This post is part of the Mobpartner Insights series

Mobpartner Insights #1 – Mobile Traffic for Affiliate Mobile Media Buyers

Mobile media buying is an art that requires an in-depth knowledge of various traffic sources.  Since each ad network’s inventory changes over time and because of the impressive targeting-ability of mobile advertising it is hard to know which adnetwork is best suited for this or this campaign. The person most suited for such a job is your account manager. Most of the time he will have visibility on all viable traffic sources.

Mobile Traffic Breakdowns

Some adnetworks release their traffic breakdown such as Buzzcity with campaign planner (http://partner.buzzcity.com/campaignplanner.php) or MobFox (http://www.mobfox.com/advertiser-performance-trafficstats), however, many do not. To better plan your campaigns and scale quickly, such information is crucial. Do not hesistate to reach out to each adnetwork to obtain a breakdown of their top traffic sources.

Where to buy traffic for first-timers

• Buzzcity – good network to buy world traffic from. Quality is average. Allows you to bid at $0.01 per click!
• Jumptap – good source of US, UK and AU traffic. Higher quality means minimum bids of $0.1

Random Adnetwork Specificities for Experienced Media Buyers

• Adfonic – as known as they are for their European traffic, their South African traffic is excellent
• Admoda – their user-interface is not optimized yet their traffic can be incredible – South African conversion rate is high!
• MobFox – a growing traffic in many countries. Some very lucrative niches in Germany, Australia and more.
• Vserv – little traffic but very high quality.

MobPartner is a Premium Mobile Affiliate Network. We work on delivering Advertisers Risk-Free Performance-based Marketing Campaigns and help Publishers monetize 100% of their Unsold Traffic. Operating in more than 200 countries we provide advertisers, publishers and media buyers with uniquely global solutions. In addition, MobPartner’s CPA model allows every type of action: CPS, CPL and CPI. We focus on delivering global campaigns on all Operating Systems. Our commitment to providing quality services in total transparency and openness to our partners is a fundamental base of our worldwide success.

Join mobpartner and start making money on mobile

Over the next few weeks and months we’ll be bringing to you a series of posts from the mobile affiliate network mobpartner.   They’ll be sharing their tips and hints for how to make money on mobile as an affiliate, media buyer, mobile publisher or app developer.  Who are mobpartner? – well here’s what they say:

“MobPartner is a Premium Mobile Affiliate Network. We work on delivering Advertisers Risk-Free Performance-based Marketing Campaigns and help Publishers monetize 100% of their Unsold Traffic. Operating in more than 200 countries we provide advertisers, publishers and media buyers with uniquely global solutions. In addition, MobPartner’s CPA model allows every type of action: CPS, CPL and CPI. We focus on delivering global campaigns on all Operating Systems. Our commitment to providing quality services in total transparency and openness to our partners is a fundamental base of our worldwide success.”

We’ll be publishing their mobile affiliate tips here on mobyaffiliates and on our newsletter.  So stick around to find out all the insider tips for making money on mobile, brought to you by our friends at mobpartner.

This week’s roundup of the best mobile blogging from around the web is over at the Musings of a Mobile Marketer blog put together by Helen Keegan aka @technokitten.

This week there are posts about mobile app customer segments, bad mobile advertising strategies and our post on the top mobile advertising companies of 2012 also made the cut.

So head on over to the Carnival of the Mobilists.

If you’re a developer planning on releasing an Android app you’re probably already fretting about how you’re going to monetise it.  If you already have an app or two launched you’ll be thinking of ways to increase your revenues.

When it comes to market share, Android has been surging ahead of all of all other platforms for months now – it currently accounts for 48% of the global smartphone market. But questions still remain on just how much money developers can truly make on the Android platform – is there really revenue there to match the users or are you still better off focusing on the iphone platform if you want commercial success?

While the iPhone’s market share hovers at around 19%, it’s profitability – for both Apple and app developers – continues to grow. It’s a well known fact that iPhone users spend more money on apps than Android users.  According to investment banking firm Pipar Jaffray, Apple’s App Store has earned around $4.9 billion in gross revenue for paid apps to date, whereas Android is estimated to have generated just $330 million.

