When you are looking at the future of your monetization goals, there are several things to consider.
Privacy regulations have shifted how the entire industry runs their businesses, the power dynamic between the consumer and the publisher and advertiser is changing, and tech innovations are making app publishers reevaluate their ARPDAU. That does not mean your monetization goals cannot be met. It means that the practices you have used to achieve those goals in the past need to change.
The essential component now is the consumer and the user experience. While ad revenue is important to any thriving business, it must not outweigh the needs of your audience.
“Monetization is important, but it is a secondary metric,” said Ram “TK” Krishnamurthy General Manager (Meson) and VP of Strategic Partnerships, InMobi. “It is something that has to be done, but in a way that helps you retain the user.”
During our Dec. 7, 2022, Webinar, “The Future of Monetization,” AdMonsters spoke with TK and Adam Sadur, Head of Programmatic, SmartNews. We chatted with them about the top monetization challenges facing mobile apps, how publishers are taking control of their monetization destiny, what to expect in 2023 and more. (Watch the video-on-demand below.)
Monetization Challenges For Mobile App Publishers Today
Balancing Revenue and Retention
TK and Adam both advised that publishers consider users’ needs before considering their revenue. It’s the old-age balancing act of revenue vs UX. Further, they explained that creating a great user experience will help increase engagement. And we all know that increased engagement ultimately leads to increased revenue. So what steps should a publisher take to achieve this balance?
- Listen to your users
- Provide them with relevant content and ads
- Don’t display intrusive placements
- Make sure you’re filling your inventory with quality brand ads
- And be sure that you utilize flexible formats
“Making sure that revenue and user engagement can be balanced is really, really important,” says Sadur. “Listening to our users is also very important. So there are quite a few things that we’ve done at SmartNews to find that balance. This is gonna be both qualitative and quantitative items. Every time we add a new feature, whether it’s data or format, we are going to go through thorough AV testing.”
TK and Sadur also stressed the need for publishers to have control over their monetization. With InMobi’s mediation platform, Meson, mobile app publishers are empowered with scalable tools that enable them to take charge of their open auction dynamics. With fully transparent bid dynamics, including log-level data for all auctions, publishers can make informed decisions about what’s best for their monetization goals.
Data and Privacy
With the loss of signals like IDFA and with privacy regulations on the rise, Google’s Privacy Sandbox for Android coming soon, and ADPPA looming, data and privacy have become a top priority for everyone within the advertising ecosystem.
That’s why when considering your audience’s needs, their privacy is of utmost importance. Publishers’ monetization goals must be privacy-centric whenever they are targeting ads to their audience. Some steps publishers need to consider in the privacy-first era include:
- Finding partners that align on data quality standards
- Leveraging first-party data
- Leading with privacy-first addressability solutions
- Tapping into seller-defined audiences
- Providing more granular control for user cohorts
“We can also bring the power of those users to our publishers to help them understand their users better,” said TK. “At the end of the day, what is the privacy data used for right? Some of it is used for better user experience because that is inherent to our publishers. Some of them will be used for better targeting so that you can provide more relevancy in monetization, right.”