Or Airpush pays you more - and slacks off later - and labels that as marketing budget internally.
By the way, I just noticed a doubling of the eCPM from $0.61 to $1.30 or so for Greystripe interstitials.
As I noted before - interstitials have to pay much more (as they are presented less often) to be comparable to the low-paying banner ads.
However, this maybe the Greystripe evaluation period - now if this eCPM was 5x larger than banner ads then that would be interesting.
David:
I was wondering if you could explain what happens if one changes the “Category” for one’s app - does it affect the ranking in the old category.
If one switches the category back to the original, does one retain their place in the old ranking ?
I noted some apps have multiple appearances in the ranking (appannie.com is a great tool to track where one is appearing per-country in the rankings).
How can one get an app to be ranked under more than one category.
Is switching the category one way to get ranked in various categories (this would make sense IF one remains in a category ranking even if they change the category in Google Developer Console).
If so, this could be a good way to try say two categories to see which one is kinder to that type of app.
Thanks
I’m actually running an experiment right now to try and determine this 
I changed the category for Fake iPhone 5 from “Personalization” to “Entertainment” about a week ago. I haven’t noticed a huge difference in downloads - the daily installs have decreased a little, but this was already on a downtrend so I don’t think it really made any difference.
Before changing categories, I was ranked #1 Top New Free app in Personalization (as per Google Play on my phone in Australia).
After changing categories, for a day or two I saw the same results in Google Play. But I suspect this was due to my phone caching the results.
After a couple of days, my app disappeared from the Top New Free in Personalization, and appeared as #12 in the Top New Free for Entertainment. Over the past week that has gradually increased, and it is now sitting at #2 Top New Free in Entertainment.
So in summary - after changing categories I have noticed a slight decrease in downloads, but nothing dramatic (and not necessarily caused by the change). My ranking appears to be roughly the same in Top New Free apps, even while changing categories. I haven’t tried changing back yet.
If you haven’t - you should try appannie.com - it is a free registration and you get to look at the ranking by country.
So in principle one can actually monitor which country one is falling in ranking and then try to see maybe the translation of the Description is bad etc. - i.e. if one has the manpower to actually do all that work (which one can do if one is not doing actual coding).
I was looking at my own app - and then some others on appannie.com (may have been the fake iphone 5 app - because I remember seeing that and may have clicked on it because of familiarity).
And it was either yours or some other - and I could see it listed in more than one category - with the rankings in each going up over time - in a type of saturation curve (as the rise slows down as it rises in the rankings).
And each category seemed to be rising INDEPENDENTLY and i.e. without affect from the other - or so it seemed i.e. there were no bumps downwards because the app appeared in some other category.
At first I thought that maybe it is an extra feature that opens up to “top apps” which are in top 500 or top 200 whatever - that allows them to be listed in more than one category - for example did you know the “Top Developers” can now reply to comments as well - but it is not yet allowable for all publishers.
By default you can only classify the app in one category (but can change it on the fly - in Google Developer Console).
The impression I got from the appannie.com ranking graphs was that it IS possible to list in one category - have it rise to the top - then since it seems once are in the category rankings then nothing can remove you (i.e. it is as if the category is adopting the app and once adopted it will stop looking at what the category is listed as at this moment - i.e. the category rankings seem to have a memory).
This would suggest that it SHOULD be possible to switch out of a category - i.e. what the publisher is labelling the app as - while retaining the ranking in the category that has already adopted the app.
This should make it possible to first ride one category to the top - say Entertainment - then switch to Games and see if one can rise in that category.
The consistent rise in all categories in the appannie.com ranking graphs suggests to me that success in one category should translate into success in other categories as well (as a high download app will rise naturally in that new category compared to it’s initial competitors there - when it starts off at 500 rank in the new category).
However if one has already secured good rank one may be extra careful not to upset the current rankings. But the ranking graphs from appannie.com do not suggest that.
Searching google.com for an answer …
Here is one which is suggesting there maybe a penalty:
http://www.owlfish.com/weblog/2012/01/app-rankings-in-the-android-market/
[hr]
I was looking at an ealier fake iphone 4s earnings report:
http://makingmoneywithandroid.com/2012/05/android-income-report-8-november-2011/#more-1143
In which Tapjoy was listed - and the revenue was similar to other ad companies (perhaps these were interstitial ads - as one comment by you there suggests you are now avoiding banner ads i.e. too much work for low payback).
