App commercialization principles and advertising space optimization!

When we come into contact with APP developers, we are often asked: What should my advertisement be designed like? What form of advertising brings higher returns? Why are my advertising revenues far below industry levels?

These problems are largely caused by ad space design issues. Different advertising formats have different marketing values ​​for advertisers, so the returns naturally vary.

At the same time, the settings of advertising positions and different advertising scenarios also have a significant impact on advertising revenue.

Today we will sort out the relationship between ad space design and revenue for you, so that you can carry out reasonable ad space design and development in the future.

1. Four principles of ad space design

1. Adaptation principle

When developers are developing ad spaces, they must pay attention to which ad formats the connected ad platforms support.

If the advertising format is not suitable for the advertising platform, there is no way to monetize it on the advertising platform. This is the first thing to consider.

Currently, the advertising formats generally supported by advertising platforms include splash screen, interstitial, banner, native information flow, and incentive video, which are also the mainstream advertising formats.

Therefore, developers who want to monetize through advertising must be familiar with these advertising formats, because each advertising platform will have specific documents on the adaptation range of advertising formats, and should develop and design within the adapted size range.

For ad slots within the adaptation range, the advertising platform will automatically process the materials to adapt them to the developer's ad slots. If the developer's APP ad slot is not suitable, it will directly affect the ad exposure rate, thereby reducing advertising revenue.

Reserving a placement that is too large or too small will affect ad display:

• The reserved space is too small, and the ad is not fully displayed. The advertising platform will count it as no exposure or invalid display, and no settlement will be made;
• The reserved space is too large and the ad cannot fill it, which has a certain impact on the display effect. It is not only unsightly, but also reduces the user experience and the user's willingness to interact with the ad. The ad conversion rate will be affected, which in turn affects the revenue. Therefore, the adaptation principle is the primary principle of ad space design.

2. Profit-making principle

APP developers monetize through advertising in order to gain profits, so profit is also the first factor to consider.

Different advertising formats have different unit prices. Currently, the price of rewarded videos is the highest among all advertising formats, followed by open screen, and native, interstitial, and banner are slightly lower.

When choosing an advertising format, developers need to consider the maximum profit point of the advertising format based on the characteristics of their own users.

Another factor that determines revenue is the volume of traffic. This is easy to understand. The larger the volume of traffic, the higher the advertising revenue.

The amount of traffic is directly proportional to the number of users of the App itself. The larger the number of users and the higher the activity, the more traffic that can be generated for monetization.

When designing ad slot entrances, developers should choose locations with high traffic and high appearance rates to set up ad slots, and make full use of every ad display opportunity to obtain better returns.

3. The principle of first sight

People are usually impressed by the first thing they see, and the same is true for advertisements.

The ad space needs to appear where the user can see it at first glance to achieve the maximum display effect.

Friends who have worked in App operations should all know that the display rate of the user's first screen on the first-level page is the highest, and then decreases successively. The PV volume of the second-level page will be much smaller than that of the first-level page.

Therefore, when designing the entrance for the ad space, it must be placed on a page with a high PV volume, otherwise the revenue will not be high.

4. Do Not Disturb Principle

When users are using the APP, their attention to advertisements will decrease, so this is not a good time to display advertisements.

In other words, advertisements and usage functions should not appear at the same time. If they appear at the same time, users will choose one and give up the other.

In most cases, users will abandon the ad, so the ad space is likely to have a large exposure but few clicks, and a very low click-through rate.

The advertising platform will judge it as a media with poor performance, thereby reducing the revenue of the media.

The correct approach is to place it on the user's App usage link, on the user's "must-pass" path, which ensures exposure without disturbing the user.

According to historical experience, the effect of placing ads on the front link will be significantly higher than that on the back link, and the advertising exposure and click-through rate on the front link will be higher.

In the subsequent links, the effect is relatively poor, because at this time the user has finished using a certain function, and most users choose to leave rather than click on the ad.

Because there are differences between media and each has its own characteristics, different advertising forms have different applicability to media. Below we will analyze the design and development ideas from the perspective of each advertising form one by one.

2. Analysis and development ideas of 5 types of advertising formats

1. Splash screen ads

1) Advertising format

Splash screen ads usually appear on the App startup page, and are generally divided into two forms: full-screen splash screen and native splash screen.

Advertising types are generally divided into three forms: static, dynamic, and video.

2) Ideas for optimizing the design of splash screen advertising space

Splash screen ads only appear when the computer is turned on, have a time limit, and have little impact on the user experience.

And basically every APP will have it, and the applicable media types are relatively wide. APPs with a certain user base and good daily activity are all suitable for developing splash screen advertising space.

The eCPM price of the splash screen ad space is relatively high, and compared with other ad types of the same level, the revenue is better.

