2017 is poised to be a transformative year for mobile developers and publishers. No longer is it necessary to integrate ad networks individually and hope for the best. Publishers are finding themselves on a more even playing field as mobile rises as the champion of digital media usage.
As a response, we’re sure to see many developments in 2017 focused on evolving the world of mobile app monetization.
Stay ahead of the trends.
Dive right into our industry predictions for this next year and beyond:
Dynamic Advertising an Absolute Must to Fight the Rise of Mobile Ad Blockers
Ad blockers will continue to be a challenge this year as over ¼ of all internet users will employ them to prevent intrusive, disruptive advertising. While usage is strongest on desktop,eMarketer reports that the percentage of smartphone ad blocking users will rise to 11% this year, quite an increase from 2014’s 2.8%. This all adds up to 29.7M users who will likely never see your mobile ads.
However, truth be told, mobile ad blocking may be just what the industry needs to catapult the use of dynamic, engaging advertising. A reported 40% of US website professionals responded to ad blocking with native ads and sponsored content in 2016. Mobile professionals are likely to follow suit as native ads are forecasted to make up 63% of all display ad spend by 2020.
Bottom line: seek out methods to engage, rather than disrupt, your users with useful and interactive mobile advertising in 2017 and beyond.
Mobile Video Will Continue to Expand and Evolve
One of the most popular ways to engage with users through mobile advertising?
Video.
This format will continue to see incredible growth this year, with a projected increase from $4.35B in 2016 to $6.72B in 2017. Usage of video is not only increasing but also improving as time goes on.
This year there will also be an increase in experimental augmented reality videos (think Pokemon Go) as well as the enhanced integration of rewarded videos into mobile game narratives. Don’t be surprised if you encounter more native mobile video in your newsfeeds either.
Messaging Apps May Be the Next Mammoth Market in Mobile Monetization
Gone are the days when the only forms of mobile communication were phone calls, text messages, and posts on social media. The likes of WeChat, Line, and WhatsApp reveal just how much mobile users have embraced messaging apps.
In 2017, monetization of these apps will expand significantly. According to Adweek, there are over 3B monthly active users of messaging apps, many of which are located in Japan, China, and Brazil. This relatively untapped market should present an interesting playground for mobile publishers and advertisers as well as marketers .
Attempting to ride on the coattails of these mobile messaging app’s success will likely prove ineffective for most publishers, however. Time is better spent integrating features that provide for easy communication and social sharing in mobile apps and games.
Intelligent Unbiased Ad Mediation Imperative for Mobile Publishers
Manual monetization with individual ad networks has long failed to deliver publishers the results they need in revenue and user experience. Publishers need a supremely effective method of targeting, monetizing, and retaining users through better advertising.
As a result of changing industry standards, several mobile ad mediation platforms popped up this past year and more are on the way in 2017. While this change points to an evolution in mobile monetization and mediation, it doesn’t necessarily mean all platforms in the market are on the publishers’ team. Many are new-wave ad networks or have their own internal marketplaces, which prioritize the results of their own advertising objectives.
These biased ad mediation sources fail to provide publishers with the ad performance they need to thrive in an increasingly competitive market. Earnings from these sources have been low and will continue to be low in 2017 due to limited ad network sources and an advertiser-centric business model.
Now more than ever, it’s imperative that publishers seek out ad mediation platforms without internal marketplaces. These platforms should serve ads based on their true earning potential, rather than their ability to satisfy ad networks.
As we enter the golden age of mobile programmatic advertising, publishers will be in the best hands with those who have already pioneered the way. Appodeal’s intelligent ad mediation provides publishers with both performance-based ad monetization they need to succeed and the manual control to monetize the most valuable users through tools like Insights and Segments.
Check out this recent article to learn more about our publisher-centric business model and the Appodeal Bump.
