the most relevant and put them in front of the target audience within the app workflow. The less an ad seems like an ad, the better.
• Find a vendor that works for your business. Keep in mind which platforms you display the app on, and find a vendor that works with all of them.

EMBED VIDEO https://media.codefuel.com/video-animation-smart-watch.mp4

Strategies for Mobile App Advertising

The right network and ad type must align with your mobile app advertising strategies. Here are a few pillar strategies to succeed:

Contextualization

It helps to blend the advertising with the app experience. This feature lets you offer value and advertising at the same time, preventing disengagement problems like banner blindness. Display ads can be tricky in mobile advertising and disconnect the user from the app. By contextualizing, you tie the ad to the app function.

Understand and Target User Intent

What’s user intent? The term describes the user’s intention and purpose in using the app. For example, a user that downloads a taxi app is probably looking for rides.

A user playing a game wants to enhance their gaming experience, so you can offer in-app purchases. When you understand the user’s intent, you can target the advertising towards specifically this intent.

Improving the user experience and adding value 

People use apps because they are looking to solve a problem with them. However, ads do not always help with the purpose. Ads need to bring value and support the user experience. The more relevant and contextualized the ads, the higher the chances of converting.

Still, first, you need to promote your app to reach your target audience. How do you do it? 

App Monetization Statistics

First, let’s review some statistics that show how app development and monetization have grown in the last few years.

1. There are 6.6 billion smartphone users in the world

2. The number of apps in the Google Play Store passed 3 million by the 3rd quarter of 2022

The pandemic stalled applications’ releases, lowering the number of applications to 2016’s levels. At the end of 2022, however, we could see a recovery tendency, and now the number of apps surpassed 3 million.

3. Which Apps are the Most Popular? 

What types of apps do people use the most? 97% of people use Communication, and social apps, followed by Shopping, Entertainment, and Search, which are used by 95% of users, and over 60% of users have a Gaming app on their phones.

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It is unsurprising that social apps like TikTok and Instagram were the most downloaded in 2022. Communication apps like Zoom and Messenger follow close.

Source

4. Over half of web traffic comes from mobile devices

The percentage of people using their mobile phones to access the Internet has skyrocketed in the last few years. On February 2021, over half of all Internet traffic came through mobile phones, compared to 42.9% of desktop traffic and a mere 2.85% from tablets.

5. Mobile Ad Spending is increasing

With more than half of web traffic coming from mobile devices and growing, it is no surprise that mobile ad spending is increasing too.

According to Statista, mobile ad spending will surpass desktop ad spending by 2022. From $189 billion in 2019, we can expect companies to spend over $240 billion by 2022.

In-app advertising is a market in expansion. In fact, Mobile in-app advertising revenues are projected to reach over $900 billion by 2023. This provides an excellent opportunity for app developers and marketers to tap into the market.

Why is this? Because In-app advertising works. According to a recent report, in-app ads have a 10%  higher engagement rate than mobile web apps. In addition, the click-through rate of interstitial ads is 18 times higher than that of web ads.

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While banners are the cheapest, they are also less effective. Interstitial display ads are more expensive, but the CTR is much higher. Native ads also have higher conversion rates.

Therefore, if you want your app to convert, in-app advertising can be the solution.

True, it is a very competitive market.

So how do you make sure you can make money from your app with in-app advertising? Let’s explore.

What to Focus on To Get Your App to Stand Out

To get the word out in a saturated marketplace — remember they are over 3 billion apps only in the Google Play store—you need to be on target with your audience. To do that, start by asking the following questions:

Who are you advertising to?

Try to get as specific as possible with your audience. Chances are you already have a lot of information from when you created the app. Find out demographics, location, interests, and age group. The more you narrow the niche, the most effective your marketing.

For starters, you can work with the info you had to create your app. Once you begin advertising, you’ll get data through your ad network you can use to refine your campaigns. Learn what worked and what didn’t and re-target if necessary.

Where are they online?

If you are advertising an app, you need to reach your audience where they spend time online. Using the demographics and target audience profile you created in the last step, find out where your audience hangs out online.

• Create buyer personas and use this data to find out which social media channels they are more active on.
• Search on sites that cover your audience’s interests. Use social listening tools, search forums, or question-and-answer sites like Quora.
• Look at your competitors. Where are they promoting their apps? Chances are you have a similar audience.
• Survey your customers. Add a small survey after downloading or in the middle of the app workflow to check where your customers hang out online.
• Search Facebook Groups. Groups are a great source of information and offer you a ready-packed audience that is interested in what you offer.