It’s not that hard to understand the reasons behind such a discrepancy. Android has gained its share chiefly by attacking the lower end of the market with budget smartphones, whereas Apple has steadfastly refused to drop the iPhone’s premium price tag. It stands to reason that iPhone users will generally have more disposable income to splurge on apps than Android users.  Another factor that has lead to the slower development of paid apps on Android is the reliance on google checkout for billing, which has far lower penetration among android users than itunes accounts did for iphone users.  Finally, the Android marketplace’s more ‘open’ nature, with lower barriers for app developers has meant that free apps have been able to proliferate on the platform in a way that the higher quality and submission barriers of the Apple appstore have helped to hold back.

However, this discounts one little thing – advertising revenue. While paid apps appear more viable on the iPhone, there’s been little comparative research on apps that focus solely on advertising. Moreover, the pace of Android’s growth has been so quick that advertisers are only now beginning to get the full picture and realise just how much reach the Android platform can give them.

Be under no illusion, there’s definitely money to be made by Android devs willing to embrace advertising in 2012. So with that in mind, here’s a few tips to get you started.

Android App Advertising: How to make money

Think ‘advertising’ from the ground-up

When devising your app think about the revenue model before you write the first line of code. Who is going to use your app? What geographical region will it flourish in? Think demographics and then square that with a bit of research on what kind of user is more receptive to online ads – there’s plenty of info out there to spark some ideas.

Think practically in terms of potential revenue earned through advertising, vs time spent developing the app (are you better off developing two less time intensive apps instead of one more complex app?). Also think sensibly about what users will be doing with your app. Will they be using it mostly offline? If so it’s going to be pretty useless from an ad-revenue perspective. Will the user be encouraged to spend their time staring at a widget on their home screen, oblivious to in-app banners? Ditto.

Research mobile ad-networks

You’ve probably heard of Admob, but there are lots of other ad networks out there. Some of them are specialised for certain geographical territories, some of them have feature above and beyond Admob, and some of them are solely dedicated to the Android platform. So it pays to do your research to ensure you’re not missing a trick – you can start with our own round-up of mobile ad networks right here.

Use a combination of mobile ad-networks in your android app

It also pays to take a pluralistic approach and combine ad networks to maximise your revenue. The following strategy is inspired by MoonBeam Development’s excellent guide ‘Making Money With Android‘.

• Use Google Admob to deliver in-app advertising (banner ads that appear at the bottom of the display).
• Combine this with Pontiflex, which streams advertisements before the app loads. This is more intrusive but can reap high rewards. Pointiflex works by giving users three or four special offers, which they can sign-up to. Pontiflex also allows you to request user information such as email address, name and postcode – valuable marketing data.
• Use dedicated Android network AirPush to monetise inactive users. Remember what we said about widgets? Well AirPush gets around this issue, and the problem of users who don’t engage with traditional banner ads, by delivering push advertisements to a user’s notification tray. The user doesn’t even have to click on the ad for you to get paid, they just have to agree to allow the ads to be streamed.

Lead Bolt

Or you could cut out the mutliple partners and go with Android network Lead Bolt, which combines many of the above features offered by separate ad-networks into one package. So you’ve got push notifications, data capture forms, and other features such as content blocks. It’s well-worth checking them out.

StartApp

If you want to squeeze even more money out of your app, then StartApp lets you add a further layer of monetisation. StartApp basically embeds a piece of code into your Android app, which creates a search tool on the user’s home screen. When a user conducts a search with this tool, StartApp gets a a cut. This allows StartApp to pay you every time your app is downloaded. While it sounds great in theory, we wonder what the blowback will be like from users who didn’t expect to be downloading a search tool along with their app… proceed with caution!

Cross promotion

This won’t directly increase your revenue, but if you have more than one app in your portfolio you can easily cross promote them by either pulling your own web ads, or by running a solution like Admob’s House Ads feature. It’s also worth networking with other developers and seeing if you can cross promote your apps together.

 Green pastures…

So there you have it – those tips should be enough to get you started. Like we said, Android is only going to grow in 2012 and the vast majority of that growth will occur in the budget end of the market. With a user base of shallow wallets, and a reach that blows everyone else out of the water, Android app monetisation will continue to focus on advertising. If developers want to make money, they’ll need to get to grips with this.  Afterall, we’re talking about a Google product!

Are you an Android app developer using advertising to make money with your app?  Share your experiences in the comments and we’ll give you a shout out in the post.