It seems Tapjoy has a virtual currency solution also (like GetJar and W3i) - except that Tapjoy has a mix of all these.
Are the figures you quote for Tapjoy including the virtual currency option (as I would think the figures maybe 10x what one would expect from ads ??).
Are you using the virtual currency option - as that may have more revenue per daily active user (DAU).
Some types of apps like wallpaper apps and widget apps (which cannot show ads) - have almost no other option except virtual currency.
I am trying to pick which virtual currency solution maybe the cleanest to use - tilting towards GetJar (however their interface is real slow and only works well on wifi). I should check out how the W3i one works - that Temple Run is now using:
http://www.insidemobileapps.com/2012/10/12/imangi-studios-signs-exclusive-android-monetization-deal-with-w3i/
Imangi Studios signs exclusive Android monetization deal with W3i
Kathleen De Vere
Oct 12th, 2012
And then there is Tapjoy - however the message there is a bit more muddled as they do all kinds of other stuff - i.e. having users fill out personal info - signup for something or other type of stuff.
Compared to that perhaps GetJar and W3i (not sure if everyone can join W3i or how big that network is) maybe simpler.
Would be interesting to see how much GetJar/W3i and Tapjoy pay (for the virtual currency part of Tapjoy) per app install.
I think for GetJar it is $0.9 for every 100 coins earned by the user. Which is about 10 app downloads (less if you download the 15 coin ones - but most apps are 10 coins earned per download).
GetJar also labels the app - so you earn $0 if you download that app again.
If these virtual credit strategies work (because they allow micro-payment) - it may open up the app space for developers considerably - even for small download developers.
The only danger I see is that Google may start labelling all these as “incentivized downloads” - which tend to skew the download numbers (as commercial app publishing houses buy the downloads) - however, it raises the question that why should the download number be holy. After all Google does Adwords etc. - however it may still cut into in-app purchases via the Google payment system - so that could be a problem for Google eventually (but the fact that Google has not cut down GetJar Rewards app - it is after all listed on Google Play - may suggest that Google is in fact watching this model of payment - as Google’s own is not available everywhere and is not as easily used by users as iOS users use the Apple App Store).
If the revenue per user is $0.01-0.02 typically for ad-based apps - as the fake iphone app or others - then if 1% of users earn $1 via virtual currency that is 100 users earning $1 - or $0.10 per user. Which is 10x the expected ad-based revenue figures we are seeing.
If the app is social and has other aspects which locks users in - then it can earn more (plus repeated virtual currency use may make a user more comfortable with virtual currency). Which may lead to a seamless way for users to “pay” for additional features in an app later as well.
Here is an example of a social app earning $0.50 per daily user (compare to $0.01-0.02 for ad-supported apps).
http://www.insidemobileapps.com/2012/10/12/parallel-kingdoms-generating-up-to-0-50-a-day-per-dau-mostly-on-android/
Parallel Kingdoms generating up to $0.50 a day per DAU, mostly on Android
Kathleen De Vere
Oct 12th, 2012
If it is allowed to flourish - virtual currency may not only be useful for big apps - but even for fledgling small ones - because at $0.1 per user it becomes a reasonable revenue even for very small download number apps.
I still have to check out how well the Tapjoy virtual currency works or the W3i etc. compared to GetJar.
The thing with Tapjoy is that I find it confusing that they do a combination of things (which can include asking user to sign up or give their personal info) - compared to that GetJar etc. are known in advance (i.e. what they will show) - and a developer can prepare the user accordingly for the experience.
This is the same problem I have with (with Tapjoy) as with Airpush Smartwall (as gordonb has pointed out giving good revenue from ad/offerwall/fill-in forms etc.) - i.e. they are an amalgam of various things - that the developer has no control over (i.e. what will be presented to the user).
[hr]
BTW - how much does Tapjoy pay per app install.
I want to compare how much revenues are involved per user-effort.
With GetJar it is 100 coins gets the developer about $0.9 (at least that’s the figure in their slides).
And each app in their app store is typically 10 coins - some are 15 coins.
So it takes about 10 app downloads to accumulate about $0.9 revenues for the developer.
So if you charge 100 coins to unlock some feature in your app (it will generate $0.9 for you) - the user has to download 10 apps (or less if some are 15 coins worth) to accumulate those 100 coins.