How do you reach them?

Now that you know who your audience is and where they are, it is time to find the optimal way to reach them. You can promote your app via social media platform ads, through buying advertising space or using an ad network.

You’ll want to find ad networks that target your audience where they spend time online. For instance, if your target is professionals, LinkedIn will be more effective than Facebook. If your target is young people, try Instagram or Tiktok.

Find the right advertising solution

You can be as creative as you need to get the word out about your app. Some innovative advertising methods include smart installers, pay-per-install solutions, and bundling. Affiliate marketing, for example, lets you recruit online marketers to promote your product.

Advertising an app is not an exact science; you need to measure and refine your campaign until you get results.

Cool and Unusual Ways to Advertise your App

In the age of social media, you want the app to get the most exposure possible. You want everybody to know about it and use it.  Here are some out-of-the-box ideas to advertise your app.

Collaborate with Influencers

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is when companies partner with influencers in order to increase brand awareness or conversions among a specific target audience. (Bigcommerce)

According to a study, the ROI of influencer marketing can be 6 to 1, meaning for every $1 invested in influencer marketing, you can get $6.5 in return.

Partnering with an influencer can spread the voice of your app very quickly and on target. After all, almost half of the people look for an influencer recommendation before making a purchase.

Here are some tips to make the most of influencer marketing:

1. Find an influencer that caters to your target audience.
2. If your product is very specific, try a micro or medium influencer.
3. Look for an influencer with great rapport and steady relations with followers.

Social media

Nowadays, most consumers are using social media platforms before deciding whether buy something. You should advertise in the channel where your customers are. Over half of the apps are discovered outside the app store.

Here are some tips to promote your app on social media: 

1. Use paid ads on social media platforms.
2. Encourage user-generated content
3. Ask for reviews and ratings.
4. Tease your audience and create anticipation with tweets.

Viral marketing

A viral marketing campaign is designed to generate the most buzz around your app possible. The whole point is using the public as your medium to spread the word.

How do you generate the buzz? You can create a giveaway, a contest, or an event. You can use clever tweets combined with a funny and memorable videos in TikTok.

Provoke your audience, encouraging them to spread the word. A viral marketing campaign should be interesting enough that people would be compelled to share the video. Adding a freebie, for example, in exchange for shares can attract attention.

How to Optimize Your In-App Advertising Strategy in 10 Steps

In-app advertising helps brings a steady income, so you’ll want to do it right. The more effective your advertising, the more users will want to download and use your app. Below find some tips to monetize effectively with in-app advertising.

1. Put the User First

A user-centric approach in all your designs, from the user interface to your website and ads, will help give a consistent user experience. Focus on giving a seamless user experience throughout all the elements with which the user comes into contact.

2. Test New Ad Formats

There are new ad formats appearing every once in a while. If it seems your current ad formatting is not working, mix it up. Test different formats to see which ones work better for your users and increase conversion rates. Mix expandable ads, mobile video ads, recommendation engines, and interactive ads are some of the formats you can try.

3. Optimize What You Have 

Sometimes you cannot go over budget for every new strategy. If you’ve hit the ceiling of what new trends you can try, optimize what you’ve got. Keep re-testing and improving your existing strategy.

4. Use a One-Stop Mobile Marketing Shop

You can be tempted into signing in to every ad network and monetization program under the sun to maximize your returns. However, this can result in spreading your efforts too much, first, and you’ll end up analyzing data and ROI from a hundred sources.

Instead, sign up for a monetization and promotion platform. You can then manage all your analytics and monetization solutions under a centralized dashboard. A platform also integrates different ad networks giving you a unified solution.

5. Make Engagement a Priority

Downloading your app and using it are two different things. In-app advertising can work only if you get your user’s attention. Create a high-value app they want to use again and again. Then, integrate ads seamlessly into the app so they will stay engaged.

6. Focus on Usability If You Want Conversions

An app that is difficult to use can put off users after they download the app. When you design an app, remember:

Designing for conversion = Designing for Usability

The easier to use your app is, the better the user satisfaction. Sometimes, flashy graphics and heavy downloads make the user experience cumbersome. Whatever the goal of your app, ensure that your user can achieve it seamlessly. The more usable interface, the longer people will use it.

7. Don’t Slow Things Down

Speaking about stalling user journeys, ensure your app is easy and fast to download. The same happens with ads. If your interstitial ads take too long to download and display, users may leave the app.

