What is eCPM and how to increase it?
The eCPM indicator is often used in the world of mobile advertising. But sometimes it can be confusing, especially for novice developers who seek to monetize their applications with advertising. Let's see what it means and why it is so important for developers.
eCPM is an indicator to measure the effectiveness of monetization of advertising publisher application. It stands for “effective cost per thousand impressions”, which can be translated into simple language as “revenue from 1000 ad impressions” .

If application publishers have high eCPM, it means that the ads shown in their application do their job and convert users. The more users convert ads, the more money the publisher of the application earns.
Conclusion: Application developers can use eCPM to compare advertising revenues generated by several variables, such as ad network, region, geography, or OS.
eCPM = (total revenue / total impressions) x 1,000.
To calculate eCPM, divide the total ad revenue by the total number of impressions your application has provided. Then multiply by 1000. The resulting value is your eCPM or the amount your application earns for 1000 ad impressions.
eCPM helps application developers evaluate and optimize their monetization strategy, allowing you to compare advertising revenues generated by several variables, such as advertising network, region, operating system, location, etc.
For example, you want to understand which of the two types of advertising works best and brings more money. To do this, you need to calculate and compare their eCPM.
Say, in a month you will see that rewarded video provided 400 impressions and 5.00 dollars of income, while a banner advertisement with 700 shows brought 3.00 dollars. It is difficult to compare the performance of two ad units only on the basis of this data.
But through easy calculations, we see that eCPM rewarded video is $ 12.50, and a banner is $ 4.29. Now you can clearly see that rewarded video brings more money.
Application developers can use the online industry-wide eCPM index to view eCPM values for different regions, seasons, geographies, advertising types, and operating systems.
Using this index, you can make several important conclusions:
- The gap between eCPM rewarded video and eCPM interstitial is growing, while eCPM rewarded video increases with increasing speed.
- The gap between eCPM in iOS and eCPM in Android last year decreased by 20%, which means that advertisers are willing to pay more to reach the audience on Android.
- With regard to geography, eCPM in North America showed the highest growth rates (35%), while eCPM in emerging markets showed significantly lower growth (10%).
- The eCPM figures tend to grow sharply in the fall and winter during holidays and sales: Thanksgiving, Halloween, Cyber Monday, Black Friday, New Year and Christmas. Also traditionally in the fall the world's leading manufacturers release new models of smartphones and other gadgets, which makes advertisers increase and spend their budgets during this period.
1. Use the advertising mediation platform
What is advertising mediation? This is the SSP (Supply Side Platform), which, using the integration of one SDK, allows application publishers to manage multiple ad networks, greatly simplifying the entire monetization process.
If you use mediation, there is no need to manually calculate and compare the eCPM of several ad networks. As a rule, advertising mediation platforms automatically fill in an ad unit with the best offer from a wide range of ad networks. They optimize sources of demand depending on response time, fill rate and eCPM.

Using the mediation platform, which ensures the implementation of the most effective campaigns in the first place, makes it possible to quickly and easily increase eCPM.
2. Experiment with different advertising formats and discard those that do not work.
Today you have many ad formats at your disposal: banners, offerwall, interstitials, videos, etc. Each of them has its advantages. Check regularly which ones work and which ones don't. If you see that a specific ad unit constantly has a low eCPM, remove it from the ad supply.
In particular, it is worth checking the rewarded video format, known for high eCPM. With rewarded video, you give users virtual currency or items in exchange for viewing ads.

Offerwalls can also be a good tool. For example, Lovoo, a German dating app, showed users an offerwall-based advertising that allows access to premium content in exchange for interacting with advertising. They received an eCPM of $ 80 and found that 10% of users who looked at the offerwall finally began to pay.
3. Change ad placement inside the app.
Do not forget to think of several places for advertising in the application, for example, when you start the application, between levels, at the end of the game, on the main screen, etc. The goal is to show ads at times when users are most active, but not when it can disrupt their gameplay or user experience. Play around with different advertisements and see where it works best.
If you have a game with a timer, such as a puzzle game, you can display ads at the end of each time segment or level.

4. Advertise competitors
At first glance, this seems illogical, but in some cases it is very effective. If there are many competitors in your application category, it may be wise to display a competitor's ad.
Monarc Gaming Labs, which is engaged in social gambling, showed Golden Sand Slots ads for 4 months and found that advertisements for competitors accounted for 92% of their total income. eCPM gambling was 6 times higher than advertising by non-competing companies.
Golden Sand Slots users have been most active in advertising other gambling apps because they are relevant to them. At the same time, they remained loyal to Golden Sand Slots - Monarc Gaming Labs showed ads of competitors only to users with high LTV.
5. Regularly check the industry index eCPM
Industry index eCPMwas created to meet the needs of application developers. Application publishers can use it to make decisions on add supply, thus increasing eCPM performance and earning more on their application.
What is eCPM?
eCPM is an indicator to measure the effectiveness of monetization of advertising publisher application. It stands for “effective cost per thousand impressions”, which can be translated into simple language as “revenue from 1000 ad impressions” .

