How To Use Ad Network Mediation Properly

Ad network mediation platforms are preferred app monetization solution compared to ad networks. It is well-known that mediation gives much more freedom to the publishers, makes integration much easier and last but not least, it generates much better results in terms of eCPM, fill rates and overall revenue.
However, to achieve the best results, ad network mediation should be used for app monetization in a proper way. In this article we will try to focus your attention on the most basic things you need to follow to get the maximum of mediation platform.

Activate as many ad networks as possible.

Although it may seem obvious that if you are using mediation for monetizing you will enable the majority of available networks, we have noticed that some app developers only have a small number of enabled ad networks in their accounts and therefore cannot benefit from the functionalities and advantages of our platform. For maximum fill rate and eCPM it is strongly recommended to enable all seven ad networks that we support: AdMob, Applovin, Chartboost, AdColony, InMobi, Vungle and Revmob.

Update ad networks prioritization rules.

Тhe biggest problem with ad networks is the constant fluctuation of eCPM, resulting in low and unpredictable revenue. In order to achieve the optimum eCPM and revenue, frequent updating of ad networks waterfalls is necessary. Ad mediation is a perfect solution to this issue but only if prioritization is adjusting to the current eCPM trend. Static waterfalls impact negatively on the overall revenue; to overcome the eCPM fluctuating problem we need to turn it in our favor so that the current best performing ad network is at the top of the waterfall, while pushing low performing ones to the bottom for backfill. It should be a dynamic waterfall which auto-adjusts for optimal performance. To handle this manually can be very annoying, so we have built eCPM Autopilot.

Optimize on a countrywide level.

Ad networks perform differently in different countries, so the waterfalls should be prioritized accordingly. An ad network that has a high eCPM in the USA may not work so well for France or Canada and vice versa. Our eCPM Autopilot is built to create different waterfalls for each one of 196 countries and to update the waterfall every 24 hours. This means that AdTapsy ensures that you will get the maximum possible revenue by optimizing waterfalls for every geo location.

Set minimum bids at ad networks.

Setting minimum bids in ad networks is not a good idea when you are monetizing with only one ad network. But, when you are mediating multiple ad networks in a waterfall it can increase your overall eCPMs significantly. An ad mediation platform relies on a “backfill waterfall system”: when the first ad network in the waterfall does not have an ad to show, it will automatically switch to the next highest priority ad network. With this in mind, it is easy to come to the conclusion that you might be getting low eCPMs since ad networks at the top of the waterfalls sometimes do not have high paying ads, but they do have high fill rates. This means that they are showing the ads from advertisers that are bidding a low eCPM for your inventory and thus only bring you low revenues. The best scenario would be to skip low paying ads and move to the next highest priority ad networks, and this can be achieved easily if you set the minimum bid in your ad networks dashboards.

AdTapsy is a mediation platform that simplifies in-app monetization by helping you to squeeze the maximum revenue from ad networks. You can download our lightweight SDK here.