8. Add Incentives

You want ads that convert immediately, so you can add immediate incentives for action. You can include limited-time discounts, giveaways, or bargains, as a way to get users to act immediately.

Another way is to add in-app upgrades tied with an affiliate offer, and it will likely jump your conversion rates. Or, add incentives for social sharing if you want to promote your app.

9. Add Strong Calls-to-Action

Sometimes you cannot design the ads that appear in your app. But if you do, include strong calls to action. Add triggers like “Act Now” or “Click here for your discount”. This can influence a user to complete an action, which will increase your conversions and revenue.

10. Understand Your Users

Understanding what your users want is the best way to give them a great user experience. Conduct user testing through surveys, A/B split testing, and interface optimization. The secret to a soaring monetization strategy is to find out what your users really need and give it to them as seamlessly as possible

How To Target In-app Ads on Google

One of the most popular methods to monetize in-app ads is to use Google Ads. Here’s an overview. You can have more information in the Google documentation.

What do you need to show your mobile app ads using Google Ads? 

• Join Google Ads.
• Select your targeting options, including topics, app categories, and content exclusions.
• The network will show the ads in the apps that match the targeting you’ve set for your campaign.

New and important: Google doesn’t support targeting app inventory using device settings and AdSense for mobile placements. 

Should You Use a Big Network or a Niche Solution?

When you try to monetize your app, finding the right network is critical. There are top companies you can use, such as Microsoft, Google, and Facebook, that boast massive reach, but is it the right thing for your app?

Pros and Cons of Big Networks

Giant networks like Microsoft, Google, and Facebook offer a few benefits for developers that advertise with them.

Pros

• Massive reach: The main benefit is the large user base these companies have. For instance, Google’s AdMob reaches millions of users around the world.
• Cross-platform: Most big companies offer advertisers to present ads in-app, search results, social media, and other channels.
• User targeting:  Facebook, for instance, draws from its social media data to target and optimize ads for users.
• Multiple types of Ads: Major platforms offer many types of ads, including interstitial, display, and contextual ads.

Cons

• Lack of specialization: Major platforms reach everyone, which means they market to the masses. If you have a specific app for a defined niche, a big network cannot do the trick.
• Too much to choose from: Large networks offer a lot of options, sometimes too many. This can be overwhelming for startups.

Pros and Cons of Niche Solutions

Niche solutions come in where large networks result are impractical. You can still benefit from large user bases, but ensure your app stays focused on your target audience. The goal is to reach the right users for your conversions to increase.

Pros

• Specialized Advertising Methods: Niche solutions give you the types of ads that large companies are too big to deal with. For instance, marketing texts, recommendation engines, and video ads. If your niche is specific, then out-of-the-box ads may work better than generic ads from Google.
• Niche Audiences: Let’s say you want to reach software users of a certain platform. It would be better if you use an ad network that reaches the users of that platform. You can use pay-per-install programs since they are already installing software. Recommendation engines can deliver relevant ads to users that search for something specific.
• Innovation: Since niche networks are more nimble than large networks, they often dedicate resources to innovative, creative approaches to monetization and advertising.

Cons

• Not suitable for everyone: There are; however, apps that do require massive generic reach, and a niche solution wouldn’t be enough.

Best Practices for a Successful In-app Advertising Strategy

Now that we covered the basics of in-app advertising, there are some best practices advertisers should consider:

How CodeFuel Can Help Monetize Your App

CodeFuel is a complete platform that leverages search, ads, shopping, and news to monetize your application. It offers different types of ads and integrates with major search engines and networks for a complete solution. By adding user intent monetization, the platform ensures viewers get the most relevant ads in-app, enhancing conversions.

Are you ready to increase your app ROI? Learn more about how CodeFuel helps.

Header bidding is one of the most critical elements of efficient advertising, where the ad space generates maximum ad revenue. There is much talk in digital advertising circles about the advantages of header bidding for programmatic advertising. But what exactly is header bidding, and how can you use it to maximize your revenue as a publisher? This post will give you an overview of header bidding, its trends, and how to implement it.

What Is Header Bidding?

With header bidding, publishers can offer their inventory to multiple SSPs (Supply-Side Platforms) and ad exchanges. In this type of programmatic auction, the bid requests are sent to multiple advertisers (demand partners) in real time.

Origin of Online Advertising Before Header Bidding

Before header bidding appeared, the auctions for ad space followed a waterfall model. In it, the ad space is auctioned and delivered when the page is loading.

