Ad serving strategies in mobile games
                     Ad serving strategies in mobile games
John Z
Writes on ad managing using AdSpeed ad servers 
platform, involved with Ad server software
Advertising has become one of the most popular ways for monetizing apps. Mobile 
game ad serving is a win for everyone: players, developers, and advertisers. Some 
users are not willing or do not have the disposable income to pay for the game or 
other in-game items. With advertising, users get to play the games they love for free, 
which increases popularity, engagement and retention. This popular pricing model is 
often called "freemium", which provides players the option to play for free with an 
ad-supported version or pay for a premium ad-free version. Developers and game 
publishers earn the needed revenue to keep game servers online, fixing bugs, 
improving existing titles and creating new releases. Advertisers have the opportunity 
to reach more potential customers with targeted and relevant ads. As always, there 
are the right and wrong ways to do anything so here are some guidelines to follow 
when serving ads in mobile games:
Design a game with considerations for advertising
A well-designed ad serving solution becomes an organic part of the game 
experience, making it more acceptable and more enticing for players to engage 
with the ads. If it is done right, it can even be a positive experience that players 
look forward to because of its reward incentives. In general, the focus should 
be on suitable ad placements and quality incentive programs rather than 
relying on a huge volume of low quality traffic. At the end of the day, your ads 
monetization success depends on users’ engagements and responses, which in 
turn boosts traffic, ad impressions, and ultimately, ad revenue.
Respect the user experience
The game starts and ends with the players so their experience is the 
most important factor. Design ads to fit in the game with as little 
disruption to the user experience as possible. For example, interstitial 
ads should only appear at natural breaks in the game, expandable ads 
should not block or force the users out of the current game, and video 
and static ads should be served at suitable placements. These 
considerations are all important to make sure the players have the best 
possible experience while you can still deliver the ads that make money 
to sustain and grow your business operations.
Take advantage of game breaks
The perfect time to deliver an ad is during regular breaks in the game. It 
could be a break between two levels or when a player or a race is won 
or lost, and other similar situations. Users will naturally be ready for a 
pause in the action after a period of high attention. During that break 
time, they are more likely to accept an ad as a distraction. It might also 
be a good time to serve an ad that offers related rewards because the 
player might want to collect or upgrade before beginning the next level 
or challenge.
Keep users stay in the game
It should almost go without saying that an ad should never force players 
to exit their current game unless they actively decide to leave. In fact, 
there should be a clear warning before exiting the game, if that is 
required after they engage with an ad. Having users leave your game 
unnecessarily and unexpectedly when they didn’t even want to, is never 
a positive thing. If you can make it easy for players to resume their game 
after interacting with the ad then that is a good solution.
About Adspeed
AdSpeed ad server is a reliable & powerful ad serving and ad 
management solution that serves your ads, tracks impressions & clicks 
and reports ad statistics in real-time. Driven by the latest ad serving 
technologies, the goal of Adspeed adserver is to provide a reliable 
platform that can help in executing online advertising strategy more 
efficiently. 
Thank you for spending your precious time in reading this article.