Jul 7, 2010
seems like there’s some info out now on iAds CPMs/fill rates
So iAds launched about a week ago, and I’ve been reading stuff on the web very closely when it comes to any data on them, and there does seem to be some good info coming out. This article by Markus Nigrin is very interesting, and while he doesn’t actually state any CPM info (I assume this is due to an Apple NDA), it seems like the CPMs are awesome and the fill rates are bad.
This is what I figured would happen, it seems pretty obvious: Apple announced iAds as “wow look how much these ads are going to cost!” which is awesome for developers, but maybe not as easy to pitch to advertisers.
I think if any company other than Apple proposed a system similar to iAds with big intrusive, flashy ads that cover the whole screen and cost a fortune, people would have dismissed the viability immediately. Apple can sell ice to eskimos though, so who knows, they may be able to make this work long-term.
iAds will probably come into their own once they start applying crazy targeting to them. I don’t see how a company like Nissan is going to get $10 CPM value out of an ad placed in some free game that mostly younger people play, it seems pretty clear the real winners are going to be apps for older people with disposable income – if I had a GPS driving navigation app I’d be considering sticking a free version with iAds out there as fast as possible, that’s for sure. If I had a Doodle Jump clone I wouldn’t expect to get HUGE benefits. But who knows, it depends on how hard Apple decide to target these things. But if they’re charging really high CPMs, I can’t see how they are pitching it to advertisers other than by saying “we are going to target the hell out of these ads to rich people”.
I don’t know where I’m going with this whole post haha! I know the CPMs are pretty seductive right now, I had definite thoughts about whipping out a free version of Pokerbot with iAds in it, but when I really think about it, I’m not sure if it’s worth it for me personally.
It’s easy to look at some sample numbers and do some fuzzy math and get convinced that your app is going to make a ton of money from the ads, but if the numbers look REALLY good, you might have to stand back and say “wait, is my app REALLY going to create that much value for advertisers?”. To me, this is going to be what really makes or breaks iAds long-term. Noone is going to be able to make hundreds of dollars for toooooo long if their app is only bringing a really marginal amount of value to the table.
iAds haven’t worked out so far for me – I get the feeling that they’re only worth it if your app has a ton of regular users engaged in your app for a significant period of time on a regular basis. I’ll be including them in lite versions that I release to let people try out my apps, but won’t be down-converting paid apps to apps with iAds anytime soon.
Yeah, all the reports I’ve seen so far seem to say that the CPMs are really great but the fill rates are terrible. Big shocker there. I think the CPMs will get a lot worse too when the ad departments from Nissan and Dove start reading those articles and say “wait, we paid $1400 to be in some crappy flashlight app for a day?”.