The thing I find problematic about Tapjoy is that they have this either-or etc. type of setup - advertiser can have their apps promoted - OR they can do “action-based” (presumably they pay Tapjoy more for that) where user has to run the app at least once - or play a game until level 2 etc. …
Now this maybe great for Tapjoy - offering diversity to their advertiser customers.
However, it makes it a difficult job to explain, quantify or package for the developer - in effect they are letting their customer at the mercy of Tapjoy i.e. let them be devoured by the wolves …
If the customer uses Tapjoy - I cannot in advance promise the customer that “this is what will happen on the next screen”.
And this is why I find the GetJar and other such type of services - which are single type of model - much simpler - as the developer can anticipate what will happen on “the next screen” - and they can help out the user for example:
“the next screen will take you about 1 minute to complete - all you have to do is download an app (you can uninstall it later) and use the credit earned from that to pay us in our app”
Now compare to when the user is being directed to the Tapjoy type of multiple-model conglomerates:
“the next screen will take you to an offerwall/sign-away-your-privacy-fill-out-a-form/download an app - and after whatever happens there I certainly don’t know - you can come back and see if you can pay us”
So you can see it is a radically different experience for the developer … maybe Tapjoy thinks it gives them diversity (perhaps the whole setup is designed primarily as an exercise in risk-management i.e. in case Google shuts down incentivized installs etc. they have some secondary stuff they can replace in the same slot or some such thing).
I am assuming this is a feeling many other developers share - i.e. hazy “offers” from the advertiser that the developer cannot predict the “user experience” of ahead of time …
[hr]
Assuming the GetJar 10 coins per install - and 100 coins giving $0.9 to the developer figures.
In comparison, AppBrain gives about $0.18 per install to the developer.
However developers maybe paying a bit more to AppBrain - as it is non-incentivized.
However by that measure the GetJar 10 coin apps should pay more - as they are all the same - and less incentivized in that sense - as the user can pick any of the 10-coin apps. There are fewer 15 coin apps.
So in comparison to this - what does Tapjoy pay ?
This is from 2010:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/22/offerpal-media-acquires-tapjoy-gains-beachhead-for-mobile-app-monetization/
The company helps applications like Tap Tap Revenge monetize users. The vast majority of revenue comes via pay-for-installs on other mobile apps, meaning users are paid virtual currency to download other mobile applications (on Tap Tap Revenge 3, it takes about 3 installs of free apps to get enough credits for a free song download). Developers have access to turnkey software to easily add monetization and analytics tools to their iPhone, Android and other mobile apps. Tapjoy keeps between 1/3 and 1/2 of the revenue, passing the rest on to publishers.
However even a simplistic analysis suggests that the banner ad and these other ad models which are paying $1 eCPM - or let’s say up to $10 eCPM for interstitial ads even (usually lower) - then even at $10 eCPM they are showing 1000 impressions and earning $10 - or $0.01 per view … which about matches the $0.01-0.02 per user for lifetime of user figures discussed here for fake iphone 4s app and others.
Video ads maybe higher with $0.025 (I saw this figure somewhere - don’t know what the typical figure is …) - but are considerably more disruptive.
Now let’s see for a user - what is he willing to pay for using an app ?
For a user who uses an app more than 10 times - it would seem that he maybe willing to download another app - which will earn $0.18 on AppBrain or $0.09 on GetJar for the developer.
So this is nearly 10x the figure we are seeing. Now if the app is such that the interested users are 10% of the download base - then this may wind up giving the same $0.01 per user figure.
In that case perhaps the ad model is better - as that maybe more suitable for apps which have a fickle or shifting user base (most use it once and leave).
In any case one would think that the percentage of users who agree to download an app to get virtual currency - maybe similar in number to the click-through rate one sees on “More Apps” type banner ads or interstitials with AppBrain. And if they like the app and there are features to unlock the percentage maybe slightly higher …
I am guessing if 10% of the user base IS willing to use virtual currency to unlock features, then it is going to be 10x better than banner ads/interstitial ads type of setup ?
That 10% may not click on banner ads or “More Apps” - but if there were features to unlock they may click download apps. That is, with good features to upgrade to, the conversion rate maybe increased at will by the developer - depending on the skill of the developer.
Anyone have any feedback on this question ?