It wasn’t so long ago that admob was treading a lonely furrow, pioneering mobile advertising alongside one or two other players.  Now the ecosystem around mobile ads is becoming increasingly sophisticated with the emergence of players in specialist segments such as Rich Media and Android advertising for example.  At the same time the technology-driven acronym-tastic world of DSPs (demand-side platforms) and SSPs (Supply side platforms) has hit mobile as it converges with trends in the wider online advertising space.  In addition, new companies are emerging around ancilliary services such as analytics, mobile ad landing pages and measurement.

With all these changes it can be hard to keep up.  Yesterday’s hot startup can quickly become today’s dull incumbent (hi Admob!) and the hot new thing can seemingly emerge from nowhere.   So here’s a run down of some of the players that are ‘ones to watch’ in mobile advertising during 2012.

Strikead – not the first to try and provide a demand-side platform (mobile media buying across many networks) but perhaps the first with the right timing and sufficient backing to make this kind of ambitious play work.  With a strong management team and having just raised a big investment round these guys are aiming to remove issues such as the fragmented nature of mobile ad buying and becoming the go-to place on the buy side of mobile ads.

Atmio – with google having recently announced that a mobile optimized landing page will affect the quality score on mobile search there’s an obvious signal that there’s going to be a need for services to help create them.  Enter atmio – they offer a WYSIWYG editor that can create many types of professional looking landing pages, for mobile lead generation (capturing email, phone numbers etc), mobile commerce or many other types of ads.  Agencies or other advertisers can get up and running in minutes and what they offer is well ahead of the rest of the pack.  If you buy mobile advertising – get to know!

Distimo –  are a Dutch outfit that started off providing deep analytics into the world of appstores – offering dynamic information across iphone, android and other third party stores.  They are now moving into mobile ads and beginning to offer analytics that can help app developers and brands to understand how effective their mobile advertising is.  With Distimo’s capabilities they are sure to shake up mobile ad analytics, which is still very nascent.

Airpush – with millions of new Android devices out there huge amounts of new advertising inventory on android apps are being created, particularly as the paid-for app market on android has been slower to develop than on the iphone platform.  Airpush provides a mobile ad network specifically for Android and claims to offer much higher CPMs than the generic ad networks that work across iphone, android and mobile web.  Expect to see more of these specialist types of ad networks emerge as the market develops.

Mopub – as more and more ad networks are available, this is creating a need for mobile ad serving solutions that can integrate several ad networks (e.g. for use on different types of inventory) and allow direct ad sales or insertions by publishers/ developers.  The main contender for this role Adwhirl was snapped up by admob early in its existence and promptly left to more or less rot.  However, mobpub has emerged as an alternative option.  Look for these guys to increasingly evolve into an SSP (supply side platform) which a strong position in the value chain as they begin to own the publisher relationship (not the mobile ad networks).

Mobpartner - with all this new mobile ad inventory being created an opportunity for cost per action (CPA) and other performance based advertising is emerging.  The networks simply can’t fill all this mobile inventory on a CPM or CPC basis.  Mobpartner is the old skool player in the mobile affiliate scene but it’s only really now that the market is taking off around them.  With a network of tens of thousands of publishers, a decent technology platform and some strong offers mobpartner are in a good position to be one of the leaders in mobile performance marketing.

Linking Mobile – another exciting player in the mobile affiliate space, this time based in the UK, Linking Mobile are one of the first mobile ad networks to try and link the real world with the affiliate space via mobile.  With innovations such as the launch of QR codes for mobile advertising these guys are pumping out some great innovations.

And finally … who is the the hottest mobile advertising company of 2012?  ….

Well it’s going to be facebook.   With the imminent launch of their HTML5 mobile apps platform facebook are sure to extend their facebook ads program onto mobile.  This will create a vast swathe of new, highly targeted mobile inventory, that benefits from hooking straight into the social graph.  The impact of this is going to be huge and could easily kill of many of current mobile ad networks, who can barely offer any targeting at all, let alone the razor sharp interest-based and demographic targeting of facebook.  However, at the same time, there’s going to be new opportunities for mobile advertising companies building on top of this new facebook mobile ad platform.

Who do you think will be the big mobile advertising companies of 2012?  Let us know in the comments!

The Carnival of the Mobilists is hosted this week over at the Mobile Web company.  It’s a great roundup of the best mobile blog posts from around the web including posts on mobile apps, mobile marketing and our own post on mobile ad fill-rates.  So go check it out! 

