Database Users

[Q]Why are the ad blocking patches permitted here?

Why are the ad blocking patches permitted here?
I remember the scandal with the "Impaled Angry Birds" version.
So why are developers developing in the disadvantage of others that rely on ads to receive revenue for apps that aren't lite versions and have no paid apps released?
More importantly, why are these distributed, discussed and allowed on this developer forum?

nemuro said:
Why are the ad blocking patches permitted here?
I remember the scandal with the "Impaled Angry Birds" version.
So why are developers developing in the disadvantage of others that rely on ads to receive revenue for apps that aren't lite versions and have no paid apps released?
More importantly, why are these distributed, discussed and allowed on this developer forum?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess because they're not technically breaking any rules.
There are rules against pirating apps but none against blocking the ads (which is sort of the same thing if you think about it, both are stopping the developers from getting the money they deserve).
But yes, i think 'adblockers' should be banned from these forums. I can't believe Google even allows them to be posted to the market tbh
You should start a poll and see if we can get the rules changed

It's not illegal to block ads on webpages? Which the apps also block.
/Feras - Galaxy Tab

I've felt adblockers necessary in a few games because they were almost unplayable. The problem also is alot of people only wanna block web ads but the ad blockers get apps too.
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App

I don't have a problem with watching ads in apps and I think it's a better way then selling apps that have no ads. I wouldn't buy most of the apps I have installed and with ads I can help the developers.
BUT: some ads are linking to a wap page which uses WAP billing. So when you touch the ad you have a contract over 10$ a week or something which is automatically billed with yor normal moblile contract. that makes it impossible to get your money back without risking high fees from your mobile provider for not paying your bills. Beacause it's not possible to block WAP billing (at least with O2) the only possible way to avoid this is to block the ads.
I'm very sorry for that, but if nothing changes (possibility to block wap billing, ads without wap links ...) I keep on blocking the ads.

I'd probably shouldn't be allowed, but I am glad that it is.
Some developers just throws ads in at the last minute and it often ruins the playability of a game and you end clicking ads by accident just trying to use the app which is not acceptable. I'll click an ad when I choose to.
My feeling is a lot of apps don't use ads respectably or creatively enough and so I rarely want to click an ad anyway. It's generally some lame text link to a larger corp. with little relation to the small-name game I'm playing. If someone's is going to make an awesome game, make an awesome ad too for something the majority of the people who downloaded your game are going to want. Have seen an endless stream of banner ads for the last 10 years of my life. Yawn.

Meltus said:
I guess because they're not technically breaking any rules.
There are rules against pirating apps but none against blocking the ads (which is sort of the same thing if you think about it, both are stopping the developers from getting the money they deserve).
But yes, i think 'adblockers' should be banned from these forums. I can't believe Google even allows them to be posted to the market tbh
You should start a poll and see if we can get the rules changed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be careful with the "stopping developers from getting the money they deserve." comment. It is what the mpaa and riaa goons say too. It's hard to say who would use or stop using an app based on ads/too many ads if they couldn't be blocked. Developers can also sell limited free versions and full paid.
I won't deny or argue it, as there are problems with both sides, but a blanket ban seems a bit one sided in favor of the powers that be.

Adblockers themselves aren't breaking any of our rules, and are thus allowed - though it's certainly debatable what kind of person would use them.
That being said, I know there are apps out there that simply work around the adblocking and show you the ads anyways.
Note that copyrighted apps re-posted here but with the ads disabled (in most cases even without the ads disabled) is definitely against the rules. If you spot one, report the post and it will be removed, as happened with Impaled Angry Birds - though it was unfortunate it took so long to be removed (you can blame me for that if you want, I do).