Hi adforandroidapps,
don’t get me wrong but maybe you should try to keep the question simple.
Your post looks more as spam than a question 
Anyone tried this GetJar thing with gold?
Another wall of text from adforandroidapps 
I didn’t really understand this part in your text: “the next screen will take you about 1 minute to complete - all you have to do is download an app (you can uninstall it later) and use the credit earned from that to pay us in our app”. I might have misunderstood you, but as I understood this part of the text you want the user to download an application from, for example, GetJar to continue with this game? I might have completely misunderstood you but just so you know, that goes against the Google Play ad policy (“Ad Walls
Forcing the user to click on ads or submit personal information for advertising purposes in order to fully use an app provides a poor user experience and is prohibited. Users must be able to dismiss the ad without penalty.”)
I don’t really see the point of showing that text to the user otherwise. Almost all applications I have seen, and it looks like it’s working out well for them, is to have a button simply saying “Free insert currency here” leading to for example TapJoy.
I’m currently making an application which will use TapJoy for users to earn more coins for free. I’m going to use TapJoy because they are by far the most popular of it’s kind in the Play Store. Most users already knows how it works so you will not need to explain them to you. I had actually never heard of GetJar Rewards before you brought it up. After checking on it, it looks pretty nice but the fact that you need to download 10 apps before you can use it (judging from your post) I will not use it. EDIT: Sorry, I think I misunderstood you, you have a feature that takes 100 coins to unlock, sorry
As a user I would not want to download 10 different applications just to cash out their earned coins. And like I wrote before I think GetJar Rewards is a lot more unknown to users. If users would also have to download the GetJar Rewards application first then I think you’d earn more using TapJoy actually…
Haven’t heard anything about W3i earlier either so can’t say anything about that one, have to do more reasearch first.
Since we’re talking about these kind of ad networks, here’s another one that I haven’t found very much info about but seen it in a very big app (>5 mln downloads): http://www.sponsorpay.com/ (only 4 offers availabe at the moment, at least for my country. 2 download an app and 2 complete an offer)
Yes, I was feeling it was looking more like I was writing a blog post and maybe a bit much.
[hr]
Solirify:
One would not prevent the user from proceeding, and there is no 10 app download limit etc. with GetJar (that was just an example) - it works exactly as Tapjoy - except with GetJar it is purely app downloads, while Tapjoy can be app download, or app download and then run, or “action-based” i.e. run the app to level 2 before the credit is unlocked. With GetJar the credit is earned as soon as the app is downloaded.
So the difference between them seems to be in the actions required - they are restricted to app download with GetJar etc. and could be one of a few types of things with Tapjoy - essentially Tapjoy is keeping that prerogative to do whatever they want with your user (they require the user download and run the app, and in some cases to run a game upto level 2 etc.).
Now if Tapjoy just had an app download only option - that would be interesting and comparable.
You maybe right however that Tapjoy is known to users - and maybe their implementation is smoother (as I said I found the GetJar dialog boxes etc. could be improved).
Maybe the average user is more comfortable with the Tapjoy format than I am.
Also I don’t know what Tapjoy’s payout is per app download - with GetJar it seems to be $0.9 for 100 coins (which is about 10 app downloads - less if you download 15 coin apps). So GetJar would be $0.09 per typical app download.
Compare this to AppBrain offerwall - which pays about $0.18 per app downloaded - though here you don’t know if a user downloaded an app so you cannot use that as currency to unlock a new feature etc. AppBrain does not support incentivized app downloads.
Sorry about the 10 app download limit, I misunderstood you (or didn’t read properly).
What’s the problem about action-based rewards? Imo it just gives more options to earn - they can just download an app if they want to, or they can earn even more by downloading the app and play it for a while (which could be good for advertisers too).
But if you have a good reason for why you want it like that then I guess something like GetJar Rewards might be better for you (and they do have 1 million downloads so obviously some have heard of them )
About the earnings – I think it would be better if someone who has actually used any of those ad networks would comment on this as there’s really no point of just guessing.
Solirify:
You have a point that if users are comfortable with action-based stuff then what’s the problem - after all Tapjoy does seem to have app download and run, and “run game to level 2” types - so users are free to choose.
The question then becomes whether Tapjoy pays the same or more than GetJar for the same user-effort.
