6 Steps to Boost App Ad Revenue This Holiday Season

The holiday season isn't just about presents and celebrations-it's also prime time for app publishers to boost their revenue. During this time, people spend more hours in apps, creating a perfect environment for in-app ads to deliver significant profits. In 2024, in-app ad spending is projected to hit $165 billion-a 15% increase from 2023. While bidding has made ad monetization easier than ever, there are still plenty of ways to ensure your MAX stack is set up for success. Now is the perfect time to review your entire portfolio and ensure your waterfalls are optimized for success. By fine-tuning your strategy, you'll not only capitalize on this high season but also position yourself for strong growth heading into 2025.

Let's dive into the steps to make it happen.

1. Diversify your demand

Adding more demand to your inventory increases competition for every impression, leading to higher ARPDAU. For the full list of supported networks on MAX, click here.

• Add new networks and prioritize bidding wherever possible. Publishers should make sure they're using top networks like Google, Meta, BidMachine, and Moloco.
• Make sure that you've added the latest bidders on the MAX platform, including ironSource, PubMatic, and BIGO Ads.
• If you're using Amazon Publisher Services TAM, connect with your account team for additional guidance on how to optimize.
• Remove DSP blocks from AppLovin Exchange (ALX) or any ad exchange you're working with.
• Don't forget to update the latest SDK versions for your networks to maximize performance.

2. Implement app-ads.txt

Ensure you have a valid and up-to-date app-ads.txt file, which will mitigate ad fraud and improve overall CPMs. Many DSPs on ALX only bid on inventory verified using app-ads.txt. To learn how to create or update your file, click here.

3. Remove poor performers

Save your ad requests for the demand that's making the biggest difference for your monetization. Remove low-fill placement IDs that don't generate meaningful revenue and add latency to your waterfall. To get started, review your ad unit performance and identify the poor performers with our Advanced Reporting.

4. Always A/B Test

Measure the impact of changes to your monetization stack before rolling them out to all your users. A/B testing mitigates risk and helps ensure your optimizations will be a success. Here are a few to test:

• Adding new networks to test incrementality - evaluating if they deliver net-new increases for your ad units.
• Frequency cap for videos/interactive ads to find the sweet spot between maximizing ad revenue and retention.
• Higher price floors to see if increased overall revenue won't result in a drop in fill rates.
• Refresh rates to find the optimal balance between increasing impressions and maintaining a good user experience for banners and MREC ads.

Tip: To prepare for seasonal CPM drops associated with Q1 of next year, advertisers should proactively initiate A/B tests in December. This allows you to swiftly promote changes in January to mitigate revenue declines.

5. Maintain a positive user experience

A bad ad experience can cause high churn in your app-luckily, MAX has the tools to maintain a safer environment for your users. With Ad Review, you can review ads, monitor competitors, and block risky ad content from your app. In addition, to tackle specific ad complaints from users, User Journey allows publishers to enter a user's unique ID to see a timeline of ads shown to quickly identify and eliminate inappropriate ads.

6. Reinvest into UA

The revenue increases gained over the holiday season can be reinvested back into your UA with AppDiscovery, delivering more users and ad impression opportunities to drive further growth in 2025. Find users who will use your app beyond the holidays with our D28 ROAS campaigns which are engineered to improve retention. Check out more best practices for scaling your performance campaigns quickly and efficiently.

What are you waiting for?

Sign into your MAX account now and apply these tips today! For more tips on boosting your holiday ad revenue, reach out to your account team.

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