It’s no secret that the mobile advertising is currently facing a problem when it comes to fill rates. Anyone with a finger on the sluggish pulse of the advertising industry in general (and an eye on the explosive growth of smartphone apps) would have seen this coming from a reasonably safe distance. To put it simply, the inventory is far outstripping the ad budget.

Who’s to blame? Well it depends who you ask. Perhaps there’s simply too many apps being made (do we really need another battery saver application, or strip poker game?). Or maybe over-cautious advertisers are taking  too long to grab mobile by the horns and seriously invest in the channel.

Either way, according to mobile ad optimisation specialist Smaato, the problem seems to be getting worse. In Q2 2011, the average mobile fill rate was 18%, that’s 2% down from Q1 2011. Meanwhile, according to analysts Flurry, ad inventory on the iPhone and Android platforms is growing so fast that it will soon be able to accommodate the totality of budget currently spent on online ads. As Venture Beat puts it, that’s a two year old market meeting the demands of a 15-year market in online web ads. Pretty impressive.

So if you’re a budding app developer working on an ad-based revenue model, you may be furiously deleting lines of Java code right now in a self-destructive fit of rage. But don’t fear! There are a few tips and tricks out there to help you boost your fill rate and ad revenue…

How to increase your mobile ad fill rate…

Use more than one ad network

Some ad networks enable you to revert back to a secondary network if you are experiencing low fill rates. Think of them as an understanding girlfriend or boyfriend who doesn’t mind if you see your ex once and a while. MobFox is one such network that lets you do this and revert back to any ad network you already hold an account with. If you sign-up with MobFox, you can even set a threshold for CPM and tell the network to switch to another network if there are no ads on MobFox that meet your CPM requirements. Who said being unfaithful doesn’t pay?

Use an ad exchange network

An ad exchange network lets you integrate a whole bunch of ad networks in order to maximise fill rate. So rather than dating an understanding partner like in the above tip, this is akin to stripping off and indulging in a full on swingers club (ok, we’ll stop with the relationship metaphors now…). An ad exchange network such as Mobclix, allow developers to effectively auction their inventory to a number of ad networks, advertisers and agencies in order to maximise their revenue. Other mobile ad exchanges include Nexage, AdWhirl and Smaato.

Use a CPA network

When it comes to mobile ad networks you’re commonly faced with a choice of two payment models – CPM (cost per thousand impressions) and CPC (cost per click). These two usually offer the most revenue for publishers, but they are not always the best models for advertisers, who are all too aware of the unreliability of click-based performance indicators when it comes to small screens, big meaty fingers, and touch-based interfaces. That’s why a CPA model (cost per action) holds special appeal. Cost per action allows advertisers to only pay when a user actually does something, like download an app. Therefore ad networks that use CPA – such as MobPartner – usually offer developers a better fill rate. But, obviously, you have to square this with the possibility that fewer users will fulfill their part of the bargain.

Sell ads directly

So you probably think that selling inventory directly to advertisers is a privilege reserved for big time publishers, with everyone else having to rely on blind networks. Well, for the most part that’s true, but the times are a ‘changing and there are a few options out there that enable developers to hook up directly with brands. One such solution is offered by Burstly, which already offers direct sales to the popular Words With Friends app, and another is the aforementioned MobFox which a mere week ago launched its MobFox: Direct feature, allowing developers to set-up their own store front for advertisers and – according to MobFox – keep 100% of the ad revenue. Of course, while this model is highly liberating for developers, you need be realistic about how interested advertisers will be in investing in your app and whether or not you’ll ultimately be better served by a blind network.

…And finally – Do your research!

There’s so many ad networks out there offering a range of different solutions, so it really pays to do your research and figure out what solution will work best for your app. Is your app particularly popular in Asia? Then you’ll need to find out which networks are focused on that region. Are you Android-only? If so, maybe it’s worth working with a network that’s Android-centric. For more information on different types of networks check out our post on the best mobile ad networks and good luck boosting those fill rates!

So what is the best mobile advertising network to use if you’re a developer, mobile publisher or advertiser?  When deciding which mobile ad network to work with, many publishers and advertisers will be tempted to go with the most recognised names. But the truth is choosing the best mobile advertising network is a bit more complicated than making a beeline for the biggest kid on the block. Figures on which networks offer advertisers the most reach, and publishers the most revenue, are not always reliable or indeed available. In fact, because of the scarcity of verifiable figures, no one really knows which network is even the biggest.

