Post updated March 25, 2015.
“It’s money that matters.” – Randy Newman
The secret’s out – it’s not easy to make money with apps.
Everyone who’s on this blog at some point has watched, read or purchased content from someone talking about how you can make millions of dollars with apps. They talk about how every download you can get is going to make you AT LEAST $1…all you need to do is get apps in the store.
I hate to break it to you, but that’s bullshit.
If you think that you’re just going to sit back, relax, and watch the money pour in, you’re in for a rude awakening. App monetization is not about being in the game, it’s about winning. It’s not about downloads, it’s about dollars.
In fact, if it wasn’t for a few key app monetization networks, I’d be in a lot of trouble. Up until now, making money on apps required a LOT of downloads, much the same way websites require a lot of traffic.
Strategies like in-app purchases, Lite -> Paid up-sells, and CPM advertisting (Admob/iAds) are DYING, yo. Straight up. I know this from first hand experience.
Fun fact – one week 2 years ago the in-app purchases from 3 of my apps made me about $70. The new monetization I’m doing make me over $800. To learn more about this, be sure to join the inner circle.
In-app purchases took me 2 days to program in and $300 in development work. The new services take 10 mins and involve 2 lines of code.
Some people have different results, no question. This can vary from category to category and depend on download volume.
The Glory of Inequality – Why It Pays To Love Rich People
Yeah, you heard me.
[tweet_box design=”default”]When it comes to making money with apps, the best thing you can do (at least for a while) is to make rich developers even richer.[/tweet_box]
Instead of trying to sell your own apps, sell theirs. Here’s why.
Now – please understand that I’m all about following your dreams and staying the course. To create a brand that’s as strong as iron and as cool as Triumph Motorcycles is the ultimate dream for anyone getting into apps.
But this article isn’t for you – this is for the thousands of you out there that just want to make money. You want to build an app and have it spit out $80/day and then repeat that process.
So here’s a quick and dirty breakdown about the app market that maybe you don’t know (if you haven’t opted in to my email list and read the $0.51 article, I highly recommend you do so before reading this):
Take a look at the apps on the Top Grossing lists, specifically the top 25. You’ll notice that most of them are Free.
Top Grossing AND Free??
WTF.
[sc name=”Position – 1 – Shortcode” ]
These apps have enormous monetization pathways within their apps and can pull in upwards of $5 PER DOWNLOAD. That means every time anyone downloads their app, they can expect to make an average of $5 off that person over the lifetime.
That’s insane.
Like any business person, these apps get to the point where they can prove these numbers and the developers say to themselves “Wow – we just need to get more downloads and we’ll make way more money!” The Apple charts and regular marketing helps, but they want to DRIVE users to their game.
They want to purchase downloads. And at $5 per user, they can definitely afford to do that.
Now, most (99%) of the developers out there who use ad networks to buy traffic are looking to spend $0.05 per click or $0.50 for an install. After fees, the publisher (the person who’s showing the ad) makes a whopping $0.02 – $0.30. Not horrible, but that’s not going to help you retire.
Enter the Goliath who can make $5 per download. He says “Hell, I can pay out $3.50 per install!” A publisher like you or me delivers them an install and, after fees, makes $3!!!
Simple as that. The best part?
These huge app companies have an insatiable appetite for downloads – their instructions are pretty much “We’ll take everything ya got, buddy.”
Glory, glory, hallelujah. I’ll sell you downloads for $3 a pop allllll day.
Leveraging a Winning Model – The Birth of an Empire
Enter Guilherme Schvartsman, the creator of a few little games called Ant Smasher and Bunny Shooter. They’ve combined for over 80M downloads. No big deal.
The problem, however, is that those 80M downloads were not translating into big dollars. Gui knew he could deliver a ton of installs, but the ad solutions out there were only paying peanuts. Like a true marketer, he realized the above opportunity with top grossing companies and inked a deal that he would try out on his own apps.
The result? A waterfall of money. Millions of dollars. The kind of money that changes lives permanently.
And just like that – the birth of RevMob.
The rise of mobile ad networks
What Gui did was essentially create an entire ad network with premium advertisers in order to maximize the eCPM (earnings per thousand) for developers and publishers that promoted the advertisers. The beauty of this model is that with only a few clients who want unlimited downloads, everyone’s happy.
When I first heard of RevMob in 2012 I was skeptical, per usual, but figured I’d give it a whirl. I had some success with Chartboost and wanted to see if these eCPM claims held up.
I installed the SDK in about 8 minutes and released a few apps with the new code.
Boom.
The first week I had my apps pulling in anywhere from $18 eCPM up to $125 eCPM. My app revenue went up 10X. I all of a sudden realized that everything in my world had changed – this powerful system was working….and changing my life. Well, for a short period of time.
The Fall of an Empire
Like all good things, my RevMob campaigns came to an end. Presently in 2015, RevMob can only be found in a handful of my apps and $125 eCPM is completely unrealistic.
With the millions of apps added to the Store since 2012, people caught on to RevMob and other (better) Ad Networks have emerged. That isn’t to say a $125 eCPM is impossible.
There are going to be some people who make it work with their own apps and strike it big with in-app purchases and various traditional monetization models, but mark my words – Ad Networks are continuing to evolve with more features and smoother UIs.
What you can expect to see are $1-$50 eCPM. Still solid numbers. Ad Networks now have a lot of additional functionality. Instead of the traditional RevMob full screen interstitials, you can:
- Add buttons, text and colors
- More Games screens
- Video interstitials
- Rewards campaigns
- Scrolling features to show more apps
- You can even link ad interstitials to IAPs
WOW!
A lot has changed since 2012 when I was introduced to RevMob.
Apple has caught on too. More rejections have emerged, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Like us kind good hearted developers, Apple wants to make sure their users have the best experience possible and aren’t bothered by nagging popups.
However, Apple has little control over 3rd party SDKs. Campaigns can be switched off during the review process and turned back on after launch if a user is really inclined to get it in the Store.
Feel the Vibe
Ad Networks and increasing your eCPM is all about experimenting, you gotta feel the vibe man. When I noticed my early day RevMob campaigns dropping, I knew it was time to act.
The good news is my gameplan hasn’t had to change too much from the early days. Get people to download my Free app so they they can get MORE free apps.
Turn your pop ups into part of a selling process. If people like a free version of an app, use ad networks to promote better features in the PRO version. These convert well, the biggest challenge is testing the right marketing text and image.
People always ask what my favorite ad networks are. My first response is always Chartboost, hands down.
They’re the best for games, convert better than a Transformer and are just solid guys to work with. I’ve developed personal relationships with some of their staff, and they genuinely put themselves out there to help others and increase conversions.
New ad networks popup everyday. Some are worth looking into, others feel like cheap knockoffs.
My advise is to pick some of the popular ad networks and experiment. Here are a couple ways you can help conversions:
- Change ad placement and order
- Change campaign type (interstitial, banner, video…)
- Target your audience
These 3 will heavily change your ad conversions. And they’re somewhat painless.
Do Yourself a Favor
Sign up to Chartboost, Applovin, AdMob, Xplode, and Vungle today (for free). You don’t need to integrate all of them, but scroll around and see which ones you feel comfortable with.
If you have an app, you definitely should. If you’re thinking about it, you definitely should.
If you want to hear more information like this, sign up for my newsletter and download my free ebook by clicking here.
