Rewarded videos: the best for user experience and most effective for monetisation

In the first of its kind Summer 2017 Publishing Survey by AdColony, the largest independent mobile advertising platform, found that mobile app publishers in APAC believe ads drive better monetisation over in-app purchases.

The survey interviewed respondents from over 20 of Asia-Pacific’s top mobile gaming publishers with over 3 million user base.

Monetisation

According to the survey, respondents stated that advertising accounts for 63 percent of their mobile publisher revenue. The largest contributor to this category was mobile video at 27 percent, followed by display at 23 percent and native ads at 13 percent.

Outside of advertising, the single-largest revenue contributor was in-app purchases (25 percent), while paid installs or subscriptions was a meagre 8 percent.

Monetisation effectiveness

When it came to most effective method of monetisation, most APAC publishers (82 percent) ranked rewarded videos more positively than any other method.

Interstitial video ads were regarded the second most effective mode of monetisation (73 percent), even ahead of in-app purchases (67 percent).

Playable ads and interstitial display were also deemed effective by 50 percent of the publishers; meanwhile, less effective methods of monetisation included paid app downloads (33 percent), pre-roll video (33 percent), and in-feed video (33 percent).  

User experience

When it came to offering users the best user experience when engaging within gaming apps, a majority of publishers (70 percent) believed rewarded videos offer a positive user experience. In-app purchases (46 percent) and interstitial ads (38 percent) were also regarded as a relatively positive user experience (46 percent).

The AdColony Summer 2017 Mobile Publishing Survey was distributed globally, with the most respondents in EMEA (40 percent), followed by 34 percent in North America, 22 percent in APAC, and 4 percent in LATAM. Respondents primarily represented mobile game developers (90 percent), with a minority making non-gaming apps (18 percent). A small number (8 percent) represented mobile publisher who make both gaming and non-gaming apps. The full survey can be downloaded here.