10 Biggest Ad Networks on Mobile

💪Who are the 10 Biggest Networks on Mobile, and How do they make money? 💸

After Applovin’s end-of-year statement and the subsequent LinkedIn carousel of congratulations🎠 I felt like taking a step back and discussing how ad networks actually make money and which networks are currently the largest ones on mobile from a volume of impressions perspective.

Mobile ad Networks, at its core, offer three distinct products:

1. A direct SDK connection to mobile apps and their users
2. The UA algorithms they’ve built on the traffic using their AI prowess
3. End cards that make users more likely to click and download the advertised apps or games

At its core, an ad network provides the plumbing and the algorithms that will show the best ad for the users who are most likely to convert to the content. This means that mobile ad networks make money in three main ways:

1. Taking a margin on UA spend– people who want to buy UA come with a budget, and targets and networks take a margin. This is usually the part that has the biggest margins for networks. Looking at the EBITA margins of Unity, Applovin, and Digitial Turbine, this can be anywhere between 40-60%.
2. Taking a margin on ads shown in a publisher’s app – Networks pay their publisher to show ads in their games. Normally, 70% of the revenue goes to the publisher, and the networks keep 30%.
3. Taxing 3rd party resellers to use their SDK connection with publishers– it’s hard to fill all demand yourself. That’s why most networks rent out their SDK link or plumbing to resellers. These resellers pay 30-35% tax to show ads in publishers’ apps to users. Easy Money, right? 💸

Great, so that’s how mobile ad networks make money. Let’s look at the largest mobile ad networks according to data from Sensor Tower. This list shows the percentage of ad SDKs that are in the highest number of Google Play Apps and iOS Apps.

As you can see, Sensor Tower’s taxonomy is not perfect. Some non-ad SDKs are showing up in the list, but I’ve cleaned it up a bit for you.

This list does not show the complete picture, as it only shows the theoretical supply size of the SDK networks. It completely misses the demand side. Just because a network is in many SDKs does not mean that it’s catching a lot of fill. For example, BidMachine and Moloco are two networks that tend to be in the top ten for many large publishers, but they are not listed here. Also, GAM networks that display ads either using the Admob SDK or the GAM SDK are not featured here.

So, how is this list helpful? The mobile ad monetization industry is so opaque that I figured that some information is better than none. If you’re looking to add new networks, it would make more sense to pick networks from the top of this list, as the odds of them working will be higher. Before picking, check the AppsFlyer Performance Indexto ensure that the network you’re looking to add is listed in the volume rankings, as it indicates how much demand is in the network.

💰Great Content 💰

One of our favorite episodes is the Create Trend Review. In this episode, we look at the companies spending the most on UA and the types of creatives they are running. It’s crazy to see the trends and how many themes are reused and innovated. Be sure to check out this special episodeof 2.5 Gamers.

🎯The Cinderella of the Week🎯

Miracles still happen! Despite the uber-competitive landscape in mobile, solo developers can still scale their IAA monetized games to crazy levels. This section is to salute you. Why? Because everyone loves a Cinderella story… that’s why.

Okay, I know this is not a new game, but I wanted to highlight it because I think it was one of the most clever games to come out in 2014. That is Logo Quiz by Mateusz Klaczak. It’s so simple yet so satisfying. Players have to answer quiz questions about what logos appear on the screen. It has just crossed 50 million downloads and 500k in IAP and has most likely earned $2-5 million from ads since 2014.