App open ad is a special ad format that helps publishers to monetize from their app load screens. It can be closed at any time and is designed to be shown when your users bring your app to the foreground. This ad format automatically shows a small branding area so users know they're in your app.
This is the revenue of App Open Ad and Interstitial Ad of a publisher in our network in the last 3 months.
In fact, the revenue of App Open Ad contributed much to the total revenue. From the chart above, the Interstitial Ad (red column) is equal to nearly half of the revenue of App Open Ad (blue column) in March. Now, let’s see the CPM of Open App Ad compared with Interstitial Ad.
The CPM of App Open Ad is a bit higher than the CPM of Interstitial Ad of this publisher every month. Tips: If your app is a tool or utility app, this is a really good chance to uplift your revenue by using the App Open Ad as users tend to open your app several times in a day.
A. Overview of App Open Ads
1/ What is an App Open Ad?
App open ads help to monetize your mobile app loading experience and serve when a user opens or switches back to your app.
App open ads are specially designed to seamlessly integrate into the app open or app switch context. The unique app open ad layout offers the best user experience for this placement.
App open ads use various ad materials for revenue enhancement: image, rich media, and video ads.
2/ Key benefits of App Open Ad:
a) Unlock new inventory: monetize users as soon as they enter your app. b) Maximize demands:
Highest bidding ad creatives
Flexible format with full screen and partial screen ads
Best ad creatives for each user’s device dimensions
Beautiful, user experience-optimized rendering
3/ Refine user experience
a) The ad will go along with your APP branding (15% of the screen) so people know they're using your app. b) The app open ad always automatically includes:
Your app icon
Your app name
Transparent background overlaying your app content
4/ Recommend implementation example
In the recommended example below, the app open ad is placed on the app’s loading screen. The loading screen is seen underneath the ad.
5/ Discouraged implementation example
In the discouraged example below, the ad is placed after the loading screen and there is no content visible under the ad. These guidelines may lead publishers not to invalid activity and/or may result in Google disabling ad serving to your app.
B. Implementation best practices
#Tip1: Other guidelines
Don’t implement ads immediately before or after app open ads. Best way is to show your first app open ad after your users have used your app a few times.
Don’t implement app open ads on top of other ads. For example, the app open ad should not be placed on top of content that includes a banner ad.
Review your app’s performance and adjust the app open ad frequency capping accordingly.
App open ads perform best with apps that have a high frequency of opens per daily user. Apps that are opened more than once every 4 hours see the highest performance from app open ads. If you have an app that does not meet this criteria, consider using another ad format.
Show app open ads during times when your users would otherwise be waiting for your app to load.
If you don’t have a splash screen as part of your app open or switch experience, you may show an app open ad immediately upon app open or switch.
If you have a loading screen under the app open ad, and your loading screen completes loading before the ad is dismissed, you may want to dismiss your loading screen in the onAdDismissedFullScreenContent() method.
Google provided the policy that publishers aren’t allowed to place interstitial ads on app load and when exiting apps as interstitials should only be placed in between pages of app content.
#Tip 2: Pre-fetch app open ads
The flow would look like this:
#Tip 3: Control frequency cap of app open ads
Review your app’s performance and adjust the app open ad frequency capping accordingly - Enable Frequency capping feature in AdMob as below:
C. Overview of app open ads
1. Will there be any front end controls for format selection or app open specific reporting?
Yes.
2. Will video ads be supported?
Yes.
3. Will mediation be supported?
Not at the moment. Google currently states they don’t yet see other networks offering the App Open format. They intend to offer mediation once other networks are competing for these placements.