eCPM and downloads/iAds

Thunder_Child

So I released a game yesterday and it has been downloaded 56 times today in 12 countries. IAds network trends says Ive made $.25 today...40 impressions...and an eCPM OF $14.57.

Not quite sure what this is saying. If I made $.25 with only 40 impressions. Is it saying every 1000 impressions I would make $14.57 ?

$.25 in 8 hours doesnt sound like much but its day one of sales. I keep running numbers and it seems if I had 300 downloads with 3 ads per gameplay...and they played it 5 times a day (game can be played in about 3 minutes) I coukd actually make a couple hundred a month for this one game. If I could do this with about 3-5 games that coukd be pretty good return....finally.

Does this sound pretty good?

Braydon_SFX

Actually $0.25 for only 40 impressions is pretty good! Yes, so you should receive $14.57 with 1k impressions if your fill rate and clicks stay as they are, etc.

BigDave

@Thunder_Child‌
Do you auto-refreseh your Iad's or not?

BigDave

I auto refresh - my adds and I auto refresh them all after 34 Seconds
I'm far away from such a eCPM.
So I wonder if this auto refreshing could interrupt a valuable process on iAds site.
Like building up value the longer they are shown.
I have 3 apps all over 1000 downloads and each made only around 7 euro.

Thunder_Child

@BigDave‌

I do not auto refresh. Although my game typically takes only about 30 secs to 3 min to play. During one gameplay you would see 3 ads.

At Menu scene, Start Scene, at Game Over Scene. i do not show ads on game play scene.

Thunder_Child

Btw those numbers have dropped after a week. Best eCPM was up to $146 around midnight on day 3 of sales.

BigDave

wow yeah it soundalike auto refresh is a bad way
@Thunder_Child‌

Thunder_Child

@BigDave‌

I dont know for sure...but I feel any ad on a single scene....as in iAds top banner or bottom only counts as one ad, regardless of wether it is refreshed (you obviously are doing this to maximize the number of ads). As scenes change a new ad is requested. These are the ads that count up, adding to your impressions.

Also. If your going to refresh you should use a timer to turn off...then say at least .2 of a second...allow your next ad. Do not replace them immediately. You may want to give even a few seconds grace between ads.

unbeatenpixel

Am I missing something? Why eCPM too low?

Thunder_Child

@onelasttime‌

Read this...it's from 2010 though...not sure if this has changed much...if at all.

The guts are saying iAds refresh every 3 mins compared to 30secs with other ad networks. If your ad is not showing at least 3 mins (iAds), then Apple does not feel your providing enough ad time and throttles how much you get paid for showing their ads.

http://www.pocketgamer.biz/news/22065/developer-says-actual-iad-ecpm-is-160-250/

Thought everyone?

unbeatenpixel

@Thunder_Child so this video,is it not true?

Because of this,I refresh iad every 45 seconds and I believe most of gs user did.

AdnanH

I've made $0.70 from 97 impressions.. Which is pretty good in my opinion as a starter considering I didn't even advertise the game as I don't like it much:P

Thunder_Child

@onelasttime‌ This is a great video from @Braydon_SFX‌. What I had gathered from the article I linked to is this....

If you show an ad on a splash scene that has a timer after 5 seconds it changes to let's say your menu scene...your iAd was not seen for at least "30-32" seconds as he says and therefore your impression was not satisfied by apples ad conditions...and therefore your ad on that scene is not worth much. Now...let's say your game scene has a timer that ends the game in 3 min....you have an iAd banner in it...you will have 6 impressions during a single game play. This would be great news for revenue generating apps.

What this tells me is that you could actually have less downloads and get good revenue...in the case of "flappy bird". People only see the ads for a short period and so the ads must not have paid much....the guy just has a bagillion downloads. This is why he had such good revenue.

So you might see how an eCPM could be low or high...depending on how long the ad is seen. The very definition of impression seems to be wether the ad was there long enough to be seen and make....an impression.

Without making a game take for to be able to be even played...if you had a splash scene, menu scene, game scene and game over scene....all with timers at least, or exceeding 30-32 seconds...one game play could have as many as 4-6 impressions...if the game is good enough people continue to play...as well as word of mouth/marketing to get downloads...Mooooooney in the bank.

This is MY understanding of iAds. Now I created this thread not knowing much about them but now have researched a bit myself to answer this question and this is how I understand eCPM's for the moment.

Now also...I have exhausted Sit with a timer and watched how long it take iAds to refresh....it IS 45 seconds, and yes I was exhausted...lol.

Thunder_Child

Here is a small test I did...and then check my iAd impressions.

I opened the game and let it just set on the menu scene for an about 30 minutes....you will notice it 16 requests....16 impressions...fill rate was 100%. eCPM is $15.15. :-)

unbeatenpixel

Thank you for this information, I really appreciate it. @Thunder_Child