See ya!
Carter
Thanks Carter, great article. I’ll totally consider this when brainstorming, developing and marketing. It’s crazy how quickly monetization methods change in this biz. RevMob seems legit, and the freemium model a hit. Thanks again
Andrew
Hi Carter
First of all thanks for the eBook 4 hour apps, it is very inspiring and informative.
I only started looking at building an app this week, and when I found Bluecloud it really resonated well with me.
So I signed up, and have been reading as much of your stuff as possible since.
Ultimately I want to create an app, something basic to start with, just to go through the process.
Anyway, before that I have two questions for you.
First of all do any company’s pay just for a concept of an app?
And with regards to RevMob, can their ads be used on websites?
Thanks
Doug.
Hey Doug,
Thanks for reaching out and the kind words. Here are answers to your questions:
1. There are no companies that I know of that will pay for a concept of an app. But, let me add to this. If you’re just trying to get funding, there are lot of options like TapJoy’s Fund and AppBackr, etc. Usually this involves a bit more than a concept, but it’s an option.
For other concepts, you’re going to need something proprietary if you want to add value to your concept. If you have an idea for a pizza making app, you will probably never be able to sell the idea itself, but if you get the licensing right of Domino’s…now you’re talking.
What this basically means is that you need to turn the “concept” into a “contract” or “package” that has market value. You can get creative about this – maybe have a guarantee from someone that they’ll blast the launch to their email list of 2M subscribers, or 50K FB fans, etc. The point is that a concept isn’t worth anything, but intellectual property and contracts are.
2. Revmob, as far as I know, cannot be used on websites. It has to do with the Apple and Android APIs and the restrictions of what we can do right now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if something like that popped up (AdWords meets CPI networks?? Good lord.)
Best of luck to you Doug. Drop a line when you launch your first app!
Carter
Hi Carter,
Would need some advice from you on how to download the 4-hours Apps eBook. I am a current subscriber. Appreciate your reply. 8)
Thanks!!
Hey Ken,
There is a link for the book that comes in your welcome email. I’ll email you directly the link to make sure you have it.
Thanks!
Carter
Hi Carter,
When using RevMob, does it allow you to choose how often it pops up? Can I turn it off without having to get a developer to take the code out of the app? I am just concerned about annoying my app’s user and was wondering how easy or difficult it would be to reverse?
thanks
Donna
Hey Donna,
Great question. The answer is yes, you can control everything. More specifically:
1. Yes, you can control how often it pops up. The highest eCPMs according to them come from when you serve it at the beginning when the “application becomes active” which is in your AppDelegate file. That’s developer talk for your Master Plan file which tells your app what needs to happen when things boot up.
Similarly, you can add your own timer to this (show every 120 seconds) or you can place it in different areas of the game. In a few of my games I only show it after they lose a level and after they’ve played the game 3 times.
You can also use RevMob’s new AdLink which means you can leverage their eCPM without the popup – simply create a “More Games” button and use that code like you would use a hyperlink and it provides the RevMob earnings power however you would like you use it. This has proved to be HUGE for my earnings.
2. Yes you can control everything in terms of turning on and off from the RevMob dashboard. When I have an app that I’m going to launch as Paid, I will install the code into the game, but turn the campaign to Pause in the dashboard so that no ads show. But – when I decide to do a big promotion and make the game free, all I need to do is turn it on and the ads start running – no updates needed. Pretty slick.
Here’s a screenshot of what an app looks like in the RevMob dashboard to show you how easy it is to control:
Hope that helps!
Carter
Great article!
I’ve started using RevMob and the eCPM is really impressive.
Thanks a lot.
Cheers,
Mark
Hi Carter
I’m a newby to the app scene (though now full time cramming to catch up). I’ve just downloaded your Addictive Games as suggested in your blog to see how the RevMob works and got a bit lost and almost downloaded another game. Do you think RevMob relies somewhat on those of us who have very little app experience and stumble through the download process inadvertently downloading the wrong app? (heck, another first for me, my first blog!)
Ange –
No worries – that app has a lot of different stuff going on so I don’t blame you. RevMob is the “Download a Free game Now!” popup that comes up at the beginning. Download Alpha Combat for another example, or Coconut Craze. They all have it.
Answer to your question is no – that’s more my fault than RevMob’s. I promoted my own games instead of Revmob’s and with their new AdClick id sender call, I will probably update it so that everything you see will go through Revmob.
As Gui says in his FAQ – why promote your own games (which you’ll probably make pennies on) when you can promote games that you’ll make $2 on?
Hope that helps.
Carter
Hey carter,
My brother and I are thinking about starting up an app. Now I am not the best at any type of computer programming but he has a little experience. I basically have more of the business knowledge of it. So where do you think is the best place to start at? We definetly don’t mind putting in the hard work so don’t hold back.
Hey Shawn,
1. If you haven’t already, read through the ebook I wrote – you can download it via the right hand side of the website. That’s got a lot of info that will help you.
2. The best thing to do first is to do a mind map of how the app will work – the more detail the better. Basically turn your idea into something you can hand over to a developer who can then understand your goals easily. This can be done with pen and paper or in a word document – whatever works best for you.
3. Check out the video interview I did of Steve – he has some good info about how to get started from a developer’s perspective.
Hope that helps and good luck!
Carter
Hi,
I implemented revmob about 3 days ago in my android app and the results are getting me a little concerned cause until now i had about 126 clicks and 1 install which they paid $0.02 cents for that.
I read from a guy with an iPhone app that had 3000 clicks and only 3 installs but he did $6 (http://ipartymobile.com/my-results-with-revmob/).
So there seems to be a big disparity here. If this continues like this i will try other network cause with 126 clicks i would have earned more then just 0.02 cents.
Steve
And i made some tests on my own guess what they keep paying me 0.02 cents what a joke, this would be good if it were clicks but installs? you know how hard is to get 1 install right?
Steve
Hey Steve,
I can offer a few pieces of insight. For one – I have a few apps that also reflect a $0.02 revenue per install everyone once in a while. I wrote an email to the Revmob team and asked them and am waiting to hear back about this specifically. I’ll report back when I do.
Second, here’s a response Ariel passed along (CFO):
We’re currently seeing much better eCPMs for iOS than for Android and this can be mainly attributed to a lack of high-paying campaigns for Android. We’re working really hard to bring new campaigns in the short term in order to bring Android eCPMs to higher levels again.
Also please realize that your install rate will probably be around 1% – so the 126:1 ratio isn’t out of the ordinary. You can try Chartboost if you want to monetize clicks + installs, but your eCPM won’t be as high. But, I say give it a shot if you want to try it out.
Hope that helps.
Carter
Hi Carter,
Good post. You have given me “food for thought”. I have just lost a week’s work with a developer in relation to the monetisation method of my first app. I was going the route of using an ad mediator with adnetworks ( to ensure high fill rates ) for my advertising and it has turned out to be challenging to say the least. Not helped by this being my first app so maybe I was “biting off more than I could chew”.
I had already signed up with revmob after reading Trey Smiths post and now after you explaining it even more clearly here I now see I could have got my developer to implement revmob and it would have been 100 easier to configure in the app.