The Programmatic Waterfall Model

In this model, the ad space is offered first to the publisher’s direct orders; then, if it is not sold, the space offer is passed down the line until it finds a better bid than the previous one. When this happens, the ad space is sold to this bidder.

The problem with the waterfall model is that you can easily miss higher bids. In the example above, the auction stops at the first “higher” bid, bid “B”, when the highest bid is “C” at $3.25, so actually, you may lose money with waterfall bidding. 

How Does Header Bidding Work?

1. Header bidding starts by adding a piece of JavaScript code in the header of a publisher’s page. This piece of code is what allows buyers to bid on an advertising inventory.
2. When a user visits a website, the publisher’s header tag sends requests to multiple ad networks.
3. The ad networks bid on the space. The winning bid is sent to the publisher’s ad server. 
4. The publisher’s ad server displays the winning ad.

Client Side vs. Server Side Header Bidding?

Client-side header bidding: you add the piece of JavaScript to the publisher’s website, which runs every time the page loads. The browser sends a request for bids, and the highest bid wins.

Server-side header bidding: here, the requests are sent from the ad server, not the browser.

How Header Bidding Solved The Problem Of Waterfall Bidding Issues?

In header bidding, the space goes effectively to the highest bid, regardless of its position in the auction.  The advertiser’s server shows the winning ad creative to the publisher’s server.

Header bidding lets publishers know what advertiser is bidding to maximize revenue and have better exposure for their brand.

How Do You Set Up Header Bidding?

The header bidding implementation requires the ad server to connect to the header bidding wrapper.  The wrapper, in turn, connects to the SSP adapter.

What’s a Wrapper?

Before wrappers, the publisher needed to insert each advertiser or DDP code snippet on their webpage. Inserting and deleting those code snippets every time an advertiser change is time-consuming and tedious.

Wrappers are software containers that hold the snippets from all demand partners.  Publishers can easily replace snippets without dealing with code if the wrapper has a graphic interface. The wrapper also contains the set prices and the timeouts. The most popular header bidding wrappers are Pubfood.js, BiddR360, and Prebid.js.

Steps to Implement Header Bidding in Google Ad Manager

Step 1: Building a wrapper

You can build it yourself or get it from a header bidding provider.

Step 2: Contact the SSPs. 

If the SSPs want to work with you, you can incorporate their adapters into your wrapper.

Here you can see how to set up a wrapper with Prebid.js:

1. Load the Prebid.js library. Go to prebid.org and download the library file in the version and with the adapters you want to work with.
2. Load the ad server library file. Using Google Ad Manager, you can load the GPT library file.
3. Run the header auction. Prebid pauses the first d server call, then sends bid requests to multiple demand partners. It fetches bids for the available inventory. Some useful features include ensuring the request doesn’t block the rest of the content or setting a timeout.

Step 3: Integrate the wrapper with your site.

Add the wrapper code to the header.

Step 4: Integrate the wrapper with the ad server. 

You can learn how to do it with Prebid.js here.

Step 5: Test the setup. 

Give the setup to your QA team or someone who worked on it previously and someone who doesn’t know about it, then check all bugs and fixes needed.

Implementation of Header Bidding Challenges

Publishers may find it challenging to implement header bidding. It is not easy to set up, and it requires to add many lines to the ad inventory. You need more upfront lift to traffic line items to implement header tag integrations.

Header bidding can impact page load speed because third-party tags may slow the loading time. The problem is when a visitor abandons the page before it loads, it will miss the ads.

Pros and Cons of Header Bidding for Publishers

How can header bidding benefit (+) publishers?

• Higher fill rates: with header bidding, more buyers are available, which increases the chances of filling the inventory. Header bidding makes it more likely to fill remnant inventory.
• Better visibility into inventory value: you can see the real price of what other publishers are selling their inventory, giving you a better picture of how much your inventory is worth.
• Higher cost per mile (CPM):  the header bidding system ensures the highest bid gets the impression.

What are the drawbacks (-) of header bidding for publishers?

Using client-side header bidding has some drawbacks:

• Increased latency: more scripts on a page slow down the load time, which hurts the user experience, reducing ad views, and, ultimately, conversions.
• Compatibility issues: the client-side header needs to be compatible with different browsers. Sometimes there are compatibility issues between the header and the browser.
• Slowed-down performance: the more code you add, the chances of slowing down the website and browser increase.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Header Bidding for Advertisers

Is header bidding only for publishers? Yes, and no. Let’s analyze the advantages and drawbacks of using header bidding for advertisers.

How can header bidding benefit advertisers?