I get annoyed at ROM revs that apply this. Let the user decide. I had a guy ask me to make one of my apps free because he said all the other apps like it were. I would but so many people block ads now. I'd like payment for my work and I can't find a good spot to place ads in the app. Maybe a load screen, but people would tire of that fast IMO. Maybe it is possible to write code to check if ads are blocked and have the app not function or very limited.
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger Gee Bees.

the adblockers simply make it "one click" easy to block the ads. there are numerous ways to get around the ads if you truly want too.
on a side note: how much of do the developers really lose? I'm not saying I'm one side or another but yes developers like getting paid and consumers don't like seeing ads.
my point being that most adblockers need access to your hosts file (phone must be rooted). xda is very big across the net but still a sort of 'niche' area where only a certain percentage of those us that like doing things to our phones meet. the vast majority of the market is totally unaware of what even rooting is.
as a very unscientific test, i asks all the people i know that use their phones for social networking and playing games (angry birds) questions pertaining to rooted phones and such. only about 2% of them even had a minor clue as to what i was talking about.
so to close this rant: adblocks might be bad/good in various ways but the majority of those ads are getting clicked and the developers are seeing something from that (of course i mean, if the ads really are paying)
i guess this has nothing to do with the OP question. simple answer. Ad Blockers aren't breaking any rules.

pxldtz said:
the adblockers simply make it "one click" easy to block the ads. there are numerous ways to get around the ads if you truly want too.
on a side note: how much of do the developers really lose? I'm not saying I'm one side or another but yes developers like getting paid and consumers don't like seeing ads.
my point being that most adblockers need access to your hosts file (phone must be rooted). xda is very big across the net but still a sort of 'niche' area where only a certain percentage of those us that like doing things to our phones meet. the vast majority of the market is totally unaware of what even rooting is.
as a very unscientific test, i asks all the people i know that use their phones for social networking and playing games (angry birds) questions pertaining to rooted phones and such. only about 2% of them even had a minor clue as to what i was talking about.
so to close this rant: adblocks might be bad/good in various ways but the majority of those ads are getting clicked and the developers are seeing something from that (of course i mean, if the ads really are paying)
i guess this has nothing to do with the OP question. simple answer. Ad Blockers aren't breaking any rules.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the time developers make very little from Ads, but in some rare cases (Angry Birds being a brilliant example) the company turns over about 1 million dollars a month, purely from ads.
The point of ad-supported apps, the way i see it anyway, is that you offer a free version that's ad supported and a 'paid' one that isn't (i know this isn't always the case, but that's the fault of the developer). Blocking the ads in the free one will undoubtably stop the users from buying the paid one, meaning the developer will lose out.
And whilst it's true that a very small percentage of all android users actually have rooted their phone and can use Ad Blockers, does that justify using one?

The OP has a point that the patches do take away revenue but the ad blockers are very different than other pirated methods since they do not change the programs themselves merely make additions to the phone's hosts file.
Ad Blockers of ANY kind (even on desktops) do the same thing. By blocking ads on Websites you are in essence STEALING money from the person who runs that site too!
but every major browser and Security suite has one!
And I would personally urge developers that if they want to use the AD subsidized business model they should at least offer a way to remove the ads via a one time donation. (Some do!)
I personally will not use or run any apps that use Ads simply because I know that 99% of all malware comes from scripts of hijacked servers these ads eminate from.
And it really sucks for those with limited data plans who will quickly run out of bandwidth quota from all the ads.
I really understand the OP (and other developers) point and I support their right to be compensated.
But please pick a better way to get compensated. A Lite version may entail slightly more work but it will ensure you will get something for it as opposed to hoping you get something for it because someone hacked the hosts file and stopped your revenue stream dead in it's tracks.

Meltus said:
And whilst it's true that a very small percentage of all android users actually have rooted their phone and can use Ad Blockers, does that justify using one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not at all, i'm simply stating both sides. it's going always going to be a pro/con dilemma. same with the mpaa/riaa except adblocking does not constitute piracy where you are literally stealing and not paying as opposed to modifynig your operating system to behave as you wish.
Asphyx said:
I personally will not use or run any apps that use Ads simply because I know that 99% of all malware comes from scripts of hijacked servers these ads eminate from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
frankly speaking i do the same. I use ABP for firefox and i have a modifed hosts file as well that keeps these ads from ever appearing on my machine.
so atleast for justification on that part, consider the performance hits from multiple flash/banners/whatever popping up everytime you want to just browse the net.