Now big question though
1. is that while ad networks will pay per impresson or click am I correct is saying that your eCPM stats at the beginning of this post relates not to impressions but actually installs –
2. So unless people are downloading and installing these apps then you won’t make any money with revmob
3. Is it only game apps that revmob show in its network & if so how well would this work for non game apps. I eventually want to go the route of games but this app business has a big learning curve so want to walk before I can run
Regards,
Locky
Hey Locky,
Glad I could help. I find that when I understand how something works, I can become much more creative. I hope to help people like you see how a premium model works so that you get excited about implementing it.
Answers to your questions:
1. Yes correct. Revmob is a CPI network and thus does not pay for impressions or clicks.
2. Correct. You are paid per install you deliver.
3. According to Gui (the CEO), they have had great success with other categories such as entertainment or lifestyle. You will be promoting games always, but often users in non-game apps will still want to download a free game.
Good luck and please keep me in the loop with your successes.
Carter
Carter –
What are your thoughts on a patent? Should one patent their app before release? If so, how much does that run typically? I would truly appreciate a response! Thanks!
Carter –
I’m not sure why my post was deleted. I just wanted to know your opinion on patenting an app and if it’s worth so doing. If so, how much typically does it cost? Thank you.
Hey Victor –
Didn’t get deleted, I just need to approve the comments before they go live.
The only reason to patent something is if it’s proprietary. Let’s say you make an app like Square and have developed your own form of payment processing. You may want to patent the technology behind that. Everything else is kind of a wash.
You might think about Trademarking something if you think the brand will blow up.
Patents are really expensive. You’re looking at least $30,000 in the US to do so.
Other options include “trade secrets” which are very cheap ways to protect yourself the way a patent does, but it’s much less effective in court.
Check out this book if you want some awesome insights into the business side of apps (trademarks, patents, etc).
Carter
I have tried to use it for only one week, the eCPM is very high is not the TRUTH, the following the report:
eCPM Revenue
iOS 4_IN_1_ROW powered by Mathematicians $2.05 $1.02
iOS 4_IN_1_ROW for iPad $0.74 $0.02
Hey Zou,
Those numbers are low, definitely. In fact, the past two weeks have shown lower than usual eCPM. I spoke to Gui (Revmob CEO) over the weekend because I am seeing a big dip in revenue as well. Here’s what’s going on:
Revmob’s current model is built on relationships with premium advertisers. These advertisers were heavily advertising their games and had really high bids for the CPI floor. About 2 weeks ago, those bids were suddenly changed so that the game companies can get ready for a new game launch this coming week, at which point they will put the gas on again and all of our eCPM will skyrocket.
Similarly, Revmob is actively locking down new clients that can pay higher install prices which will make sure this dip doesn’t happen again. They are well aware of the situation and are actively working to correct it. Remember – Gui’s games are one of the #1 performers for Revmob so he’s more incentivized (and aware) to remedy the situation as fast as possible.
I hope that helps. I urge you to continue using the SDK through the next weekend and see if you get a lift after that.
Carter
Hi Carter,
I read your 4 Hour App book and spent some time on your blog (thanks for all the great info!). I am uploading my app tomorrow. Do you recommend starting off as a paid app (like your book states) or going with RevMob right up front?
My app is a trivia type game (of that matters). Your insight on using similar game keywords was great. I used that info with a subscription to appcod.es to get everything honed in.
Looking forward to your response.
Hey Brian,
Hell yeah on the app upload. Here’s what I would do:
Install the SDK as if you’re going to launch with Revmob, but push the Pause button on the game’s status. This means the app is still live with Revmob, but it’s not going to display ads. Launch the app as paid. Let it run for a week or two and market the hell out of it (put it on blogs, review sites, social media, etc) and get a buzz going as a paid app.
Then, make it free and press the “go” button on the Revmob dashboard.
The reason I recommend this is because you’re going to have a lot more data to determine what your best model is. It’s a lot harder to go from free -> paid. Also, when you launch paid, then switch you free, you get picked up on all the website aggregators that pull in the Apple RSS, which can actually give you a larger spike than launching free.
Hope that helps. Kick some ass.
Carter
Hi Carter,
I am looking to build my first app real soon, but i would like s simple laymen answer to how you make money with Revmob through monetization, so if someone installs one of revmob games within my app and installs the game on their phone i get paid and only then is this correct? if so how much money do i get paid per install
Thanks
John
John,
Here it is:
Your game displays an ad that says “download a free game!”
User clicks on that ad which drops them on an itunes page for the advertised game.
User installs that game.
You are paid.
—–
You don’t make money on clicks. Installs can pay anywhere from $0.10 up to $9 each depending on the game (Revmob controls that through their servers).
Make sense?
Carter
Hi Carter,
Just wanted to first say I appreciate you getting back to folks and their questions so quickly although I see I am the first to write something in a month on this blog. I wanted to know if its possible, and if so, how does one add or integrate the Revmob SDK into a jquery mobile app which will then be packaged for native using PhoneGap. I am about to re-launch a free cross-platform app of a winery directory that I did for Android only and used pure Java(Eclipse) for development. It was essentially to get my feet wet in app development and see what all the hype was about. Now I am starting to envision some monetary potential. There has been a huge increase in downloads lately and I want to ‘cash-in’ on the traffic while I can. I have set up accounts with AdMob and a couple others but then I stumbled onto your site, read all the comments and now am even more excited with the Revmob concept. Please let me know if this can work with jquery mobile via Phone Gap..
Many thanks in advance!
Scott
Hey Scott,
I don’t think Revmob is available for mobile apps yet. You can definitely integrate it into your Android project and they even have an Amazon SDK now, but nothing for web apps. I do know that they’re trying to create a web -> app CPI model which may be what you’re looking for.
You might have better luck contacting them directly, they’ll be able to answer any question you have.
Good luck! Love the winery directory idea, btw.
Carter
Hi Carter,
Thanks for the reply. Actually I am in contact with RevMob directly and they have already pointed me to the jquery mobile/PhoneGap SDK so it is just a chunk of code away. I need to finish the app first(sometime next week) and will install RevMob. Thanks for the posts and I look forward to more from you.
Scott
Awesome – congrats. Hope you make a TON of money 🙂
Good luck,
Carter
Carter,
Perhaps you address this elsewhere (my apologies), but most of these comments seem to be most relevant to games. What about a dining guide app or a travel guide app? I find people get frustrated with ads on these types of apps, so if you don’t monetize then how can you make money? Thanks! I’m just now starting to throw around the idea of making an app.
Megan
Hey Megan,
Most are games because Revmob and most all CPI platforms only sell games as installs (since they’re usually the ones that can afford it). You can monetize them a lot of ways. Here are a few ideas:
1. Unlock content. This may be premium information or functionality with a guide, or it may be more recipes if its a food app. The user will in-app purchase to gain access to better parts of the app.
2. Sponsored content. If you have a great travel guide app, chances are there is a travel company that would love to have it’s name on it.
3. Affiliate commissions. For travel guides, you can make a percentage on every booking that’s made through your app. Check out http://www.tripshare.com/ as an example. They make all their money on commissions from bookings.
4. Controlled ad networks. Instead of doing banners where you can’t control what is being displayed, check out companies like http://www.adzerk.com and others that allow you to pick which ads you want in there. It’s a good use of ad space if you’re promoting the right ads.
Hope that helps!
Carter
Hi Carter, wow you’re kicking butt!
I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction on “how to install sdk’s”?
