Rewarded video ads are a type of in-app ad that is a win-win situation for both advertisers and publishers. They are particularly popular in the mobile games sector. Rewarded video ads are a common app monetization strategy for developers, via integrating ads into their app. From the consumer perspective, rewarded video ads are a great way to boost customer experience without paying monetarily. Usually, users will watch rewarded video advertisements in exchange for points, lives, energy, or other in-app rewards and currencies. According to a survey, 79% of mobile players preferred rewarded video. If you’re wondering what have rewarded video ads, or how to use rewarded video ads, then keep on reading, we’re going to answer just that!
In this article/
- What are rewarded video ads
- Companies that use rewarded video ads like a pro
- Do rewarded video ads work?
- Advantages of rewarded video ads
- How to use rewarded video ads
What are Rewarded Video Ads?
A rewarded video advertisement is a video ad that a user can choose to watch in exchange for an incentive — an extra life in a game, an extended free trial, a puzzle hint, virtual currency a whole host of other in-app benefits. Thus, rewarded video ads are a form of in-app ad. From the advertiser’s perspective, rewarded videos can be used to direct users to clicks on the ad, and direct them to the desired URL, a custom post-click landing page, or an app store landing page. Rewarded video ads are most commonly used in games or entertainment apps. However, they are growing in popularity in other sectors. Below, we list everything you need to know about rewarded video ads, so you can decide if rewarded video ads are the best app monetization strategy for your app, or if rewarded video ads will enhance your user’s experience.
Companies that Use Rewarded Video Ads Like a Pro
Below are the examples of in-app ads and the incentives that watching the video provides to the viewer.
Spotify Uses Rewarded Video Ads for Enhanced CX
For regular Spotify users, an option (via Voice Ad) is offered to watch a video ad and receive unobtrusive music for up to thirty minutes. It provides Spotify Premium membership benefits (without ads), but without financial exchange. This can be done whenever the user wants.
Giant Boulder of Death Uses Rewarded Video Ads for App Monetization
Look for the purple diamonds and the “+1” incentive in the upper right corner
Since players can use diamonds to purchase additional game features, it is a great incentive for players to watch the ad. Once the option is selected, the video cannot be folded without losing the bonus. This option is offered to the player every few hours, so the bonus is not readily available.
Various bonus options also allow multiple ads. It can be used to provide users with the most targeted advertising possible if reward options indicate areas of particular importance.
Do Rewarded Video Ads Work?
You might be wondering whether rewarded video ads are a good weapon to add to your in-app advertising arsenal. We have collected some statistics that show a wide range of available app ads and many formats. However, statistics alone seem to prefer users and providers to find more useful video apps than other advertising options. Let’s look at some stats, provided by Unity Ads, on the benefits of rewarded video ads and their success-rate:
- 71% of the players prefer in-game video ads more than in-app purchases or paid apps
- 54% of players explained that rewarding video ads are video ads that they choose
- 62% of players regularly choose to volunteer with award-winning video-apps
- 62% of the developers saw user’s retention maintain or increase upon launch of the rewarded video ads.
- 52% of mobile game developers said that award-winning video apps were the most profitable type of game advertising among every user.
Advantages of Rewarded Video Ads
- High Retention Rate: The user usually decides to surrender, after making some effort in any game, to be able to move forward. Following the game will ensure that they participate and keep a guaranteed selection of rewarding video, after watching it will lead to a reward.
- Higher Attendance Rate: Winning prizes without attracting money in the game is attractive to players.
- High Click Rate: Because the user has clicked on the ad at his own request, the ad has a high draw rate.
- High Completion Rates: The user cannot skip these videos because he will win a prize. The awarded video ads can be useful to users, developers, and advertisers alike. Here are some of the ways that the three parties involved help.
Benefits for Users
- The ability to choose when to watch a video ad — there is never a moment when the video ad auto-plays and the user never has to watch it.
- Ad Viewing Rewards – Ads are always motivating.
- Lower app prices or lower in-app purchases require money – users buy features and benefits with their time and interest.
Benefits for Developers
- High user retention rates — the users are less likely to get disappointed if they have an opportunity to watch a video to get hints, learn extras, or even earn some extra rewards.
- Up to 80% of the users choose to advertise — more and more users choose to watch ads, which may be more profitable or higher than direct app purchases (due to advertising revenue).
- More downloads – If the app is free and developers make money from developing video ads, more users can download the app first.
Benefits for Advertisers
- High completion rate of the ad views — The user is not compensated for the ad unless it is viewed completely, so the video is not likely to be skipped or trimmed.
- Better audience targeting Because the user chooses to see a video ad, they are more likely to choose to see the ads that interest them.
- Full satisfaction among viewers because award-winning video ads are socialistic and non-intrusive options, giving viewers a better look at the ad.
Top Tips for Rewarded Video Ads Success
There is a difference in the price of the video ads that are rewarded by the ads platform. However, here are some frequent guidelines that will help your in-app advertising strategies:
- Must be interstitial ads — covering the whole screen
- A user must click to start the ad. Ads cannot start running without being selected by a user
- The ad should automatically play or control audio through the device’s volume settings (not in this app’s volume settings).
- Video-length: Usually 15-60 seconds, depending on the platform. Facebook demonstrates 15 to 30 seconds, and Google sets no more than 60 seconds.
- Once the videos are selected or skipped, this message can only be selected if a message is received stating that the user will not receive the prize and will be accepted.
- The videos often (but not always) must support static end cards.
How to Add Rewarded Video Ads Into My App?
With App Samurai, we can easily monetize your app, showing ads from the over 100 ad networks we are integrated with. In simple terms, we have a unique place in the market. Previously, if you wanted the benefit of multiple ad-network relationships, you must spend a reasonable amount of time and money in order to build up a relationship with each individual ad network in order to execute your app monetization strategies.
How is it different from App Samurai? With App Samurai, we are connected to over 100 ad networks, and thus, one relationship with App Samurai is equivalent to 100 relationships with our ad network partners. Want to discuss how your app can be monetized effectively? Check out our app monetization strategy page.
Final Thoughts on Rewarded Video Ads
Rewarded video ads are a beneficial three-way street in the in-app advertising world. Unlike most three-way relationships, all parties in this triangle can actually walk away happy: the publisher, the user, and the advertiser. As rewarded video ads are incentivized, opt-in advertisements, thus, come with a lot less hostility than other types of ads, that are users are exposed to, against their will. As they are beneficial to users, developers, and advertisers, they’ve burst into popularity in the last several years and probably will continue upon that trajectory.
Additionally, rewarded video ads are an effective way of monetizing apps, with audiences that do not have a high expendable income. Thus, your app can remain out of the red, without the reliance on your user’s in-app purchases.
We hope you know all about what is rewarded video ads and how to use rewarded video ads. If you’d like to learn more about how to benefit as an advertiser, or how to monetize your app, you can click those links!