So when choosing an ad network your best bet is to look at the differentiators and assess what network is the best match for your requirements. Are you looking to target an Asian audience? If so, then you need to know which networks cater best to Asian territories. Is your app iPhone-only? Well, you’ll need to know which network serves the most ads on Apple’s, rather than Google’s, platform.

Luckily Mobyaffliates is here to lend a guiding hand! Below are what we believe are the best mobile ad networks in some of the most relevant categories for publishers and advertisers. Hopefully our recommendations can help you make a more informed decision on what mobile ad network is right for you.

The best mobile advertising network for…

Android

Airpush

Given the – quite frankly – frightening pace at which Android has taken over the smartphone market it’s no surprise that the last few months have seen a strong interest in targeted ad solutions for Android users. Enter Airpush, a mobile ad network that deals exclusively with Google’s little green robot. Airpush makes a bunch of eye-catching claims on its website, such as offering developers 10 to 30 times more ad revenue than non-Android-focused rivals. As we mentioned above, you need to take ad network boasts with a pinch of sale, but Airpush does have a nifty trick up its sleeve that makes such a revenue surge plausible – push notification ads. Say goodbye to all those inactive app users, now you can reach them from the comfort of their own notification tray!

Video ads

Greystripe

Mobile video ads are still very much in their infancy, but with 38% better completion rate than desktop-bound online video ads (according to eMarketer), it won’t be long before they become ubiquitous. One of the most recognised early proponents of mobile video ads is Greystripe, who have won numerous awards for their rich media solutions. Greystripe now boasts that its the market leader in terms of full screen rich media ads, with a 75% share of the market, delivering big name brand campaigns from the likes of Sony, Burger King and HP.

iPhone

AdMob

Oooh, a Google product besting Apple’s own solution – who would have thought it! AdMob may not offer the highest eCPM anymore, and there’s plenty newer ad networks out there who’ve surged ahead in terms of innovation, but by most estimates it serves more ads to iPhone users than any other network. AdMob has a strong fill rate across pretty much all territories and, according to many developers, outperforms iAd when it comes to CTRs – despite Apple’s emphasis on rich media and despite the supposed warm fuzzy trust engendered by its branding….

Demographic targeting

Adfonic

UK-based Adfonic has made a name for itself by offering advertisers highly detailed, real-time, reporting and robust demographic targeting, which includes age, location, time of day, language, operator, device and OS. Adfonic also offers keyword tagging, which help squeeze-out that extra bit of contextual relevancy with publisher content.

Fill rate

MobPartner

With its advertiser-friendly Cost Per Action model (advertisers only pay when, for instance, a user downloads an app) it comes as little surprise that Paris-based MobPartner can offer developers an 100% fill rate. It also means that developers can draw on a range of big name campaigns and can be a bit more picky about the brands they want to promote. Of course, MobPartner’s CPA flavouring is great news for advertisers looking to boost app downloads, but while more brands means better targeting for developers their bottom line may suffer when compared to CPM and CPC-focused networks.

European traffic

MobFox 

MobFox is a relative newcomer to the mobile network party, but over the last year it has built-up a strong reputation with a number of innovative features, such as eCPM controls, the ability to pull ads from rival networks, and strong demographic-targeting. While its Asian inventory is lacking somewhat, in our recent MobFox review, we found that European publishers were experiencing very strong fill-rates and high eCPM. The Vienna-based start-up is increasingly looking like the network of choice for advertisers and publishers who want to target continental smartphone users.

Big brands

Jumptap

When it comes to offering a robust data-driven platform for advertisers Jumptap has been top of the list for sometime now. Founded back in 2004, the award-winning network indulges big brand advertisers with its tapMatch solution, offering keyword-targeting and a traditional media-buying model. The network has also recently been one of the strongest proponents of rich media ads to increase ROI and claims to offer advertisers the largest open rich media platform. It’s no surprise that some of the biggest brands have jumped on-board with Jumptap.

Asian traffic

Buzz City 

With smartphone penetration rocketing toward saturation in The West, growth will undoubtedly begin shift toward emerging markets in the East. India, Indonesia and Vietnam, among others, are already showing signs of a mobile ad boom (Vietnam experienced a 223% increase in ad impressions in 2011 Q2 alone). Based in Singapore, ad network Buzz City has capitalised on the lack of attention paid to the Asian market by other ad networks. The network’s biggest markets are Indonesia and India, with over 3 million ads served to users in India and almost 2 million in Indonesia throughout November alone.

