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The Best Mobile Ad Networks In 2021

Natasha Singh | May 26, 2020

Are you an app entrepreneur looking to monetize or promote your app? With so many choices among the best mobile ad networks, it can be hard to pick one. Each app is different and you may prefer certain features over others. To help you decide, we’ve compiled a comparison of the top mobile ad networks to show their strengths, weaknesses and differences. Keep them in mind when developing your app marketing campaigns!

iAd

iAd mobile ad network

iAd is Apple’s official mobile ad network. If you plan on exclusively marketing to the iOS audience, then iAd will be one of the best mobile ad networks. iAd provides an inbuilt easy-to-use producer to help you create your very own ads. Using a simple drag-and-drop system you can produce an ad in a relatively short amount of time to help promote your app.

The iAd Workbench is another feature included within the software package that allows you to create campaigns to promote your own apps as an advertiser. The iTunes Store integration makes this ad network advantageous when using it for iOS apps. iAd Workbench comes complete with tracking and analytics tools.

iAd’s mobile ad network is perfect for those who favor ease-of-use over advanced features.

AdMob

AdMob: the best mobile ad network for Google ads

AdMob is Google’s official mobile ad network. Its primary function is to help you grow your business with AdMob’s ad network, connecting you with over a million Google Advertisers. You can promote your app through one of the largest mobile ad networks (over 300,000 apps), with the option of cross-promoting for free with AdMob house ads. Accurate analytics and tracking tools enable you to track your campaigns and give you the information you need to make smarter decisions.

AdMob ranks among the best mobile ad networks because it is also highly versatile. According to Google, you can leverage AdMob to display “native, rewarded, banner, video, and interstitial ads” in your app, allowing you to exercise a relatively substantial degree of control over the user experience.

This particular platform helps you maximize your earnings with AdMob Mediation by showing ads from multiple mobile ad networks. AdMob also gives out payments in local currency so you don’t have to run currency conversions.

Perhaps most importantly, AdMob allows you to monetize your app without putting your brand at risk. This is thanks to the AdMob ad filter. You can refine your selection of ads, ensuring only those which correspond with your brand are displayed on your app.

Google’s AdMob also provides the option of blocking multiple different types of ads. So, if you do choose to monetize your app with this platform, you should review the company’s guidelines to more thoroughly understand precisely how you can prevent certain types of ads from appearing on your app. For instance, you can block apps that fall into specific categories (including both general categories, such as real estate, and what Google deems “Sensitive Categories,” such as religion), or if you prefer, you can block ads from specific URLs.

Chartboost

a mobile ad network comparison with Chartboost

Chartboost is a top mobile ad network specifically for game developers. The company has worked with numerous major gaming brands, including Electronic Arts. However, yours doesn’t need to be an established gaming company to partner with Chartboost. On the contrary, their aim is to provide game developers with the technology and tools to make money and build a business.

Chartboost prides themselves on providing one of the most transparent and largest mobile ad networks. They give extra care to ensuring that user experience is not interrupted for ads, allowing for seamless integration into your app. The Chartboost SDK ranks among the top in a mobile ad network comparison because it is incredibly lightweight, and in some instances can actually be implemented in as little as five minutes (although a range of factors can naturally impact how long the process takes).

These are important factors when monetizing a gaming app. After all, you need to strike a delicate balance when placing ads in a game. Your company needs to earn money, but if ads interrupt the gaming experience, users will choose one of the hundreds of thousands of other gaming apps available to your target audience.

The Chartboost platform gives developers the option of cutting the middleman, or letting Chartboost process the payments for a cut. Direct deals between developers also present unique opportunities that may not exist on other top mobile ad networks. Real-time updating, accurate store analytics, and a customizable storefront means the Chartboost store platform opens a lot of business opportunities for game creators.

MoPub

MoPub - a top mobile ad network

MoPub offers a more complex experience, so is a contender for best mobile ad network for those that like to micromanage their campaigns on a deeper level. MoPub gives you the tools to manage every detail about your app advertising. Developers can bid for ads on the MoPub marketplace and obtain exclusive deals from the private marketplace. MoPub’s deep control features also allow for ad network mediation, giving you the infrastructure to display ads from multiple mobile ad networks.

Rich media and MoPub’s native ad feature preserves the original feel and experience of your app while serving certified ads from major vendors. If you’re a developer that would like the flexibility and depth of micromanaging every detail of your advertising campaigns, odds are good you’ll believe MoPub is the best mobile ad network out there.

It’s also worth noting that MoPub is a Twitter company. Thus, like AdMob, it’s backed by a reliable tech giant.

RevMob

RevMob among the best mobile ad networks

RevMob is a self-service mobile ad network that claims to serve the highest eCPM campaigns (99.9% fill-rates). Available for Android, iOS, Corona, and Unity, RevMob supports 16 known engines. Advanced targeting, simple setup and global reach makes RevMob one of the largest mobile ad networks, and therefore a great choice for advertisers looking to promote their app.

Setting up RevMob is also extremely easy. This is a key reason it’s thrived as one of the top ad monetization tools since 2011.

Unity

Unity best mobile ad network

Unity is one of the strongest mobile gaming platforms. Thus, it should come as no surprise that Unity also offers game developers a strong platform for monetizing their products. 

You should consider Unity as your go-to mobile ad network if you’re trying to monetize an app in several ways. While you can monetize your game with Unity through traditional ads, the platform also gives you the option to add in-app purchases to your game, driving even more revenue.

Which is the Best Mobile Ad Network?

Just as different apps require different technologies, there are several different options for mobile ad networks. While the bottom line of these networks is to serve advertisements, they all differ from one another and offer different packages. Conduct your own mobile ad network comparison: Read through what each mobile ad network has to offer and then select the one that suits your needs the most.

Natasha Singh
+ posts

Senior iOS Developer at Blue Label Labs

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