Ad mediation is the usage of revenue generation techniques and methods that aim to optimize ad fill rates and CPM for publishers. In addition, it can also provide an interface that helps publishers to identify and view advertisements on their websites from ad networks, direct marketers and other outlets.
Ad mediation is basically a technique where publishers can customize which networks they want to call in a specific sequence. They are also grouped depending on the particular CPM ad network. The mediation platform will then seek advertisements from the ad network outlets in the particular order selected.
The CPM is derived from the past output of the network and is configured manually. That's why it's important to assess your CPM network regularly to ensure that you optimize your advertisement revenue.
How Does Ad Mediation Work?
Ad mediation is an app monetization approach that lets users improve and streamline multiple ad networks at the same time, with a single SDK integration.
Ad mediation systems provide several ad networks with connections to the app's inventory, generating an environment in which ad networks fight to serve their advertising.
What is Mobile Ad Mediation?
Mobile ad mediation is a revenue generation tool specifically for mobile apps that helps publishers and advertisers handle different ad networks with a singular SDK.
Most mobile ad mediation tools also combine sales monitoring and feedback indicators into a unified dashboard instead of asking monetization administrators to integrate data manually.
Many provide personalized analytics features that enable publishers to evaluate CTRs, CPMs, or transaction speed by device, country, or app type. This allows them to refine ad bidding, fill in ad queries, and easily monetize as many customers as they want.
What is an Ad Mediation Platform?
Ad mediation platforms look for the highest quality ad networks possible when delivering ad demand to different demand channels. By doing so, they guarantee the publishers select the ideal advertisements to fill up their ad slots.
The mediation tool tests what CPMs the different ad networks provide and fills the publishing space with the best one. It's this rivalry that pushes up CPMs and can also yield software developers a boost in ad sales.
Some mediation platforms provide an auto-optimization mechanism that can maximize efficiency relative to conventional waterfalls to save money and time that are usually used handling waterfalls. In addition, mediation tools integrate multiple ad networks into only one SDK aggregation.
Using several SDK integrations will impact the output of the software, slow it down and create unintended anomalies in the user interface of the app which is also defined as SDK bloat.
How to Get Started With Ad Mediation
If you want to know how to get started with ad mediation, this article will provide you with all the information you need. The ideal mobile ad network for you will depend on your specific publishing requirements, goals and individual situation.
What is Real Time Bidding (RTB) for Mobile?
Real time bidding is an offshoot of programmatic advertising transactions. It applies to the process of purchasing and selling advertisements in real time on a per-print basis at an instant auction. Typically, this is enabled by a supply side platform (SSP) or an ad exchange. RTB Mobile is essentially the same concept applied to mobile ads.
SSP is a platform that lets advertisers offer display, mobile and video ads to prospective customers, both in real time and through an automated process. This covers ad networks, channels and demand side platforms, allowing publishers more influence of their inventory and CPMs.
How Does RTB Mobile Work?
Here is how the real time bidding process works. The user visits the mobile web page or app of the publisher, which triggers a bid request for a particular ad placement. Specific user details, such as device model, IP address, and operating system, are made accessible while visiting the publisher's software or web page.
The publisher makes his impression accessible via an ad exchange, and then alerts all the competing ad vendors to offer on the ad impressions that are about to be offered. Advertisers use a DSP to collect details about the customer and to evaluate the bid request.
Based on this knowledge, advertisers decide on the valuation of the bid, for example, they will want to set a higher bid value if they believe that the customer is highly important to their ad. Once the bid value has been finalized, the DSPs can look at all the campaigns the marketers are running and see which better suits the customer.
DSPs put sealed offers on behalf of their bidders against other bidders. The top bidder wins the sale, so that they can put their ad on the publisher's mobile web page or app.
What Does RTB Mean for Advertisers?
Through real-time bidding, advertisers bid on ad slots and, if the bid is won, the buyer's ad is automatically posted on the publisher's website. Real-time bidding enables advertisers to monitor and integrate content from various ad-networks by providing users with access to a range of distinct networks, helping them to develop and implement advertising strategies, optimize networks, and assign proportions of unsold inventory, known as backfill.
