Delivered at Casual Connect USA 2016. Ad monetization is a relatively mysterious activity for most startups, and has become increasingly more important for a majority of developers these days. Ketchapp has launched hundreds of titles that have been played by over 500 million people around the world. Join this session with Ketchapp's chief revenue officer Christian Calderon to discover how startups can be more effective in their monetization strategies.
3. Ketchapp
Rank 2014 2015 2016 YTD
1 Google Apple Apple
2 Apple Facebook Tencent
3 Facebook Google Google
4 Tencent Tencent Facebook
5 Gameloft Gameloft
6 King Electronic Arts Baidu
7 Disney Electronic Arts
8 Electronic Arts Baidu King
9 LINE Corporation King Gameloft
10 LINE Corporation Cheetah Mobile
Source: AppAnnie
4. Overview
• What’s going on in the market
• Terms you should know
• Ad monetization landscape
• What to look for in a partner
• Business development tactics to improve revenue
• Product features to improve revenue
5. The mobile ads market
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6. The mobile ads market
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SpendperUser($USD)
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7. The mobile ads market
Developers, don’t
undervalue your worth!
8. Ad monetization metrics and terminology
• Impression: each time an ad is fetched and it is countable
• CPM: cost per thousand impressions
• Calls: the number of times you request an ad impression
• Fill Rate: % of calls that serve an ad impression
• Adoption rate: unique ad engagements / unique users
• Ads ARPDAU: average revenue per daily active user for ads
• Retention: daily cohorted user retention
• Ads LTV: lifetime value from ads
• CTR: click-through-rate
• CVR: conversion rate
• ATTAV: average time to ad view
23. Mediation technology
• Mediation is good
• Algorithms are different, it’s important to
understand them
• Technology should improve over time
• Not real time--reporting APIs are too slow
• New entrants are entering the market
• Incumbents are improving tech to compete
against each other
• Important to understand how mediation partners
make money – it’s actually pretty hard for them –
and each mediation partner has a different
revenue model
32. Choosing the best demand partner: biz
• What’s the revenue share?
• Are they open to CPM guarantees and
floors?
• Can they throw in user acquisition?
• Will they offer buyouts?
• What does your dedicated account team
look like?
• Will they let you make modifications?
• Can you build a relationship with the
partner?
Biz
33. Choosing the best demand partner: tech
• Test the SDK before you sign
• Is there a serverside integration?
• Do they support your game engine?
• Is the documentation up to date?
• Is it flexible enough to make
modifications?
• How’s the tech on the demand side?
• What items are they passing in their
reporting API?
• How often can you hit the reporting API?
Tech
34. Evaluating demand
• You don’t want too many SDKs in your
app
• Does the demand partner have a
sizeable salesforce?
• What types of advertisers? Is there
brand demand and performance
demand?
• How much are advertisers spending?
D1
D2
P2
Q1
S1
P1
36. Ad Units: banner ads
Banner
Cons
• The Industries most unpopular ad unit
• Not as performant
• Lower CPM
Pros
• High adoption
• High revenue Potential
37. Ad Units: interstitial ads
Interstitial
Cons
• Intrusive if improperly integrated
• Medium CPM
• High CPM (for playables and video)
Pros
• High adoption
• High revenue Potential
38. Ad Units: rewarded video ads
Rewarded Video
Cons
• The Industries most unpopular ad unit
• Lower Adoption
Pros
• High revenue potential
• High CPM
39. Ad Units: other…
• Native has had much higher adoption
outside of games
• Standardized ad formats have proven
demand
• Some ad units can offer higher CPM,
why is the CPM higher? does it hurt
retention?
Other…
42. Product feature: multi-ad format
• Stack by Ketchapp
• Currency rewarded to players for
watching a video
• Banner unit during gameplay
• Interstitial served if rewarded video was
not activated
• Combines multiple ad formats for a
simple, fun, and thoughtful ad
experience
Multi
43. Product feature: daily reward re-roll
• Two Dots by Dots
• Daily prize served to every player
• Create a compelling prize to increase
adoption rate
• Combine the high adoption rate with a
high first impression CPM
Rewarded Video
44. Product: multiplier high frequency re-roll
• Doomsday Clicker by Pik Pok
• Monetization mechanic tied to a core
game loop within the game
• Monetization mechanic speeds up
progression in a core way
• You can re-roll the multiplier
• Combines high frequency ad viewing
with higher CPM ad format in a fun way
Rewarded Video
45. Product: hourly rewards
• Nonstop Knight by Flaregames
• Monetization mechanic is a function of
progression
• Coins, tokens and consumables
available through rewarded videos
every 3 hours
• Need resources to upgrade your knight
to progress through the game
Rewarded Video
46. Product: native
• Pele by Cosi Productions
• Incorporates native format as a function
of level progression
• Impressions served every second with
every kick at every level
• Realistic and beautifully incorporated
into the background like an actual
soccer game
• High deal value and cash component
Native