Blame it on the pandemic, or point the finger at Big Tech: either way you slice it, we’re spending a lot more time in mobile apps than we ever have before. In fact, the amount of time the world’s smartphone owners spend in apps jumped by 30% over the past two years to an average of 4.2 hours per day.

That’s a lot of hours. And it’s a lot of opportunities for app publishers to cash in on advertisers’ desire to reach smartphone users. 

Here’s the thing: if you really want to cash in on it, there’s a clear winner when you’re trying to decide what kind of advertising to place inside your app. Mobile app video advertising is the way to go. Like desktop video ads, mobile video ads command higher cost per mille (CPM) rates than display ads.

Perfect — you know the ad type you should use to maximize your app revenue. Now, you need to know how to do mobile video advertising the right way. We’ve got that covered for you. Read on for the mobile video ad tips you need to succeed.

Playwire’s app revenue amplification platform blends the power of video ads with the power of direct demand, programmatic tech and a lot more. Get in on this to grow your revenue. Contact our team for info.

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Get Mobile Video Ad Sizing Right

Even if you’re one of the few publishers who can truly claim expert status when it comes to video advertising, you need to understand this now: mobile app video advertising is not the same thing as desktop video advertising. 

In no area is that more apparent than the simple act of choosing the size of the video player. On desktop, publishers and advertisers tend to favor large video players. That’s for viewability purposes and a simple byproduct of the large amount of available screen real estate. But the game is way different on mobile.

To put it simply, your viewport is much smaller. That means you can’t have a massive video player unless you’re doing interstitial ads that take over the whole screen. Get the sizing right, and make sure it doesn’t harm the user experience (UX).

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Dock It

To get the most out of any mobile video ad, you need the ad to be highly viewable. That means it is at least 50% visible for as long as possible. Advertisers are paying more attention to viewability as an advertising metric than ever. But how do you achieve viewability when the most common reaction to a video ad is to scroll right past it?

You achieve this by having it dock to a part of the screen and follow the user as they scroll. On desktop, you’ll usually have a video ad dock to a corner of the screen. In mobile app video advertising, there wasn’t really an equivalent strategy that accommodated the smaller screen size — that is, until Playwire developed top docking.

Top docking is what it sounds like. The video ad loads at full size, and when the user swipes their way past it, the video docks to the top of the screen and follows them. This keeps the ad viewable for much longer, increasing your yield.

Make Your Mobile App Video Advertising Relevant

Mobile users have a lot of choices. As hard as it may be to hear, there are dozens of publishers competing with you for your users’ attention. And if you don’t provide relevant content and mobile video ads, those competitors may win the day.

If your app is a mobile game, your users probably aren’t interested in video ads about hot products for new parents. If your app is about parenting, your users probably have next to no time for ads about mobile games.

You get the idea. Keep your video content relevant, keep your video ads relevant and keep your audience coming back.

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Keep Mobile Video Ads Muted on Load

This mobile app video advertising tip applies to mobile as much as it does to desktop. Nothing upsets mobile users more than a video ad loading with the sound blasting. 

Your goal isn’t to annoy them — it’s to keep them engaged. So, make sure your mobile ad video player loads ads without sound. Users should be able to enable sound, but the starting point should be muted.

Never Hinder UX

Mobile apps are all about UX. At this point, you probably place UX at the top of your list of considerations in nearly everything you do by default. That’s the way it should be, and your mobile video advertising efforts should be no different.

This tip applies broadly: when you’re selecting screen size, determining ad frequency, selecting ad exchanges — everything. If you put UX first, you protect your audience base. At the end of the day, an engaged audience base is your most valuable asset as you build your app advertising strategy and grow your app’s revenue.

Mobile App Video Advertising Done Right: Playwire

When you’re building your mobile app advertising strategy, it’s hard to go wrong with mobile app video advertising. But you can do it wrong if you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s why you need to work with a partner who knows how to do mobile video ads the right way.

That partner is Playwire, and we’re ready to work with you. To take advantage of our cutting-edge mobile video ad strategies and powerful revenue-boosting platform, all you have to do is reach out. Just contact us online.

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An in-depth look at video ads for web and app publishers