Adult

Adultmoda

There’s not much debate in this category, when it comes to ad networks that exclusively target the adult market Adultmoda is pretty much the only show in town. Owned by London-based parent company MobVision, Adultmoda serves some of the world’s biggest publishers of x-rated content (as opposed to its family friendly sibling Admoda), such as Brazzers, Reality Kings and YouPorn. Due to its market, Adultmoda exercises quite strict quality controls on which publishers it works with to ensure its advertisers are kept happy, while publishers enjoy some of the highest renumeration rates around.

Conclusion

As you can see there’s a great deal of diversity on offer when it comes to choosing a mobile ad network. Advertisers need to think carefully about what they’re trying to achieve with their mobile ad campaign and nail the fundamentals (CPA? CPC? Blind? Premium?) before they let themselves get beguiled by the ad networks’ invariably impressive claims and boasts. When it comes to publishers, they may find that shopping around and experimenting with a number of networks is the best tactic to maximise revenues – especially if you have a broad portfolio of apps and sites. As with most things, it’s about understanding your own aims and doing some research, but hopefully our above guide has put you on the right track!

For more check out our mobile advertising network directory

Related articles

• AdMob vs MobFox (mobyaffiliates.com)
• MobFox Review (mobyaffiliates.com)

- inMobi
- BuzzCity
- JumpTap
- Google Adwordsf

There’s also a nice discussion of mobile affiliate tactics and how to build a funnel on mobile advertising.

The first Carnival of 2012 is hosted over at the Fonecast blog.  There’s posts there from the likes of Mobile Marketing Magazine, Chetan Sharma , Ajit Jaokar and Volker Hirsch.  They’ve also been good enough to include our post about Mobfox vs Admob.   Anyway, head on over to the Carnival of the Mobilists to read more.

• How to buy on the top mobile ad networks including Admob – Jumptap – inMobi – Millennial Media – And More…
• How to create and setup mobile campaigns
• Tips, tactics and strategies for mobile media buying

Mobimastermind is a mobile affiliate marketing education community.   There’s a free version you can sign up for but if you want the full service you have to pay a subscription.  We’ve not checked this out but looks like it might be interesting for people looking to learn about mobile affiliate marketing.

Ever since Admob got snapped up by Google last summer, we’ve seen a number of new mobile ad-networks burst onto the scene, each one attacking the lower end of the market with a slew of innovative solutions for publishers and advertisers. One of the most notable of these new entrants is the Vienna-based MobFox.

Founded half way through 2010, MobFox has fast become the ad-network to watch largely due to its rapid growth, which has been backed-up by a steady release of cutting-edge developments to its platform.

While other newly launched networks such as TapJoy and Liquid Wirless have diverged into virtual currency and Cost Per Lead models respectively, MobFox has focused its efforts on attacking and expanding the core services spearheaded by incumbents AdMob and iAd. This has lead to a number of new features, which have had a marked impact on the already rapidly developing mobile advertising market. MobFox now claims over 10 billion monthly ad impressions globally, working with around 1,500 advertisers and 7,000 publishers to serve ads to over 100 million customers. Not bad for a company founded by a 17-year old student.

Teaching an old fox new tricks

So what new toys does MobFox bring to the ad network table? Well, one of the most impressive areas of innovation is MobFox’s ‘mAdserv’ tool, which essentially allows publishers to use MobFox as their own customised adserver. This opens up the possibility of not only selling ad space directly to advertisers, who can purchase space on your apps via PayPal or credit card, but it also – via the ‘Backfill feature – means publishers can revert to ads from other networks. So if you want a higher paying ad from a different network, like AdMob or inMobi, all you need to do is to give MobFox the relevant account details and you can pick and choose any ad you want (and keep 100% of the revenue too).

Backfill makes even more sense when used in conjunction with MobFox’s eCPM control, allowing publishers to set the minimum pay-out threshold for an ad in MobFox’s inventory (you can also choose to display CPC or CPM ads). If no MobFox ads meet your payment threshold, you can revert to an ad from other networks.

With these tools at the disposal of publishers, it’s not hard to believe MobFox’s claim that its currently the highest paying network for the US and Europe. According to MobFox, average European CPC is $0.15 to $0.30, while US averages are between $0.12 and $0.20. The network also claims a 99% guaranteed fill-rate. There are a few caveats however, the 99% fill rate is – understandably – not guaranteed when eCPMcontrol is enabled and Windows Phone 7 publishers may experience lower revenue numbers due to the (relative) infancy of Microsoft’s OS.

