4 ways to set your app business up for success in 2022

2021 has been a big year for app developers — global consumer spend has reached new heights; expectations around digital security continue to shift; and mobile platforms and regulators are introducing changes to better protect user privacy. These will likely continue to be major themes in 2022, so we’re sharing some monetization strategies to help you drive business growth in a fast-evolving landscape.

Diversify your demand sources to deliver more value

As the industry pivots to real-time bidding, strong demand sources can help you make the most of your unique inventory. Access to a diverse range of buyers in particular can deliver strong effective cost per thousand impressions (eCPMs) for your inventory.

Google AdMob supports many demand sources to help you earn more across real-time bidding and waterfall mediation. The AdMob network includes demand from Google Ads, Display & Video 360 and more than 200 demand-side platforms (DSPs). Soon, we’ll introduce software development kit (SDK) integrations with buyers like Snap to further enhance performance — with more to come in 2022. For direct-sold inventory support, you may want to consider Google Ad Manager.

After mobile game developer Me2Zen saw strong performance from the AdMob network, they decided to move to the AdMob platform. The team adopted both bidding and waterfall mediation and saw a 15% increase in their average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU).

Simplify operations to free up resources

An effective suite of tools to manage operational tasks can save time and help you focus on growth. For example, a robust A/B testing strategy can help you decide what levers to pull to optimize performance with confidence. With AdMob, you can set up an A/B test with a few clicks and get actionable insights to earn more.

Onboarding and testing can be another manual and time-consuming task for developers. With tools like ad inspector, you can test adapter setups, demand sources and more with the shake of your hand — which accelerates the testing process and adds a bit of fun.

RisingWings, a fast-growing casual game company, cut operational costs by 50% and saw ARPDAU increase by 8.7% after switching to AdMob. The team took an integrated approach with in-app ads for all their hybrid games, and built a reliable revenue stream without affecting user retention.

Use data and insights to drive growth

The right insights can uncover new opportunities beyond monetization. A broad understanding of user lifetime value (LTV) can help you refine your user acquisition strategy. And insights on how ads influence user retention can help you optimize total revenue while maintaining a good user experience. With resources like the ads activity report and cohort report available on AdMob, you’ll get a clear picture of ads performance and user LTV. You can then use these insights to find more high-value users through solutions like target return on ad spend (tROAS) for ads revenue.

During the transition to a hybrid model, game developer IGG combined LTV data from AdMob with internal ROI analysis to identify new growth opportunities in their top markets. These insights helped the team double their user base by increasing spend on regional App campaigns.

Apply strong brand safety controls to maintain user trust

As people’s expectations around digital privacy continue to rise, it’s critical to build trust through engaging and brand-appropriate ads. While a meaningful ad experience can complement your app and increase trust, a bad experience can lead to an uninstall or, even worse, a loss of trust in your brand.

To ensure brand safety, your platform should have a high bar for the quality of advertiser demand and provide controls to help you deliver an optimal ad experience. With AdMob, you can block ads from certain categories or specific competitors, or use the Ad review center to review ads flowing through the AdMob network and manually block them if needed. We’ll expand these same ad quality controls to third-party buyers participating in bidding in 2022.

We’ve learned so much in an industry that’s changing faster than ever. As we head into 2022, we look forward to continuing to partner together to shape the future of app monetization.