I want to make some financial plans for a project, not sure if its gonna be facebook or android yet.
I'm seeing many free android app games, indie or from some big companies, always have an ad box at the bottom of the UI.
Some of the games don't even have a cash shop.
Thus I am assuming they are monetizing mainly from the ads.
If I am correct,
1) how do I find these ads?
2) And how much per DAU / per click / per click+purchase would the ads bring in?
You would normally use an ad service such as AdMob, AirPush (Android Only) or TapJoy amongst many others. You might also consider AdWhirl, which utilises mulitple networks.
Don't expect much income from ads unless your app is reasonably popular, but you can find more specific numbers by looking at the websites of various services -- they all provide this sort of information up-front. How you choose to integrate the ads and the types of ads shown also play a huge part in the potential to earn an income.
Hope that's helpful! 
You would normally use an ad service such as AdMob, AirPush (Android Only) or TapJoy amongst many others. You might also consider AdWhirl, which utilises mulitple networks.
Don't expect much income from ads unless your app is reasonably popular, but you can find more specific numbers by looking at the websites of various services -- they all provide this sort of information up-front. How you choose to integrate the ads and the types of ads shown also play a huge part in the potential to earn an income.
Hope that's helpful!
I've looked into air push and tap joy, they dont really state clear of the rates. Even they do say something like how much $ click per thousand impressions, it doesn't give me an idea of actual numbers, even approximate would be great for making my financial plan.
About expectation, indeed I don't expect too much (do I? : D). Perhaps I should explain: I'm looking at 50,000~80,000 DAU (if facebook), and I'm figuring how long it takes to generate $5,000 from ads.
About expectation, indeed I don't expect too much (do I? : D). Perhaps I should explain: I'm looking at 50,000~80,000 DAU (if facebook), and I'm figuring how long it takes to generate $5,000 from ads.
About expectation, indeed I don't expect too much (do I? : D). Perhaps I should explain: I'm looking at 50,000~80,000 DAU (if facebook), and I'm figuring how long it takes to generate $5,000 from ads.
That is a very ambitious number. Many established brands struggle to hit that many DAU.
Hm, what would suggest that?
To me, take a look at this:
Look at the top DAU of 50,000 tier Facebook apps.
Among the games in this tier, I think my team can do better in terms of quality and marketing.
In fact i think most people here can.
Personally my ace card is that my team can release in 3 languages, and possibly multi-platform.
Do let me know if I'm still underestimating the quality of those success in the 50,000+ tier.
I think you're going to have to do some exploring and endure some trial and error to get the answers you seek. If you're gonna be putting out free apps, your choice of a mobile ad network is really REALLY important. Not a big fan of AdMob as I don't see the type of forward-looking innovation that developers are going to need to monetize their creations in the future. TapJoy is excellent (speaking from experience here), as is Airpush. I'm an Android develoepr and Airpush is an Android ad network, so if you take the Android route, check out Airpush. You'll do very well there. In the end, keep in mind that mobile ad networks are evolving quickly and there's a lot of competition in the space. Don't think you have to sign up for the ad networks you know of or those that have been around the longest. Everyone knows AdMob but why are these young ad networks gaining so much ground? I would argue that its because they're becoming more effective and helping developers earn more money. The young guns are where the action and the opportunities are - http://www.examiner.com/article/the-young-guns-of-mobile-advertising-proving-most-effective
I think you're going to have to do some exploring and endure some trial and error to get the answers you seek. If you're gonna be putting out free apps, your choice of a mobile ad network is really REALLY important. Not a big fan of AdMob as I don't see the type of forward-looking innovation that developers are going to need to monetize their creations in the future. TapJoy is excellent (speaking from experience here), as is Airpush. I'm an Android develoepr and Airpush is an Android ad network, so if you take the Android route, check out Airpush. You'll do very well there. In the end, keep in mind that mobile ad networks are evolving quickly and there's a lot of competition in the space. Don't think you have to sign up for the ad networks you know of or those that have been around the longest. Everyone knows AdMob but why are these young ad networks gaining so much ground? I would argue that its because they're becoming more effective and helping developers earn more money. The young guns are where the action and the opportunities are - http://www.examiner.com/article/the-young-guns-of-mobile-advertising-proving-most-effective
Very helpful information there.
This may be off this topic a bit, but mind elaborating a bit on "dont see the type of forward-looking innovation that developers are going to need to monetize their creation"?
I wish I don't need to go down this path, but as a starter who doesn't have a relevant degree or portfolio, I have to start to build team with small projects. In my case, a successful monetizable small project would be the only thing i can hold onto to convince others whom i recruit or round funds from. But yea, I wish I had the quality promise in my resume.
The problem with AdMob/AdSense is the complete lack of support, transparency, and human interaction in the event that your account is deemed to have violated Google's rules. I would strongly advise against use of AdMob.
Having looked into many ad servers over the past few years, I settled on Leadbolt and have been extremely satisfied with their advertising options, customer service, and earnings. I use Leadbolt in my HTML5 mobile games, but they support iOS/Android more prominently. I'm seeing CPM's ranging from $1.50 to $12.00 consistently.
Your choice will come down to personal preference and experience, ultimately. Experiment and see what works for you.
Thanks for the information.
Mind if I ask briefly about the Google rule violation, what's that about?