The header bidding process was designed to help publishers maximize their revenue. However, advertisers may benefit from accessing premium inventory.  Advertisers see the available inventory and bid on premium spaces.  

What are the drawbacks for advertisers?

That being said, accessing premium inventory isn’t cheap. Large organizations with big advertising budgets can work with premium inventory, but the expense can hurt smaller brands. Additionally, header bidding companies have access to all the publisher inventory, preventing advertisers from doing deals directly with those publishers.

Why Header Bidding Is Better for Publishers?

The advantages of using header bidding are better for publishers. Header bidding is designed in such a way that publishers can get the most yield from their impressions.

Why?

1. It expands the advertisers’ pool, allowing them to reach more and better-paying advertisers.
2. The automated auction increases competition between advertisers, leading to a higher bid. You know that is true if you ever got into a bidding war on eBay.

Header Bidding Trends For 2022

The popularity of header bidding and its advantages for publishers resulted in the exponential growth of header bidding solutions. The evolution is not stopping, so here are some of its trends for 2022:

1. Too many options. Currently, header bidding is evolving to include multiple header bidding solutions available to publishers. Publishers have a hard time selecting the right solution. They need to consider the following factors:
   • The ability to generate maximum competition to increase revenue
   • The integration with the browser
   • Real-time optimization
   • Integration of demand channels into the same platform
2. Should you build, buy, or partner? Publishers face the dilemma of choosing whether to build their own header bidding or buy/partner with a third-party provider. Using a third-party provider has the advantage of addressing a larger demand market.
3. The appearance of the hybrid wrapper. Studies show that most publishers use hybrid set-ups (client-side and server-side combined) solutions. Additionally, omnichannel wrapper users are more likely to rely on hybrid wrappers.

What Is Open Bidding?

Open bidding is a programmatic bidding system that lets publishers invite advertisers to bid on auctions. The new auction is in real-time and server-to-server. It is easier to implement than header bidding because you can reuse your existing tags.

Header Bidding Vs. Open Bidding

Header Bidding vs. AdSense

FAQs

How CodeFuel Helps Marketers Maximize the Yield with Header Bidding?

CodeFuel is a monetization platform geared to maximize the revenue for publishers, and header bidding is one of the keys of its success. By increasing the competition among bidders, it ensures only the true highest bid gets the ad space. To achieve that, CodeFuel leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence technology. If you want to know more about how CodeFuel maximizes the monetization revenue for digital properties, request a demo today.

Are Native Ads Leading the Digital Advertising Market?

Let’s face it, native ads are a more recent solution. Display ads have been in use for decades, while native advertising has been growing in the last few years. Native ads have been taking the leadership of online advertising and are viewed 52% more times than display ads. With those results, it is no surprise that spending on native advertising is growing.

• In rs spent 37% more on native advertising. This percentage represents a 39.4% increase over the previous year.
• Native ad spending in the US is expected to reach $83.4 billion in 2022.

Native Ads

Now that we know that native advertising is leading the market, we will explore what native ads are and their performance.

What are Native Ads?

Native Ads are ads that blend with the design and style of the webpage they are placed on. These ads don’t look like ads, but as part of the editorial content on the page.

This non-intrusive ad format, integrates the advertisement to the editorial style of the website, and seems like organic content.

There are three primary forms of native advertising:

Infeed/ In Content ads: these ads integrate into content pieces like blogs or social feeds.

Content recommendation ads: these ads, often in the shape of sponsored content,  are placed alongside the editorial content, for example, at the end of an article or on the side of the page.

Branded Ads: these may appear as sponsored posts in social media or as listings on search engines.

You can find native ads as sponsored posts in social media or blogs. Native ads also appear as paid search units on search result pages of search engines like Google or Bing. Content discovery platforms use recommended content as native ads. Let’s see some examples of effective native ads:

4 Great Examples of Native Ads

1. Stranger Things playlist in Spotify

Spotify is a brand known for leveraging user data to create and enhance the user experience. The Netflix series “Stranger Things” is set in the 80s, which means the show features many iconic songs from that era. Netflix partnered with Spotify to create playlists based on the show’s characters. Spotify users can log into their accounts and enter into “Stranger Things” mode, where they are assigned a Spotify Playlist based on a character of the show.

2. Social media ads

Social media is the most typical example of native advertising. Ads appear in social media apps’ feeds. These social media ads are placed in the user’s feed, matching organic content perfectly.

