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App Monetization: A Clever Way to Incorporate Mobile App Ads

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App Masters11:23Open on YouTube
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The bottom line

Ads earn more and annoy less when they appear at natural pauses and users choose to watch them. That makes the user, the app maker and the advertiser all win.

Key takeaways

  • Ads that users accept instead of dodge pay off for everyone. 0:53
    • The user finds the app clean and is the one asking to see the ad.
    • The advertiser gets real engagement, not a pop-up closed in a hurry.
  • Video ads that offer a reward earn more than banners. 4:38
    • Merge shows 173 coins won, then offers to double them for a video ad.
    • Duolingo offers a video ad to refill health, which keeps the user learning.
  • The best moment to offer an ad is right after the user finishes something. 5:17
    • After a lesson, a level or a puzzle, the user feels good and is more willing to watch.
    • Young suggests Duolingo move its health offer from before a lesson to after it.
  • Interstitials work when they explain themselves and offer a way out. 2:43
    • Duolingo's line this ad helps keep education free makes a free app's ads feel fair.
    • A link to go ad free turns the same screen into a premium upsell, and Duolingo skips banners to stay clean.
  • Wording and layout should be tested to see what gets the most engagement. 3:57
    • Duolingo appears to test two interstitials, one with "go ad free" and one with only a close button.
    • Young's untested hunches: say "double up your coins" and show a fuller progress bar.

It's very clean, it's not getting convoluted with banner ads and making your app ugly, so it's giving users a great user experience while still earning you more ad revenue.

Steve Young, App Masters

Chapter summaries

0:00 Duolingo as a model for clean ads

A clean app can carry ads without feeling cluttered, and the style fits almost any kind of app.

  • The Duolingo approach works for games, productivity and language apps alike. 2:15
    • Steve is learning Spanish on it, so he can watch Narcos without subtitles.
    • He calls it a very popular app that fits ads into a very clean design.
    • He admits his Spanish is still only about three basic phrases.
    • He picked it because the idea carries over to any app type.
  • The ad appears right after a lesson ends. 2:33
    • It is a quick, short interstitial shown once he is done swiping.
    • Nothing in the app has to be bought, so he is happy to look at it.
    • His reaction: I'm getting a lot out of this app and I don't mind you showing me this.
    • The premium link matters because Duolingo eventually wants users to pay.

3:52 Format variations and video ads

Small changes to the screen and the ad type give an app more ways to earn.

  • The second interstitial swaps the upsell for a plain close option. 3:57
    • It shows only the promotion and a "no thanks" button.
    • Closing the first version means reaching for the top of the screen.
    • Steve suggests a next variation that offers both "go ad free" and "no thanks".
    • He says he doesn't know whether it works for them.
  • Video ads beat banners on earnings. 4:38
    • Duolingo offers one just before a lesson starts, to begin with more health.
    • Banners are fine, but video ads earn a lot more.
    • Each wrong answer costs health, and at zero the user can't keep learning.
    • The offer protects the lesson if the user makes mistakes.

5:42 Offer the reward when the user has just finished

A rewarded video ad works best right after a win or a loss, when the user is ready to stop and happy to take the offer.

  • Duolingo's health refill should come after the lesson, not before it. 5:46
    • Before a lesson the user wants to start, so the offer gets little engagement.
    • After a lesson the user wants a break anyway, so watching an ad is easy.
    • Young would reword it to something like watch an ad to refill your health before your next lesson.
    • He would still keep the banner before the lesson, since it is not getting much engagement there anyway.
    • His view: after a lesson the user is way more willing to watch an ad.
  • Merge makes its offer the moment a hard puzzle ends in a loss. 7:13
    • The user has just gone through a grueling puzzle and can't continue, so more coins are welcome.
    • The offer is one clear step: tap yes, watch a video ad, and the coins double.
    • Young would play down the X so the yes button stands out.
    • The same offer shows up in many games, and he argues every game should use it after each level or puzzle.
    • Merge has stayed in the top charts for a while.

