With over a trillion valid ad requests generated each quarter, InMobi Exchange grew by 200% between Q2 and Q3 in 2020. It’s a big leap for any supply-side platform (SSP) and the apps monetizing on the platform.
It circles back to mobile ad monetization reaching new heights over the course of 2020. With the world’s leading advertisers increasing their ad spends on mobile, there was a surge in brand and user acquisition demand dollars in the in-app space. Just about all app developers and publishers have seen their ad revenue growing in the past three quarters.
That said, access to this explosion of growth is a function of the demand flowing in through the SSPs that are a part of the publisher’s ad stack. As a leading in-app SSP for both gaming and non-gaming publishers, InMobi Exchange was able to help our publisher customers leverage this surge across key markets including North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
The ad monetization growth witnessed by publishers can also be attributed to InMobi’s significant success in bringing in premium demand for full screen ad formats, with advertisers increasing their spends on full screen ads to engage with their customers effectively during the pandemic. Let’s take a deep dive.
Each ad format has its benefits, be it ease of implementation, the experience it delivers or the yield it generates. While demand for banner ads is still high, interstitial ads offer great user experience and traction, which is why more advertisers are now embracing this ad format.
Unlike exchanges that are over indexed on a specific format, InMobi has seen growth across all formats, with equal growth in demand across banners and interstitials, complementing scale with engagement KPIs for advertisers.
Full screen interstitials, though, are now taking up a larger share of our overall mix. Full screen ads are a highly effective way for advertisers to reach and engage their customers. InMobi Exchange witnessed exponential growth in interstitial spends from advertisers across all segments in 2020.
Full screen inventory ad requests grew by 117% contributing to 2.6x growth in revenue quarter-over-quarter. Our status as the preferred, SPO-certified, in-app SSP for leading media agencies helped propel this growth further.
Leading gaming apps in the Card, Word and Hyper casual segments, among others, saw quarter-over-quarter ad revenue growth upwards of 30%, with eCPMs growing by 10-20% on average, as illustrated below:
1) Ease of Accessing Demand Via InMobi’s Header Bidding Integrations
In 2020, we saw leading publishers open up their entire full screen inventory with InMobi. Our integrations with header bidding platforms opened the doors for gaming and non-gaming publishers to effortlessly integrate InMobi as a bidding partner on the header bidding platforms of their choice.
With this integration, publishers were able to tap into demand from full screen ad buyers. User acquisition demand on header bidding interstitial supply grew by 4%, while brand advertising spends witnessed a growth of 7%. InMobi Exchange is now among the top three bidding partners on many of the top platforms from a monetization standpoint.
In addition to our current integrations on MAX, A9 and Prebid that are already live, publishers will be able to add us as a demand source on MoPub Advanced Bidding, IronSource LevelPlay and Fyber Fairbid in early 2021.
2) Platform Enhancements for Better Performance
Our product investments have also been a driver of growth for publishers this year. Improvements made to ad templates, such as those custom built for different game dynamics, balanced the performance needs of advertisers (CTRs or VCRs) with the user experience needs coming from publishers (ad rendering and engagement) while driving higher revenue. These include changes to ad interactivity, sound, skip settings and more for full screen ads.
We also rolled out ad pods for interstitial inventory, offering an efficient way to maximize fills for premium interstitial/video ad slots while ensuring high eCPMs and up to 1.5x revenue for every ad opportunity.
3) InMobi’s Commitment to Ad Quality and App Safety
We understand that publishers are wary about ad quality, especially when the ad occupies the entire screen.
InMobi provides required controls to publishers via our dashboard to ensure a safe in-app experience, through our smart Block Settings. These settings help to block ads that carry inappropriate content, malicious intent or ads from competing apps and categories from being rendered.
Measures are also taken to flag ads by blocking auto-redirects, pop-ups and auto downloads through stringent server-side ad policies and proactive checks.
That said, we recommend publishers to find out what controls, features and measures are offered to customize ads without compromising on app safety while benchmarking SSPs and exchanges.
If you’re not monetizing your full screen inventory with InMobi yet, you are certainly missing out on incremental ad revenue growth.
If you would like to get started or want more information about the kind of growth InMobi Exchange has observed from full screen formats, please contact your Customer Success Manager for assistance.
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