Meltus said:
I guess because they're not technically breaking any rules.
There are rules against pirating apps but none against blocking the ads (which is sort of the same thing if you think about it, both are stopping the developers from getting the money they deserve).
But yes, i think 'adblockers' should be banned from these forums. I can't believe Google even allows them to be posted to the market tbh
You should start a poll and see if we can get the rules changed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can download ad free from the market for a while. Apparently Google does not have a problem with it. Why should XDA ban something that you can download from the market?
The other thing is that you can not stop people from editing their host file (because this is the only thing the application is doing)
So banning it from these forums doesn't make any sense at all IMO.

What ppl don't under stand is that if these programs didn't have ads they would cost money. Ppl do not write these programs for free, ads are they get paid. If u remove the ads u will see more programs being paid and less ad supported.
This stuff imo should not be allowed. But this will up end up costing everyone bc a few ppl are greedy. Whether it helps the performance of the game or w/e its besides the point. That was the developers decision. I am surprised its not against the terms of use.
My 2 cents lol
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

i don't understand why it would be against the terms of use? free vs paid vs ad supported all have valid points and you will never completely make everyone happy, whether it be the developer or the end user.
consider all the websites you visit on any given day and your antivirus software that you have installed that blocks a certain number of popups/ads that generate revenue for these websites.
how is this any different from having an ad blocker on your phone? it's still very much the same thing and i'm sure those that don't like the mentality of ad blocking on their phone use some sort of ad blocker on their pc.

Blocking ads is not a good thing for developers if that's how they get their money but it also takes away from the end-user experience. Ads usually get in the way (see Angry Birds) or they take away some of people's bandwidth if they don't have unlimited data. So no matter how you look at it somebody "pays" for it either way.
I'm not arguing for or against if this development should be on xda, just a different angle that i was thinking about for a long time.

the same, i'm not arguing for either side. just a debate towards both ends.
it's almost a rock/paper/scissors argument. each on trumps another.
developer distributes free app with ads. consumer likes app but dislikes ads. developer needs to keep consumer happy to get any downloads but still needs to get their revenue stream flowing, ie. ads stay in.
rinse, repeat.