Ive seen plenty of youtube videos on how to, there either crap quality or the guys are going to fast. Im paying a fortune for my developer to do a complete campaign as i dont have the knowledge on seo. i know the basics like social media, websit blogs etc. Maybe i could pay you to teach me?
Carter my app “ironfist” will be released in the store in abou 2-3 weeks
Hey Adrian,
How to install Revmob SDK is pretty straightforward, Chartboost is a little more complicated, and others are all over the map.
Here’s what adding the SDK for Revmob entails in a nutshell.
1. Download the SDK from their website and into the folder that your Xcode project is in.
2. Drag that folder (framework) into your xcode project
3. Make sure you add the necessary frameworks from Xcode which Revmob lays out (SystemConfiguration, StoreKit, etc)
4. Add your Revmob ID into the Delegate file under the DidFinishLaunchingWithOptions area by copying the StartSessionWithRevmobID code from their documentation.
5. Add the fullscreen banner to whatever you want (probably the applicationdidbecomeactive to start – meaning the opening screen).
I know it can be confusing. If you still need help, please email me using the contact form and we can work something out. If you want to hire me to walk you through it and/or help you with strategy, it may be worth both our whiles.
Carter
Hello Carter.
I am so happy to have found your great blog! My app is done and integrate Revmob (full screen at resume and after 3 game plays. I also have a more games button) Anyway I was struggling about wether to launch the app with Revmob or simply make it free. Then I found your blog and you spell out the perfect solution: paid then turn on Revmob later on! THANKS! I do not know why I did not think about that!
I have a question that you may know the answer. One of the problem of Revmob (like any ad network ) is that it takes time to show the full screen ad (for instance at app resume) during that time I show the menu screen. If the ad take a little longer then the player can press the play button and the game start. The problem is that the ad shows up after the game start and I am sure this will annoye players!
Do you have any suggestions? I know of the Revmob listerner but not sure how to use them for this type of problem.
In any event thanks a lot for this great blog! Good luck.
Mo
LairdGames.com
Hey Mo,
I know exactly what you mean and there are definitely ways to thwart this issue. You have a few options:
1. Instead of calling the ad on the applicationdidbecomeactive in the Delegate file, use something else. This is totally up to you and your developer, but you may want to test a few different places. Check out Revmob’s new “Placement” functionality – you can actually put in 5-10 different full screen ads to your app, then test then on the web dashboard in real time.
2. Code in some sort of caching to your games. This is done automatically with the SDK (sort of) but can be supplemented by the Xcode project if you code it correctly. Basically it will save the data after one internet connection and serve it immediately instead of that delay.
Hope that helps.
Carter
Hello Carter,
I am so sorry I missed responses. Unfortunately I am not using Xcode but the Corona SDK. I am not if placement ID will solve the issue other than allowing to pin point the best place to put an ad ( I could be mistaken) I am very curious about your idea of. Caching but not sure how to implement it.
In any event. I LOVE your blog. Please keep up the great job,
Mo
Hey Mo –
Not sure about Corona. I’ve never developed in that and haven’t explored Revmob’s integrations to it. Have you tried posting the question onto forums around the web? Might get some answers.
Good luck!
Carter
really impressive numbers i got 4 apps with revmob not that popular making between 5 to 10 dollars daily hope to get some of good numbers in the future
i am getting 2 dollars eCPM but way better then admob
wanted to check out how it works by downloading your app (addictive games), but can’t find it in the app store. says its no longer available. what happened?
Hey Conor – sorry about that. I ended up selling that app. I just updated the link to a new game.
Thanks for reading,
Carter
Cool post mate . Revmob rock : )
Thanks man. I finally got to spend some time with Gui last weekend and I think it’s safe to say that it’s him and his team that rock 🙂
Hi Carter… great blog and look forward to following over time.
My first App has just gone live and I’m looking to provide a free version with RevMob.
I’ve forwarded the SDK to my Developer and am now confused as to what to do on the Dashboard.
At this stage, I only want a ‘Fullscreen’ to appear after a user has a go. How do I control this within the Dashboard and what is a “+Placement”?
Look forward to your response.
Hey Adam,
The placement is simply to control the different locations on the server side once the code is in place. To do what you described, you do the following steps:
1. Drag the Framework into Xcode (along with the other required iOS frameworks).
2. Have RevMob set the ID in your appdelegate file
3. Call the full screen ad in your Applicationdidbecomeactive area.
The technical details are in the SDK documentation, so I won’t get into it. Hope that helps!
Carter
Hey Carter,
First off, thank you. Everything you post is tested true and fully transparent which is incredibly valuable. My first app is in development and should be ready early January. My app allows users to share media (photos, videos, “text grams”, music, and more) all in one platform. Imagine Instagram/Cinemagram’s architecture but with more media sharing options. Any advice you have on monetization strategies for an app of this nature would be greatly appreciated. Here were my initial thoughts…
1. Advertising: I thought traditional banner ads were the way to go. Forecasting daily revenue using this model [(Daily Active Users * Avg. Minutes per Session * Impressions per Min * fill rate/1000]*eCPM. Does this formula make sense? Are you still running banner ads? After reading this post it seems like a better idea to run RevMob but since my app is not a game I wondered if it would interrupt the experience.
2. In-App Purchases: Each category of media will have different filters/effects. Pictures and videos have traditional filters, Text will have nice fonts/backgrounds/colors/stickers, Voice will have voice changing effects like robot/chipmunk/scary, you get the picture. I wondered if I should start with all free things then incorporate additional “paid” effects as I update. If Instagram added 5 more “AMAZING” filters for .99/each would users buy or bury the brand?
3. Free – > Pro: Last thought was to make a pro version with zero ads and all filters/effects now and forever included. As I update each media category with cool new features then pro users would automatically get them.
Sorry to get app specific and write a novel but since I’m new to the game I’d love advice over trial and error. Thanks again for all the great info.
Nate @justgotapps
Hi Carter,
Great talk on Chad’s event! Was watching through the webstream and loved it!
One question: in one of the comments above you posted a screenshot of the Revmob dashboard which shows a “Run state” button.
Does this functionality still exist today in Revmob? Because I don’t get to see that button when I go to the same screen in my own Revmob account?
Thanks in advance for any input you might be able to share on this.
Hey Sven,
Thanks man, glad you could catch it online! That run state is available when you click on the placement you’re using. Fullscreen, Link, etc.
Also – yeah I know about the ads. It’s because people click through the game so damn fast! I paused releasing an update with a cached ad because it could hurt my rankings. After the holidays I’ll make some fixes.
Catch you later!
Carter
Hey Carter
Your a pure genius and instead of asking you questions for free I would love to see if I could pay you to help me develop my new app. If your interested email me.
Ok so I just read your disclosure on your contact page. Totally understandable however the difference between me and most is I have a show that was just picked up by E! And I have tons of celebrity contacts real ones that will help with marketing the app. What I would like is to find a great app developer and a person filled with a lot of knowledge in regards to marketing as this is my first time doing an app. Looking forward to your response.
Hey Natasha,
Cool stuff. I’ll send you an email.
Carter
For the past hour or two revmob has not been showing in my apps and I downloaded your babytiger app and the revmob fullscreen window did not show up in your app either.
Did you know about that? I’m in las Vegas, Nevada.
I hope things get back to normal soon.
Hey Kris,
I spoke to Gui yesterday – their service had a hiccup bc Amazon web services overloaded (did you hear about Netflix?). Should be back to normal today.
