We all like to keep our eggs in different baskets, mostly because of reasons like this. If an ad network screws you over, you can lose A LOT. We agree to their ToS and basically we are at their discretion.
I have been in the Android development world for 3 years now and I have used Admob for the entire time, along with many other networks like StartApp, mobileCore, SendDroid, AppNext, airPush, MillennialMedia, AppWiz, AppBrain and AppBucks.
Every one of those networks paid me in full every time and I’ve never had any serious issues with any of them.
I was releasing a new app a few months ago (release date Feb 6) and wanted another banner provider than Admob just for the sake of more baskets for my eggs. inMobi seemed to be an established player and although they have net60 payment terms (a joke these days) I thought it would pay off with their industry establishment.
The app did great in its first 30 days, raking in about 150k downloads and stuck between 3k-8k a day thereafter, with high user retention and several minutes session length. inMobi filled around 80% of traffic with a decent eCPM of $0.55 overall for banners (no mediation was set up). I have StartApp, mobileCore and AppNext for interstitials and the “more apps” button. Those three networks did great and still do with the app and have paid me for this traffic via their payment terms already.
I obviously won’t link directly to the app as we all have enough competition as it is, but here’s some GPlay stats:
On April 15th I went to log in to my inMobi account to review performance etc, when I was greeted with the message “User is not active”. After contacting support about the error I was sent this e-mail:
"Dear Customer,
Greetings from Inmobi.
We regret to inform that your account has been blocked hence you have been seeing this message. This is due to the violation of InMobi guidelines and conditions.
Thanks,
Team Inmobi."
I then asked for more information several times via e-mail, and after a further 15 days I finally received this (I had noticed that the banners were no longer being requested by the app):
"As updated you earlier, we regret to inform you that your account with InMobi is blocked permanently.
Why is my account blocked?
To prevent any unusual or unauthorized activities, we have put stringent rules in place. After careful investigation and scrutiny by specialist, it is confirmed that your account is not adhering to InMobi’s terms of service. We are therefore blocking your account in our system. Please note that this cannot be undone.InMobi refunds blocked publisher earnings to the affected advertisers.
If you’d like to know more about why InMobi blocks publishers;
Please refer to our TOS and content guidelines here :Mobile Advertising | Monetization | Analytics | InMobi and
Mobile Advertising | Monetization | Analytics | InMobiRegards,
Team InMobi."
Great. So they won’t tell me how I violated their ToS or Content Policy. Not even a basic context: something that Google actually gives you. But inMobi just blocked me with out so much as a hint, just as the first payment was about to be due. eCPM was similar to the same traffic sources from my other apps with Admob, along with CTR etc. The banners were not near the UI, there are no adult themes etc etc.
As they are net60 I never received any revenue, which they CLAIM is being refunded to the advertisers. I’m sure it is inMobi. Funny how 3 other networks have had no issues with this traffic.
All I can see this as is disgusting mal-practice and a network stealing my earned revenue.
So I’m sharing this awful experience with you all so that you may see that inMobi may be established, but they are by no means a reliable ad network or a network that you should necessarily do business with.
If you use inMobi and have done for longer than I did please voice your opinion about them too.
I have now re-directed the banner traffic and there is no issue. (Surprise, surprise).