App Monetization Insights: What’s an Ad Network and How Can It Help My App Business?

For this week’s “App Monetization Insights” post, we’d like to share an excerpt from AdMob’s newest eBook, The No-nonsense Guide to In-app Ads (download it here). This guide is designed to provide a practical introduction to in-app advertising for developers exploring ads for the first time. The excerpt we’re sharing today covers how an ad network works and how it can help your app business. Enjoy!

Ad networks do the hard work of bringing together the parties that participate in online advertising, making it simpler for everyone involved to succeed. They build relationships with businesses looking to advertise and apps looking to make money by selling ads. Through an ad network, advertisers can get access to lots of different inventory in apps at scale. And, they also help app developers find advertisers quickly. You can spend less time marketing your advertising space and more time focused on creating the best app for your users.

Take a look at this simplified illustration showing how an ad network works:

And voila! Your app generated revenue from ads. All of this happens very quickly, usually in less than a second.

It’s important to remember that not all ad networks are the same. Some networks focus on price and getting an ad in front of as many people as possible. Others care more about the quality of their advertisers. Some include extra features to help you with other parts of your business. Others keep their SDK as lightweight and easy to implement as possible. There are a lot of options and a lot of factors to consider.

How do you choose the right ad network for your app? In the next chapter, we’ll explore this question in depth.

If you enjoyed this chapter, be sure to download the entire guide here. For more tips on app monetization, be sure to stay connected on all things AdMob by following our Twitter and LinkedIn pages.