In the growth library

Steve P. Young, Host and founder, App Masters (app marketing agency and academy). Shows how to add ads to an app without making it ugly, using examples from Duolingo and Merge. The core idea is to offer ads at moments when users are happy to opt in, so users, you and advertisers all win.

More from App Masters · The whole library, and ask it anything

Transcript287 lines
0:00

coming up are you looking to make more ad money from your apps well in this very video I'll show you a simple clever and more importantly clean way to incorporate ads into whatever app you may have stay tuned what is up app nation it is your boy steepy young back and better than ever and today I want to talk about monetization ad monetization in particular and how do you pleasantly cleanly user friendly li you incorporate ads into your app I'm gonna give you two prime examples of ways I've seen do it well and that is a win-win-win for everybody so it's a win for the user because it's clean and they're actually asking to see the ads secondly it's a win for you because you're making more money from these ads and lastly it's a win for these publishers or the advertisers are because people are actually engage with the ad and not being like oh this is like a pop-up I got to turn this off gotta turn this off

1:21

right so let's get into some of these examples and show you how to incorporate ads like no-brainer ways of incorporating ads into your app monetization alright so the first example I want to bring up to you guys because I feel like it's really clean it could be used in any type of app that you might have is duolingo now I've been trying to really learn Spanish now I haven't been doing a really good job I know how to say very very basic three things and so but I'm trying okay I'm learning trying to learn so that can watch narcos without the subtitles you know what I mean so essentially I've been using duolingo and it's a really really great app very popular app I know most of you guys know it but I think they've done a really great job of incorporating ads into a very clean app and I wanted to bring this example because it could whether you have a game whether you have a Productivity app you know whether you

2:22

have a language learning app whatever type of app you can you have you can incorporate this style of ads into your app and that's why I really wanted to bring up highlight this example alright so here it is so after I take a lesson a Spanish lesson for me they will show me this interstitial I'm done swiping they'll show up this ad and it says this ad helps keep education for free it's a brand it's a free app I don't have to buy anything within the app so I'm more than willing to look at the this ad and be like you know what I'm getting a lot out of this app and I don't mind you showing me this so it's a little quick little ad and here then more importantly there's a link for me to sign up for the premium so go ad free right so it's a win for them because they get to make some ad revenue out of it they're not showing banner ads because it would get in the way of the claim the cleanness of the app itself so

3:20

they're not showing any banner ads but it's a great way to incorporate these type of like interstitial ads without me being like oh why are you doing this to me you know this ad helps keep education free that little sentence alone I love that right and more importantly a link to your premium because you want to get them to pay pay they eventually want you to if they want to pay right secondly they say this as well this is a little interstitial I just didn't hey Siri why did this is an interstitial that comes up again now I want to show this because this is a different from this first one the second one shows you just the promotion and then me right here no thanks for me to get out of it so they're probably testing a couple of different things like what's which type of format is getting more engagement so here they're saying go ad free our people signing up for the premium and here it's just for you to close it out

4:17

if I want to close out here I'd have to go up here so they're testing different things I'm assuming I don't know it'll work for them but it's I want to show two different examples for you just to see how else you can play with it you can have you can do both right like go ad free or no thanks to that might be the next variation that they play around with and lastly I thought this was a really cool way of doing it too now video ads actually perform better right these banner ads great and all but video ads are going to really perform a lot better for you and actually earn you more money so here's a great way that they do it now right before I'm about to start he's like do you want to watch an ad to start your lesson with more health because if I get more things wrong I'll run out of health which means I can't learn more so I get you know they're right there trying to make sure that I actually have a lot of health and so if

5:10

in case I make mistakes I can continue with that lesson so they're asking me do you want to watch an ad with the lessons now I think the best way of doing this again I'm no data but my hunch says that it's probably better to show this type of ad right after I complete a lesson like this hey great job you did amazing do you want to you know refill your app your you want to refill your health so that when your next lesson happens you want to have a full health for your next lesson I'm more likely to engage with that and watch it because I just finished a lesson I'm feeling good about myself now if I want to refill it of course I want to refill it right so I think the best wake they're showing me this before I start a lesson I actually think they'll perform better after the lesson right I think they should what I would do if I do lingo you're doing go free advice for you is show this ad right before I'm start

