'Mobile Ad Mediation' is a technology/solution which helps to set-up, manage and monitor different ad networks in one place.
App publishers are on the supply side with an inventory of ad impressions and demand for these impressions comes from different advertisers. These advertisers are spread across multiple ad networks. Depending on only one ad network for ad monetization is not advisable especially if the ad inventory is huge. Due to this, it becomes necessary to get ad demand from different ad networks and this is where Ad Mediation comes into the picture.
How does it work?
Using Ad Mediation, we can set-up multiple ad networks within an app and manage them in one place. This helps in maximizing the revenue because multiple ad networks will be competing simultaneously for the same ad inventory. This not only helps in getting higher eCPMs but also a higher Fill Rate.
Through Ad Mediation dashboard, app developers can monitor and optimize ad monetization KPIs like Fill Rate, eCPM, ARPC (Average Revenue Per Conversion) and more across platforms and Geos.
Ad Mediation Set-up
There are two approaches to setting up a mediation.
1. Auto-Optimization
Auto-Optimization algorithm of Ad Mediation networks identifies the high eCPM ad network and serves ads to them based on the real-time trends. An ad network with the best eCPM rate gets the most impressions. This is automated and doesn't require any manual intervention.
2. Manual Priority
We can use a ‘waterfall’ approach to set-up the ad serving priority for different ad networks. Whenever an ad is requested, ad network on top of the waterfall gets the first call and if this ad network doesn't have an ad available, the ad is served to the next ad network in the waterfall and so on.
Some of the developers are now also setting up eCPM targets for ad networks in the waterfall across Geos and Platforms. This helps in optimizing and improving the ad revenue dynamically.
Other benefits of Ad Mediation
Integrating the SDKs for multiple ad networks affects the app’s performance and hampers the user experience. When we opt for Ad Mediation, only one SDK (that of Ad Mediation Platform) has to be integrated for serving ad impressions through multiple ad networks and it eliminates Ad SDKs bloat or fatigue.
We can see real-time KPIs for all the integrated ad networks. This enables transparent reporting in one place.
Ad Mediation platform SDKs and ad network Adapters are updated frequently. These updates will give access to new inventory/feature(if any) or help improve overall performance.
Apart from ad networks, you can also review the performance of different ad placements and ad units (Interstitial, Rewarded Video, Banners, etc.) in the app.
