Ask HN: How Does Appodeal (Programmatic Ad Mediation) Work?
1. Appodeal claims to choose ads with highest eCPM from Admob, Liverail, Applovin, Mopub, Avocarrot, UnityAds, etc.
2. The ad revenue from Admob will be paid to the app developer directly by Admob (Before you integrate Appodeal into the app, you have to own the Admob account and link it to Appodeal.). Ad revenue from other ad networks will be paid by Appodeal. You don't even need any account of these ad networks.
For #1, I don't know how Appodeal achieves it. As far as I know, in admob/inmobi/mopub's SDK, there is no option for me to set eCPM floor.
For #2, I don't know how ad revenue from other ad networks goes into Appodeal. When I use mopub, I need to have a mopub account, input payment info, add apps in the mopub web console, integrate mopub sdk and use the ad unit id in my app. Mopub will pay me. But with Appodeal, the app developer doesn't need to do these steps. Revenue goes into Appodeal directly. My guessing is Appodeal reuses an ad unit ID for all customers' apps. (Probably it is not correct.)
My questions are:
How does Appodeal work?
Can we trust it? Because Appodeal gets the revenue first and then pays app developers, if it takes half of it, nobody knows.
Update:
There is another programmatic mediation platform called AdtoApp http://www.mobyaffiliates.com/blog/adtoapp-officially-launches-its-programmatic-mediation-platform-for-in-app-advertising/
4 comments
[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 21.1 ms ] threadI would like to share a couple of posts that talk about how programmatic ad mediation work and why we are different:
http://blog.appodeal.com/qa-appodeals-programmatic-mobile-ad...
http://venturebeat.com/2015/11/18/how-programmatic-ad-mediat...
https://appdevelopermagazine.com/3381/2015/11/23/Programmati...
Here is summary:
1. Publishers get access to whole marketplace (traditional (ad networks + mediators) and RTB). What does it mean for publishers? It means larger number of ad networks can compete for your inventory. Programmatic ad mediation solutions accept bids not only from OpenRTB enabled bidders, like traditional RTB exchanges do (Nexaxge, MoPub), but also from traditional ad networks, like Admob, AppLovin, UnityAds, Adcolony, Facebook Audience Network as well as other RTB marketplaces (like Liverail or Spotxchange).
2. Auction-based vs. waterfall Every auction is open and all bids are transparent to everyone. Every demand source is allowed to increase their initial bid for impression to overbid other sources, that place higher bid. One auction does not mean one bid per demand source anymore. It’s a continuous process that happens almost instantly.
3. Mitigate 2nd price auction If you don’t know how 2nd price auction works, simply advertisers can win bidding with $10 for eCPM but only pay $2 (because this was the second highest bid). http://blog.appodeal.com/rtb-user-info-and-cpm-3-tactics-to-...
4. Data Enrichment Every auction is enriched with demographic user data, including age, sex, address, zip code, GPS, income, parental status, etc. Having user data in place enabled demand sources to bid higher on segments of users they are interested in. You can also use this data to set up direct deals over OpenRTB PMP on any RTB exchange.
In addition to that, Appodeal is different in a few other ways: - Free for publishers. We do not charge publishers any fees. - Immediate payments. You can request payments $20+ at any time and you will receive it in 3-5 business days. - One SDK and one account for all major traditional networks and RTB marketplaces. - We consistently generate highest eCPM (check performance per ad network). - We support cross-promotion and direct ads
Read what our reviews of our customers on G2Crowd: https://www.g2crowd.com/products/appodeal/reviews
If you have any questions or need help, email me and I will put you in touch with our publishing team. myk at appodeal
But I still don't understand it. (Maybe it's because I am not familiar with RTB.) Is there any SDK for RTB which differs from the SDKs of traditional ad networks?
To integrate SDKs of traditional ad networks, each app needs a unique ad unit ID. If Appodeal uses the same ad uint ID for all apps, maybe the apps will be banned by the ad networks.
1) The only thing you need is Appodeal SDK, which includes libraries of all necessary ad networks and RTB-exchanges. 2) As Appodeal user you have only one unique App ID for each app, this is done for your convenience. But on our back-end the system generates multiple IDs for each ad network within each app. So keep calm and don't worry about ban.
P.S. I also work for Appodeal.