I only have experience with Admob etc. banner ads, Greystripe interstitials and AppBrain (both interstitials and banner ads).
AppBrain pays better than Admob banner ads - Greystripe was weak but starting to pick up so rivaling AppBrain (hopefully becomes stable).
I’ll have to try out Tapjoy a bit more to see if their stuff is snappier than GetJar.
Hi David,
Do you see any drop in Leadbolt revenue/eCPM today?
eCPM is low - 1,254 impressions, only $2,24 (eCPM $1.79). For AppWall it’s quite low because I can’t show it too often it’s not a banner.
Did you notice a decrease from monday and weekend?
Yes, but on the charts it’s jumping up and down every week.
Yes, today was only $14.60 eCPM. But EPC was still $0.11, so the main factor seems to be a reduced CTR of 13.9%. I also got about 20% less impressions, so revenue was down significantly as a result.
No point looking at a single day though - I’ll wait and see if the drop continues over the next week. I’m actually hoping over the next month or so we’ll see Christmas advertising campaigns start being released, which might increase high-paying inventory in some networks.
Anyone uses AppBrain offer wall ?
What is average earning-per-install ? I heard around $0.05 to $0.15.
I checked and I have from 0.10 to 0.22 - on some random days.
I am getting about (dividing revenue by the number of actual installs that the user did) $0.18 per install.
Also I have set AppBrain banner ads i.e. the boring looking “More Apps” ones at 25%-45% of the banner ads - and that contributes about slightly more than the once-per-3-days interstitial (app offerwall) at end of app.
So by using AppBrain “More Apps” type banners you can additional similar revenue (as you are getting from the once-per-3-days interstitial at end of app.
I was surprised to see these banner ads were actually being clicked.
It seems there is a percentage of users who ARE on the lookout for more apps - and I am guessing that segment winds up clicking on these “More Apps”.
I have tried to do some experiments where I vary the presentation of the AppBrain banner ads (i.e. say from 25% of the time to 45% of the time - using Admob mediation) - and while installs rise when you show the banner more - it tends to saturate - so I am thinking the optimal strategy maybe to show ads from multiple ad networks and give AppBrain say 25% of the time.
By the way AppBrain banner ads have a 100% fill rate - since it is after all only a text banner saying “More Apps” - and so can be used as a backfill also I guess.
AppBrain selection of apps in the offerwall is also pretty good - usually are from publishers who are willing to spend money for the downloads (to get into Top 25 etc.) so are reasonably professional apps.
The apps are also free.
The app offerwall is also pretty snappy (unlike the GetJar dialog boxes which are slow to appear etc.).
So one feels pretty safe sending users over to AppBrain - I find AppBrain is very no-nonsense (if you look at the apps they make also is similar).
I would have liked AppBrain to do some virtual currency thing for app downloads (like GetJar/Tapjoy etc.) - but they are avoiding incentivized installs.
They also offer a Remote Setting service for free - for example can use this to show a dialog box announcing a new app (set a flag to enable the display of the dialog box etc.).
And just by including AppBrain you get more stats than are visible in Google Developer Console - for example you get hourly install etc. figures and can see how users arrive per hour (or if a spike happens in downloads).
Slight problem is that you have to register your app with them AFTER it is on the Google Play store - which means you can’t test their Remote Settings etc. prior to first version - but they say they are working to change that.
You don’t need a publisher ID etc. to setup all this - everything is linked to the package name of the app - this is perhaps why they require you list on Google Play first before can register an app. And it may limit the ability to do different ad strategy per app version etc. - however it is a simple and clean implementation.
With 1000 DAU (daily active users) you can make about $1 per day with both the AppBrain banner ads plus the AppBrain interstitial at end of app combined.
With Admob banner ads for 1000 DAU I am seeing about less than half of that in revenue. So AppBrain can provide reasonable revenue for very little impact on user experience.
You will note I have not quoted eCPM figures - as those are misleading - as the refresh period of the ad is not mentioned (if you refresh 2x times that does NOT give you 2x the click-through - at some point the user gets saturated).
eCPMs are ESPECIALLY misleading when talking about interstitial ads etc. (which are often presented less often than banner ads) - so interstitials SHOULD have much higher eCPM (since you are reserving more space and disrupting user to show them) than banner ads.
eCPMs when talking about notification ads etc. - I don’t know what that means - how do they measure that ?