Ad network optimization support now available for Chartboost and Unity Ads

AdMob Mediation is an easy way for you to manage different ad networks and help maximize revenue, all from a single interface. With AdMob Mediation, you can also take advantage of ad network optimization, a feature that helps you generate the highest CPM from your mediation stack. Ad network optimization does this by obtaining the freshest CPM from each ad network based on historical performance, and dynamically reorders them in the mediation stack, so that the ad network with the highest CPM serves ads to your apps.

Today we�re excited to announce that we�ve enabled ad network optimization support for Chartboost and Unity Ads, with country-level specific CPM support. They will join over twenty of our existing supported ad network optimization ad networks.

Getting started with ad network optimization is easy; simply select the ad network(s) you want to add to mediation, enter your ad network login credentials and AdMob will pull the accurate CPM data for each network.

1. In ad network settings, check �Automatically pull the eCPM value from this ad network� box.

2. Enter your login credentials so AdMob can collect the latest CPMs from your ad networks, and review the checkbox language.

Here�s what developers have to say about AdMob mediation:

�We integrated AdMob sometime last year and it doubled our income, which was really good. Mediation is one of the things we mainly use in AdMob. It supports a lot of different networks, so we don�t need to integrate different SDKs.� 
- Amit Goyal, Co-Founder and CTO, Appkruti

�We�ve seen a 30% to 40% bump in revenue since we started using mediation in AdMob. AdMob offers a simple way to work with multiple ad partners to maximize fill rates and revenue. The way AdMob automatically optimizes across multiple ad networks is fantastic.� 
- Micah Koffron, Founder, Digitalchemy

To learn more about ad network optimization and AdMob Mediation, please visit our help center, and to stay connected on all things AdMob, follow our Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ pages.

Posted by Henry Wang
Product Marketing, AdMob

Mediate rewarded video ads with AdMob Mediation

This week at the Game Developers Conference, we announced that developers can easily monetize apps with rewarded video ads from a number of ad providers in AdMob Mediation. Supported networks and platforms include AdColony, AppLovin, Chartboost, Fyber, Upsight, and Vungle, with more being added all the time. So if you�re a developer monetizing with these providers and using AdMob Mediation to do so, you can easily manage and optimize them through the AdMob interface.

What�s rewarded advertising?
Rewarded advertising has become a popular form of monetization. With rewarded ads, users are given the choice to engage with ads in exchange for in-app rewards. For example, in a gaming app, a user can watch a video to receive a power up after failing a level.

Features to help you optimize
You can already use AdMob Mediation to monetize apps using banner and interstitial ads. Now, you can enjoy the same powerful meditation tools for rewarded ads:

• Ad network optimization - Earn more by automatically generating the highest CPM from your mediation stack. Ad network optimization looks at all the CPMs across the networks you�ve set up in AdMob Mediation and dynamically chooses the highest paying one from which to show an ad.
• Frequency capping - Improve your user experience by setting frequency caps to make sure your users aren�t seeing the same ad again and again.

In addition, we�ve made it easy for you to experiment with rewarded ads with these features:

• Server-Side Settings - We store reward and waterfall settings for each ad unit server-side so you don�t need to change your code to experiment with new configurations.
• Ad Unit Level Configuration - Try different networks, network order or reward settings at different places in your app to optimize performance.
• Reward Unit & Amount - You can use existing third-party settings or input your own values.

When creating a new ad unit, you can choose your reward values and set your frequency cap

Here�s what our developers have to say about rewarded ads in AdMob Mediation:

Rewarded ads in AdMob Mediation has been running very smoothly and effectively since we launched it. On top of a complete management of the reward mechanics within the tool, it offers dynamic allocation of each ad request to the highest paying network.  

- Baptiste Chardon , Monetization Manager @ Ubisoft

So far, I've connected 2 reward networks and AdMob has proved as reliable and stable as it is for standard display formats. A great push for my business! 

- Nicolas Sorel, Co-Founder and CEO of Magma Mobile (France)

Not mediating yet? It�s easy to set up and takes very little time to manage. With AdMob, you can focus on building great apps while we do the hard work for you. Here�s how you can get started.

For more about AdMob Mediation, visit our help center, and to stay connected on all things AdMob, follow our Twitter and Google+ pages.

Posted by Arun Balaraman
Group Product Manager, AdMob

New partners added to the AdMob Mediation platform

Showing ads from multiple ad networks increases competition in your app and can help you earn more revenue. AdMob Mediation offers you a way to manage many different networks to maximize your fill rate, all from a single interface. We�ve been adding new features to our mediation solution, such as ad network optimization, which dynamically generates the highest CPM for each ad from the ad networks in your mediation stack. And we�ve been continually adding ad networks, giving you more choice when selecting ad networks.
Today, we�re excited to announce that we�ve added Vungle and Vpon as our newest mediation partners, with Vungle also supporting ad network optimization.

