Best Practices for Maximizing

Revenue with MoPub

PUBLISHER PLAYBOOK

TAB LE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

AD FORMATS

SINGLETON AD UNIT FOR BANNERS

Interstitial Ad Unit

Video Ads on MoPub Marketplace

Native Ad Unit

SDK Updates

Sending Location Data

Integrating the Latest SDK

Setup and Settings in MoPub Interface

10

Updating Network eCPMs

10

Segmenting Networks by Geographic Markets

11

Setting Minimum CPMs for MoPub Marketplace

12

Optimizing Refresh Rates for Banner Ads

14

Removing Outdated Block Settings

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I N T ROD UC TIO N
The insights provided in this playbook are designed to increase the value of your inventory
and grow your apps overall ad revenue from combined demand sources. MoPub has
developed the recommendations in this playbook to showcase an ideal integration with the
MoPub platform and SDK, highlighting valuable optimizations from the tools we provide to
you.
Learn about the following best practices and use cases:

Ad units that preserve your user experience while delivering the highest CPMs
How to maximize the value of your inventory with simple changes to your app set-up
Taking advantage of all the controls MoPub has to oer to ensure youre driving more ad
revenue at all times

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A D F O RM ATS
As you lay out the monetization flow of your app, we suggest incorporating the following ad
formats to drive higher CPMs and increase overall ad revenue.

S I N G L ETON AD U N IT F O R B AN NER S
Advertisers are willing to spend more on apps that have users who engage with their ads. The
metrics advertisers use to value the performance of an app are clicks and conversions.
MoPub has found that for banner ads (320x50 or 728x90) the best way to maximize clicks is
to maximize the amount of time the ad is visible. Therefore, MoPub recommends using the
Singleton ad unit - one ad unit per ad size in your application, persistently displayed.
This approach creates a single fluid ad experience between screens as shown below. A new ad
request is not made each time a user switches between screens, but rather only during the
preset refresh rate in the MoPub interface (learn more about optimizing Refresh Rates later in
this playbook).

Enabling the Singleton Ad Unit for banner and leaderboard ads (320x50 or 728x90) through
the SDK can be done by implementing the web view for your ad call. This ensures the ad unit
crosses all views in your application.
User Navigation

Same ad view across dierent screens to maximize the time on the screen

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I N T E RSTITIA L A D UN IT
The term interstitial originated from the desktop world as it refers to the in-between page
that is inserted in the normal flow of content. In mobile, an interstitial ad simply means a full
screen ad, and is typically used in apps that have logical breaks in the user experience. We
recommend inserting an interstitial between levels of a game, before or after a video clip, or
between other dynamic content to preserve your user experience.
The interstitial can be rendered as both 320x480 and 480x320 on phones or 768x1024 and
1024x768 on tablets. See an example of an interstitial image below:

This ad unit occupies the full screen in your app. For many publishers, the eCPMs are higher
than banner ads.
We have laid out easy steps for app developers to integrate interstitial ad units here:

iOS Integration
Android Integration

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V I DE O ADS O N M O P UB M ARK ETPLACE
MoPub video ads are an extension of interstitial ads and oer a valuable opportunity to drive
more revenue from your interstitial inventory. Video ads provide a more interactive experience
for your users and typically deliver eCPMs that are higher than regular interstitials.
With MoPub Marketplace, you can automatically introduce video ads into your app experience
without burdening your app with more SDKs. Simply follow these steps to enable video ads
on your inventory:
1.
2.
3.
4.

In your MoPub account, click on the Marketplace tab.

Click on the Settings tab.
Scroll to the 'Video Settings' section.
Select 30 second skippable videos, 15 second non-skippable videos or Both 15 and 30
second videos (recommended) to enable video ads on your interstitial inventory.

VIDEO ADS ARE CURRENTLY ONLY AVAILABLE ON LANDSCAPE INTERSTITIAL AD UNITS

(480x320 & 1024x768 Ad Sizes)

A countdown
timer will always
appear to keep
users engaged.

For 30 second
videos, users can
close the ad after
5 seconds.

All videos are pre-cached and automatically play inline with your app.

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N AT I V E A D UN IT
MoPub Native Ads oer an opportunity to monetize your apps more eectively by matching
the original contents look and feel. This ad format creates an additional revenue opportunity
for you while maintaining the same great experience for your users.
MoPub allows you to run native ads from the following demand sources:

Marketplace: Demand partners buying on Marketplace have growing budgets for Native,
which means you can drive more revenue through MoPub Marketplace.
Direct advertisers: Scale your direct deal opportunities without building anything custom.
Promotional: Eectively promote your other apps within your apps natural flow.
Networks: Work with native ad networks to maximize your fill rates.

Weve seen native ads work well with apps that have feeds, such as news or social networking
apps.

Icon image

Title

Text

Main image

Call to action

Implementing native ads on MoPub is easy. Follow these integration guides for the iOS and
Android SDKs:

iOS integration
Android integration
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S D K U PDATE S
MoPubs open-source SDK allows you to customize the set-up of your ad configuration. The
recommendations in this section require you to make updates to your app in order to
maximize results and drive more revenue from your inventory.

