Top 28 Mobile Ad Networks for App Monetization and User Acquisition (UA) in 2021

Mobile Ad Networks Guide: Before you start your App Monetization

The first and the most important thing is your product. You need to offer something exciting for your users if you want them to download your app or game. If you have a low-quality product that’s got nothing interesting to offer, the users will download it, check and delete it straight away. But you don’t want that – so make sure your product is unique and original.

As you might know, your next step is App Store Optimization, that would help you drive organic downloads. Remember, this is a process that takes some time, so be patient and dedicate some time to Research, Optimization, Testing & Tracking.

Mobile Advertising: 2 Sides of the coin

Once you’ve got a unique and optimized product it’s time to broaden your horizons and boost app monetization. How? There is no one-size-fits-all approach, there are various options out there and you have to stick to the ones that suit you best.

Mobile Advertising can be seen from two different perspectives. On one hand, it helps you with to raise up your installs volume as it allows you to reach out to new markets and promote your app across new audiences. And on the other hand, it helps you get some extra money by placing advertising from third party companies inside your app.

In this post we are going to share with you a list of the best 28 Mobile Ad Networks. Read and find out which one is for you.

The main types of display ads

Are you familiar with the different ad formats? In this section, we are going to go through the main types of display ads so take note and learn about their main features.

Native Ads

Native ads can adopt the format and function of the app they appear at. That is, they can be designed to look alike the design of the app. They would come into view as objects in which a content ad or download install button are inserted.

Interstitial Ads

Interstitial ads cover the interface of the app they are appearing at and can be displayed at different transition points in the app. Users can either tap on the ad and be redirected to the download page or website, or close it and continue using the app they were using.

Banner Ads

Banner ads can be displayed anywhere in the layout. They come in rectangular images or texts, appearing on the screen while the users are viewing the app content. Often they are automatically refreshed after some time.

OfferWall Ads

OfferWall ads appear within the layout and intend to offer something to users in order to engage them. They are most frequently used in games, for instance, to advertise a series of games from the same developer.

Video Ads

Video ads come as short video-clips (around 60 seconds) that can appear anywhere in the layout and aim to promote a certain product or service.

Now that you are familiar with the different display formats, it’s time to find out what are the Best Mobile Ad Networks in 2020.

Best 28 Mobile Ad Networks in 2020

In this section we are going to enlighten you with our list of the top 28 Mobile Ad Networks (without any particular order), that would help you acquire new users as well as earn extra money out of your product. Don’t miss out a thing.

1. Facebook Ads (+Instagram Ads)

Facebook and Instagram are so far the biggest and the most powerful channels to reach a wide audience of mobile users, so they are good channels to market an app. Besides being social media channels, Facebook and Instagram (which is also owned by Facebook) let you run campaigns and target your public by location, gender, age, likes & interests, relationships status, education, and job. The number of people you can reach out thanks to these two networks is huge. They have very friendly and catchy ad display formats that work on every device and with different connection speed.

You don’t even need to have a lot of money because you can run campaigns depending on your budget.

2. Twitter Ads

Twitter is also a very powerful social media channel that works as an ad network at the same time. Thanks to this channel you can set your goals and focus only on what’s important for you, showing your ad across the people of your interest. You can shift the audience depending on their activity on Twitter, their interests and their location.
And another advantage is that you would only pay for the actions that you want people to carry out, as, for instance, downloading your app.

3. Snapchat Ads

If you are thinking that you don’t need that many social media advertising channels and you are underestimating Snapchat Ads, you are totally wrong. Snapchat is the only social platform that allows you to reach out to a younger audience (Gen Z). They also have very handy features that would guide you to select your target population and design your ads.

4. Apple Search Ads

Not long ago Apple launched its own advertising platform – Apple Search Ads, in which developers would only pay per install. Your app would appear on the top of the search results, driving a high volume of installs. Apple Search Ads platform allows you to decide what keywords and what audience you want to select, set up your budget and goals.

Unfortunately, Apple Search Ads is not yet available worldwide – so far it is active in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland, the UK, and the US. Do you want to know more about ASA? Read our guide.

5. Google AdMob

Google AdMob was acquired by Google some years ago and ever since is the predominant leader of the online advertising. We might claim that this is the best advertising platform for beginners. Its main advantage is a simple integration, and, in addition, you can easily deal with the selection of tools and features by yourself.

Despite the ease in use and integration, Google AdMob is often criticized because of the low-revenue benefits for users. Among its key characteristics, we would like to highlight the several ad formats, such as native, video and interstitial. Moreover, you can target your audience per country or region, carrier, OS version or device among others.

This is, probably, one of the most used Mobile Ad Networks to make money with apps / games. You should read this nice case study oh how to make money with AdMob.

6. Google Ads

Google Ads is an advertising channel that helps marketers or advertisers set their products on the top of Google search results. That way, users would be able to see your product anytime they are looking for something you are offering. You are only charged when someone clicks on your ad to visit your product page.

Related | Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads

7. AdColony (or Opera Mediaworks)

AdColony is the choice for top mobile publishers in the world. Among its characteristics, we can find rich media & video, demographic targeting and integration with both Android and iOS. This is the first advertising platform that offers Instant-Play™ HD video ad technology that works on every device no matter their quality and internet speed. It allows to select the quality of ad content, bringing high engagement. They also have a premium service that helps publishers or advertisers to target their audience very precisely, ensuring user-response.

8. Unity Ads

Unity Ads was launched by Unity Technologies in 2014 and it is a popular platform for games that allows developers to improve their monetization. How? By offering IAP displayed in videos (that could be rewarded or not) to players. As for the audience targeting, this ad network allows to target the ads to players that are the most likely to be interested in playing a certain game. And in addition, there is no need to integrate an additional ad SDK. It works with both Android and iOS and supports several display formats.

9. Chartboost

Do you have a game app? Chartboost is another popular solution for mobile games that allows cross-promotion and is used by the majority of developers of the top games. Among its features we find interstitial and video ads, as well as an easy integration, in which only one SDK is necessary. It is worth to mention that you would have the full control over your ad space, being able to decide who advertises in your app.

And on the top of that, the goal of Chartboost is to help developers make money while letting them keep the majority of the income.

10. Applovin

Are you interested in analyzing your users and acquiring high-quality ones? Then this is the ad network for you. With Applovin you can filter your users by country, analyze all ad campaigns and lead campaigns to users that are most likely to make actions inside your app. On top of that, you can mix advertising formats and chose the best combinations for you!