If a consumer likes the app but dislikes the ads, said consumer should buy the full / pro / ad-free version.
Ads themselves bring very little in profits unless the app is used a LOT (like the Angry Birds example, which is extremely rare), and it's the correct type of app. A game is always in the foreground, you actually see the ads. A utility which runs a background service and is built well so you hardly ever need to interact with it, you'll see the ads pretty much never, and click on them even less. It is even arguable that a less well-built app brings in more ad-profits because you need to interact with it more.
I would argue (and in my experience this is correct) ads have more effect profit-wise in the number of people who are annoyed by ads and thus buy the full version than the ads themselves bring in. This is an important effect of ads that should not be overlooked, and this is IMHO a more important revenue stream adblockers negate than the ads themselves.
As for how big the percentage of adblocker users is, also depend on the target. For example, an application with ads targeted at root users, is much more likely to get adblocked than a non-root app. I would guesstimate (based on my own experience) the factor may be as high as a 20x difference.
At the end, it all comes down to that the user wants things to be free (and somehow they still want to be payed at their own jobs) while developers want to somehow get payed for their work, just like everybody else does. Somehow most users these days seem to think that because they technically can rip people off, it is not morally and ethically irresponsible to do so.
Reasonings like "I wouldn't pay for it anyway" or "I can't pay for it" or "I won't click the ads" or "the interface with ads annoy me" or "the ads take my limited bandwidth" are all both nonsensical and invalid in most cases. If you don't like it, be a real man and just don't use it, or pay for a version that doesn't have these limitations (and if it doesn't exist, again, simply don't use it). Don't have a credit card? Get one. Don't want to click ads? Then don't. (Or did you think they were placed in that annoying spot by accident ?). Want it different? Pay up. It not being the way you want it is never a valid reason to rip others. Ads taking your bandwidth? Pay up.
I'd like a car like yours, maybe I should just take yours and leave you empty-handed ?
Now of course with the latter statement, you would get people arguing that the unlicensed copying of software (in this case, yes, I am equating adblocking on ad-supported apps to piracy) is technically not theft while stealing your car is. While that would arguably be true from a dictionarial definition standpoint, it certainly isn't true from an economic standpoint.
As anyone with some knowledge of economics will assert to, a product's price calculation (excluding gaining market dominance or entry factors, simplified) goes something like this:
sale price = ( (research and development / expected units of sale) + (manufacturing cost + distribution cost) ) * (1 + profit margin)
Because "copying software is essentially free" (though distribution can still be a big amount, it is for more popular projects usually a negliable factor), the argument is usually that the manufacturer (developer) doesn't lose anything. In reality, all it does is remove (manufacturing cost + distribution cost) from the equation, and still leaves you with the costs of research and development and profit margin. Therefore, there is still a very real correlation between the economic effect of this and the economic effect of "actual" theft. It is not an unreal possibility that the developer of a semi-popular ad-based application could buy a new car if there were no adblockers, while now he is flat broke.
Adblocking in this case reduces the total units sold because there is no way or incentive to pay up. It is the same as piracy in the way that you are using something for nothing. Then again, it shouldn't be outlawed in the same way that BitTorrent shouldn't be outlawed. It's not the tool that is the problem, it's (the bulk of) the people using it.
Wow, I've really gone off on a tangent today. And that's not even including developer rights vs user rights, or when no ad-free version is available, or the guns vs piracy difference, or how developers on Android don't make any money anyways, or etc etc.

hmmm interesting thread personally i think it is wrong to edit a program to remove the ads in it that should be a no no, because your altering someone elses work, and essentially losing them revenue which would cause free apps to become just paid and non ad supported (possibly)
adblocking via hosts files however i think is perfectly fine as your not altering someone elses work. adfree i also have no problem with as essentially its just a downloader for hosts files i guess for people who don't know how to push a hosts file themselves. personally i just push the sames hosts file from my desktop seems to work quite well infact its the one reason i rooted and s-off'd my Desire HD
as for adfree being in the market yeah it is surprising because google makes alot of revenue from ads so its surprising they allow apps to block these revenue sources i guess however its just goes to show how hands off google is with user apps compared to say ....apple
and lets face it the average user wouldnt be pushing files and gaining root access ect to do it (none of my friends have) i think its a select few who will actually go to the trouble to actually remove the ads probably not enough to impact revenue from ads however if someone is redistributing a apk with ads removed then its probably going to do more harm.
one things for sure my DHD is staying ad free (its not so much ads in apps but ads in webpages that bother me)

Mobile Ad Networks - good or bad?

Hi all,
I would like to seek your feedback on your experience with mobile ad networks. Should I be engaging the big players like AdMob or can I go to smaller ad networks? They all look the same to me, offering the same services.
Cheers!

chongnyen said:
Hi all,
I would like to seek your feedback on your experience with mobile ad networks. Should I be engaging the big players like AdMob or can I go to smaller ad networks? They all look the same to me, offering the same services.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my apps I usually combine several ad networks. Admob has a very small eCPM, so Im using iAd + Mobfox + Admob for iPhone and Mobfox + Admob for android.

