ironSource VP Nadav Ashkenazy spoke at the most recent Casual Connect Europe conference in London. Discussing everything from the benefits of rewarded video to supercharging game revenue while preserving and even improving user experience. Check out the deck from his presentation titled "The Ins and Outs of Ad Monetization: How Choosing the Right Ad Format can Supercharge your Game Revenue".

1. Monetization Deep Dive
Enhancing User Experience
and Ad Revenue

2. The Gap
IAPIAP
Ad
Monetization
Ad
Monetization
Share of Revenue / Impact Share of Attention / Sophistication

3. Part 1
Rewarded Ads (User initiated)

4. Rewarded Ads - The Magic Ad Unit
Great
eCPMs
(= great revenue source)
Great
UX

5. Rewarded Ads - The Magic Ad Unit
Definitely doesn’t hurt
retention
Definitely doesn’t hurt
session length
Important to make
sure it doesn’t
cannibalize IAP

6. Rewarded Ads - The Magic Ad Unit
Definitely doesn’t hurt
retention
Definitely doesn’t hurt
session length
Important to make
sure it doesn’t
cannibalize IAP
Can actually
improve it by
~10% - 25%
Can actually
improve it by
10% - 30%
Can actually
improve it by
0 - 8%

7. Bottom line:
Start with maximizing rewarded ads

8. Rewarded Ads Equation
= What to measure

9. Maximizing Revenue - WHAT KPIs? Publisher Network
Impressions
*
Bids
Implementation -
Placements, Flow
Engagement Rate
Usage Rate
(Imp/engaged user)
Visibility
Attractiveness
Timing
Alignment with virtual economy
eCPM
IPM
Creatives
Targeting
Relationship (granular bidding,
post-install events,
suppression…)
Revenue =

10. Engagement Rate and Usage Rate
6 Videos a day
100%
Users
40%
Users
1M DAU 400K EU
2.4M
impressions
=
Usage Rate

11. Session Depth and its Effects
Imp IPM
1st 6
2nd 5
3rd 4.6
4th 4.1
5th 3.5
6th 3
7th 2.75
8th 2.5
9th 2.25
10th 2
· Sum of RV IPM · Sum of playable IPM

12. Benchmarks
and Targets
= Where to aim for

13. DAU ⇨ Impressions
Engagement Rate
At least 30%
aim for 50%
Usage Rate
At least 4
aim for 8
Total imp/DAU rate
At least 1.2
aim for 4

14. Impressions ⇨ Revenue
IPM
At least 3
aim for 5
tier 1 / tier 3

15. Strategy
= How to get there

16. Rewarded Video Strategy
● Ads from Day 1
● Reward
○ Soft / hard currency
○ Valuable but different from IAP
○ Dynamic (exponential)
○ Diversified
● Timing
○ Clean environment
○ End of session
○ User and Advertiser - view and engagement

17. Rewarded Video Strategy
● Visibility
○ What share of users are even aware?
○ Engagement Rate affects twice!
○ Awareness (pop ups?)
● Clarity
○ Does the user understand?
○ Intro page

18. ● IAP, Capping, and pacing
○ Reward type Vs IAP currency
○ Caping and Pacing - to avoid risk
○ Segmentation (reward amount?)
○ Maximize total LTV (ads, retention, IAP)
Rewarded Video Strategy
Testing, Testing, Testing - Data-driven decisions

19. Offerwall

20. Offerwall?
User Initiated ad unit
(rewarded) - great UX
and effects
Wall of offers where
users can complete for
rewards
Publisher gives reward
only when they get
paid
(According to the exchange
rate
you define)

21. Offerwall
Much longer process
for the user
(> 90% CPE)
Definitely not part of
the game flow
(unlike what RV should be)
Average revenue and
reward per completion -
$3 (unlike 2c in RV)
Alternative payment
method!
(your 2nd store)
● Store, main screen
● Hard currency
● Awareness - pop ups, DCP

22. OW - Benchmark & Target
Engagement Rate
At least 5%
aim for 10%
Usage Rate
At least 1.2
aim for 2
OW/RV revenue
(ARPDAU) rate
At least 40%
aim for 80%

23. Part 2
System Initiated Ads
(Interstitials, banners, native)

24. System Initiated Ads
50% of users won’t
pay, and won’t engage
with rewarded ads
Display ads – the only
way to monetize them
(+ incremental revenue for the rest)

25. System Initiated Ads
With no strong virtual
economy (= weak IAP & Rewarded) -
System Initiated becomes
the main monetization
option
Can hurt UX, impact
retention & session
length, and affect
probability to purchase
Potential risks

26. How to effectively use system initiated ads
● Timing / Placements - when users finish playing, breaks
● Frequency / capping - average session length / 3.
● Format - rewarded interstitial? X button? # of clicks
● ARPU / LTV decision - (ARPDAU Vs Retention) - data driven
decision!
○ Segmentation - non paying non rewarded

27. What does good
Implementation
look like?

28. RV - 3 placements
Free Reward
Main screen, reward is changing
(Time Warp, MegaBucks), pace -
every 2 hours
Free Reward
Main screen, fixed with a timer,
reward is 4 hrs Boost, cap to 6
impressions a day
Speed boost
Main screen, timer clock, reward
is speed boost, cap to 3
impressions a day

29. What Does Good Implementation Look Like?

30. OW - 2 Placements Gold - Hard Currency
Main Screen Free gold Store Free gold

31. What is good there?
● Place - approachable and visible - Helps ER
● Simplicity - clear call to action, explanation page - Helps ER
● Reward - interesting and valuable - Helps ER + UR
● Available in high quantity (10-12 imp a day) – Helps UR
● Dynamic rewarding - keeps the ER + UR in good values
● User flow - a convenient time to make an install - Helps IPM
○ End of session, not the beginning
● Reward type - soft currency for RV, hard for OW
○ Make it fun, don’t apologise