Top Mobile Ad Networks Guide

Top Mobile
Ad Networks
Guide
Top Mobile Ad Networks Guide
The Mobile advertising industry landscape consists of two major parts – Supply, that is
presented by publishers and a SSP (stands for Supply Side Platform) that aggregates mo-
bile inventory hundreds of thousands of publishers and Demand, that is presented by a
DSP (stands for Demand Side Platform) that allows advertisers to place mobile ads in pub-
lishers inventory. A Mobile Ad Network function is to serve a middle point between these
two ends of the value chain, moving inventory across both supply and demand, either
directly or via reselling or re-broking of inventory.
The pioneer in the mobile ad networks space was AdMob, that really took off after its
acquisition in 2009 by Google, Inc. Over the course of almost 10 years since, the adver-
tising networks space has grown with a small number of top tier companies have been
controlling the market, apart from AdMob by Google these were Facebook, Twitter and
recently Snapchat has joined this league. The next tier, that has survived competition with
aforementioned companies, consists of companies like Applovin, Chartboost, AdColony,
ironSource and Vungle.
Featured Mobile Ad Networks

GOWIDE Ad Network
Mobile Advertising and App Monetization Services
Mintegral
A mobile advertising platform helps grow your mobile app business in APAC
Tipalti
Transform Payables Today, Energize Tomorrow
See all in Advertising Networks >
© Soko Media - Learn more at www.businessofapps.com 2

One of the most profound shifts in the mobile ad industry is that mobile apps are becoming
a dominant place for ads to be displayed in, replacing traditional mobile web browser. This
shift has even coined a new term – in app advertising. There is a simple reason behind this
transition – multiple researches demonstrate the fact that people spend most of the time
with mobile devices, using apps, not browsing as they used to. With the number of mobile
apps that continues to increase exponentially, mobile app advertising has a potential to
replace mobile web ads completely. Today all highest paying mobile ad networks are laser
focused on mobile as the fastest growing digital advertising sector.
As mobile advertising industry continues to grow it becomes more and more obvious that
moving all operations into programmatic area is the only way to go. This is how you can
accommodate greater and greater advertising volume, allow ever increasing number of ad-
vertisers to manage their ad campaigns efficiently and mobile publishers to maximize their
inventory monetization. According to Statista the programmatic advertising will double
from 18 billion in 2016 to 36 billion in 2019, it accounts for 75% of all digital advertising
expenditures in United States.
The downside of the programmatic approach is that it produces lower engagement rates,
introduces advertisers to risk of a fraud, generally it’s less relevant compared to manual ad
campaigns and can even be harmful for brands in cases when their ads occasionally being
placed on websites they didn’t plan to.
Continue the trend on advertising automation, Artificial Intelligence algorithms are praised
as the way to tackle multiple challenges that digital advertising faces. In fact, AI is the tech-
nology that many industries embrace to handle big data volumes to search for patterns and
valuable insights to increase its efficiency. For mobile advertising it is also a brand new way
to better fight off mobile ad fraud.
Speaking of fraud, according to Jupiter research this year it’s the advertisers fate to loose
$19 billion because of a fraud. It can be categorized as technical and compliance one, when
the first one covers all sorts of technicals ways to trick ad network into considering fake
advertising events as factual ones and the second covers multiple tactics to break the rules
established on a specific advertising platform. Examples of technical fraud are ad stacking,
attribution fraud, faked postbacks, the compliance fraud has to do with viewability, cases
of placing ads in areas it rarely can be seen but still reported as seen, tricking users into
clicking on ads, re-brokering ad offers from one publisher to another and more.
Now, before we’ll start profiling top mobile ad networks, let’s define several characteristics
to describe a mobile ad network.
Mobile Advertising Business Models