If application publishers have high eCPM, it means that the ads shown in their application do their job and convert users. The more users convert ads, the more money the publisher of the application earns.
Conclusion: Application developers can use eCPM to compare advertising revenues generated by several variables, such as ad network, region, geography, or OS.
How to calculate eCPM?
eCPM = (total revenue / total impressions) x 1,000.
To calculate eCPM, divide the total ad revenue by the total number of impressions your application has provided. Then multiply by 1000. The resulting value is your eCPM or the amount your application earns for 1000 ad impressions.
Why is eCPM important to application developers?
eCPM helps application developers evaluate and optimize their monetization strategy, allowing you to compare advertising revenues generated by several variables, such as advertising network, region, operating system, location, etc.
For example, you want to understand which of the two types of advertising works best and brings more money. To do this, you need to calculate and compare their eCPM.
Say, in a month you will see that rewarded video provided 400 impressions and 5.00 dollars of income, while a banner advertisement with 700 shows brought 3.00 dollars. It is difficult to compare the performance of two ad units only on the basis of this data.
But through easy calculations, we see that eCPM rewarded video is $ 12.50, and a banner is $ 4.29. Now you can clearly see that rewarded video brings more money.
Where can I see the average eCPM market?
Application developers can use the online industry-wide eCPM index to view eCPM values for different regions, seasons, geographies, advertising types, and operating systems.
Using this index, you can make several important conclusions:
- The gap between eCPM rewarded video and eCPM interstitial is growing, while eCPM rewarded video increases with increasing speed.
- The gap between eCPM in iOS and eCPM in Android last year decreased by 20%, which means that advertisers are willing to pay more to reach the audience on Android.
- With regard to geography, eCPM in North America showed the highest growth rates (35%), while eCPM in emerging markets showed significantly lower growth (10%).
- The eCPM figures tend to grow sharply in the fall and winter during holidays and sales: Thanksgiving, Halloween, Cyber Monday, Black Friday, New Year and Christmas. Also traditionally in the fall the world's leading manufacturers release new models of smartphones and other gadgets, which makes advertisers increase and spend their budgets during this period.
How to increase eCPM?
1. Use the advertising mediation platform
What is advertising mediation? This is the SSP (Supply Side Platform), which, using the integration of one SDK, allows application publishers to manage multiple ad networks, greatly simplifying the entire monetization process.
If you use mediation, there is no need to manually calculate and compare the eCPM of several ad networks. As a rule, advertising mediation platforms automatically fill in an ad unit with the best offer from a wide range of ad networks. They optimize sources of demand depending on response time, fill rate and eCPM.

Using the mediation platform, which ensures the implementation of the most effective campaigns in the first place, makes it possible to quickly and easily increase eCPM.
2. Experiment with different advertising formats and discard those that do not work.
Today you have many ad formats at your disposal: banners, offerwall, interstitials, videos, etc. Each of them has its advantages. Check regularly which ones work and which ones don't. If you see that a specific ad unit constantly has a low eCPM, remove it from the ad supply.
In particular, it is worth checking the rewarded video format, known for high eCPM. With rewarded video, you give users virtual currency or items in exchange for viewing ads.

Offerwalls can also be a good tool. For example, Lovoo, a German dating app, showed users an offerwall-based advertising that allows access to premium content in exchange for interacting with advertising. They received an eCPM of $ 80 and found that 10% of users who looked at the offerwall finally began to pay.
3. Change ad placement inside the app.
Do not forget to think of several places for advertising in the application, for example, when you start the application, between levels, at the end of the game, on the main screen, etc. The goal is to show ads at times when users are most active, but not when it can disrupt their gameplay or user experience. Play around with different advertisements and see where it works best.
If you have a game with a timer, such as a puzzle game, you can display ads at the end of each time segment or level.

4. Advertise competitors
At first glance, this seems illogical, but in some cases it is very effective. If there are many competitors in your application category, it may be wise to display a competitor's ad.
Monarc Gaming Labs, which is engaged in social gambling, showed Golden Sand Slots ads for 4 months and found that advertisements for competitors accounted for 92% of their total income. eCPM gambling was 6 times higher than advertising by non-competing companies.
Golden Sand Slots users have been most active in advertising other gambling apps because they are relevant to them. At the same time, they remained loyal to Golden Sand Slots - Monarc Gaming Labs showed ads of competitors only to users with high LTV.
5. Regularly check the industry index eCPM
Industry index eCPMwas created to meet the needs of application developers. Application publishers can use it to make decisions on add supply, thus increasing eCPM performance and earning more on their application.