S E ND I NG LO C ATI ON DATA
Many demand partners will increase their CPM bids on impressions that include a users
location data. In fact, there are a handful of advertisers on MoPub Marketplace that will not
advertise at all on inventory that does not share the users location.
If you already capture latitude and longitude data in your application, consider creating the
following to ensure you pass it properly to the MoPub SDK:

Android: Latitude and longitude is passed automatically.

iOS: When setting up the ad view, set adview.location="latitude, longitude". You will have
to ask for coordinates through your app and pass them through the ad view individually.

If you are not already capturing your users location, consider creating a function within your
application that can gather this information. Having this data and making it available to
demand partners will create additional demand for your ad inventory, increasing your fill rates
and overall revenue.

I N T E G RATI NG TH E L ATE ST SD K
The latest SDK provides the newest features that MoPub has to oer and includes the latest
bug fixes. We have product and engineering teams that are dedicated to updating our
lightweight SDK on a regular basis to include the most robust enhancements.
SDK updates have included new features like:

Video Ads inventory

The Creative Flagging tool
Automatically blocking auto-click ads on both iOS and Android
Additional access to server-to-server network partners

As we deprecate older SDKs, it is important to update your SDK any time you update your
application(s) or at least every 2 months. You can find the newest SDKs here:

https://github.com/mopub/mopub-client

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S E T UP AN D SE TTIN G S IN MO PUB I NTERFACE

After you implement the previous strategies in your app through the SDK, the MoPub
platform oers powerful controls for you to segment and increase the value of your inventory.
The following recommendations are all relatively simple changes that you can make in the
MoPub interface.

U PDAT I N G N E TWO R K E C PMS

The MoPub platform relies on the eCPMs you enter in your Networks page to properly
mediate across all your demand sources.
When auctions are run on MoPub, the platform views your network eCPMs as a potential bid
to determine which demand source will win the impression and serve the ad. Updating your
network eCPMs regularly will ensure youre maximizing ad revenue from your combined ad
sources.
To ensure your eCPMs are correct, review the CPMs that youre receiving from your network
partners, and then follow the steps below to update your geo-segmented inventory with the
accurate eCPMs:
1. In your MoPub account, click on the Networks tab.
2. Click on your Segments tab.
3. Click on a running Segment to update the eCPMs for the ad units in that segment.
Note: We recommend doing this at least once per week.

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S E GM E N TIN G NETWO R KS BY GEOG RAPHI C MARKETS

If you are working with ad networks and the MoPub Marketplace, we recommend segmenting
out the networks by groups of countries that generate similar CPMs. This will enable the ad
server to make better delivery decisions. For example, the price a network pays for a U.S.
impression will likely be dierent from the price it pays for one from Japan or Brazil. By
segmenting network prices properly, the MoPub ad server can ensure that the best paying ad
in each market is what gets selected.
To set this up, you will need to create network market segments, where you can group
together countries by their relative performance. For example, you could create a "US / UK /
CA" segment, and a separate "BR / AR / MX" segment, then price each network dierently
based on the respective CPMs for those segments (groups of countries). We recommend
having segments for groups of countries which receive a high volume of trac and where the
CPM for those countries is significantly dierent from the other countries where you have ad
inventory.
If youve already set up your networks, you can create a Segment for your networks by
following the steps below:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

In your MoPub account, click on the Networks tab.

Click on the Segments tab on this page.
Click on the Add a Segment button on the top right.
Name your Segment.
Add the Inventory you wish to add for this Segment. This could include select apps, ad
sizes, or operating systems.
6. Add the Geo Restrictions for this Segment.
7. Add the Networks that youd like this Segment to apply to.
Once you have your Segments set up, you will need to set the CPMs according to how each
group of countries within each Segment is performing for each network (note that not all
networks provide country-level reporting, but many do). As per the recommendation from
earlier in the Playbook, too, you should try to update these CPMs by country regularly, so the
ad server can always make the best decision when selecting which demand source should
serve the impression.

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S E T T I NG MI NIMU M C P M S FO R MO PUB MARKETPLACE
If youre working with ad networks and MoPub Marketplace, it is important to understand how
real-time bidding works in MoPub Marketplace. This chapter will cover the auction dynamics,
and explain dierent scenarios to help you determine ideal minimum CPMs for each region in
your account.
Auctions in MoPub Marketplace are explained in more detail with the examples below. When
an ad request occurs in your app, an auction between your networks and MoPubs real-time
buyers (demand-side platforms or DSPs) occurs. MoPub will automatically fill your ad request
with the highest paying demand source, whether that be an ad network or a DSP. In this
example, the ad network has the highest eCPM.