It really depends on what your app is for, does, etc. For instance I develop live wallpapers. So I would need an ad company that would work with live wallpapers not necessarily a "regular app".
Personally I use leadbolt:
The only ad type from them I use is the notification ad. They offer different types this one works for me. Since my live wallpapers aren't traditional apps that users enter this works great since it will display a small ad in the notification bar that is easily "cleared" if the user chooses not to click it. They are not forced to click, etc. This means your users wont leave a lot of those spam 1 star ratings. Its also easy to implement with eclipse. You can also set how often the users see the ad (in days).
They have a good payout plan and i'm not greedy so the starting low earnings is ok because it grows with your user base. Permissions needed for this company is 5. Standard number for most apps.
The second company I just started using is StartApp.
They pay on an per install basis not by ads. So for each US install of your app you get $.055. So if you get 1000 US installs thats $55USD. They pay a lower amount for non us installs i believe its $.04 and $.01 for returning users meaning if a user has one of your apps installed and download another with start app in it you make $.01 not $.055.
This one is a little more tricky however because the user must accept the terms when they install your app for you to get credit. Once they do that they get a search icon, browser bookmark, and one other thing. All of which can be deleted right then after install without effecting your app or your pay. As long as they accept the terms you get paid.
Permissions needed for this company is 15 i believe. Which most are just to access the settings of the different third party launchers out there and not listed in the Google play store listing.
Startapp doesn't generate as many bad or negative reviews as others.
All in all im happy with both and haven't gotten any negative reviews since implementing either. However just started using Startapp 2 days ago so ill wait and see how that does.
You can use either of these along with other companies at the same time. I use leadbolt and startapp in some of my apps at the same time.

One thing you should also keep in mind is your users' privacy. Don't forget you bundle those ad modules with your own app -- so they also have access to everything your app has access to. And some networks make use of (or rather abuse) this. Also, it makes it harder to explain your app's permissions to the user -- not everybody is satisfied by "well, that's just for the ads".
Some useful readings on this include:
Android Adware abusing permissions, Collecting more than they need
How to Curb Aggressive Mobile Ad Networks
Android ad networks found accessing users’ private data
Android apps and advertising: A bit too cozy
Again: while some ad modules require too much permissions themselves (you can check that e.g. at Top Mobile Ad Networks), some additionally abuse the permissions your own app needs.

Ad networks = profit from free apps. Android users do not like paying for apps so thats the smartest way to be paid for the hard work while development process

Ad networks are a great way for you to make solid revenue on android

In my experience I would say:
Good for Admob
Less than sufficient for Startapp (dropped a lot after the Google's changes )

Hi,
Being an ad network, we understand such concerns. There are app developers who look for different way to monetize via (their) app. Ad networks help them to do it in easy way. Ad networks facilitate app developers with right solution.
For any app developer, there is nothing more gratifying than app monetization, and that's what Ad networks do. We help app developer to monetize well.

That's the problem really, comparing Leadbolt against Admob is not an apple vs apple comparison. One is a push network (plus in-app and icon and walls, etc.), another is in-app banners.
As a benchmark... In July last year I made over $300 from referral revenues, this month, it stands at $4 from over 200 referrals. These numbers do indeed speak for themselves.
As I always say, some ad networks work great for some people, maybe this works for you. Maybe Leadbolt works for many others too, and if it does, I'm happy for you.
It just doesn't work for me... too bad...

Thanks guys, this thread is what I'm looking for.

chongnyen said:
Hi all,
I would like to seek your feedback on your experience with mobile ad networks. Should I be engaging the big players like AdMob or can I go to smaller ad networks? They all look the same to me, offering the same services.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I prefer to use big player.. for big player usually give you a smaller ecpm, but there is scam potency for smaller ad network..
don't want to take risk for that..
as changing ad provider means we must update our apps in play store, if we just say that our update is only change the ad provider, our user won't be interested to update their apps.. we must make significant update in the codes to.. that means times too.. while we all know.. times is precious and expensive too

Admob Insane CTR and eCPM (anyone else?)