Carter
Hey, i havent read it all yet but do you got any tips on what program to use to make an app cause i have never made an app and need help plz
Hi Carter
Great stuff….love the way you break it down. Glad I’m subscribed.
In the Mobile App Monetization post you mention ” read the $0.51 article”…..where can I find this?
Thanks
Jeff
Hey Jeff,
Thanks for reading. That article is in the “exclusive” area once you sign up for the newsletter/ebook. In the first email after the confirmation, there should be a link.
If you have any issues finding it, let me know and I’ll email you the link directly.
Carter
Hey Carter,
Is revmob usually for games or can it be used for other apps as well. We launched our app back in November and are seeing good numbers in the past couple weeks. Making about $30 a day now but im seeing our eCPM going down. We are now averaging $.98 to $1.20 and it’s really frustrating. Any suggestions?
Eddy
Hi Carter,
Happy new year!
This is great, thank you so much! Do you know if this is/will be developed for Windows 8 apps? I’ve already made a few but not having much luck with the Microsoft Advertising SDK and pubCenter, giving a pretty low eCPM.
Can you suggest any other monetization methods to use on Windows 8 apps, and also, what could be the best way to make a shift to making Android and iOS apps. I’m still a uni student with a keen interest in this field and although my knowledge is limited, I learn on the job so I can teach myself new languages and new developing methods quite easily.
Regards,
Opender
Hey Carter,
My company is about to release our first game this week and we have installed Revmob like you suggested. However, I’m confused. You say they pay up to $5.00 per cpm but they only pay per install? I don’t understand the difference. If they only pay per install, are there any statistics that show on average how many installs are made after a certain amount of impressions? Thanks and great article!
-Jack
Jack,
Revmob is only an install network. They pay on installs delivered, not clicks. Chartboost does both clicks and installs.
Depending on the game, I’ll get install rates of 1-5% from Revmob. That’s installs/clicks. Click rate is typically 70-80% for fullscreen ads.
Hope that helps.
Carter
hello Carter
Did you get paid from revmob on 2013-01-15?
Yes.
But I didn’t get the payment.I’ve send email to ask but get no response.Could you do me a favor to contact to them?
I noticed none of your apps in your Revmob screenshot are in your Bluecloud developer account. Specifically, air hockey, alpha combat and alien combat.
Why is that? I wanted to see how you implemented Revmob, but those apps aren’ t there.
nm my bad :O
Don’t have experience with RevMob on iOS, but on Android my experiment with RevMob interstitials failed miserably on several dimensions:
– 5,500+ impressions in less than 24 hours -> 1,400 clicks -> 2 installs (if excluding my own testing installs)
– only 2 ad variations are shown (for users who return to the app several times a day this gets tiring and it’s a lost install opportunity in the end)
– the time lag to serve an ad is 2-3 sec (so if you have a logic “show an ad after task X is completed”, the user is already starting a new task when he gets interrupted by the delayed ad)
– after the user installs (and opens) a game, he continues being served the ad which redirects him to the same game (that’s a pretty obvious no-no you’d think)
– at the time of my pilot, they happened to have a tech glitch with some campaigns, so a user wasn’t redirected to Google Play and was left in a blank browser…Tech issues can happen, but then you’d expect such problematic campaigns should be paused while the issues are being fixed.
The customer support were responsive but in the end I didn’t get quick solutions for the above so had to pause the ads after 24 hours. Has anyone “made” RevMob work for you on Android at all?
Revmob definitely seems to have an issue with Android – that’s almost across the board. Check out Playhaven – from what I hear they’re pretty great at Android.
Carter
i am 13 ihave the best idea but dont kno how to get stared
Hi Carter,
I tried Revmob on my iPad app and it’s released February 1st. But the problem is that I keep getting zero revenue and zero eCPM. I receive downloads everyday since, it’s just that the installs are zero and the revenue is therefore zero.
Is there something I can do about this?
Hmm. Sometimes you just need more downloads to get the install chances higher. The install rates and eCPM have been low lately, so that probably doesn’t help.
Tetyana,
This seems to be a common problem with these kinds of networks is in why I dumped chartboost on android altogether. It kept showing the same 1-2 ads over and over, so it results in a lot of impression but they tend to be the same ad to the same user. That combined with I never saw a install pay more then 0.50. Maybe the advertisers just aren’t there like they are for iOS.
Hi Ob,
Ever heard of SellanApp.com? It will get you started…
Hi!
Is this is only on ios appstore? How about on android is the ecpm also high!
Thanks!
Android eCPM on Revmob tends to be really low. I would recommend Playhaven if you’re on Android in lieu of RM, but keep Chartboost.
Carter
Hi Carter,
Just recently I’ve signed up for RevMob and put their ads into my apps which are currently waiting for review. As of 2013 are you still getting $30+ eCPM? If not, how much revenue could I expect to generate with 10,000 impressions a day?
Thanks for reading!
Hi, I’m with RevMob more then 3 months. This days I’m expecting the first payment wich will be great (they are paying on 15th in month, but they say that I’ll need to wait few days to see the payment on my account. OK. But lately eCPM are really low. For example, yesterday I had on one of my Apps more then 1000 clicks, but ZERO installs. Usualy, it was at least 1 install on each 100-200 clicks.
so, you can easly calculate that my eCPM for yesterday is BIG ZERO!! who knows what is going on with Revmob this days? what are yours expirience now?
Hi Carter, just getting into the app development world and love your blog. Does RevMob publish a list of their advertisers? I’d like to cater my game designs to their advertisers but couldn’t find a list on their site. Thanks!
Hello,
Great blog. About the rev mob It used to be great, but this week, the eCPM was as low as US$0.08…
I have more than 30.000 impressions per day. More than 4000 clicks per day. And my revenue now is about 2 dollars per day!! ;(
It used to be about US$ 30-40
What is going on with rev mob!??!
Hi carter, consider this if you assist me with my million dollar gaming apps, seeing as you know the ropes and all, i’ll double your investment and other business profits are negotiable once we start raking in the dough from my lucrative ideas. So what do you say?
Hi Carter, if i didn’t have the capital or experience but the idea and vision would you consider working with me on my potentially lucrative gaming app. I ponder that you would agree if you were entitled to a percentage of the profits as a form gratuity.
Hi Carter,
I’ll be launching my first game in a few weeks time for both IOS & Android. I’ll be integrating PlayHaven or ChartBoost.
1)Can you give some tip on should i use both of these together or just one of them. if both then manually or by some mediator layer( which manages both)
2)Which is better on IOS and viceversa.
3)What do you say about Video ads.
4) Whats the benefit of Analytics. How it helps in monetization and user acquisition ?
Your advice would be really appreciated.
Carter,
Ive just literally watched your interview with Chad Mureta on App Empire. You guys are unreal, SO to that end I went onto apptopia bought an app and now I dont know what i’m doing LOL!!! Help…
Regards,
Joe
Good post! Building apps is great but the monetization is greater:) We have a bunch of appreneurs in our show and all of them have their own way to do it. Some of the apps are just for fun but always bring a valuable experience and sometimes an inspiration for the next one – the big one with a clear business strategy. Good luck everyone!
Truth be told, I have been stuck in the “okay, I have an idea, now what?” phase for months because I am relatively computer( and 100% programming/designing) illiterate. What or to whom or to where would you suggest I go to get started?
great stuff
Hi, at the moment on Android with CB is not really good, so you wrote play heaven is better for Android, i will test it too. But at first i take RevMob and take a look. Thank you for the information.