1
AD
REQ UESTED

AUCTION BETWEEN
NETWORKS AND DSPS
Network 1

eCPM
$2.00

Network 1
DSP 1

Network 2

eCPM
$2.00

Winner

CPM
$1.90

eCPM
$1.50

Network 2
DSP 2

Network 3

AU C T ION R E S U LTS

CPM
$1.30

eCPM
$1.20

DSP 1

CPM
$1.90

DSP 2

CPM
$1.30

eCPM
$1.50

eCPM

Network 3 $1.20

In the event that this ad network does not fill the ad request, MoPub will fill the ad impression
with the next highest paying demand source. In this example, the DSP fills the ad request at
$1.90 CPM.

AD
REQ UESTED

AUCTION BETWEEN
NETWORKS AND DSPS

3
AU C T ION R E S U LTS
Network 1

Network 1

eCPM
$2.00

DSP 1
Network 2

eCPM
$1.20

DSP 1
Network 2

eCPM
$1.50

DSP 2
Network 3

CPM
$1.90

CPM
$1.30

DSP 2

eCPM
$2.00

Ad does
not fill

CPM
$1.90

Winner

eCPM
$1.50
CPM
$1.30
11

Network 3

eCPM
$1.20

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AUCTION EXAMPLE
MINIMUM CPM SET TO $0.05

AUCTION EXAMPLE
MINIMUM CPM SET TO $1.95

Network 1

eCPM
$2.00

Ad does
not fill

Network 1

DSP 1

CPM
$1.90

Winner

Minimum CPM

Network 2

eCPM
$1.50

DSP 1

CPM
$1.90

Ad does
not fill

DSP 2 CPM
$1.30

Network 2

eCPM
$1.50

Winner

Network 3

eCPM
$1.20

Minimum CPM

$0.05

eCPM
$2.00
$1.95

DSP 2 CPM
$1.30
Network 3

Ineligible
to fill

Ineligible
to fill

eCPM
$1.20

Should you wish to implement minimum CPMs on Marketplace, the below example shows you
how this would work in the auction, if everything remained constant except the minimum
CPM.

When an ad network is the highest paying demand

source but is unable fill, the request continues to
the next highest paying demand source (in this
example, DSP 1 at $1.90 CPM). Above, DSP 1 is
given the opportunity to fill the ad request
because the minimum CPM is correctly set to allow
Marketplace to compete against all other demand
sources.

If the minimum CPM was raised to $1.95, and the

highest paying ad network does not fill the ad
request, the DSP bid of $1.90 is now below the
minimum CPM and ineligible to fill as the second
highest demand source. Your ad request would fill
at the next highest paying demand source, not
including Marketplace bids, which is a $1.50 CPM in
this example.

By increasing the minimum CPMs on Marketplace, it limits the amount of demand sources that
could fill your ad request. Therefore, we recommend keeping the minimum at a level that is
less than your lowest paying ad network. This will ensure your ad requests are filled by the
highest paying demand source at all times.
Important: MoPub Marketplace defaults to a minimum CPM, or price floor, of $0.05. Keeping
your minimum CPMs at this level will help maximize CPMs and revenue from all of your
demand sources.

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O PT I M I ZIN G R EF R E SH R ATES FOR BANNER ADS

Determining the refresh interval for your banner and leaderboard ads (320x50 and 728x90)
that will yield the highest revenue will dier from app to app. There is no universal refresh rate
that consistently performs the same for all audiences. In order to ensure you are maximizing
ad revenue without jeopardizing your user experience, our interface empowers you to test
dierent ad frequencies.
This can be a very strategic way to increase inventory and revenue. However, keep in mind
that there are sensitivities around making these adjustments and youll need to closely
monitor your eCPMs and revenue after 3-5 days of making the change.
By default, MoPub sets the refresh interval for an ad unit to 60 seconds. This is considered to
be on the higher end, so we recommend adjusting your refresh interval to between 20 to 45
seconds and evaluating the impact to revenue. Follow these steps to update your refresh
interval settings:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

In your MoPub account, go to the Inventory tab.

Click on the Ad Units tab.
Click on the ad unit (either a 320x50 or 728x90 ad format) that you wish to optimize.
Click on Edit ad unit settings.
Make the adjustment to your Refresh Interval.
After 3 days, review your eCPMs for this ad unit in the Dashboard.
Compare the eCPMs over the past 5-7 days to the same days from the prior week to see if
the refresh interval change resulted in increased revenue.

Repeat this process to determine the optimal refresh rate for your app. The perfect balance
occurs when revenue is maximized and user experience is not aected.

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R E M OV I N G OUTDATE D B LO CK SETTI NGS
There are several ways to control the ads your users see on MoPub Marketplace. You can
apply Marketplace blocks at the creative ID, advertiser URL or advertiser domain levels and
we oer additional content filtering for specific audiences on Marketplace.
Over time, your list of blocked advertiser domains or categories may no longer apply. By
removing outdated blocks, you open your inventory to high volume demand partners or ad
campaigns that you may not have realized were available.
Follow these steps to update and remove your outdated block settings:
1.
2.
3.
4.

In your MoPub account, go to the Marketplace tab.

Click on the Settings tab.
Scroll down to the Content Filtering and Blocklist section.
Remove any outdated or irrelevant blocked ad categories or advertiser domains.

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