Here�s what developers have to say about AdMob mediation:

After integrating AdMob mediation and opting into ad network optimization, Bangkok-based company Sinoze saw its AdMob revenue grow by nearly 70% and overall revenue by 175%. To learn more about Sinoze�s big revenue uplift with their popular music app Thapster, check out their case study here.

�AdMob delivers extremely high fill rates � up to 99% in some cases, which other platforms simply cannot match and the built-in mediation feature makes it convenient and effective to manage ads from several demand sources to maximize yield. What is more, the ads are varied, and the formats are high quality so the ads that our players see are perfectly in keeping with the premium feel of the app.�
- Chishima Shigeru, Manager, Sinoze

Digitalchemy went global with its popular calculator apps, enabling them to grow from a team of two part-time developers to a full-time app business with a staff of seven. To learn more, check out their growth story here.

�We�ve seen a 30% to 40% bump in revenue since we started using mediation in AdMob. AdMob offers a simple way to work with multiple ad partners to maximize fill rates and revenue. The way AdMob automatically optimizes across multiple ad networks is fantastic.� 
- Micah Koffron, Founder, Digitalchemy

Not mediating yet? It�s easy to set up and takes very little time to manage. With AdMob, you can focus on building great apps while we do the hard work for you. Here�s how you can get started.

For more about AdMob Mediation, visit our help center, and to stay connected on all things AdMob, follow our Twitter and Google+ pages.

Posted by Henry Wang
Product Marketing, AdMob

Lowdown: How to Optimize Mediation for your App Part 2

Lowdown is a weekly series that brings you tips and tricks on how to best use AdMob to grow your app business, directly from members of the Google AdMob team.

Optimizing your mediation setup will help you get the highest CPMs from the ad placements in your app. Last week, I covered how to use dynamic, real time competition (the Live CPM feature) to increase your chances of higher CPMs. If you haven�t done so, make sure to read through that article for a clear explanation of what mediation is and how to enable Live CPM. This week I�ll go over two more strategies that will further enhance your competitive setup.

Regularly Update Your CPM Assignments

Make sure to update the CPM you assign for each of the ad networks in your mediation stack once every 10-14 days. Advertising network CPMs fluctuate over time. You want to be certain that the CPM you assigned for each network isn�t inaccurately high, causing you to settle for lower CPMs. Also, plan for your 10-14 day cycles to land on the first of every month, when advertiser�s usually reset their budgets.

Segment Your Assigned CPM Values

To further intensify competition, segment your assigned CPM values based on geography. Impressions from different geographic locations can differ in value. Many developers will calculate a unique value for their most profitable regions and do a separate calculation for their Rest of World (ROW) inventory.

To better understand how to segment by geography and increase the accuracy of your competitive setup, let�s use a real world app example. Imagine you�ve developed an app that�s very popular in Japan and in the US. When analyzing your mediation stack, it might be interesting to segment Japan and the US from the rest of the world and calculate the average CPM for each bucket. After doing so, you realized that one of your 3rd party advertising networks delivers $2 CPMs on average, but US and Japanese CPMs average $2.50 while the Rest of World CPM is $1.50. Instead of using the world average of $2.00, where AdMob would only need to beat $2.00 to serve a US and Japan impression, AdMob must now beat $2.50 to serve. Segmentation by geography brought precision to your competition, yielding potentially higher earnings.

For more detailed instruction on mediation in AdMob, be sure to visit our Help Center. In the next edition of Lowdown, we�ll be looking at how you can begin to calculate the value of each user using Google Analytics. Until next time, be sure to stay connected on all things AdMob by following our Google+ page.

Posted by Adam Wolf
AdMob Account Strategist

Lowdown: How to Optimize Mediation for your App Part 1

Lowdown is a weekly series that brings you tips and tricks on how to best use AdMob to grow your app business, directly from members of the Google AdMob team.

A key goal for many app developers is to maximize revenue. If you monetize with multiple ad networks, you'll know that some have fluctuating CPMs and fill rates. AdMob mediation can help you determine the most valuable ad to serve in your app, and AdMob can help you determine which ads to serve.

Today, we�re going to dive deeper into how our mediation platform works and introduce an optimization strategy that may increase your app�s revenue�enabling a feature called Live CPM. The best way to understand this feature is to first understand how basic mediation works.