Demographic focus

MobFox also has a few neat tricks up its sleeves for advertisers. The network now boasts that around 75% of its ad inventory can be targeted by demographic, which includes age, gender, educational level, income, ethnicity, religion, relationship status and native language. That’s no mean feat considering the relative paucity of demographic targeting currently available on other ad networks.

MobFox’s ‘Optimisation’ tool adds an extra layer of visibility to campaigns, allowing advertisers to spot and drop low performing publishers and target ads based on device type and other variables. Other targeting options offered to advertisers include content channel targeting, geo-targeting, carrier targeting and scheduling.

When it comes to unit types, MobFox has developed a range of HTML5-powered banners – in addition to its standard MMA banners – capable of supporting rich media animation. In addition is MobFox’s recently launched APP ad units. These are banners that can display two different layers of media that flick back and forth every 3 seconds, allowing you to deliver two different messages on the same ad. MobFox’s claims APP units have given advertisers a 70-100% increase in Click to Download Conversions.

Leader of the pack?

With AdMob seemingly stuck in an innovation backwater ever since its acquisition by Google, and with other ad networks striking out on their own paths, its not hard to see why MobFox is already looking like a market leader in the mobile ad space. Its focus on the bottom line has made it almost impossible for advertisers and publishers to not take notice and its impressive array of new tools means that many other ad networks – including the big boys – need to think hard about upping their game.

Android is shaping up to be the big area of opportunity in mobile for 2012.  The platform is really growing all the time and the open-ness of the ecosystem is creating lots of new ways to make money.  Whereas iOS/ iphone seems to be more about the major publishers these days there still seems to be a ‘wild west’ feel to Android where it’s possible for independent developers and publishers to make serious revenues.

So – what a great time to get news of a book all about how to build android apps for fun and profit.  The book is written by Richard Harris of Moonbeam development.  Moonbeam have over 80 apps in the android appstore, they’ve done over 10m downloads and earned $500k + in revenues and their top app ‘useless facts’ has been downloaded over 2.5m times.

The book is a nice crisp compendium of various hints and tips that will help you make money from android apps.  Some of the ideas it covers include:

• what type of mobile ad networks to use.  Moonbeam currently use 5 types of mobile ad networks count them! including admob, airpush and pontiflex
• how to use social media and email to promote your android app
• how to develop a network of applications that acts as a cross-selling and promotional tools
• free and paid-for models for android apps

So go get the book today – it’s only $10 and full of good info

It’s a testament to mobile advertising’s rapid growth that AdMob is considered the grand old statesman of the ad-network world, already vulnerable to the disruptive innovation of nimble upstarts. Indeed, the last 12 months have seen a number of rival ad-networks appear on the scene, bringing a raft of new features, and making a range of boisterous claims, leaving Google’s recent acquisition looking a bit old hat.

One of the most prominent of these upstarts is the Vienna-based MobFox, which has been gaining serious momentum on the back of its boast to boost eCPM by 300%. So we thought we’d pit AdMob and MobFox against each other in a head-to-head review. Which network comes out on top – the challenger or the current champ? Read on to find out.

In the red corner – AdMob

Richer ads

Google turned a few heads back in June when it announced that AdMob would pull-out entirely from the mobile web space and focus its efforts exclusively on apps. Now you might say that this is taking a step backwards (especially with HTML5 just around the corner), but it does mean that AdMob can now focus on delivering much richer in-app ads (leaving the mobile web to AdSense). We’re already seeing this move bear some fruit, with Google recently unveiling its in-house ads feature, which allows developers to mix their own rich full-screen ads into inventories – great news if you’re a developer who wants to cross-promote apps.

Android

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock recently (or under a pile of discarded Symbian smartphones), you will already know that the Android mobile OS is carving-up the smartphone market at a astronomical pace. Google owns Android. Google owns AdMob. Theoretically AdMob is therefore in a unique position to offer a more robust and integrated service to developers. Obviously such equations don’t always work out and, judging by the complete lack of innovation coming out of AdMob since Google’s acquisition, the search giant may be in danger of acting complacently in the face of plucky young upstarts like MobFox. Nevertheless, Admob currently reigns supreme on Android, with an 89% share of the market. That has to count for something right?

