Rewarded Video: Best Delivery Scenarios or How to Make Your Ads View

The format of Rewarded Video (RV) is growing rapidly: such advertising is practically not annoying for users, since the choice remains to watch or not to watch. However, the reward video works the same according to the Pareto law: you need to spend time developing an RV placement strategy to get the most out of this type of advertising.

In theory, ads in the application should be initialized as early as possible in order to correctly display the maximum number of videos uploaded. It would seem that in this case it is easier to show Rewarded Video immediately after entering the application - but this is not recommended. Such a decision would hit Retention Rate and reputation metrics. The user is unlikely to want to return to the application, where they impose video ads immediately after the download screen.

In addition, Rewarded Video should not be launched at the beginning of the application from a commercial point of view: it takes time to search for more expensive ads with a higher eCPM.

Another feature - creative (the video itself) in the Rewarded Video format weighs more than other types of advertising, respectively, and takes longer to load. A “waterfall” from advertising networks (see diagram) is interrogated for 15-20 seconds, and it takes about 30 seconds to load a creative.



App store

Typically, the app store encourages you to buy in-game currency, and Rewarded Video is present in it as an option. The video in this case is initialized at the entrance to the application and stored in the cache until the moment the user detects it. The problem is that the user, as a rule, rarely visits the application store and does not know about Rewarded video.

What options? The way out is to upload the video when we understand that the user is about to enter the store because he is running out of currency. Also, try notifying the player that he is running out of money (“Hey, do you want a coin for free?”). Reminding about the opportunity to watch a video and replenish the supply of coins between levels is also quite logical.


Canyon Crash - Fall Down

By the way, a good way to load and even show videos at the start is the format of daily rewards. For example, immediately after loading, the user sees a ringing chest (anything can be in its place), which encourages you to watch the video and get a daily reward.


Family Guy - The Quest For Stuff

This promotion can be held once a day or once a week or two, at your discretion. Approximately the same pumping format is good for tapper games, where Rewarded video can be shown many times in exchange for building a building, updating characters, and so on.


PixelMon Hunter

During the game

The first opportunity to show the video to the player is when the level has not been completed yet, but the moves end. The user is between two lights: either start the level anew, or get a few moves for watching ads. Display rate (the ratio of the displayed ads to the loaded) in this situation remains quite high, since the advertisement is initialized in advance, at the moment when there are few moves left and the player is informed about the reward.


Blusty Bubs - Brick Breaker

Another good option is to show video ads in exchange for tips in the game. For example, the user suffers for a long time with the same level or cannot solve the puzzle - then after several unsuccessful attempts, you can offer him video advertising in exchange for a clue. So did the developers at Rusty Lake Studios, who create a mystical puzzle inspired by Twin Peaks. At some point, they realized that the puzzles in the game were too complicated, and added video ads to get the hints. This step raised both player loyalty and revenue.
In addition to hints, there are many ways to motivate the user to watch Rewarded video - for example, offer him superpower, doubling rewards or another feature that makes the game easier.


Hidden worlds adventure

Obviously, you can come up with a lot of scenarios for games, but Rewarded video works great in utility applications. You can reward any closed content for watching the video, including customizing the application. For example, this format works great for dating applications where the user has a rating and the ability to promote their profile higher in the rating.

Important: no matter which video integration option you choose, the reward for watching it should be as obvious and important as possible to the user. There are many examples in which the Display Rate remains low, despite the competent layout of the advertisement - this suggests that the reward is not obvious to the player.


Сanyon Crash - Fall Down

Remember the balance of the in-game economy. Those who do not want to part with in-game purchases can alternate with a reward video: for example, a player can watch a Rewarded video and receive a reward only every 2-4 hours, or may not wait and buy it for real money. For example, here are a few applications connected to the Appodeal with the successful use of Rewarded video: Color Six , Lolo App , Block Strike , Hidden Worlds Adventure .

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