As you may know, today, in the age of mobile devices and apps, mobile internet users account for over 90% of the global online population. In 2021 there were 4.32 billion unique mobile internet users in the world. It is also hardly a secret that the owners of modern-day mobile devices primarily are accessing the internet through various mobile applications instead of traditional web browsing. 

Naturally, many owners of popular mobile apps are interested in monetizing their products with online advertising, as this can allow them to have a steady revenue stream while providing their apps to users for free. The programmatic advertising market responded to the needs of mobile app publishers by creating multiple mobile-specific ad networks focused on monetization of app traffic. 

Today, you can find dozens of ad networks specializing in mobile advertisement and even in certain niches of the mobile market such as in-game advertising. This is why choosing the right mobile ad network for your specific needs and mobile assets can be challenging. 

Naturally, any publisher is motivated to find the mobile ad network with the highest eCPM as one of the most important criteria in this field. Is looking for the best eCPM mobile ad network a valid approach? And what are other essential criteria to use when choosing a mobile ad network? This is what we are going to talk about today. 

 

 

What is eCPM? 

It seems reasonable to start with clarifying what eCPM actually means. eCPM stands for “effective” CPM or effective cost per thousand impressions. This metric is used to calculate a general CPM regardless of what media buying method is used by an advertiser or a publisher. So even when the advertiser is using bidding models such as CPA (cost per action) or CPC (cost per click) for some programmatic advertising campaigns, the eCPM metric can be applied as a universal denominator to understand the size of total expenses and compare them to overall campaign goals and objectives. 

In simple words, eCPM converts all non-CPM buying methods into a CPM calculation model. Typically, the eCPM number would be higher than standard CPM as the eCPM takes into account direct-response advertising campaigns based on models such as CPA or CPC, which are focused on user actions that are valued higher compared to simple views of the ad. 

 

Best eCPM mobile ad networks in 2022 

As you can see, eCPM is just a general metric that is used as a universal denominator when estimating publisher revenues in different mobile ad networks. What do we know about eCPMs across mobile ad networks and geographical markets? According to a recent 2022 research of eCPMs in mobile advertisement⁠—it was focused on studying rewarded video, interstitial ads, and banners as three main mobile ad formats—the United States is the market with highest eCPMs on both iOS and Android.

In the rewarded video format, the top 5 eCPM countries for iOS are the US ($14.16), Taiwan ($10.28), Japan ($9.92), Australia ($9.33), and South Korea ($8.23). For Android, the top 5 markets with highest eCPMs are the US ($11.45), Australia ($11.08), Japan ($10.50), South Korea ($9.89), and Taiwan ($6.96).

For interstitial ads, the US is also number one for both iOS and Android. Interestingly, the study has found that eCPMs for interstitials on Android are higher than the ones on iOS. It’s $10.11 in the US for Android compared to $9.64 for iOS. 

Naturally, global eCPMs for banner ads are much lower compared to other formats. The top figure is $0.38 on iOS and $0.52 on Android in the US. As you can see, Android offers higher eCPMs in banner ads also.

 

How to find a good mobile ad network? 

Here are some fundamental tips and recommendations on choosing not only the best eCPM mobile ad network, but generally the best solution for your needs. 

 

• Search for mobile ad networks that match your media formats and audience.

One core advice is to look for mobile ad networks that can match your mobile media formats and audiences in the best possible way. For example, if your media is mobile games, look for ad networks specializing in this market niche. Same is with other specific types of mobile applications and/or mobile ad formats. 

 

• Study the mobile ad network’s documentation. 

It is also recommended to go through user documentation provided by the mobile ad network when evaluating it. This may help you to understand how the ad network operates and what may be the best ways to utilize its advertising offers. 

 

• Test each mobile ad network for several weeks.

Naturally, the best way to evaluate all the strengths and weaknesses of every mobile ad network, including the actual size of its eCPMs, is to run a test-drive of each platform for several weeks. This would allow you to gather some actual results that can later be analyzed for best eCPMs, as well as based on other popular in the programmatic industry metrics.  

 

• Regularly optimize your mobile ad inventory and remove poorly performing ads. 

As a last piece of advice, in order to find the best mobile ad network for your needs, keep this process of evaluation and optimization running continuously. Optimize your ad inventory based on the data collected and remove poorly performing ad formats and/or mobile ad networks, replacing them with high performers as much as possible. 

 

Final words 

Don’t have time to choose and test various mobile ad networks trying to find the one with the highest eCPM? Outsource this headache along with all the other challenging aspects of your ad operations to professionals with proven expertise in the ad tech field. 

This is us! The pubGENIUS team consists of highly experienced specialists who are well-versed in the best practices and trends of the industry. We know how to utilize innovative technologies and ad unit types to optimize websites and applications for individual publishers. We will make sure that your mobile apps are using the most relevant monetization methods and your ad inventory is set up and operating with maximum capacity at all times. 

Get in touch with pubGENIUS Team to get free consultation 🙂