RTB is cost-efficient for advertisers and encourages them to focus only on the most important, valuable consumers. Advertisers can use RTB to optimize programmatic strategies by offering adaptive targeting criteria and connections to premium inventory. RTB also enables strategic targeting and distribution to global markets.
Pros and Cons of Ad Mediation
Ad mediation promises various benefits to advertisers, but it also has its fair share of drawbacks you need to watch out for.
Advantages of Ad Mediation
Increased competition from multiple ad networks
When you incorporate an ad mediation network, you disclose your inventory to a bidding war for a variety of ad networks. In an attempt to acquire the bid, certain ad networks are able to increase their bid and improve on their original offers to beat out the competition.
Higher fill rates
Some ad networks are better in particular areas than others, and some ad networks may supply more advertising in locations that others can't. So by utilizing ad mediation as the quantity of networks expands, publishers should anticipate higher filling speeds, which naturally translate in increased earnings.
Higher CPM
Through way of competitiveness and increased fill speeds, ad mediation flourishes on improved results and introduces higher cpm, which is essentially the most significant metric for each publisher. The best choice for publishers is to play with various options and conduct an in-depth study of results.
Ad mediation platforms offer you all ad network success in one location. In addition, to utilize ad mediation, you use a single sdk that understands how to link to all authorized ad networks.
Disadvantages of Ad Mediation
Conflict of Interest
Many ad mediation platforms are ad networks themselves. They often prefer to serve their own networks over the best one, so you need to watch out.
Increase in App Size
Adding additional ad networks to mediate your source code will make your app's size grow as well. Integrating ad mediation typically requires time to implement and a little more technical knowledge than incorporating a single ad network.
Pros and Cons of RTB Mobile
Real time bidding provides ad publishers with various unique options which are not available in other advertising methods.
Advantages of RTB Mobile
Hassle-free, Automated Process
Real time bidding allows publishers to monetize their vast and expanding smartphone audience by providing advertisers access to many users worldwide from a single point. Through real time bidding, marketers may buy inventory based on real-time observations generated from a mobile publisher's website or application. Once the appropriate slot has been determined, advertisers will bid and place their advertisements within a short amount of time.
Increased Revenues
Real time bidding is an easy source to make money from the mobile inventory of publishers. With the right collection of data processing software, publishers may link the best space to the appropriate advertiser, significantly increasing the interaction rate on both sides.
Disadvantages of RTB mobile
The Mobile Market is Segmented
With various types of operating systems and application features, it is much more complicated to monitor consumer activity on mobile platforms. Therefore, the classification and advertising of mobile audiences often involves further data processing from both the purchasing and sales sides.
Security Concerns
Concerns over confidentiality behind the ad trades on real time bidding can contribute to a downside for brands. Although they will see the kinds of markets they choose to attract, the brands cannot be as confident of the inventory they would get. This can, hence, give rise to questions regarding the lack of prior notice of a certain publisher, as well as the price and amount that a brand could receive on any particular day.
Which is better?
Depending on your requirements, you could be better off choosing from either of the two options, as they both provide advantages in different aspects. If you want to automate your advertising activities, RTB is the way to go. If you want a more hands-on approach when you can carefully control and maximize your ad revenue, ad mediation may be the ideal choice.
Final Thoughts
Ad mediation and real time bidding are both great ways to generate revenue from your mobile app. You should assess which process is best suited to your needs and implement accordingly.
Look for a mobile ad network that offers you high-quality eCPMs, key figures and market insight, as well as various advertisement formats. To optimize the monetization of your software, consider registering as a publisher and an advertiser.
You can then sell advertising space in your revenue-generating applications. But you can also buy ad space from other advertisers to advertise your product, thereby boosting user engagement.
If you’re making more than $2,000 in monthly ad revenue, contact us today to learn more about how Publift can help increase your ad revenue and best optimize the ad space available on your website or app.