You love music just like any other of us and your music app provides you with all your favorite songs and it makes you feel so much better when you’ve got it for free. But you hate interruption just like any other of us but can’t help it because every time after a certain number of songs has been played, an ad pops out from nowhere and of course, it annoys you very much. You can always upgrade your membership to a premium service to enjoy an ad-free service but have you ever thought even that there are so many free apps available on the internet and they are going well enough even without a paid subscription. What can possibly be their app monetization strategies?
I’m quite sure that you have come across a number of free apps in your life and you as well as many of your acquaintances have used the free services. But have you ever thought that how the apps are still running if so many are using it for free? Certainly, app developers don’t develop apps to do charity. So, how are they making money from these free apps? There are actually a lot of techniques to earn money from a free app and the ad which annoys you is one of the most effective of them.
So, now let’s see how ADVERTISEMENTS play the lead among the app monetization strategies and how does it help a developer to make money out of his/her free app.
We’ll give you a brief idea of why and how advertising is one of the most compelling app monetization strategies and you can also check out the other app monetization strategies from our blog on how free apps make money.
But let us see first why advertisers will prefer in-app advertising than mobile web advertising.
In-app advertising is not only a very effective app monetization strategy for developers but also it’s a prime technique of making money for the advertisers. There are a few reasons why advertisers choose in-app advertising.
Apps get more attention: once upon a time social media used to be at the center of mobile usage time but the scenario has changed now. Apps and games from many different genres are getting more and more attention day by day. There are apps available for almost every task we used to do with mobile browsers before. As a result, apps are getting, more attention and people are spending more and more time with them. Naturally, advertisers are more attracted now to place their advertises into apps than the web.
High click-through rate: Advertisers are more prone to put their advertisements in apps as in-app ads get clicked much more than web ads.
According to Medialets, the click-through rates for in-app ads are 0.58 percent whereas the mobile Web only has a 0.23 percent CTR.
To reach the target audience easily: Advertisers prefer in-app ads as the goes into an app that is designed based on the app’s context. So, the ads appear as less annoying than the web ads. Also, the app might have features that show the ads in certain app transitions making it more acceptable to the users.
There are mainly four types of advertisements that help one to monetize his/her app/s. Those are:
1. Interstitial Ads:
Interstitial ads are the most favorite ad format for mobile apps of the advertisers. These ads appear a full-screen format and it covers up the whole surface of the app on which they are appearing. It’s a fact that these ads create an enormous effect on the viewer and for this reason, some of them call it “revenue-doubler”.
Since these ads generally appear on natural app transitions like a pause in a game, it is not much hated by the users. These can be a very convincing app monetization strategy if applied tactically. If not they run a risk to drive the audience away. However, these ads get clicked much for their full-screen appearance and convincing visuals.
2. Banner Ad:
Banner ads are rectangular ads which appear on the app screen and occupy a certain part of the screen when the user is interacting with the app. Banner ads can comprise images or texts or both. These ads are one of the best examples of app monetization strategies as they don’t occupy a lot place and they can be refreshed after a certain period without disrupting the user’s interaction with the app.
These ads can appear on the top, bottom or side of the app screen but studies have found that banner ads appearing at the bottom of the app draws more attention than the other parts. Many apps generate a notable amount of their annual revenue from banner ads.
3. In-app video apps:
In-app video ads are video ads displayed in the app automatically or shown as a ‘reward-video’ promising some in-app purchases or in-app rewards like extra lives in a game. In-app video apps leave the option on the user of the app whether he/she wants to see the ad or not. Users may skip the ads, hence they don’t get the rewards if promised any.
Effective use of in-app video ads is one of the best app monetization strategy you have in hand. But inefficient use might give you the opposite result.
4. Native Ads:
Native ads are the ads that don’t break through the natural impression of the app’s content but instead, they appear like regular content in the app so that the user might not understand that clicking on the provided link he/she actually consuming another paid service. Though it’s been considered one of the most efficient app monetization strategy for this camouflaging nature.
So you have got an idea about several types of ads used in a mobile application. Now let’s look at two important steps to get started with in-app ad marketing.
Selecting an ad network: The first thing you need to do is to select a mobile ad network for your app. Ad networks work as interceders between the publisher and the advertiser. There are several ad networks available there in the market and Google’s AdMob is probably the most popular of them all.
Selecting the right ad format: Here we have discussed four prime ad formats. Now you have to decide which one of these would be the best ad format for your app. You need an efficient app monetization strategy here as you can’t dissatisfy your users but have to offer something to the advertisers that they willingly put their ads in your application.
Conclusion:
There are a lot more app monetization strategies but ads are probably the most effective ones. Though you have to be very careful about the implementation of ads as advertisers will be only interested then, if your app drives good traffic where they can find their target audience. Otherwise, people may stop using your app if they get annoyed by too many advertisements.
Thinking of designing an app by yourself and earning a good amount of money through it? We can help you by providing an idea of the amount of money you can earn through your app. Let’s know what is the best app monetization strategy according to you by commenting below.
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