How to monetize your App with ‘App Open Ads’

This post was most recently updated on August 12th, 2021

App Open Ads are ad formats that allow publishers to monetize apps load screens. These ads are shown when the users open the app actively on their device. The format is designed to seamlessly integrate into the loading screens of the apps to maximize engagement.

The users using the apps can close these ads at any time. The App Open Ads format is now in Open beta for Google Ad Manager.

Google has also made a number of improvements to enhance the performance and usability of App Open Ads format that helps publishers to maximize their revenue with the features like standardized publisher branding.

After implementing the latest version of App Open Ads, publishers have seen an uplifting in their app revenues:

• From the historical data (past six months) of the ads performance, most publishers have seen an upscale in the overall revenue numbers by 25%.
• Shows a higher CTR (Click through rate) of 15%-25%.
• The average eCPM for this ad format can be around $2.5 to $5 (depending on your inventory).

How are App Open Ads shown to the users?

When the ads are displayed on the user’s device(s), a small section on top of the device’s screen will show the branding of the publisher’s app. This is to let the users know that they are in the app and can continue to use the app. For example:

Setup for App Open Ads:

• The ads can be served on both Android and iOS platforms. To start with, the publishers can set up line items in Google Ad Manager eligible to serve App Open Ads in.
• In the line items settings– select the sizes 320×480 (mobile portrait full screen) and/or 480×320 (mobile landscape full screen) for the smartphones. For tablets, the sizes are 1024×768 (tablet landscape full screen) and/or 768×1024 (tablet portrait full screen).
• Targeting (optional), under the ‘Add targeting’ section, select Inventory format as App open. Add creatives for the above selected ad sizes,
• For the implementation of App Open Ads using Google Mobile Ads SDK, please refer to the Google developer documentation (Android / iOS).

Reporting:

To check the performance of App Open Ads on your inventory:

• Create a Historical type report in GAM with the filter as Inventory format> App Open and Dimension as Inventory> Inventory format.
• Select the compatible Metrics from the list and ‘Run’ the report to check the numbers.

Best practices:

App Open Ads from Google can help publishers monetize their app’s when the users are on the app loading screen. Hence, it’s recommended to keep the best course of actions in mind that allows a better user experience.

• Before showing the first app open ad on your app, it is recommended to let your users use/access your app a couple of times.
• App Open Ads should be displayed to the users when they are waiting on the app load screen after opening the app.
• If the app loading screen (under the app open ad) completes loading before the ad is dismissed, it’s recommended to dismiss the app loading screen in the onAdDismissedFullScreenContent() method.

Conclusion

App Open Ads unique display timing not only uses an app loading screens as a new ad placement opportunity, it also contributes all the earnings as an additional source of revenue for publishers.

If you’re interested to know more on the implementation or want to run this for your mobile applications, reach out to us and our team of Mobile App Ad Experts can help you. Reach out and send your App for an evaluation!

Kean Graham

Kean Graham is the CEO and founder of MonetizeMore & a pioneer in the Adtech Industry. He is the resident expert in Ad Optimization, covering areas like Adsense Optimization,GAM Management, and third-party ad network partnerships. Kean believes in the supremacy of direct publisher deals and holistic optimization as keys to effective and consistent ad revenue increases.