The design of the splash screen ad space is relatively mature and the development is relatively simple. Here are the main points to note:

① Reserve enough display time

Advertising platforms generally have requirements for the display time of advertisements. The display time requirements for static, dynamic, and video may be different, especially for videos, which have a longer display time.

Some developers believe that too long a time will affect the user experience, so they will shorten the display time of the splash screen ads, causing the material to be displayed before it is fully displayed. This will generate a large number of invalid displays and reduce advertising revenue.

② Reserve enough waiting time

The materials of splash screen ads can be static or dynamic, and the sizes of the materials vary.

Some materials are large and load slowly, so the waiting time is long and they cannot be displayed in time. The set waiting time has passed and the advertisement cannot be displayed in time.

Therefore, you should also allow enough time to wait for the ad to return to avoid missing the display opportunity.

③ Cache/preload assets

Developers can cache or preload ads in advance, which can minimize the possibility of ads not being displayed due to network or material issues.

2. Interstitial Ads

1) Advertising format

An advertisement form that pops up on a specific interface or at a specific time in an APP.

Interstitial ads are available in full-screen form or in pop-up form. They can be closed directly or after being displayed for a certain period of time, and the advertising revenue can be considerable.

This form of advertising has a strong visual impact and supports both pictures and videos. Videos generally require viewing for 5 or 6 seconds before they can be closed.

2) Ideas for optimizing interstitial ad placement design

The entrance to interstitial ads is generally set on the page after the user takes action, at nodes with large traffic, such as the end of the game, the end of a chapter, the exit interface, the pause interface, the switch interface, etc.

Interstitial ads are more suitable for apps with functionalities. Tool apps, reading apps, and game apps are media with more interstitial ads. The specific design requirements are as follows:

① Don’t display ads too suddenly

Interstitial ads are forced pop-up ads and are not actively triggered by users, so it is best to insert them naturally when users complete a certain action.

For example, after a level or chapter ends, users will be more receptive to interstitial ads.

Do not pop up suddenly during gaming or reading, as this may annoy users and cause them to leave.

② Cache ads in advance

The benefit of caching ads in advance is that when users come to the ad node, ads are guaranteed to be displayed, just like when the screen opens, in order to avoid loss of exposure opportunities due to ad loading problems, thereby reducing revenue.

Compared with the opening screen, the caching of interstitial ads is easier to implement because it is on a fixed node and there is plenty of time for caching in the front.

③ Pay attention to controlling the frequency of advertisements

Do not display ads after every user action, as this will cause users to see interstitial ads repeatedly, which can easily lead to:

1. Reduce the user experience of the App;
2. Misoperation often occurs.

Because interstitial ads pop up suddenly, it is very easy for users to click on them.

Excessive exposure and click frequency may reduce the media rating, thereby limiting revenue, and in serious cases may result in account suspension and deduction of funds.

3. Banner ads

1) Advertising format

Advertisements that appear in the form of bars at the top or bottom of the APP interface generally take up a little of the App's user interface, but will not affect the normal use of the App.

If the user stays on this interface, the ad will continue to be displayed.

Banner ad space will continuously request ads from the advertising platform, so the display volume of banner ads is large, but the click-through rate is low.

Currently, the eCPM of Banner ads is the lowest, and the number of Banner ads is decreasing.

Due to the low revenue, with the rise of native information flow and incentive video ads, developers are rarely willing to use such ad slots.

2) Banner ad space design optimization ideas

① The advertisement is clearly separated from the interface and has its own dedicated location

The advertising position should be clearly different from the user interface, and a dedicated location should be reserved so that users are not likely to click on it by mistake.

② Do not block the APP content

If banner ads block the App content, the user experience may be poor.

If the blocked content happens to be what the user is interested in, it may cause user loss.

③ Avoid having only one ad

If a user only sees one ad and is not interested in that ad, no click will be generated.

Appropriate changes in advertising materials will create a certain visual freshness and may appeal to users.

This method will increase the amount of ad impressions, which will result in a decrease in eCPM or CTR to a certain extent, but the absolute value of ad clicks will increase, thereby increasing revenue.

Normal advertising platforms will have a carousel mechanism. As long as the user is still in this position, they will request ads from the advertising platform at certain intervals to prevent the user from constantly viewing the same advertising material.

Developers can also set the ad refresh mechanism according to their needs to increase the richness of advertisements.

④ Pay attention to the adaptation of different models

Since smartphones now have a wide range of resolutions, different resolutions should be tested to ensure that all models can be fully adapted.

Different mobile phone brands and models may have different resolutions.

Although it may only be a fine-tuning of a few pixels, there is still a certain visual difference, so it needs to be taken seriously.

4. Native information flow advertising

1) Advertising format

Native information flow ads are generally closely integrated with App content and are a native form of advertising. Their form varies depending on the content of the App itself.