Hey guys,
On 6th of august, I released my first android application at google play. So far, it generated lots of downloads. Since the app is free to download I´m trying to make some money with admob. I´ve placed an ad banner at the bottom of the app, a small one though. I´m not forcing anyone to click on the banners and didn´t place it somewhere near to a button.
And now comes the thing: In admob, I have a CTR of ~9, and my eCPM is at over 3 USD. From what I heard from other developers, these values are insane, much higher than the average.
Now my fear is to get banned from admob, I´m even not figuring on the money anymore. By now, I set the refresh rate to 30 seconds which gave me a slightly lower CTR of 7.5 at least. But that doesn´t "solve" my problem..
Could you maybe share your experiences with admob´s CTR and eCPM?
Please note that my app is generating around 10 000 app impressions per day which results in around 900 clicks or so.

Forgot to add this screenshot: 250kb.de/u/130812/j/tUb3UOtWOoZw.jpg

Fer Dinand said:
Hey guys,
On 6th of august, I released my first android application at google play. So far, it generated lots of downloads. Since the app is free to download I´m trying to make some money with admob. I´ve placed an ad banner at the bottom of the app, a small one though. I´m not forcing anyone to click on the banners and didn´t place it somewhere near to a button.
And now comes the thing: In admob, I have a CTR of ~9, and my eCPM is at over 3 USD. From what I heard from other developers, these values are insane, much higher than the average.
Now my fear is to get banned from admob, I´m even not figuring on the money anymore. By now, I set the refresh rate to 30 seconds which gave me a slightly lower CTR of 7.5 at least. But that doesn´t "solve" my problem..
Could you maybe share your experiences with admob´s CTR and eCPM?
Please note that my app is generating around 10 000 app impressions per day which results in around 900 clicks or so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's really insane, CTR of 9! I think that your users are very excited about ads haha. I think that the reason it maybe the low number of users but this still a lot haha. Do you have a good retention ratio during the time? it's very important to keep users for long terme. I think that it will decrease by the growing numbers of users. I wish you to keep these insane numbers and make more profits :good:

I suggest you use several Ad networks to improve your earning and reduce the risks.
One day, I got banned for no reason and lost an $300. I tried sending Google my appeal but the result was just as people said: there was no reply or explanation. $300 is not cancer so i'm still optimistic but the incident made me wonder: "should I always depend on Admob?".
So I decide to combine several Ad networks. It works. And I realize something about Admob:
Pros: It is reliable and has huge users database. Admob is backed by Google - a prestigious corporation who tracks every steps of anyone who use its service.
Cons:
- Its eCPM is low (I don't know exactly why but everytime I try another Ad network, they outperform Admob in terms of eCPM. I guess that Admob know it has advantages over competitors when it comes to reputation and users database, so It charge advertisers and publishers more)
- Its ban users more frequently. (Some of my friends' accounts got banned because Google thinks they was cheating, while infact he didn't. It was very difficult for him to reach Google support to recover his accounts).
after combining Admob and with Airpush, Leadbolt, StartApp, ChartBoost, I end up with Adsota - a lesser known ad network. Adsota is an has much higher eCPM, 100% fill-rate, variousa ads format, and swift payment. You can find it by googling "ads.appota".
Best of luck, mate!

Admob - sudden drop

I don'0t know if I am the only one but Admob
is giving me a lot of headache last days.
First, my apps were never transferred to the new admob so I have old Admob showing 7 apps while new one has only 1..
Has anyone has noticed similar in his account?
Second, in past two days my app installs, and profit (all realted to very low eCPM) drop about 5 times.
My eCPM from from 5$ (I know it was very high already) to 0,5$
I see many of you have some kind of problems with Admob but has anyone find solutions for them ?

Seeing the same thing on my end. A massive drop from at least $5 per day to now doing around $0.15 per day. This started on May 6th 2014, no idea what's going on.

