What Is Mobile Ad Network? Benefits, Pricing Models, Types & Best Practices

With the rapid pace of digitalization, mobile advertising will only become more important for advertisers and marketers in the future. This article by

Kayla Matthews, explores the basics of mobile ad networks and the different platforms and best practices that the modern marketer can make use of to amplify their advertising.

Table of Contents:

What Is Mobile Ad Network?

A mobile ad network is defined as an advertising network that connects advertisers with mobile app publishers who want to monetize their apps. Major mobile ad networks include Google’s Admob, Media.net and StartApp.

With a mobile ad network, app publishers sign up for the network and are paid for providing ad space within their apps. The network then aggregates the ad space provided by all publishers on the system and sells it to marketers and internet advertisers.

The advertising structure and pricing models used by these networks are similar to most online ad services. The primary difference is that these ads will only be served to mobile users through apps.

Learn More: What Is an Ad Network? Definition, Types, and ExamplesOpens a new window

Five Benefits of Mobile Ad Networks

There are a few unique advantages that you’ll be able to benefit from when advertising with a mobile ad network.

1. The Largest Online Market:

The main benefit of advertising with a mobile ad network is the number of viewers you’ll have access to. Mobile users are the fastest-growing viewer base onlineOpens a new window .

2. A Highly Engaged Audience:

You’ll also benefit from a more attentive audience. Users of mobile apps respond better to advertising than users on desktop or mobile browsers. Customers prefer mobile apps because they usually load faster and offer a better user experience than official websites.

With mobile advertising, you can reach out to these users directly, at a time when they’re most engaged. Mobile drives more conversions — 1.5 times more than desktop and two times more than mobile browsers, according to research by Criteo.

3. Hard-to-Block Ads:

Ads are also more difficult to block on mobile devices than they are on desktop browsers. About 18% of adults in the United States used some form of ad blocker when browsing the internet on a desktop, according to data from Statista. That’s compared to just 1% of adults who used an ad blocker on a mobile device.

Mobile ads are more likely to reach their target audience than browser ads, primarily because it takes more work to block them. Sometimes, a user will need to make warranty-voiding modifications to block advertisements. In some cases, like with in-app ads, users may not be able to block them at all.

4. Fewer Ad Targeting Errors:

Online ad networks rely on cookies to build profiles of users and track important advertising stats, like conversion and click-through rates. But cookies are periodically deleted by 20 to 50 percent of all PC users — and modern browsers are becoming more and more careful about the cookies they accept.

Mobile ad networks often use phone numbers to build user profiles, rather than cookies. This increases the effectiveness of these networks’ tracking and makes ad targeting more accurate — meaning your ads have the best chance of reaching the intended audience.

5. Mobile Payment:

Mobile payment apps and other services make it easier for customers to pay from their phones. This reduces the number of times customers needs to spend to purchase your product or service, increasing the chance of a conversion.

Learn More: What Is an Ad Exchange? Definition, Functioning, Types, and ExamplesOpens a new window

Mobile Ad Network Pricing Models

Mobile ad pricing models are mostly similar to those available for traditional internet advertising. Here are the most common ones offered:

CPM or CPT — Cost per mille
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or cost per thousand: The advertiser is charged for every thousand views their advertisement receives.
CPC — Cost per click
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: The advertiser is charged based on the number of clicks — and only clicks — that their ads receive. With CPC, the number of times an ad is viewed will not affect how much an advertiser pays.
CPA — Cost per acquisition: The advertiser is charged for every time a user both clicks through and completes a specific action, like installing an app or making a purchase.

Generally, but not always, you’ll pay less per view when running a CPM campaign than per click with CPC or per acquisition with CPA. With a CPM campaign, however, you will be paying for every visitor that sees your ad, rather than just the ones that convert. Figuring out which of these pricing models is best for you can take some market research and experimentation. It will also depend on your budget and overall marketing strategy.

Learn More: What Is Display Advertising? Definition, Targeting Process, Management, Network, Types, and ExamplesOpens a new window

Types of Mobile Ads

Advertising on a mobile network is similar to advertising on the web. However, the unique nature of mobile apps means that there are some differences that you can take advantage of.

Interstitial ads display in between two pieces of content. When a user navigates from one page to another, an interstitial ad will display, taking up the full screen for a period of time or until the user closes it. These are the most intrusive form of mobile advertisement but often have good conversion rates.
Native ads are designed to slot in between pieces of content on a feed. They will look like other pieces of content. This is a good form of advertising for news articles, listicles or any kind of content that you can imagine because they can be shared organically. Since they match the type of content that surrounds them, native ads are one of the least intrusive forms of mobile advertisement. It’s a common option on social media platforms, especially article- and writing-heavy ones like Facebook and LinkedIn.
Video ads display video and sound. They can be interstitial, native or display when a user opens an app. These ads are generally more flexible than other types in terms of where they can appear. Some mobile apps allow users to view video ads to gain additional time or in-game currency. They are sometimes called reward ads.
Banner ads will probably be the most familiar to you if you’ve ever advertised online before. They are similar to online banner ads, which feature static or animated graphics that occupy some or all of the sides of the screen. However, they’ll be displayed at the top or bottom of a mobile app instead. Mobile ad networks also offer expandable and can show a full-screen version when clicked.