3. Taco Bell and Snapchat

Taco Bell partnered with Snapchat to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. They sponsored a filter that made users’ faces look like taco shells. The filter successfully got over 224 million views in one day, promoting Taco Bell across Snapchat.

4. Patron Tequila and Twitter

Patron Tequila partnered with Twitter to promote their brand on social media on International Margarita Day. They asked people to choose the best margarita recipe out of seven.

The Patron strategy enabled the organization to engage its audience, creating a community by sharing and liking its brand.

What’s the Performance of Native Ads?

According to a survey by Sharethrough media labs on 4770 consumers, native ads are more effective than display ads. Here are some key findings:

• Native ads are 18% more effective in purchase intent than banner ads.
• 25% more users looked at in-feed native ads than display ads. 
• 53% more users looked at native ads than at display ads. 

Sizes of Native Ads

The size of native ads will vary depending on the publisher’s requirements.  For instance, for Google developers, the most popular sizes are 1,200px x 627px and 600px x 600px.

What Are the Pros and Cons of Native Ads?

Display Ads

What are Display Ads?

Display ads are what most people consider “digital ads.” Examples are banner ads, videos, and interactive and pop-up functions. Display ads typically have a lower click-through rate than other types of ads. However, CTR is not the only measure of a campaign’s success, and display ads improve brand awareness and purchase intent.

3 Great Examples of Display Ads and Why They Work

1. PayPal Vertical Banner

In this side vertical banner, Paypal wants its users to know that they can pay with their Venmo account. This ad’s goal is to create awareness about a new service, so it is not geared to create conversions.

2. Elle.com

Elle magazine provides space in its homepage for relevant advertisers. Here, you can see a display square ad from the fashion brand Alembika. It has a disclaimer written on top of the ad that claims this image as an advertisement.

3. Microsoft

This brand doesn’t need to spread awareness, because it is widely recognized. Instead, Microsoft uses display ads to promote the core benefit behind the product.

Performance of Display Ads

So, how effective are display ads? Here are some statistics:

• Total display ad spending is expected to reach $143.55 billion in 2022. (Insider Intelligence)
• Digital ads increase brand awareness by 80%.
• Retargeting works: Customers are 70% more likely to purchase from a retargeting ad. (Tech Jury PPC stats)
• A user search increases after seeing a display ad.
• 27% of consumers search for a business after seeing a display ad.

Sizes of Display Ads

So, Which Is Better For Your Campaign: Native Advertising, Display or Both?

Consumers are bombarded every day with ads popping up left and right. In this digital space saturated with advertising, it is increasingly difficult to grab the consumer’s attention and engage them enough to act. Native ads have the advantage of being unobtrusive, and naturally, they overtake display ads. But display ads are not dead. In reality, you need both since each one serves different purposes.

FAQs

Conclusion

Publishers wishing to simplify leveraging native and display ads often choose a monetization platform. CodeFuel is a complete, all-in-one monetization solution that leverages display, shopping, and search ads to monetize digital properties.

Digital advertising marketing in India is growing by leaps and bounds, impacted by the global digital marketing industry. Statista predicts the market will continue growing at a compound annual rate of 29% by 2023. Despite its many benefits, programmatic advertising is not yet widespread.

Publishers in India who want to use an ad network may have doubts about choosing the right one and what are the available offers. Here you have a primer on ad networks and the top ad networks for publishers in India.

What Is an Ad Network?

An ad network is an ad tech company that acts as an intermediary between publishers (suppliers of ad space) and advertisers (buyers of ad space) to meet their campaign goals.

Ad networks collect and inventories from suppliers such as website owners and application developers, offering them to demand partners looking for ad space. Demand sources are companies and agencies looking to place ads on websites or apps.

Importance of Ad Networks

Ad networks are essential in the digital advertising ecosystem, acting as technical middlemen between advertisers and publishers. The ad network software provides integrations for the supply side to offer their inventory and advertisers to activate and monitor campaigns.

The goal of an ad network is to help publishers maximize their yield in their monetization efforts, control their fill rate, and sell leftover inventory.

Different Types of Ad Networks

There are numerous offers of ad networks. Some cater to a specific niche, while others work with multiple industries, and others hold premium inventory only. Let’s explore the different ad networks you may find.

Premium Ad Networks

These ad networks offer exclusive inventory from high-quality and very popular publishers. Their high standards for inventory often bring better results in conversions and engagement.

Examples of premium networks include Google Display Network, AdMob, Adcash, and Yahoo Gemini.