I have the same problem The last weeks where great cause my revenue was always rising, but now it is back to normal again

Hmm? I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary, but if apps are disappearing from your dashboard, try using the contact form at the upgrade guide. I'd link it here if I could, but XDA's spam filter kills my links to Google support.
Google for the keywords: "admob upgrade guide", the link you need is on support dot google dot com, answer id 3077517
Ctrl-F for Troubleshoot upgrade issue
Click a few answers, then you'll get a link with the text: "Please complete this form and provide details regarding the upgrade issues you're experiencing."
Good luck. Google is kinda hard to contact but they do reply when you fill in a form properly.

Admob has been a little weak sauceing it lately.

World cup
I Think there is a big drop in revenue related to the World Cup

Did you see the same drop in other AdNetworks as well?
You should keep an eye on how well your ads network are doing.
Some might do better for you than others.
This can be done manually or using AdBoost that shows you comparative performance graphs.
Just google revenue adboost, second result.
That piece of art is what we're working on in my working place

Have you upgraded to new Admob? New admob gives better income. My admob earnings increase a bit after upgraded.

Same here, we upgraded and now everything is fine now!

It is safe to put admob in a new app if there are such problem with it?

I encountered the same incident too but 2 days after my things comes back to normal. The incident made me wonder: "should I always depend on Admob?".
So I decide to combine several Ad networks. It works. And I realize something about Admob:
Pros: It is reliable and has huge users database. Admob is backed by Google - a prestigious corporation who tracks every steps of anyone who use its service.
Cons:
- Its eCPM is low (I don't know exactly why but everytime I try another Ad network, they outperform Admob in terms of eCPM. I guess that Admob know it has advantages over competitors when it comes to reputation and users database, so It charge advertisers and publishers more)
- Its ban users more frequently & it's nearly impossible to get the explanation from them. (Some of my friends' accounts got banned because Google thinks they was cheating, while infact he didn't. It was very difficult for him to reach Google support to recover his accounts).
After combining Admob and with Airpush, Leadbolt, StartApp, ChartBoost, I end up with Adsota - a lesser known ad network. Adsota is an has much higher eCPM, 100% fill-rate, variousa ads format, and swift payment. You can find it by googling "ads.appota".
Best of luck, mate!

Share you paid advertising experience

I've just published my game to Google Play Store and was thinking of purchasing some advertising or pay per install ads. Anyone has any experience using Facebook ads, Admob, appbrain or other ad networks? What would you recommend. I do not have a large budget, for a start I am planning to spend around USD100.

Digitally said:
I've just published my game to Google Play Store and was thinking of purchasing some advertising or pay per install ads. Anyone has any experience using Facebook ads, Admob, appbrain or other ad networks? What would you recommend. I do not have a large budget, for a start I am planning to spend around USD100.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No experience with ads yet. I was recommended Facebook Lookalike Audience but we'll continue on our own up until 10k users. My fear would be to get a mass of users and disappoint them. Growing 100 at a time provides a good feedback loop to improve the app. Might use the Lookalike Audience then! Good luck!

Digitally said:
I've just published my game to Google Play Store and was thinking of purchasing some advertising or pay per install ads. Anyone has any experience using Facebook ads, Admob, appbrain or other ad networks? What would you recommend. I do not have a large budget, for a start I am planning to spend around USD100.
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I am also interested in this topic. I have a free app with a paid (no ads) counterpart. I was considering using any of the services that charge per install (CPI) on the paid app. If the cost per install is lower than 70% of the price of your app, then that investment would be risk-free.
Has anyone tried something like that? Would you recommend any service in particular? (Ideally, the ones that do not require SDKs to be added to the app, I don't want to add crapware to my app).

Digitally said:
I've just published my game to Google Play Store and was thinking of purchasing some advertising or pay per install ads. Anyone has any experience using Facebook ads, Admob, appbrain or other ad networks? What would you recommend. I do not have a large budget, for a start I am planning to spend around USD100.
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The budget normally starts from $10000. I don't think $100 generates significant data and downloads to help you make further decisions considering that average CPI is about $1.