Currently, the more common form is information flow advertising, which is divided into large single images, small multiple images, a combination of images and text, and there is also a video information flow form.

Its characteristic is that it is closely integrated with information content, and softly embeds advertisements into App content, achieving soft brand promotion and marketing purposes.

Native information flow advertising has a better conversion effect, so the revenue is relatively good. It is an advertising form that all kinds of media are vigorously developing.

2) Ideas for optimizing the design of native information flow advertising space

The locations of native information flow ads are varied, and are mainly set based on the native nature of the App content and high-level traffic nodes.

There are many media suitable for information flow ads. For developers, appearing ads in reasonable native scenarios is the key to the success of information flow ads.

① Create original content

Information flow ads must be carried by native content, so an important basis for meeting the conditions for App monetization is to have a steady stream of content that allows people to stay and refresh for a long time, and generates a large number of advertising exposure opportunities. Only in this way can the purpose of advertising monetization be achieved.

News, information and other content are more suitable choices. News, UGC, PGC and other content are all good forms of native content.

Developers can produce content themselves or directly crawl news information, which mainly depends on the developer's development plan for their own APP.

② Find a location with high traffic volume

The information flow ad space itself will continue to refresh ads as users continue to browse, and the user ad exposure traffic is relatively high.

However, for apps that do not have native content and are not suitable for inserting information, many developers will set up information flow ads during the user's use of the app to increase the chances of ad display.

For example, a photo-taking app will be placed on the page after taking a photo or processing an image, and a reading app will be placed on the page after the end of a chapter...

Although these positions are considered to have higher traffic in the App, their exposure opportunities are still not as high as those of the repeatedly refreshed information flow ad positions in the information flow, and their subsequent conversion behavior is also not as good as that of the information flow ad positions in the information flow, unless the number of users is very large and the activity is very high.

③ The placement of native content is important

As mentioned earlier, the PV volume of the App’s home screen/first-level page will be much greater than other pages, and the same is true for the App’s native content here.

The PV volume of information content placed on the first-level page is much greater than that placed on the second-level page, and the user reach rate of the second-level and third-level pages will decrease exponentially.

Therefore, developers who use native content to carry information flow ads must pay attention to placing the information content flow in a place where users can see it most easily, not making it more difficult to display the ads, and maximizing exposure opportunities.

5. Rewarded video ads

1) Advertising format

Users can get rewards by watching advertising videos, which are usually between 15-30 seconds.

Its characteristics are that users actively watch ads, the ad playback completion rate is high, the ad effect is good, the eCPM is super high, and the developers earn a lot of money.

Incentive video ads are the main form of revenue for IAA gaming media, represented by casual games.

Casual games have many levels and are frequently used by users, so there are many places to add advertisements, the quantity is large, and the advertising revenue generated is also high.

It is also common for non-gaming media such as online money-making media to set up incentive-type advertising.

Other apps can also create suitable scenarios and set up incentive video ads, such as virtual points consumption links, where users can earn points rewards by watching videos.

2) Ideas for optimizing the design of rewarded video ad placements

① Advertising entrance

Advertising entrances should be designed on interfaces that users frequently access, such as game failure interfaces, and should add floating or animation effects or design pop-up advertising entrances.

If the entrance to the ad space is relatively deep, we need to add some prompt signs at the initial entrance, or add some animation effects to enhance the reach of the ad scene.

② Reasonable reward content

Incentive videos must reward users, and must clearly inform users what the specific rewards are.

The reward content should be selected according to the App product type and product scenario. Different types of apps can design their rewards according to their own gameplay characteristics, mainly in the form of gold coins, physical strength, points, etc.

It should be noted that the settings of the amount obtained and the amount consumed should be reasonable, and the reward amount should be able to promote consumption, promote an increase in user usage frequency, and contribute more advertising exposure opportunities. This is the only way to achieve sustainable monetization.

③ Don’t ignore the page after the rewarded video ad ends

After users watch the incentive video ad, a pop-up window can be used to remind them that they have obtained new props or coins, thereby enhancing their sense of gain.

At the same time, an entry for viewing ads a second time can be added to the page to remind users that they can get other rewards by watching incentivized videos. This setting is also a powerful way to increase ad display opportunities.

The above is just a brief introduction to some common ad placement design ideas and methods. To understand the in-depth issues between ad placement design and monetization efficiency, it is still up to developers to continuously explore the commercial potential of their own apps, enrich and summarize useful experience in long-term monetization operations, and reasonably set and optimize ad positions and formats.

In addition, understanding the display logic of the advertising platform is also an essential preparation for developers when considering App commercialization, which is of great significance to improving the monetization efficiency of advertising space.

Author: ADSCOPE

Source: ADSCOPE