Vertical Ad Networks

These ad networks are dedicated to a specific topic. They work with publishers that deliver content around that vertical, like fashion, business, or technology.

Advertisers usually know where their ads are displayed in vertical ad networks. While the traffic volume is lower than in horizontal ad networks, the results are often higher because the ads reach a specific audience.

Examples of vertical ad networks for the technology vertical include Criteo, Koomona, BuySellAds, and Developer Media.

Inventory-Specific Ad Networks

Also specialized networks, these ad networks work with a specific type of inventory, or target a specific type of device, for example, only to mobile devices or selling only video ads space. Mobile ad networks, in particular, are very popular as most people spend more time on their smartphones.

Examples of mobile ad networks include Google AdMob, InMobi, and Apple Search Ads.

Affiliate Advertising Networks

Affiliate networks connect companies seeking to promote their products or services with content owners and influencers. These networks typically provide training, reporting and resources to support affiliates.

Why Do Publishers in India Benefit from Ad Networks?

The primary factor pushing digital advertising growth in India is the spread of mobile device usage and internet connectivity. The increasing popularity of smartphones makes mobile advertising a growing industry.

Sources: Statista

However, programmatic advertising is not widespread, with 62% of digital media ads bought via direct manual channels. Therefore, there is a potential market niche for ad networks. Indian publishers can reap the benefits of programmatic advertising, such as convenience and efficiency, higher yield, fraud prevention, and data privacy.

What to Look For in an Ad Network in India?

There are many leading ad networks available to publishers in India. And the digital advertising jargon doesn’t help when looking for the right one for your organization. What size network is the right one for you? Should you opt for a CPC or a CPM pricing model? What is a standard IAB ad unit? 

Some of these questions can be intimidating if you are new to digital advertising. But don’t worry. We compiled a list of factors you should consider when choosing an ad network.

Suitable Ad Formats

What are the ad formats the ad network supports? Formats can impact the ad performance, and one size that works for one website can be a disaster for another. Most ad networks offer multiple formats. For example, the standard IAB display units. Other formats include:

• Custom display ads
• Rich media ads
• Interstitial ads
• In-text
• In-feed
• Search boxes

Do you want to know more about ad formats? We compiled this guide: What is an Ad Unit and Which One Is the Best?

If you are not sure which of these formats will work best on your site or app, it is better to go with a network that offers multiple ad formats, so you can test.

Size of Advertiser Network

Without a doubt, a network with thousands of advertisers can give you a better performance than one with hundreds. Why does the size of an ad network matter?

• A bigger network has more advertisers that will compete for your ad spaces
• A large pool of advertisers may also mean the network may cover more geographic areas.
• The higher competition is beneficial for publishers that can get a better yield for their inventory.

However, size is not the only factor that matters. Some publishers may benefit from a smaller ad network that caters to their specific niche.

Optimized Ad Placement

The primary task of ad networks work primarily with publishers to help them sell remnant inventory. They also improve ad placements through consistent reporting and tracking of ad performances. 

Publishers can look at the reports and adjust the ad placements to maximize their yields. Look for an ad network with extensive and detailed reporting. If they offer real-time analytics, even better.

Advantageous Revenue Share

Compensation and payment terms are important factors to consider when choosing an ad network. Every ad network has its preferred compensation methods. The most common ones are CPC (Cost per Click), CPM (Cost per a thousand impressions), and CPA (Cost per action).

• Cost per Click: advertisers pay a certain amount of money each time a user clicks on an ad.
• Cost per Mile: publishers fix a cost for every thousand impressions of an ad.
• Cost per View: advertisers pay every time their ad is viewed.
• Cost per Action: publishers get paid a certain among of money each time a user completes a specific action. For instance, completing a registration form.

Do you want to know more about pricing models? Check our guide CPC vs CPM Bidding: What’s the Difference in 2022. 

Payment terms are also important to consider. You can test the different payment models and see which one gives you more revenue. Choose an ad network that provides the pricing model and payment terms that match your needs. 

Fast Load Speeds

The underlying technology of your chosen ad network can impact the user experience, and ultimately, your revenue.  A good ad network should provide a solid infrastructure, and fast load speeds. You don’t want ads to roll up so slowly the visitor loses interest and leaves the page.

10 Best Ad Networks for Publishers in India

Now that we know more bout what ad networks are, how do they work and how to choose the right one, we can explore our pick of the ten best ad networks for publishers in India.

1. Google AdSense

Google AdSense is perhaps the most popular ad network globally. Powered by Google, it enables publishers to monetize their websites, blogs, or YouTube channels by displaying ads. 