Reply From A Guy That Knows The Data
Digitally said:
I've just published my game to Google Play Store and was thinking of purchasing some advertising or pay per install ads. Anyone has any experience using Facebook ads, Admob, appbrain or other ad networks? What would you recommend. I do not have a large budget, for a start I am planning to spend around USD100.
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Great question! While I cannot, and will not give you numbers or estimates in any shape or form, I can give you broad and general advice.
First off, I'll explain my background in a bit more detail. I worked in advertising sales for years at the top companies, and then moved into the mobile app space (I am also a secret coder by night.) I then spent two years working in the mobile app data space - providing performance data in the form of estimates for downloads/revenue. Our job was to sell our vast data sets (on every mobile app and publisher - ranked and un-ranked) which were centered around accurate estimates for downloads/revenue for any given app in every category/subcat, and country for iOS and GP. We worked with mid-market and top publishers to help them forecast how many installs they would need to purchase to reach top rank, how many organic installs they would receive at that rank, and how many installs they would have to purchase on an ongoing basis to maintain that rank.
Based on my experiences, truth be told, most publishers that are actual companies (not small indie or single shop guys)....they are buying downloads. This is not to say that strong marketing campaigns don't come with this (PR, promotions, social media, viral, cross-promotional ads to existing user base, etc.), but in some way or another, most of them will be buying ads. Here is the caveat - it is not a simple process, at all. They have analysts that know exactly how much money they make off of one download....for instance...they know that for every download on xyz game, they make $2.30, and their CPI is $1.95, thus, their actual net rev is $.35 per install. However, this is all also centered around growth potential as well...so in many cases, they need to hit the top ranks for organic growth to generate higher profit margins, so they need accurate forecasting of exactly/roughly how many installs it's going to take to get there...and if they come up short, they don't make top charts and they either have to spend more money to climb up...or they're out of budget and they've lost $$$. Basically, if you want to buy ads...you need to set realistic goals, and understand what the value of your user is...from a financial standpoint. You must know your numbers cold before even considering putting a budget towards ads.
That being said, there are a ton of ways to buy ads out there, as I'm sure you and everyone knows. However, if you do get around to doing some solid analysis on what your users are worth, and want to run some testing with a low budget...nothing to break the bank...I would A) Go with a reputable company, even if the CPI/CPA is higher than you'd like....because you want to avoid fraudulent DL's....many ad networks will turn a blind eye to this for obvious financial reasons, and B) Try Facebook....honestly, I've spoken to many smaller developers that find a fair CPI/CPA, with pretty good ROI and retention.
Hope this helps - KNOW YOUR NUMBERS AND ALWAYS LOOK TO THE DATA
~Geo_Mojito

Some interesting data we are gathering at Thalamus.co, where we have the average CPI rates & Install Volumes of each network broken out by genre/platform/country. There are also contacts and minimum spends so should give you a good sense of what's out there.
A $100 budget is not too large, so it'd be hard to give you a definitive answer as to which network has basically no minimums (unless you want to work with a mobile self-serve DSP like PocketMath). Facebook would be a good place to start, although prices are at a premium due to high demand. I'd suggest really going all in on free methods like PR, reaching out to Bloggers, ASO, Social Fan Pages, Organic/Viral Installs, and Partnerships first.

My experience:
1) Social Networks advertising. I promoted it personally, it was tooooo long and without big results.
2) Youtube videos. Not bad, but you have to attract users to watch your videos and invite their friends to install your app.
3) Buying the marketing services in agencies. I have experience with several agencies, but App-Reviews has the best, I think.
4) Use different tools for advertising. I used AdMob, it had some success...

Digitally said:
I've just published my game to Google Play Store and was thinking of purchasing some advertising or pay per install ads. Anyone has any experience using Facebook ads, Admob, appbrain or other ad networks? What would you recommend. I do not have a large budget, for a start I am planning to spend around USD100.
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After advertising services you can try some low budget app promotion services too. My personal choice is AppRankPRO . why is because it gives the proof of each and every install of the genuine real user and free keyword analysis services too. I think you can have a look at AppRankPRO