Mobile applications: how to avoid a ban from the advertising network?

Did you work hard on the game and plan your advertising strategy just to get your ad mediation platform to ban or reject your application? This really happens - and, it seems, this is not the most favorable development of events. In addition, some platforms and networks hide the reasons for the ban from users, and their decisions seem suspicious. We figure out how to make sure that the application is in good standing with all ad networks and prevent problems associated with their integration.

Are you doing everything right?

• The first thing we recommend is to make sure that you personally control the types of advertising in the application, and it was you who chose which advertising will be displayed - that is, there are no third-party unknown banners, videos, etc.
  
  
• Never ask users for clicks - the application should not have special CTA messages that ask players to interact with any advertisement.
  
  
• Ads should not overlap interactive elements in the application. For example, the banner should not close the frequently used menu button, or full-screen ads should not pop up after each click or gesture. Advertising should not hide the main content and prevent the user from interacting with the application.
  
  
• Ads should not be shown immediately when the application is launched, or when the device returns from sleep mode or when the game itself is in “minimized” mode.
  
  
• Do not show ads on screens without content — for example, on log in / log out screens, or on screens with errors, words of gratitude, or information about the creators. The logic here is this: the listed types of screens usually pop up when you open or close the application, after an in-game purchase or download of any action - in all these cases, advertising is forbidden to show.
  
  
• Do not show full-screen ads in random moments of the game when the probability of accidental clicks increases.
  
  
• Do not show full-screen ads one by one - after a player has already closed one advertisement, he should not be chased by the next.
  
  
• There should be only one banner at a time on the screen - never overlay banners on top of each other.

If the application violates any of these rules, the mediator must warn the developer. Typically, the publisher is given two weeks to correct errors. For example, we at Appodeal are ready to answer questions and help the developer fix bugs throughout this period. It is very important to correct all violations within two weeks. This is necessary not only for the mediator, but for the developer himself, because ad networks can find violations and even ban you yourself without our participation.

As a rule, our account managers not only guide developers and give advice on correcting violations, but also help optimize the results from displaying ads. Below are tips for optimization strategies from Appodeal account managers.

Optimization strategy

• Analyze whether ad formats are right for your application and how compatible they are with those that already work. Remember that too much advertising negatively affects retention rate and eCPM, so it’s important to consider what kind of advertising you show and in what volumes. For example, it is known that Rewarded Video has a positive effect on user retention. You can read more about this format and the best display scenarios here.
  
  
• If the same ad is shown too often, consider setting a minimum price floor or frequency caps to minimize the negative effect.
  
  
• For some applications, the 15 second default banner refresh period may be too short. In this case, experiments with the duration of the update period and monitoring of the ARPDAU indicator may be useful.
  
  
• If your application is non-fiction, and its interface is mainly texts or lists, consider the option with native advertising in addition to banners. This technique should have a good effect on the retention rate.
  
  
• If your application has internal purchases, try to enhance their effect using Rewarded Video (watching a video for a reward). In-app purchases are effective only for a very small percentage of users - only 2-3% of the majority. Rewarded Video significantly increase revenue and encourage non-paying users to interact with advertising, thus generating previously inaccessible revenue.

Compliance with all the rules in the post guarantees a long and happy relationship with all networks. The ban from the networks is clearly not what every publisher dreams of, especially from those like AdMob, which are hard to get started again. We hope that the two sets of rules that we have prepared will help you to monetize successfully and without any problems.

If you want to dig deeper and increase Display Rate (and revenue) due to the competent loading of advertising - read our article here .