Benjamin Chen

Offerwalls Drive Record Publisher Earnings on Android and iOS as Monetization Rates Bounce Back from the Ad Industry’s Policy Shift

Published

3 years ago

September 20, 2021

New research by Tapjoy (www.tapjoy.com), a mobile advertising and app monetization company, shows rewarded ads have rebounded from the recent sweeping tech policy changes. While the removal of Cost Per Engagement (CPE) ads from iOS in 2019 and the introduction of App Tracking Transparency (ATT) in 2021 challenged mobile app publishers, Tapjoy’s innovations in rewarded advertising have fueled the resurgence of monetization performance on iOS and continued growth on Android. According to the latest analysis, compiled in Tapjoy’s Ultimate Offerwall Guide 2021, publishers that adopt these approaches are well-positioned for revenue growth during this new era.

Tapjoy surveyed thousands of users and analyzed billions of engagements to discover the tactics publishers need to navigate mobile monetization in 2021. Here are some of the key insights from the research:

Offerwalls deliver returns for app publishers: Top eCPM rates in the US reach $1500 and average $400 across genres. Monetization rates per daily Offerwall user range from $0.07 to $0.33, with the US average sitting at $0.20.
iOS monetization rates are recovering: The growth of shopping offers on the iOS Offerwall — a popular rewarded ad unit — has created a resurgence in monetization rates. Rates grew by 100% since the removal of CPE ads and have maintained over 50% of their gains despite ATT.
Multi-Reward CPE ads are popular on Android: Ad spend for the new Multi-Reward CPE ad format increased by 420% YoY.
Users have embraced the rewarded ads model: 70% of users surveyed indicated they enjoy rewarded ads. 47% shared that rewarded ads are their preferred way to get virtual currency.
Rewarded ads are part of gameplay: 79% of users surveyed complete rewarded ads weekly, and 41% complete rewarded ads daily. 45% of users said they would stop playing a title if the Offerwall was removed.

Tapjoy’s guide breaks down the latest data on rewarded ad user preferences, investigates rewarded ad trends by platform and region, and reveals publisher ad benchmarks and best practices.

“Despite significant challenges, the rewarded ad model has proven remarkably robust,” said Benjamin Chen, EVP & GM, Global Developer Relations at Tapjoy. “On iOS, we’ve seen users respond strongly to the influx of shopping offers — a response that’s largely the product of exciting improvements to the Offerwall’s UI. Meanwhile Multi-Reward CPE has proven wildly successful in the Android ecosystem. Overall, mobile advertising has been resilient in the face of trying circumstances.”

The survey data in Ultimate Offerwall Guide 2021 was gathered from 3,977 respondents on the Tapjoy network in the first quarter of 2021. Platform data from the report is global and covers the second quarter of 2019 through the second quarter of 2021. Tapjoy analyzed billions of user engagements to calculate the mobile advertising benchmarks.