Mediation

AdMob is a robust mobile ads platform that includes mediation�allowing you to serve ad impressions from multiple 3rd party networks, your own house ads, and Google�s advertising inventory. With basic mediation, you�re required to rank all of the ad networks you use, assigning a predicted CPM for each one. When it�s time to serve an ad, the mediation platform will first make a request to the network you�ve ranked as number 1. If that network doesn�t serve an ad, it will make a request to your second-ranked network. It will continue down your list until an ad is served. Although helpful, this setup is unsophisticated. It doesn�t matter if network 2 or 3 is able to pay you a higher CPM, you�ve already committed yourself to the fixed ranking, and there�s a better way to increase revenue.

Mediation with Live CPM

In contrast, when the Live CPM feature is enabled, you increase your chances of higher CPMs with real time, dynamic competition. When it�s time to serve an ad in your app, Google�s advertising demand will provide its most valuable CPM, and compare this to the CPM you�ve assigned for your first-ranked network. Whichever network has a higher CPM will get the impression.

If your first-ranked network wins, but is unable to fill the impression, the process will repeat with the next-ranked network in your chain. This all happens in real time.

When enabling Live CPM, the initial results can be startling. Without it, you�re much more likely to miss your next network�s top tier demand. With it, your set-up is dynamic and top tier impressions from both AdMob and your other networks can be served. If you�d like to learn more, check out our case study on how Thapster, a smartphone music game app, succeeded with Live CPM and visit our Help Center to get more in-depth instructions on how to implement it.

In the next edition of Lowdown we�ll be looking at how you can further optimize Live CPM. Be sure to stay connected on all things AdMob by following our Google+ page.







Posted by Adam Wolf
AdMob Account Strategist

What are the different ways to monetize your app? Top app developers explain how

Choice is a good thing. As an app developer you have many different ways to make money from your app, such as ads and in-app purchases to name just two. But how do you decide upon a strategy, and what�s working in the market today?

Don�t take a leap into the unknown. These questions about app monetization are explored further in the fourth video in the App Developer Interview Series, featuring insights from our panel of developers and industry experts.

The App Developer Interview Series and App Developer Business Kit are initiatives from AdMob to educate app developers about how to grow their idea into a successful app business. To learn more about building, marketing and monetizing your app, visit the The App Developer Business Kit on the AdMob website, and stay connected on all things AdMob and more by following our Google+ page.

Posted by Mike Schipper
Product Marketing Manager, AdMob

AdMob adds new partners to ad network optimization to help developers maximize revenue

When monetizing your mobile app, you have the option to show ads from multiple ad networks to maximize fill rates and increase earnings. AdMob Mediation provides a single place where you can manage many different networks. Over the last year we�ve been adding new features to the service to make it best in class, including ad network optimization that automatically gives you the highest CPM for each ad from all your networks.

Today we�re adding new partners to ad network optimization: AdColony, AMoAd, Flurry, Millennial Media, and Vserv.mobi join our existing ad network partners; Domob, InMobi, Jumptap, MDotM, MobFox, and Nend.

Ad network optimization is a smart way to boost your revenue; it looks at all the CPMs across the networks you�ve set up in AdMob Mediation and selects the highest paying one to show an ad from. It does this on a continual basis, so that you can get the best CPM available.

Set-up is easy; simply enter your ad network login credentials once and AdMob can pull accurate CPM data for each network.

1. In ad network settings, check the �Automatically pull the eCPM value from this ad network� box. 

2. Enter your login credentials so AdMob can collect the latest pricing data from your networks.

To learn more about ad network optimization and AdMob Mediation, please visit our help center, and make sure to stay connected on all things AdMob and more by following our Google+ page.

Posted by Arun Balaraman, Product Manager, AdMob

Share your thoughts on AdMob, AdSense, and other Google developer and publisher solutions

Your thoughts and suggestions play a key role in shaping our publisher and developer offerings. That�s why we�re looking forward to hearing from you in our semi-annual survey launching on November 4th. Make your voice heard by sharing your thoughts, and help us provide you a more useful and impactful publisher experience.

The feedback collected from this survey is closely reviewed to help determine our product roadmap. Thanks to your suggestions last time around, we�ve launched a number of new features and improvements to grow your earnings and improve our service. On AdMob, this included launching a more user-friendly interface, integrating Google Analytics into the new AdMob, and improving revenue tools to include Ad Network Optimization.

To take part, please take the following steps as soon as possible:

• Update your contact details in your AdMob account
• Update your email preferences to receive �occasional survey� messages

Whether you�ve completed this survey before or you�re providing feedback for the first time, we�d like to thank you for taking the time to tell us how we�re doing. We�re looking forward to hearing your feedback.

Be sure to follow us on Google+ or subscribe via RSS to take advantage of the latest news and tips on mobile app monetization. We can�t wait to see the amazing apps you build!

Posted by Adriana Satmarean

Publisher Happiness Team, AdSense