Developers have to choose which ad types to utilize while creating a game. The advantages and disadvantages of each ad format vary based on the kind of game. But across most genres, one format-rewarded video ad stands out in terms of consumer engagement and performance.
A specific kind of advertisement style known as “rewarded video ads” provides consumers with a reward-like in-game money or a power-up-for watching the advertisement. They are very well-liked by developers, marketers, and stakeholders alike in the ecosystem of ad monetization.
We’ll explain the reasons for the popularity of rewarded video ads in this post. More significantly, we’ll talk about how to include them in your monetization plan for games.
1. What Are Rewarded Video Ads?
Users can earn in-app incentives by watching a brief video advertising in a rewarded video, a user-initiated ad type. In contrast to other video ad formats, it doesn’t interfere with the user’s gaming experience. Rather, it is a true opt-in process that is advantageous to all stakeholders.
1. How Do Video Ads With Rewards Operate?
This is how the typical rewarded video format operates:
- A brief video advertisement is offered to users to watch. They’ll get power-ups, in-game money, or other incentives in return.
- The user sees a 15- to 30-ssecond video advertisement. To receive a prize, they must persevere through to the very end.
- Using the reward that is now in their account, the player returns to the game.
The best times to employ reward mobies in a game are when the player needs a little extra push. It could manifest as more lives, in-game money, or the opportunity to carry on playing the game rather than starting over from the beginning of the level.
Developers can profit from their high revenue, retention, and engagement rates, as well as their high conversion rate, when consumers find them appealing.
Advertisers can also reap numerous benefits from rewarded videos. There aren’t many ad types available that encourage visitors to interact with the advertising. Rewarded video commercials, on the other hand, do just that.
2. What Sort of Awards Are Available?
It’s common to refer to sponsored films as “a win-win situation” for marketers as well as all other stakeholders. Users are more inclined to interact with advertisements when they can see them and get something from them.
Users that watch paid video ads have the opportunity to receive both hard and soft financial benefits, such as in-game currency and extra live, power-ups, boosters, new levels, and more.
From genre to genre, different rewards will be given out. The most common benefits offered in rewarded video advertising are free movements and free lives, but they also function incredibly well in games where players must wait a specific amount of time to play again.
3. How well-liked are video ads with rewards?
More than 80% of developers now use rewarded video ads as their preferred format for video game advertisements. Nearly the same proportion of developers claim that their most effective advertisements are rewarded videos, according to Meta Audience Network advertising research. Given that paid video advertising has been demonstrated to boost revenue by as much as 40%, this is hardly surprising.
Players’ experiences vary, with 32% finding them useful, 27% finding them intriguing, and 12% finding them entertaining. Nearly 70% of players say they enjoy the format, while only 24% of users regard paid video commercials as bothersome. In all game genres, including casual (85%), hardcore, and mid-core (76%), the ad structure is widely used.
2. What Is the Pay for Rewarded Video Ads?
The kind of game determines the average revenue from rewarded video advertisements. Games can be classified as either having in-app purchases (IAP) or relying mostly on advertisements for revenue (which can account for anywhere between 50% and 100% of their total revenue). The type of game and the method used to monetize video ads will largely determine the main revenue stream.
In comparison to other ad formats, rewarded video commercials typically have a substantially higher effective cost per mile (eCPM) because of their high levels of user interaction and click-through ratio (CTR). eCPM for rewarded video advertising can reach $100 in certain instances, contingent on the game’s nature and the player base.
Based on Appodeal data, significant patterns in different regions in 2024 can be observed in the rewarded video eCPM (effective cost per thousand impressions), which are driven by platform and geographical dynamics.
- The United States has stable eCPM values, with Android peaking at $13.34 and iOS ranging from $15.85 to $16.30. This constancy highlights how developed the American advertising market is.
- Canada: Shows lower eCPM numbers than the United States, especially on Android, where eCPM fell from $7.26 to $5.51. This points to a less cutthroat advertising landscape.
- Australia: Android eCPM values peaked at $10.86, indicating a greater performance on Android, while iOS eCPM values dropped to $8.44.
- Japan: Strong market presence is reflected in higher eCPM values in iOS, which peaked at $16.13. Android values showed steady, reliable performance.
- Taiwan: A highly competitive market is indicated by the very high eCPM peak for iOS at $25.05.
These patterns demonstrate how dynamic and rewarding video advertising is across many platforms and geographies. Advertisers can improve their monetization results by optimizing their strategies with an understanding of these variances.
3. The Advantages Of Sponsored Video Ads
Gamers and game creators alike can gain a great deal from rewarded video commercials. They let developers increase their revenue from the ads while benefiting gamers by rewarding them for interacting with them.
1. A Better Experience for Users
Better performance results from giving users the option to watch rewarded video ads or not. This type of opt-in advertisement doesn’t obstruct gameplay or negatively impact the user experience.
Players adore the reward advertisements. They give users the impression that their time and attention are being well spent. In addition to making games proceed more quickly, this keeps players interested and entertained, which increases user retention.
2. Better IAPs And User Retention
Additionally, developers that use rewarded video advertising saw an increase in user retention rates and increased income from in-app purchases.
Up to five times as much money can be made by games with great user retention as those that only concentrate on acquiring new players.
One of the most important aspects of deciding game profitability is user retention, which is something that rewards and advertisements may help creators with.
Moreover, gamers may receive a complimentary sample of their premium material as a reward for watching these advertisements, increasing the likelihood that they will buy the same advantages later on.
As a result, rewarded video advertising may have a direct impact on in-app purchase revenue in addition to ad revenue.
3. Enhanced CTR for Sponsors
Rewarded video ads are also highly popular among advertisers since they provide a higher viewability and click-through rate because they only charge for the advertisements that viewers watch all the way through.
Since this demographic is more likely to interact with this kind of advertisement than any other, advertisers can effectively reach their target audience with reward video advertisements.
4. The Difficulties With Rewarded Video Ads
Rewarded video commercials, like any other ad type, have drawbacks of their own, chief among which being the fact that users are free to ignore the adverts altogether.
If the implementation is not done effectively, the number of views and income earned via rewarded video ads may be less than in non-video ad formats because consumers have the option to watch them or not. This is particularly true for games that are played for short periods of time, have a high drop-off rate, or have poor engagement levels.
1. Poor Traffic and User Involvement
When a user chooses to view a rewarded video, they are doing so just for the reward. Lower rates of user engagement and lower quality traffic might result from users not being interested in what the advertisement has to offer if it is not correctly targeted.
2. Apple Pay Cannibalization
When deploying rewarded video advertising, developers run the greatest danger of in-app purchases (IAPs) being cannibalized. Developers must so use caution to maintain economic equilibrium and refrain from offering an excessive number of free incentives.
They must strike a delicate balance between providing incentives that are too valuable to encourage consumers to sign up for ad viewing and those that are too minimal to risk the IAP economy. Developers may need to conduct one or more A/B tests or use a trial-and-error strategy in order to do this.
5. Which Rewarded Video Ad Network Is the Best?
Game creators have a variety of compensated video ad network to select from. The ideal option, nevertheless, will depend on your own requirements and tastes. A few things to think about include the average eCPM, the network’s ease of use, and the caliber of the advertising that is available. The network that provides the most value for both your game and your players will ultimately be the best-rewarded video ad network for you. Try out a couple different ones and see which one suits you the best.