All mobile ad networks provide users with several types of business models to run ad cam-
paigns with. There are 5 major types – CPM, CPC, CPI, CPA and CPV.
With CPM (cost-per-mile) type, an advertiser is charged each time her or his ads are shown
1,000 times (so-called ‘a mile’). It’s the best business model for publishers, because it allows
to make money every time an ad was displayed. If they have a stable predictable traffic, it

allows publishers to forecast their revenue. The down side is that they may loose some ex-
tra revenue, if their app or website audience is really interested in a product or service they
advertise. For that case CPC model would allow them to make more money.
With CPC (cost-per-click) model an advertiser is charged for each click made on her or his
mobile ads. This model works better for advertisers, because it allows them to pay only for
instances when an interest to their product or service is explicit (their ads were clicked)
and, as mentioned above, in some cases may work for publishers as well. For a publisher
this model always presents a certain risk of him serving lots of ad impressions for free.
CPI (cost-per-instal) model implies that advertisers are charged only when a click on their
ads resulted into an actual mobile app install. It’s a specific case of a more generic CPC
business model. Cost-per-install price has become one of the most important metrics for
mobile app marketers to measure and keep track of, because essentially it represents a
price they pay to acquire customers and hence it should be factor into ROI calculations.
CPA (cost-per-action) type is more advanced version of CPI, when an advertiser is charged
for specific action (in-app sale, subscription, form submit, sign up and more) users take
inside an app that is advertised on a mobile ad network. This type of a business model pre-
sents more opportunities for publishers to monetize their inventory on one hand and more
options for advertisers to grow their business on the other.
And finally CPV (cost-per-view) type is applicable to mobile ad networks that provide
advertisers with video ad campaigns. With this model, advertisers are charged for each
instance their video mobile ad was viewed. With the current pace of a video advertising
growth, this model becomes more and more popular.
Mobile Ad Formats
There are 5 major formats supported by top mobile ad networks – interstitial, banner ads,
native ads, video ads and offer wall.
Interstitial ads
A full screen ads that cover the interface of their host application. This mobile ad format
is most frequently used to display an ad between different app screens and it’s quite often
displayed between different levels in a mobile game app.
Banner ads
A classical static or animated image ad, which is placed inside an app’s interface. Such ad
may advertise a third party product, other digital or physical goods, as well as an option to
expand an app’s functionality.
Native ads
Either a banner image or video ad that matches the form and function of the app interface

it’s displayed in. The core concept of native ads to mimic an app’s interface to be least in-
trusive compared to other ad formats.
OfferWall ads
It is an ad unit within a mobile app that provides end users with lots of offers to engage
with. The most frequent use case is mobile games, where offerwalls may either advertise
third party games or a series of games from the same game developer.
Video ads
Video ads consist of a short, usually up-to 60 seconds, video clip to advertise products
and services. This mobile ad format is most often used within media apps. There are two
major types of video ads – in-stream and out-stream. With in-stream type, video ads are
displayed full-screen before, after and within video content that is streamed inside an app.
With out-stream type video ads are displayed on a web page, displayed inside a mobile
app.
Mobile Ads Reporting

An advertising campaign performance data reporting is one of the key components that is
crucial for its success. This information is provided by mobile ad networks to advertisers via
an online dashboard. It includes data on such parameters of ads performance as number of
impressions, clicks, installs, video ad views, platform, country, ad format and so on.
Mobile Ads Targeting

There are number of parameters that allow to narrow down a mobile ad campaign reach to
a specific audience. These parameters are called targeting options, there are a number of
such options but the majors are the following:
Geo
It allows to narrow down an ad campaign within a specific country or region. It enables
mobile marketers to advertise a product or service that is relevant only within a specific
region.
Device
It allows to show ads on specific models of mobile devices only. This type of targeting lets
advertisers to display ads on devices with a specific screen size and other hardware re-
quirements, which allows to avoid a mobile ad experience degradation.

Carrier
With this option, it’s possible to show ads only to mobile users, who are served by a spe-
cific mobile carrier. It presents advertisers an opportunity to display ads to mobile users,
those mobile carrier provides a better mobile signal reception in a specific area.
OS
it allows to show ads on mobile devices running specific operating system or even particu-
lar versions of OS. It gives advertisers a benefit of displaying ads to mobile users on devices
that are best to display those ads software wise.
Connection
By applying this targeting option, it’s possible to show mobile ads on mobile devices when
they are connected to the Internet either via Wifi or 3G/LTE connection.
Interests
mobile ad network that collect mobile users data and build their profile allows to narrow
down an ad campaign on an audience segment with specific interests only.
Gender
This option allows to narrow down an ad campaign to mobile users of a particular gender.
Naturally, just like with any kind of advertising such targeting is aimed to market goods
specifically to females and males.
One of the best sources to check a particular mobile ad network performance is the Apps-
Flyer semi-annual Performance Index. Below you can see the snippet from the H2, 2017
edition and it covers media sources performance for both gaming and non-gaming apps for
iOS and Android operating system. In the table, Power Ranking is a metric to rank a media
source by the total volume of app installs it generates, Retention is a metric that speaks to
a quality of app installs generated by a particular media source.