6:05

about to start a lesson because you're probably not getting that much engagement anyways so show that this banner ad before I'm about to start a lesson and after I'm done with the lesson change this wording to watch an ad to refill or you know to bring your life to health the full refill your health before your next lesson and then I'm more than willing to watch because I want to take a break anyways right here I'm ready to take a lesson so I might not watch your app watch your ad but after a lesson I'm Way more willing to watch an ad right which gets me to my next point let's get to the next example merge one of my favorite games a real puzzle game I love these type of puzzle games either love something that you make me think work gives me a lot of speed that's it like fun run is one of my favorite games too because it has a ton of speed merge is one of my favorite games because it makes me think like crazy Oh 20 is

7:00

another game that I love that makes me think and have to go really fast many ways getting to merge so merge one of my favorite games really they've done a really tremendous job and you've they've been in the top charts for a while as well but here's how they incorporate video ads so I just went through this grueling grueling puzzle and then I lose and I can't go on anymore and here's what they hit me with want to get more coins right all you gotta do is yes of course I'm tired right here's the coins I earn 173 but I click yes and now watch a video ad and then it doubles the coins so they might want it they might want to say gain this is what essentially they're doing I'm allowed to double you know this is the graphic that they're trying to show so I earned 170 you want to gain another 173 you say yes so I might change that wording to just double up your coins but Helle yeah and even you know anytime you

7:54

say double up everybody wants to double up right so I might say double up your coins and I like the graphic here how it's like almost halfway done and so I would probably play around with that graphic I think I might want to put a full one just to kind of get a sense of like hey want to get it full or close to it watch this video ad and then put less less emphasis on the X but that's a great way after I'm done with everything and you're kind of seeing this everywhere with a bunch of games this is a common practice where people are constantly showing you a potential to make earn more virtual currency but I feel like every single game should do this right every single game should get you to double up your virtual currency by letting me watch a video ad especially after something that's done after I finish a level after I finished a puzzle after I finished something you show me this opportunity I'm more than willing

8:52

to watch right here's that's the simple clever way as you can see it's very clean it's not getting convoluted with banner ads and making your app ugly so it's giving users a great user experience while still earning you more ad revenue alright till then I will see you on the next time the last thing I will end with is this the guys at masters Academy there's ton of great content in there I know a few of you like what is this at masters Academy so it has hours I would say I don't know how but let's just say hundreds of hours of video content from people who have taught from experts and also from my exact playbook so if you want to see our process for eso our process for her attention our process for driving downloads our greatest growth hacks in there they're all in there PR product on es so Apple features all that stuff is taught by me under the app masters Academy so you can't afford to pay us to

9:52

do it for you we'll show you exactly how to do it so that you can do it yourself that's in there and there's gonna be so much more expert content that's it coming in as well we just did one with Josh burns about how do you expand into the global markets targeting Asian countries just as Japan China and the like and what you need to do step by step from an ROI perspective to help you expand to these particular countries and Japan man that was a big eye-opener I didn't know is so huge they're like the number two behind the u.s. in terms of revenue for games so a really really big market and that and Josh teaches us step by step how to do that as well so that's all under app masters Academy got some amazing students we're gonna build out a community soon I wanted to make sure I had enough to build out a useful community we're gonna build that out as well and we're gonna do some really really cool stuff coming up under the

10:43

app masters Academy umbrella so stay tuned for that but if you want to get access to all these courses for just $49 a month it is at masters Academy comm and I put this new course together that just shows our latest videos so if you're like Steve I've been following you for some time just hit me with some of the more interesting stuff that you just created well there is a course in there that just says hey there's no structure to this it's just the latest crap that we've created for you alright until then hit subscribe leave a comment do the normal YouTube prep that you know you've gots the dough and I will see you on the next video