Tablet focus

Google clearly sees a strong future ahead for tablets and at the moment AdMob appears to have the edge over MobFox when it comes to offering tablet-optimised ads that are rich in content. MobFox does offer iPad-optimised banners, but its focus appears much more on the mobile side of things. Sure, it’s still too early to tell whether or not tablets will go the way of netbooks, but we’re betting with Google on this one.

In the blue corner – MobFox

eCPM Control

One of MobFox’s biggest wins over AdMob is its ability to allow developers to set a threshold for CPM and CPC. So if you only want to eliminate low-paying ads and only pull ads that pay say over $0.12 per click or $2 per thousand impressions then Bob’s your uncle. This feature, used in conjunction with MobFox’s ‘Backfill’ tool (explained below) has the potential to reap big rewards for publishers, but advertisers may not be so enthusiastic!

Backfill

With MobFox’s Backfill feature you can essentially, revert back to your old ad-network if you don’t like the ads currently doing the rounds in MobFox’s inventory. So if you already have an account with AdMob and there’s a high-paying ad you want to pull then you can do so. With eCPM Control activated, MobFox can automatically pick-up ads from AdMob that meet your payment threshold if there’s none available on MobFox.

Targeting

MobFox claims that it has one of the most robust demographic targeting features available for advertisers. The ad-network says it has demographic information for over 75% of its inventory, including gender, age, family size, ethnicity, income, religion and relationship status. If true, that’s a pretty impressive feat considering the lack of targeting offered by AdMob.

The bottom line

In terms of innovative features, MobFox has the edge over AdMob. But for publishers, the bottom line is what counts. MobFox makes a number of rather bullish claims in this department, the chief one that MobFox users get up to 300% higher eCPM than AdMob users.

From our own research, it does appear that MobFox users are enjoying a higher eCPM, but the difference doesn’t seem to be as high as MobFox claims. Accounts from publishers who have switched to MobFox range from eCPM’s doubling or tripling, to dropping way below previous levels before the switch.

The general consensus is that in Europe and – to a slightly lesser extent the USA – MobFox is making publishers more money than AdMob. However, when it comes to Asia, AdMob appears to have the edge, with MobFox struggling to meet requests or serving up low paying ads.

Ding, ding! Verdict

Given its commitment to innovation, and given AdMob’s apparent stagnation over recent months, MobFox definitely looks like the biggest non-Apple rival to AdMob’s crown. However, while internet chatter points toward increased revenues for MobFox users in general, the ad-network does make some rather inflated claims, and its Asia inventory may still be left wanting in comparison to AdMob’s. Nevertheless, MobFox’s Backfill feature and eCPM Control is a compelling combination and, if you ask us, it’s enough to warrant a try for most publishers.

Omnistar has Created a Mobile App that Offers the Comprehensive Data of its Excellent Desktop Offering

Omnistar has created an app that allows all its desktop functions to be used on a mobile phone., allowing for control on the go.

The app allows the affiliate to sign up with the programme, as well as manage all aspects of the affiliate program, including checking commission reports. Amazingly it is compatible with all devices in their native formats, meaning the software works on a range of operating systems, detecting whichever one it is and adapting to those requirements.

Arlen Robinson, Chief Operating Officer at Omnistar said, “It is important that our customers allow their affiliate users access to their commissions and reports at any time and using whatever device.”

The Omnistar software gives users access to all their affiliate links, as well as a control panel to use their metrics, information and all the vital data necessary for a campaign.

The use of social media by people on the go surpassing that at a desktop offers huge opportunities for advertisers. There have been a number of prominent affiliate marketing companies pushing this mobile growth with their own apps – Vouchercloud, Topcashback and Quidco among them – many of them involving geolocation.

Mobile eCommerce is set to push affiliate market above its limits and can’t be ignored. Dawn Quigg of Affiliate Window
&buy.at says in the article,’ Our strategy team here at Affiliate Window have already conducted some research on how mobile is performing on the network and results to date have been astounding. We’ve seen it grow rapidly – from 1.5% of all sales in November 2010 to over 5% in June this year – a staggering uplift over just a 7 months period. In fact, it’s been predicted that £50million revenue will be generated this year from mobile alone on the network.’

The potential for huge growth is shown with a number of examples from Kiddicare and House of Fraser, who have seen mobile sales grow by very significant levels. Affiliate Window &buy.at beleives over £50m will be generated alone by mobile this year from their network.