Mobile Advertising rankings
Top 10 Media Sources [both iOS an Android]

# Gaming Power Gaming Retention Non-Gaming Non-Gaming
Ranking Power Ranking Retention
1 Facebook Ads Facebook Ads Facebook Ads Facebook Ads
2 Google Ads Google Ads Google Ads Google Ads
3 AppLovin AppLovin Apple Search Ads Inmobi
4 Unity Unity Twitter Ads Digital Turbine
5 Apple Search Ads Vungle AppLovin AppLovin
6 Vungle Tapjoy AdColony ironSource
7 Chartboost ironSource GlobalWide Media Apple Search
Ads
8 Twitter Ads AdAction Digital Turbine Twitter Ads
Interactive
9 AdColony Fyber LeadBolt Snapchat Ads
10 Liftoff Chartboost Moloco Liftoff
Source: AppsFlyer Performance Index H2, 2017
Another company that provides data to measure mobile ad networks performance is Singu-
lar – the mobile marketing analytics platform that issued earlier this year the Singular ROI
Index. It’s compiled based on the data Singular derived from more than 1,200 mobile media
sources, 1,700 mobile apps, 315 million install with matching ROI. The index factors in a
number of metrics, such as mobile user retention, revenue per install and what is the most
important – the cost to drive app users engagement.
Singular ROI Index Top 10 [Android app data]

# iOS Android
1 Facebook Ads Google Ads
2 Google Ads Facebook Ads
3 Unity Unity
4 Apple Search Ads Vungle
5 Vungle AdColony
6 AppLovin AppLovin
7 AdColony Twitter Ads
8 Twitter Ads IronSource
9 ironSource YouAppi
10 Tapjoy Tapjoy

And finally, the third company that helps to shape a snapshot of the best mobile ad net-
works performance is TUNE. In 2017 the company published this list as an example of how
its Mobile Advertising Index works, using US market as an example. Using this index adver-
tisers can find specific ad network(s) that are a good fit for advertising in a specific region
and to drive a traffic for a specific type of ads.
TUNE Top 10 US Ad Partners List

# Company
1 Google Ads
2 Apple Search Ads
3 Twitter Ads
4 Applovin
5 InMobi
6 Fyber
7 Taptica
8 IronSource
9 AdColony
10 Tapjoy
Source: Top 10 global advertising partners of 2017
Now, when we have an understanding of mobile ad network terms and featured a Top 10
ad network charts from the AppsFlyer Performance Index H2 2017 and Singular 2017 ROI
Index, let’s take a look at the list of top mobile ad networks of 2018 we’ve compiled for app
developers and mobile business owners to find the right one to work with. To compile this
list we researched the major players in the mobile advertising field, included companies
that offer the wide range of ad formats and targeting options, as well as robust statistics
and good technical support.
Note: the companies on the list we’ve complied below are not in any priority order.
Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads is the biggest digital advertising platform with a major focus on mobile ads. It
features the best ad format, targeting and reporting capabilities in the industry. The plat-
form allows mobile app advertisers to run ad campaigns on their choice on Facebook itself,
its Messenger app, Instagram, Audience Network (to show ads across the web) and its app
for businesses Workplace.

