1. Should I use interstitial or rewarded video placements in my app?
2. What are some best practices for interstitial videos?
3. What are some best practices for rewarded video?
4. Can AdColony help me decide how to implement interstitials and rewarded video?
1. Should I use interstitial or rewarded video placements in my app?
We understand that deciding on whether to use interstitial video, rewarded video, or both can be a tough decision since you want to be mindful of user experience while maximizing your monetization at the same time.
Interstitial videos can be placed anywhere in an app, but often they are pre/mid/post-roll to content or the next page view. The most common use is a pre-roll transitional video unit. Interstitial video ads will also maximize the most views from users as they ensure every user will watch a video ad at least once per session.
Rewarded video requires virtual currency, goods, premium content, or something of value that can be rewarded to your users. Virtual currency is much more common in games, but can also be found in other applications. Rewarded video tends to provide the best user experience as users opt-in and are rewarded for their time.
You can use both, but keep in mind not to overload users with video ads since this can lead to a poor user experience and/or negative app reviews. Interstitial videos are transitional yet more interruptive in nature, while rewarded video is usually a better experience, but with this ad unit, you monetize only a certain percentage of users who opt-in. If you choose to implement both, make sure to integrate video ads at natural breaks in the app.
2. What are some best practices for interstitial videos?
Take a strategic approach to implementing AdColony video interstitials to ensure playback occurs at natural breaks within your application. Your decisions about where and when to play video ads should depend on the rhythm of the gameplay or user experience in your app. This will naturally differ across publishers, app genres, etc.
We recommend you always keep the user experience in mind when integrating. Though AdColony’s HD video interstitial ads are of the highest quality and effectiveness with no load-time, showing too many in a short period of time may disrupt the user experience.
Look at metrics like average session time and impressions per session, and consider typical user-flow through the application to decide how often to interrupt the use with a interstitial video. A general guideline is taking the average session time and dividing by the number of video ads you wish to show the user. We recommend about 2-3 video ads per session. If your average user session time is less than 5 minutes, consider only 1-2 video ads per session.
Take advantage of multiple video zones to test different intervals and locations to see what works best for you and your user base. Note that you can have 15 active ad zones in your app at any given time.
In high-use application and games, you can use frequency settings to stagger ads. You can also implement code around the calling of the zone to randomize ad viewing as to not inundate the user with video ads each and every time they reach the video ad call (i.e. alternating a static house ad interstitial with AdColony video ads).
3. What are some best practices for rewarded video?
Publishers using our rewarded solution should take special care to ensure a balanced economic experience.
You can control the frequency caps and daily view limits of each user through our website dashboard. These tools will enable you to have real-time control of video ads and rewards which can greatly impact your app economy if not properly configured.
Place the opt-in button to play videos to earn currency within locations like your internal game store, menu screens and other natural locations that will help drive in-app purchases. The better and more prominent the location of the button, the more likelihood that a user will use the feature (and the more money you will receive from video ads).
We recommend making the button text clear to the user to communicate they can earn free coins or gain access to premium content (e.g. “FREE COINS”). Make the call to action large and highly visible on the screen.
You can implement custom views to blend in with the design and usability of the app and in several strategic locations. These can include: currency screens, buy more popups, virtual goods stores, and main menus. Prompt users that they will earn a specific currency or good reward prior to video ad playback.
Example: Contract Killer by Glu
For more best practices, check out the article Rewarded Video Best Practices.
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4. Can AdColony help me decide how to implement interstitial and rewarded video?
Yes, we provide 360-degree support, from SDK integration to monetization optimization. We have a dedicated team helping our current publishers make more money with better implementation and advanced techniques.
For in-depth consultation on video ad zone setup and placement inside your specific app, don’t hesitate to contact a publishing representative for personal recommendations at [email protected].
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