*For Android Users:
Pretty proud right now 😀 Before reading your blog I had started to produce Android APPs with andromo.
I am typically monetizing with Admob, but to increase my income I had to come up with an idea to earn more per user. An idea to come to me was to sign-up to a network called mobpartner.com and find game installs I can advertise in my APPs.
Basically inside my APPs I put ICONS of the games I want people to download for free at the very top, before any of the useful content (In the Menu). These are affiliate links that once people press on redirects to the play store game download page.
It’s a 128×128 ICON of the free game (quality icon) and below it’s titled FREE “Insert Game Name” Game Download. I haven’t really seen anyone do it and it’s turning out quite profitable so it’s huge for me to be giving this to android users 🙂
I’ve found interstitial ads suck for installs, and that the best method for monetization is Admob coupled with this above method I’ve mentioned.
The Clickthrough rate is roughly 5-10% and the conversion rate ranges anywhere from 5-20% which is HUGE. Because the people clicking it don’t feel obligated to click on the icons and can still use the APP as usual without much intrusion, when they do finally click it a huge percentage go ahead and install because otherwise they wouldn’t have clicked it 😀
Conversion and clickthrough rates are based on installs and not impressions. Just by using this I’ve raised my eCPM from 0.50 to $1.00-1.50 which is quite a jump, especially with android which people are finding hard to monetize.
To further monetize my free users, I integrated a push notification service so that I could send notifications to any users which installed my APPs. Now I can push game install offers to the list of APP users I’m building. And once the list is big enough and I’ve earned enough money to produce a relevant useful APP I can send it rising to the top with a simple notification further down the line.
I’ve worked out when sending a notification roughly only 10-20% click on it to the install page, and only anywhere from 1-2% install the game. I’m still playing around with the wording of messages to improve it, but I don’t think it will rise MUCH higher.
The reason the clickthrough rate is so low is because a portion of users turn of notifications in settings, some users are from countries that don’t pay for installs and others just ignore it and close it.
So with 100,000 active users you can make anywhere from $80 to $700 per notification sent (quite a varied amount I know but android is really up and down). I keep it to 10-15 notifications per month so that’s anywhere between $800-$10,5000 per month which is respectable.
The goal is 10 k installs per day which is $150-250 in app installs and ad revenue. And in terms of notifications because 50-60% delete your app within days, I’d retain 5,000 users per day which equates to (at 10 notifications per month):
(Using lower spectrum of conversion rates)
Day 1: $5
Day 3: $15
Day 6: $30
Day 9: $45
Day 12: $60
And so on. This builds upon itself month after month 🙂
GL to anyone who decides to use this information well. With my goals within a year I will be doing $1,300+ per notification.
I do game related APPs (info and content, not actual games), But anyone who can make games for android could probably do even better as it becomes even more relevant. However, with Android it’s very much a numbers game and good optimization, so don’t bog yourself down on too many details, just keep submitting and learning the process!
Gangster comment, Jason. A similar strategy was discussed at Trey’s event last weekend with CPA models in PPC/Admob type networks. Huge opportunity for sure. Kudos to you and I hope you make a shitload of money.
Carter
I’m new to the app scene. Let’s say I’d much rather get paid per click, rather than per install. I have info about the users’ interests and they choose the category of ads they see. How much could I get per click?
On another note, how do video ads work? I know there are sites that pay people to watch ads, but how much could the website earn for displaying a a video ad? Do they also get paid per click, or do they get paid simply for the user watching the video?
Any help is much appreciated.
@Sam – As much as it may be attractive to do CPC, it will rarely, if ever make you more money. But, to answer your question, CPC bids are typically anywhere from $0.04 to $0.50 depending on the network and app being advertised.
Video ads work the same as interstitials and banners – you can select CPC, CPM, or CPI.
Hi Carter. I’ve learnt more from your blog than all other websites put together so thank you. I totally underestimated the marketing side of things and thought the app would sell itself.
I imagine if you had a dollar for everyone who has come up to you with their ‘million dollar app idea’ you wouldn’t still be in the game. But… from what I’m reading you need to market agressively, hit the right marketing formula and change if the market changes. So based on that ‘flimsy summation’ could you pls assist me.
My app idea is in development (and with that I hope the programmers don’t run off to Barbados with the code) but I’m still confused about the best marketing path.
My app is an entertainment type app that will have an initial novelty appeal to almost any person. The premise is that the app creates a trick that is initiated by the user and played on another party ~~ Beyond that the app will be kept for all people who may irregularly need to use it.
Each time the app is used it will be used for approx 1 min and that is it. This obviously provides limited opportunity to advertise and so I’ve thought that this approach may work best
– 99c to buy app.
– 99c for a couple of add on features to the app (predominantly used by people who will regularly use the app)
– when the app usage/trick is finished then a free’ app feature’ like Jason (May 27 post) describes or a banner style ad or link could come up mid usage as this wouldn’t interfere with the user.
-Where does this then leave room for ‘ratings’ / ‘feedback’/ and ‘ sharing’ popups?
– due to the private API I’m looking at an Android based ad site ( I guess) Who do you recommend for Android based on this and my limited budget ?
Thanks for your time
Chris
@Chris – off the bat, you’re cutting out 90% of your volume if you make this app paid and will probably piss off anyone using it if you try to make more money off them via free ads. So you should decide which route you want to go down and then stick to that. Do Ratings on launch of the app after 5 uses. Do Ratings/Feedback as a button on the home screen that says “Settings” or something. Android is great with cheap users.
What’s your goal here? Make money? Make a cool app? I hear your questions but I’m not hearing you talk about what you want your end game to be. That’s going to dictate your entire marketing strategy. If it’s money, then you need to get very serious about driving this to a lot of people with a serious monetization strategy that can back up ad spending. Or you have to create 10-20 of these and load them with Revmob and others. If your goal is to build a cool app for people to enjoy and make a little money, then you can be less aggressive.
Good luck
Carter
Good, indepth article. I was just reading yesterday about how Puzzle & Dragons brought in over $113 million in in-app purchases in April. They’re obviously an outlier, but the size of the opportunity there is definitely staggering.
On a different note, I noticed you offer the source to some of your apps. I’m one of the co-founders of Binpress (http://www.binpress.com) – a marketplace for commercial open-source. I would love to talk to you about publishing some of your projects on our service – get in touch if you’re interested.
Thanks for comments.
Well… it’s making money of course. haha I’m still unsure how revmob or admob will work for such a ‘short usage app’ like mine but I certainly understand your comments about pissing off users. And I’ve read your posts about price cycling so I’ve got a lot to think about it.
I can’t believe how I’ve seriously underestimated the marketing side of this business.
Hey Carter-
Can you take a little time to look into this company- I can’t barely wait to release my app, but it’s about finding the right developer. This company are technology consultants and have a developing and marketing team. I was impressed, but then again never met with any other company. Thoughts on this company?
http://www.sdsol.com/
Thank you.
I really want to move forward and I registered for RevMob but would like your thoughts on SdSol first.
Thomas,
I make good money publishing ebooks on Amazon.com. I have read your article about re-skinning apps and then also the one above. My question to you is.. Where should I start? Should I re-skin APPS and then monetize it with rev mob? What suggestion can you give me? Thank you!
