Hmm, I also wonder whether I should keep my appbrain exit ads or not. But in this example, I seriously doubt they had a prompt on the previous screen with “would you like to visit this shady page yes/no”. In my opinion the question if they’d like to see/do something and then pressing “yes” is worth quite a lot and I therefore don’t think that this example is comparable with appbrain’s exit ads.
I’ve read that some people could have had their apps flagged for removal due to exit ads, but in those cases I read that they didn’t have cached exit ads. For me that’s pretty obvious it’s going to affect the users in a very poor way, just imagine leaving an app and then 1-5 seconds later a full-screen ad pops up without any previous question whether they want it or not.
I’d be happy for any input I can get although I’m being very optimistic about it at the momoent.
I will remove AppBrain exit ads from my main apps. Too high risk, and the revenue wasn’t that great anyway. Instead I will probably add admob interstitial shown only when the user goes back to the main screen - but will keep it optional to test the waters (maybe using AppBrains parameters, ironically). At least for a while until we get some confirmation that exit ads are safe and AppBrain adds exit button to their interstitial.
Thanks Magnesus, I appreciate your input. I’m not sure it’s high risk, but of course that depends on how you look at it. In my opinion, the interstitial that appears after the yes/no prompt is just that - an interstitial. And since it’s cached and shows immediately after the user “exits” the app it very much looks like it’s a part of the app. Therefore I don’t see much difference between regular “interstitials” and “exit ads”, although I suppose the yes/no prompt isn’t equally as good as a close button on the actual ad… I wonder…
AppBrain is started by developers who worked at Google. I believe they would know how to make sure they are complaint compared to one man shops we are seeing on this forum.
I would consider AppBrain safer than any network that posts here.
No. I consider then as a decent ad network (IF you don’t know they are developers who started a network. I am sure you have seen their apps).
I understand for some people its hard to understand doing something good for community without expecting returns. Also I don’t think AppBrain has employees out side Switzerland.
In my opinion (yes, not a fact confirmed by Google - but then Google doesn’t confirm much anyway) - AppBrain is perhaps the SAFEST and most conservative of the ad networks.
They originally started off making apps - and perhaps (because of the tools they needed) - extended some of these side-activities into the AppBrain business. For example AppBrain Remote Settings etc. They are also responsive - many developers will have directly interacted with the AppBrain founders via e-mail.
I use AppBrain banners (though currently giving them very low percentage of it) - and for AppBrain ad-on-exit.
In my opinion the AppBrain ad on exit is as safe as an ad can get - although it can be set to appear every time - most developers (and as recommended by AppBrain) use it as appearing once every 3 days etc. (this probably ads to it’s novelty - as appearing every time will RAPIDLY make user developer muscle-memory to just press “No” to it every time).
When user presses back button - most often the app will exit. On the occasion that the ad is set to appear it will show a “Do you want to see more apps ?” dialog with a BIG “Yes” and a slightly smaller “No” button. Both buttons are very clear. I think Back button on this screen does NOT exit the dialog and user HAS to press the “No” button.
In my opinion this is legitimate according to Google policiies - as the ad does not come out of nowhere - user is always aware, and user has ability to dismiss it with ease.
EDIT: I should add, that the revenue from the AppBrain exit ads IS about 5-10% of revenue - and this is for a low-retention/short-session length app like I have - for apps with longer session times (like games) I suspect the fraction will be EVEN LESS - so like Magnesus says it is not THAT great. So AppBrain ad-on-exit IS quite low revenue, but then it is also low impact. I have not used other ad networks for ad-on-exit so I cannot say if those will perform better - I think some have similar (like recent post by Kaitlin about AppFlood which also shows a Yes/No dialog box).
The situation however is making developers SO twitchy that they are in their right to cut down on everything except for Google Admob ads. Here are the arguments for using Google Admob ONLY:
PROS:
practically they wind up paying nearly same as the best ad networks (banner/interstitials)
reduced risk in time of Google acting up against ad networks
some developers suggest admob may pay higher if you use their ad network only (I have not tested this - since my apps are chock full of the ad networks I was testing and have turned off using AppBrain Remote Settings - and my gut feeling admob paying higher if is SOLE ad network is probably untrue - does not seem like something Google would do - would complicate their internal assessments of it I would guess - AND it has dubious value ESPECIALLY if this “hidden feature” is not being advertised - so after years of being in front of developers I have NEVER heard of this “feature” - except for that one comment by a poster here - so still requires secondary confirmation by others
I wasted an inordinately high amount of time experimenting with various ad networks - even now I am not fully confident that I have included all - so it is a huge hodge podge and I suspect developers waste a LOT of time in this area - I am slowly beginning to wonder that if a developer were to just use admob banner and interstitials - they would be saving themselves a TON of time and hassle …
CONS:
as some developers would report you can wind up getting banned by admob - so they move to mopub etc. - so awareness (and the SURVIVAL) of other ad networks and mediation networks is ESSENTIAL for developers - they do NOT want to be at the mercy of Google at both Google Play store and the ad networking space …
For me adMob has the lowest eCPM of banner ads of the networks I use in some of my apps - probably depends on countries where the app is popular. It got better after the switch to new admob, but still is quite low.
PS. And I change my mind on AppBrain every minute recently. Don’t know what to do, really.
Haha you and me both, I figure worst case scenario you get a 7 day warning. Yesterday I also checked some of the apps from AppBrain AppLift - Android library statistics | AppBrain.com and 2/3 I tested were using the appbrain exit ads, and of course their own apps (swiss codemonkeys) are using the exit ads. So I’m pretty sure I’ll keep em
I’ve decided to keep them. The AppBrain support is quite fast and the percentage of my revenue they provide is a little too high to suddenly remove it.
They’ve also added a close button when the ad is displayed as an interstitial instead of exit ad recently as they informed me - so it’s also an option: show it not on exit, but a little earlier.
I downloaded their app AppBrain AppLift Sdk demo from play store recently. When i press “show offerwall” i am directly presented with a full screen ad with 2 buttons to navigate the offers. No signs of of any close button.
Btw how is the revenue from their banner ads are they any better than Admob’s?
Used their banners on and off a few times. They always performed badly for me, even with mediation and only giving them 10%.
The only way you’d have decent success with them is through mediation, since they just show the same ads, but with different themes and colours etc. If someone didn’t click 1 of them, they’re unlikely to click on any other rendition of them.