Here are some key features:

• Google pays the publishers when a visitor clicks on an ad displayed in their property, or based on the number of impressions.
• Advertisements can have multiple formats, images, video, or rich media.
• Google uses programmatic bidding to select the highest bid among advertisers of Google Adwords.

What are the requirements to join?

• You must be over 18 years of age
•  You must own and manage your site. 
• Traffic should be genuine.
• The content of the site must be unique
• Comply with Google Content Policies
• There is no minimum traffic requirement

Related content: How To Make Money with Google AdSense

2. Media.Net

Media.net is an ad network  that has become crazy popular over the last few years.  It is one of the biggest competitors of the Google AdSense program. Media.net focuses on  PPC contextualized ads. The platform targets sites of all sizes and offers  optimized mobile ads.

What are the requirements to join?

•  Your site content needs to be in native English
•  Most of your traffic should come from the US, UK and Canada.
• You need to feature premium content
• No ad cluttering.
• Your site  must be  user-friendly and easy to navigate.

3. PopAds

PopAds is an advertising network specialized in pop-under ads. It is highly popular, legitimate and high paying. Here are some of its features:

• Accept all kinds of websites
• Low payment threshold
• Cost per View payment model
• Pop-under ads
• High CPM rate

What are the requirements to join?

• There are no specific requirements for getting PopAds approval
• You only need to register as a webmaster and wait for approval.

4. PropellerAds

Propeller Ads is an alternative to Google AdSense, offering display, native, video and mobile ads with the affiliate services. The platform functions as an ad network for the publishers and a self-serve platform for advertisers. Some key features include:

• Global coverage
• High quality ads
• Compatible with AdSense
• Community of publishers
• Push notifications

What are the requirements to join?

• No minimum traffic requirement
• You just need to sign up as a publisher and verify the domain ownership

5. RevenueHits

RevenueHits is a self-service ad network that supports a range of ad formats both for desktop and mobile.

• It supports CPA and CPM
• Supports only English websites
• Good reporting and central dashboard
• Multiple payment terms

What are the requirements to join?

• No minimum traffic required
• Because is a self-serve network a publisher only has to register

6. PopCash

PopCash is an ad network focused on a single type of traffic. Pop traffic. Pop ads are very popular among advertisers because of its high conversion rates.

• The platform is user friendly
• Their proprietary technology opens the pop ad in a different window under the current browser page. 
• The platform is easy to navigate
• It has a centralized dashboard with an account manager feature
• Works under the CPV model
• Multiple payment methods

Characteristics and Requirements

• No minimum traffic requirement
• Submit your website and place the popunder code

7. HilltopAds

HilltopAds is a relatively new player in the ad network market. Working under a CPM pricing model, it is oriented towards publishers. 

• They accept websites from all geolocations
• Work with sites from a lot of verticals including gaming, social and dating
• Specializes in pop advertising but also offers banners, in-video and native ads
• Multiple payment options including Bitcoin and Tether

What are the requirements to join?

• High quality traffic (not specified)
• To start, you need to sign up and add the site for approval

8. Tyroo

This ad network headquartered in New Dehli, is specialized in mobile advertising. Tyroo offers native advertising technology for e-commerce sites.

• 15 focus markets across India
• 100% fill rate
• CPM based but offers also CPA, Cost per Download.
• Multiple ad formats
• Timely payouts
• Partners with Snapchat

Characteristics and Requirements

• There is no minimum traffic requirement
• The application and content needs to comply with Tyroo quality standards

9. Infolinks

Infolinks is one of the most profitable CPM ad networks in india. It offers many ad unit types, like in-text, in-rame, overlay ads, interstitial and tg cloud ads.

• Multiple ad formats
• High revenues for publishers

What are the requirements to join?

• No minimum traffic required for approval

10. adChakra

It is an unified platform for cross device programmatic advertising. It supports desktop and mobile media ads.

• Both free and paid options
• Focused in the computers, electronics and technology vertical, but also caters other verticals
• Focused in India

What are the requirements to join?

• No minimum traffic required

Optimize Your Revenue Streams with CodeFuel

What could be better than choosing an ad network from that list? Leveraging CodeFuel, of course. CodeFuel goes beyond ad networks, delivering a complete monetization solution. You have all the benefits of ad networks and more, for all types of digital properties. It is designed to maximize publisher’s revenue, delivering intent-based shopping and search ads.

Want to know more about the advantages of using CodeFuel? Request a demo today.