Carter,
Have you noticed anything weird going on with Revmob as of late? I’ve got 4 apps in the store so far, and everytime I release one Revmob did great (my lowest eCPM is $10.00 for any of my apps).
However, I just launched a new app a few days ago and my eCPM is less than a dollar ($.98)! I’ve gotten over 240 clicks the last few days and not one install. My CTR seems to be on par with all of my other apps (15-20%), but I can’t seem to get a damn install. My Install Rate for all of my other apps is somewhere in the 3-4% range.
Just seems super odd to me how far off these stats can be for my new app launch compared to the other apps that I have launched.
Are you seeing or hearing any similar results? Is Revmobs tracking messed up or something?
Thanks,
Adam
Hi Carter,
could I kindly ask for your email address, I would like to ask you a few questions privately?
thanks a lot!
Ivan
ikules@gmail.com
Nothing serious here. First of your blog post that I really don’t believe with what is written.
Looks like you took only data that could promote RevMob. I’ll probably stop following your blog.
Just started using Revmob this month, already hit $2000 and rising! What a fantastic increase for a bit of advertising. Thank you so much for your blog or I would not have realised where I was missing out!!!
Congrats Chelsea. I had been so hoping we were heading to pull it off, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.
Hi Carter,
My name is Brianna Smith , Im looking to develop on this app I am in the midst of creating. I’m 17 and am taking a growing interest in the app business. I wanted to know if I could get in contact with you soon, so that I can discuss some of my ideas for progressing on this app. My email is : bri.symone919@gmail.com thankyou soo much for the info you put on your website, so helpful!
Hi Carter,
Could you please tell me where you are getting these eCPM rates from? I am doing research for my new app. Love your blog, great stuff!
Hi Carter,
Just started getting into the blog, and bought one of your source codes. We just submitted our first app last night. After doing some research, I’ve been reading a bit about people not getting paid by RevMob. Has anyone had an issue with this? Have you been receiving your payments from them and all the other ad networks you’ve been using?
Thanks!
Hi Carter, I released my first app a few weeks ago. So far I’m very happy with my downloads but disappointed in my revenue with AdMob.
I have seen some apps require the user to watch a video to continue using the app or playing the game. Do you know anything about this strategy?
I think there is a couple points within my app that I can reasonably require them to watch an advertisement video to continue.
My questions are:
1) do you know which companies offer these video ads?
2) do they pay well? How much per view can I expect?
Thanks in advance!
Tony
Hi Tony and Hayden. We all have been switching from Revmob to Applovin. Also check out Vungle.
Revmob is so funny.
I have thousand of clicks on Ads everyday and i get money for it, so there is no problem with that!
But with these thousand of click, i noticed that i had no one install by day, so i ask to one friend to clik on ad then to install the application in the appstore, my friend did, and guess what, my install was still 0…. HMMM
I contacted admob , they told me it was CPC and CPI, how its possible, my friend install the app from the AD and its not CPI? LOOOOOOOL.
Of course they didnt give me any examples when i asked when it counts for CPI and not for CPC, maybe when the moon is full or something like that, dont know.
@William
I have similar experiences with revmob, very lousy stats and in the end I dropped the revmob – not worthwhile to ruin UX for a few cents.
For anyone that is looking to use RevMob there is a few things you need to know.
1. If you’re app only has a few thousand impressions a day, you won’t make much money.
2. You need to have an app with lots of daily users.
3. RevMob seems to be focusing on CPC campaigns recently ( as of August 17th, 2013 ). They pay around $0.032 per click.
4. A CPC campaign does not pay you for Installs. ( that’s what they told me )
5. All of my revenue has been payed on time.
The difference between an app with a lot of users, and one with not so many users:
1. With my main app “InstaFit – Post Photos To Instagram Without Cropping Free” I’ve been seeing a CTR of about 9.25% and an eCPM of $2.80 to $3.30. This app has about 90-100k daily impressions and with a CTR of 9.25%, that is around 9,000 daily clicks. 9,000 daily clicks multiplied by what they pay per click ($0.032 per click) = around $288. Every day. Note: A while back with a CPI campaign going on, in one day I saw 80k impressions, 7.9k clicks, 600+ Installs, eCPM of $22.70 and $1,800 in revenue. (this was probably a new app launch which spiked installs)
2. My app with not so many users “InstaMeme – The Best Meme Creator Free” gets only 620 impressions a day with RevMob. This app’s CTR is only 3% and has an eCPM of $0.85. With only 18 clicks a day, that is around $0.57.
“But wouldn’t an app with 100k daily uses earn money with any ad network?!”
No. I also use iAd within my “InstaFit” app and it only generates $20-30 a day with it, which is 10x less than RevMob.
Conclusion: If you have an app with a lot of daily uses, I strongly recommend RevMob.
Wow Barry – thanks for that info. This is exactly the kind of info I was looking to find to give me basic guidance/idea. Now this is all starting to make sense. Have you explored any of the other ad networks?
@Karen
When I first started using ads in my apps I chose Greystripe, the daily revenue was low but back then I didn’t have many users. eCPM with Greystripe was about $2.40 which is pretty good now that I think about it. Greystripe is a little harder to integrate and their website UI isn’t the best.
The RevMob ship has sailed. Check out the net (Facebook Groups) for actual stats. Pretty low in most cases.
I’ve noticed really bad returns over the last couple months with Revmob, it’s like they don’t report installs anymore..
I just signed up with RevMob, created a campaign, and got this message:
“Not enough balance to run this Campaign, Mobile application must have market URL, and Bid value not in valid range: min. $0.00 – max. $0.30”
You mean I have to pay them first? lol how much do I need just to start?
RevMob worked great early in 2013 (was $12-15 eCPM) , but now it stinks with the same daily users. More like $0.50-$1.00 eCPM.
RevMob is awesome, but sometimes it is nice to have more control over what offers your users will see. I like to create my own affiliate links and then create webpages that I can change anytime I want to promote different affiliate offers. Here is a video of how we do it. http://www.apprushacademy.com
Thanks for sharing your insights Carter.
The problem with banner ads and the likes, is that over time mobile app users started developing a filter for ignoring them. This means less revenue for the publishers and more annoyed users. What we need is a way to make money from apps without disrupting the user experience.
I’m not sure about the rules here but I think it’d be useful for the community to share about my company Avocarrot (http://avocarrot.com) and how we help developers make more money by transforming ads into engaging rewards for in-app actions.
Exploit natural pauses in your app and reward your users for their actions (completed a game level, completed a workout etc). You make money every time a user claims a reward. Consistent monthly payments, whitelabel SDK and average integration time is 10 minutes!
Best,
George
Hi everybody,
I started doing app business few months ago, and I’ve been doing only casino apps till now (scratchers,video poker, slots) , integrated with Chartboost and RevMob ad networks, and for me RevMob work horribly bed, while Chartboost is doing very fine. I’m showing adds from RM and CB equally and CB makes me about 25 TIMES MORE MONEY then RM in all of my apps, I don’t know is it something bad going on around RM, or maybe it doesn’t work well with casino (becouse it’s not costumable) ? Just wanted to know if anybody here has any simliar problem, couse I’m planning to replace RM with something more effective if you have some advices ?
Cheers !
Wowww…. That’s great i am surprised to see Revmob monetization response. Does it really give such high eCPM. I am going to try this. Let see i will comeback and share my experience.
