Rewarded 101: Important things you need to know about rewarded video
Rewarded video is changing the way publishers monetize their content. We’ve seen advertising evolve to become mutually beneficial to both the user and the publisher, while also providing a better, richer experience. This is a huge potential opportunity for app developers, but how can you use rewarded video to augment your user experience and monetize your app? Here’s a quick overview of what rewarded advertising is, and some of its important features.
What’s rewarded? Rewarded video is a non-intrusive, short-form video that creates a value exchange between a publisher and a user: user’s voluntarily give their time to watch an ad in exchange for a reward, or in-app currency.
Rewarded video isn’t a new thing. Gaming publishers have been taking advantage of user opt-in video for several years, but we’ve recently seen rewarded video gaining traction across several different verticals. Publishers are exploring the potential of leveraging premium features, exclusive content, or upgraded services to incorporate Rewarded video ads seamlessly into their apps.
Focus on the user and all else will follow. A positive user experience is key to the success of rewarded video. Each ad should complement the user experience by appearing at an appropriate time offering a valuable reward (like gaining an extra life in your favorite game instead of the level ending, or an hour of uninterrupted listening time when streaming music) in exchange for watching a video. With AdMob, the user controls their experience by choosing to watch a video and receive the reward, or to not watch the video and forfeit the reward. It’s also easy to set a frequency cap to ensure that a user doesn’t see the same ad too many times.
You can earn more by doing less with AdMob mediation. Our ad unit level configuration allows you to try different advertising networks, network order, and reward settings at different points in your app. Our ad network also automatically fetches CPM values from these networks, and optimizes accordingly: expect high fill rates and maximum revenue. The best part? Thanks to our server-side settings you can keep tinkering in the background until you’ve got your reward settings nailed, minus the hassle of changing your code or re-releasing your app.
The most important thing to remember about rewarded video? When done well, it adds value to all parties. Users explicitly choose to opt-in and engage with an ad that complements their game or app in exchange for a reward. Publishers benefit from a non-interruptive high CPM monetisation format, increased retention, and potentially more ARPU (rewarded users play more and spend more). And advertisers reach valuable, engaged users that are more likely to complete an ad view. Everyone’s a winner!
Integrating rewarded ads into your apps is easy. Follow these simple steps to get started...
What’s rewarded? Rewarded video is a non-intrusive, short-form video that creates a value exchange between a publisher and a user: user’s voluntarily give their time to watch an ad in exchange for a reward, or in-app currency.
Rewarded video isn’t a new thing. Gaming publishers have been taking advantage of user opt-in video for several years, but we’ve recently seen rewarded video gaining traction across several different verticals. Publishers are exploring the potential of leveraging premium features, exclusive content, or upgraded services to incorporate Rewarded video ads seamlessly into their apps.
Focus on the user and all else will follow. A positive user experience is key to the success of rewarded video. Each ad should complement the user experience by appearing at an appropriate time offering a valuable reward (like gaining an extra life in your favorite game instead of the level ending, or an hour of uninterrupted listening time when streaming music) in exchange for watching a video. With AdMob, the user controls their experience by choosing to watch a video and receive the reward, or to not watch the video and forfeit the reward. It’s also easy to set a frequency cap to ensure that a user doesn’t see the same ad too many times.
You can earn more by doing less with AdMob mediation. Our ad unit level configuration allows you to try different advertising networks, network order, and reward settings at different points in your app. Our ad network also automatically fetches CPM values from these networks, and optimizes accordingly: expect high fill rates and maximum revenue. The best part? Thanks to our server-side settings you can keep tinkering in the background until you’ve got your reward settings nailed, minus the hassle of changing your code or re-releasing your app.
The most important thing to remember about rewarded video? When done well, it adds value to all parties. Users explicitly choose to opt-in and engage with an ad that complements their game or app in exchange for a reward. Publishers benefit from a non-interruptive high CPM monetisation format, increased retention, and potentially more ARPU (rewarded users play more and spend more). And advertisers reach valuable, engaged users that are more likely to complete an ad view. Everyone’s a winner!
Integrating rewarded ads into your apps is easy. Follow these simple steps to get started...
- Create a new AdMob Rewarded interstitial ad unit
- Make sure your SDKs are updated (Android v9.0 or higher and iOS v7.9.1 or higher)
- Implement the rewarded interstitial ad unit and ad unit ID where the ad will be shown in the app. Take a look at our Android implementation guide and iOS implementation guide for help.
- Optionally integrate the SDKs of third-party demand sources