The more complicated an ad, the more space it takes up and the more audio and video it has, the more it will likely cost. Ads that aren’t intrusive will typically be cheaper, but can also be less effective compared to other forms of advertising.

Learn More: Ad Network vs. Ad Exchange: Key Differences and SimilaritiesOpens a new window

Three Best Practices for Mobile Advertising

General marketing experience will prepare most for working with a mobile ad network — but there are some specific best practices that you can apply to get the most out of mobile advertising.

1. Balance Cost and Conversion Rate

When selecting a pricing model, you will have to balance the cost against the conversion rate. You should begin your mobile ad strategy with market research. If you know who is most likely to respond well to your advertising or the goods or services your business provides, you’re much more likely to build a campaign that reaches the right people.

2. Build Your Campaign Around Your Audience

When developing your campaigns and before choosing ad types, you should consider using design techniques like creating buyer personas. A clear vision of the viewer you’d like to target most can help you determine which kind of advertisement and pricing model will be best for you. What kind of ads would this persona be most interested in? Which would they be most likely to click on?

3. Be Prepared to Experiment

Your ads may not reach your target audience right away. Some experimentation with mobile advertising may be necessary to find the right combination of targeting settings, price model and ad types that work for your business.

Learn More: What Is Advertising Technology (Adtech)? Definition, Ecosystem, Programmatic, & TrendsOpens a new window

Top 5 Mobile Ad Networks

Depending on whose count you want to take as most accurate, there are more than 200 mobile ad networks. However, you don’t need to keep track of them all to build a successful mobile ad strategy. You’ll only need to familiarize yourself with the main differences between some of the top ones.

1. Google AdMob

AdMob is the mobile advertising network run by one of the major players in online advertising — Google. The service is one of the largest mobile ad networks — more than 1 million apps and 1 million advertisers use AdMob.

This network has the most data about mobile users’ browsing habits and how they respond to advertising. AdMob has a high-powered analytics suite that draws on this data and you can use it to fine-tune your strategy.

2. Media.net

One of the oldest mobile ad networks and the main competitor of Google’s AdMob, Media.net offers many of the same ad types and contextual features. The prices — for both publishers and advertisers — are generally seen as more competitive than Admobs’, however. Media.net also provides other online advertising services that can integrate with your mobile ad strategy.

3. StartApp

StartApp is integrated into more than 500,000 apps worldwide, according to an announcement made by the company in 2018. Key features that make this network stand out from the competition are its ad and data-driven targeting options.

This ad network places more emphasis than other systems on more intrusive advertising types. Both return ads and splash ads — full-page ads that display immediately after an app is launched — are enabled by default. Return ads are similar to splash ads, but only appear when a user returns to an app after a certain period.

While other networks tend to focus on banner ads and native content, StartApp specializes in interstitial and splash ads. If you think your advertising strategy will work best with more attention-grabbing advertisements, StartApp may be right for you.

4. InMobi

InMobi is unique among mobile ad networks in how they target users. It has developed a new method of user targeting that they call “appographic” targeting.

Rather than only using traditional targeting information, like location, age and gender, appographic targeting draws from the apps that a user downloads and uses in order to build a profile of what products and services that user will most likely benefit from.

As a result, InMobi will be a good fit for marketers wanting innovative and powerful targeting options.

5. Flurry

Flurry, a mobile ad network acquired by Yahoo in 2014, stands out from the competition with its unique and powerful analytics suite, which allows marketers to categorize and filter ad campaign data on the fly.

This ad network is one of the best for advertisers who want to take advantage of detailed and customizable data reports and spend time analyzing data from previous campaigns.

Learn More: What Is Programmatic Advertising? Definition, Types, Channel, and AdvantagesOpens a new window

Social Media Ad Networks

Most social media networks — like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram — have their own mobile apps. If you want to advertise on these platforms, you will probably need to go through these networks rather than the ones listed above.

If you’re already advertising on one of these social media platforms, doing so on their mobile app may not require any extra work. Your ads should, depending on the platform, display to both mobile and desktop users — so long as they fall within the targeting settings you’ve selected.

Learn More:

What Is Social Media Advertising? Definition, Costs, Best Practices, Benefits, and ExamplesOpens a new window

The Future of Mobile Advertising

Today, advertisers spend nearly $160 million on mobile advertising. By 2021, that figure is expected to grow to more than $250 billion. If current trends hold, mobile advertising will only become more important for advertisers and marketers in the future.

Advertising with a mobile ad network is similar to doing so with any other online service, but there are a few differences you’ll need to keep in mind. You will be reaching out to a different audience, and various advertisement types will be available.

If you’ve never reached out to mobile users before, it may take some getting used to it. There’s no better way than with a mobile ad network.