Hi Carter, After reading your blog post about Revmob high CPM. I move one step forward and complied a list of top 4 high paying app monetization networks here http://theappmedia.com/4-best-app-monetization-networks-high-cpc/
List of these 4 high paying app monetization network really helps the reader to find right app monetization network for their app.
Cheers!!!.
Great I hope you can keep this up! The reviews I read are saying that since february the demand has fallen a lot on revmob. Can anyone can confirm that or give some insight?
We are currently monetizing with Sulvo X and they are doing great so I wouldn’t want to waste impressions if we don’t have to.
Thanks!
I am interested in an idea which you can put you add whenever you want and App owners get paid on each user action. This will increase user experience as well. i came across two startups pollfish and yoyobutton. do you have any suggestions?
I am very young and have big dreams on making an app because I love creating things so I
thought designing an app would be cool but I don’t know if I will make more on advertising
on my free app I could make,or creating a paid app so I make money from people buying it?
I hope you write an update on this soon. It’s now 2014 and obviously the Revmob model has been noted by other players and the eCPM has leveled out a little, at least from my experience. How is this looking in the future from your inside perspective?
@Andy – typically free apps will make more in categories like games. If you can make the conversion rates work well for IAP, then you can do really well in other categories like photo or fitness or whatever. Paid is viable, but you need to have a great product.
@Tiffany – Sort of. This basic model still works, but yes it has changed. For example over the weekend some big games were doing a burst campaign and spending $11 per install on downloads. I had like $85 eCPM on some of my apps.
It comes down to targeting. Are you just installing the SDK and letting a network do all the work to allocate your traffic? Or are you optimizing, targeting, and creating your own deals with advertisers? My most recent posts talks about this. Huge eCPMs are not crazy if you connect the dots the right way.
My experience in using ad networks has been really bad until I discovered adtomatik. The best ecpm and the highest fill rates
@Sofia – Interesting. I’ll check them out. Is it just games?
Hi Carter,
Thank you for the great Insights of Revmob. I guess you updated the blog since as I expected Revmob is not as good as before. For the time being ı am using Chartboost and I was also planning to implement Revmob. I always read and you also say Revmob is not as good as before. Is this situation like this with Android or is it still good with IOS. Because I know I can’t get anything from Android with Revmob (also they do not have too many variety) but if it is still good with IOS I will go with it. Thank you! Also very interesting I thought Chartboost was CPI only but I sometimes get very few cents from Ecpms regulary So IOS seems much better than Android.
Thank you and Happy Gaming
Volkan
I am about 60 days out from quitting my job and going full tilt after my dream. I have a great app idea.. and all of the solid back end code is written.. I just have to port it to an app and I’m trying to research how to actually get it to the users without getting screwed royally. My top concerns are:
1. Where to put it for download.. my focus at first is going to be android, is the play store the only viable venue for downloads?
2. I’m planning a free version that is monetized but monetization seems to be a simply horrible way to make money off your app. I currently have a few youtube videos getting thousands of hits a month and they pull in a whopping $2 monthly.
Your article is depressing in that we as software engineers have screwed ourselves to the point where only corporations can make any money off of OUR talent.
@Theresa – 1. Android or iOS are both viable. It depends on your strategy, really.
2. Sounds like you need better marketing on YouTube. Don’t blame YouTube, blame your inability to get views. There are thousands of people making huge money on YouTube. No reason why you can’t either.
3. Im sorry you find this depressing. I am a really talented swimmer…but no one seems to pay me for that either. Weird. Might be worth your while to realize that your current skill set needs to adapt to the market.
Good luck!
I saw that Kazoolink offers a nice solution for app developers to replace in app purchase by an app wall. you don’t need an SDK, its only an HTML5 code, with a self-service platform which is pretty cool!
for my apps i preferred giving the control to a network called mobite media group. they handle all monetization for my apps and mobile traffic from my website.
Carter,
and what can you say about mediation platforms?
I’m choosing between installing only one AdMob’s SDK and integrating with Appodeal.
I rely on AdMob as they are on market for a long time already, but those guys from Appodeal claims that their SDK includes all major ad networks and they are kind of new way of monetization. Is that true? Or I have to stay with Admob?
@Asya – I don’t know much about Appodeal but you’re right in that AdMob will be around much longer (most likely). Can you use Appodeal inside AdMob?
Carter,
nope I can’t. AdMob is AdMob
But I can use AdMob inside of Appodeal. As well as I can have there other networks like Unity, MoPub etc.
Also Appodeal provides as they say unique dashboard where you can see how good are those networks in your app, which of them brings you more money, also you can choose ad formats you want (even native banners or rewarded video). Sounds good, but still I’m little scared of using new platforms, may be here are the risks and they hide something… Maybe there are other mediation SDKs?
Hey Carter
Great stuff….love the way you break it down. Glad I’m subscribed.
@Sadik – thanks!
Wow thats a high CPM. I am currently using admob and moblyft for video and my cpm has been around $10 – $14.
Carter,
I was reading through some of these comments, and I noticed you attached a 30K price tag to getting a patent in the US. I do not think that is accurate. My friend is working as the financial wiz for callPal, a simple app allowing to make calls through data, and he said the patent was about 3K total. It is possible though that it was simply a trademark, which would indeed be cheaper. As for trade secrets, I don’t think that is really a possibility. a savvy developer can simply read the bytecode in the apk (android obviously), and reverse engineer the process. I was struggling with that fact myself, I released my first app about a month ago. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.binarylaggedfibonacci&hl=en Which uses my own encryption algorithm I developed in grad school which has a few advantages to AES. The fact is that the secrets out to any dev who wants it badly enough.
I know that there are obfuscators that can be used to help protect against this sort of thing, but I don’t think it is foolproof.
Thoughts?
Thanks,
Jacob
@Jacob – You can certainly get a patent done for $3k but that doesn’t mean it’s a good one. Patents are only as good as the level of detail they have, especially in the software space. The other thing to keep in mind is that you’ll need to enforce the patent at some point (that’s why your friend got it, right?). A $3K patent is going to require MUCH more legal counsel than a $30K patent simply because it will not be as robust. Inevitably you’ll end up spending the $$, just comes down to what part of the process you want to spend it on.
You protect ideas in this business by making your product the best. There’s little competition when you stay one step ahead of everyone else.
Dear Carter,
I am trying to understand why I’m only getting mere cents for the ads on my app.
Stats for a typical day: http://i.imgur.com/z0SlUal.png
last month: http://i.imgur.com/NDubFOO.png
ratios: http://i.imgur.com/GlPW2OP.png
countries: http://i.imgur.com/xmsB2mG.png
This is using AdMob: banners (a lot) & interstitials (a lot), and rewarded video, most users in the United States/Europe, 30 second refresh rate.
Also running Facebook Audience Network ads, which are even worse, about 1/3 of AdMob earns me.
70-100k eyeballs a day and I can barely afford a cheap lunch. What am I doing wrong? I feel like there is something basic/obvious that I am missing. Do more impressions actually hurt me if they are not clicked? Should striving for user experience always outweigh just showing more impressions? Should interstitials be used sparingly (currently the frequency cap is 5 minutes, so that shows a decent amount). I was under that impression that more impressions = more revenue.
Would sincerely appreciate any advice. Thank you so much for your time.