• Mobile platforms: iOS, Android, Web

• Campaign types: CPI, CPM
• Ad formats supported: banners, carousel banners, video, slideshow
• Targeting: age, gender, location, device, mobile OS, OS version, interests, mobile user
language.
• Key markets: global
Google Ads
Google Ads acts as Google’s mobile advertising network, based on combining the Google
Adwords ad buying interface with Google traffic sources such as it’s own platforms and
servers as well as the legendary Admob platform. Admob was founded in 2006 by Omar
Hamoui and acquired by Google in 2009. They built one of the biggest ad networks on the
planet, based on the value proposition a free ad generation tool to drive in-app installs
and cross-promote apps. Google Ads proprietary IAP (in-app purchase) in-house ad format
supply advertisers with app app users that, based on the platform’s data, will most likely
to download / buy a particular mobile app. In July 2018 the platform was rebranded from
AdMob to Google Ads.
• Mobile platforms: iOS, Android, Unity, Cocos
• Campaign types: CPM, CPC, CPI
• Ad formats supported: Native, Video, Interstitial
• Targeting: country, region, carrier, connection type, mobile platform, OS version, device,
audience (user profile data)
Apple Search Ads
Apple Search Ads is the Apple Inc. iOS app promotion platform for app developers to drive
traffic for their apps via search. The platform features two plans – Basic and Advanced,
with the Basic plan, currently available only for US market, developers can set their app ad
campaigns with a specific CPI they want to stick to and let it run automatically with mini-
mal management on their part. The minimum budget for the Basic plan is $5,000 per app
per month. The Advanced plan implies developers need to set up keywords they target and

audiences they need to reach, set bids and budgets they plan to spend and pay only when
mobile users tap on their ads.
• Mobile platforms: iOS
• Campaign types: CPI, CPC
• Ad formats supported: auto-generated ads with creatives an app has on the App Store.
• Targeting: iOS version, device (iPhone / iPad), location, gender, age, new / existing cus-
tomers for other apps from the same advertiser
• Key markets: global, the Basic plan is US only.
Apple’s Search Ads app promotion platform
Twitter Ads
Twitter Ads is the Twitter advertising platform that allows app marketers to drive traffic to
their apps from both on Twitter and off Twitter channels. In terms of targeting options and
reach its rivals are only Facebook and Google. Twitter ads support deep linking technology
that allows app marketers to link an ad to a specific part of a mobile app content.
• Mobile platforms: iOS, Android
• Campaign types: CPI, CPC, CPM

• Ad formats supported: auto-generated ads with creatives an app has on the App Store.
• Targeting: mobile OS, OS version, device (iPhone / iPad), location, gender, age, mobile
connection type
Snapchat Ads
Snapchat Ads is the Snap Inc. advertising platform that allows businesses to advertise on
the platform with Snap’s unique ad formats and reach Millennials audience that has devel-
oped a high level of trust with the platform. Snapchat has 187 million daily active users that
open the app 25 times a day on average and spend 30+ minutes with the app. Snap has
partnered with multiple companies to better connect advertisers with snapchatters com-
munities.
• Mobile platforms: iOS
• Campaign types: CPI, PC
• Ad formats supported: Snap Ads, Filters, Lenses
• Targeting: 300 audiences based on data derived from what content snapchatters watch,
buy and post on the platform, demographics, lookalike audiences,
• Key markets: global, the Basic plan is US only.
AdColony
AdColony (formerly known as Opera Mediaworks) is one of the largest mobile ad networks
globally. Its reach, 1,4 billion users globally, what sets it apart from other ad networks.
Known for our unparalleled 3rd party verified viewabiltiy rates, exclusive Instant-Play™
HD video technology, proprietary rich media formats, our global performance advertising
business and programmatic marketplace, and our extensive SDK footprint in the Top 1000
apps worldwide. A fully-owned subsidiary of Otello Corporation ASA, AdColony is a global
organization with over 20 offices worldwide.
• Mobile platforms: Android, IOS
• Campaign types: CPM

• Ad formats supported: Rich Media, Video

• Targeting: Demographic
• Key markets: US
Unity Ads
Unity Ads is the premier ad monetization solution for mobile games, it was launched by
Unity Technologies in 2014. The mobile ad platform was designed to advertise mobile
games and it’s catered to help game developers to monetize on their games more efficient-
ly using video ads. Th unity Ads team is focused on delivering native video ads solution that
allows game advertisers to get much more of game players making in-app purchases than
industry standard 3% on average.
• Campaign types: CPM, CPI
• Ad formats supported: Banner, Video, Interstitial
• Targeting: device, connection, operating system, country
• Key Markets: United States
Chartboost
Chartboost is a mobile game users acquisition company, founded in 2011 by Sean Fannan
and Maria Alegre in San Francisco, US. Chartboost mobile ad network provides advertisers
with a platform for a cross-promotion with native ads, sophisticated targeting and tracking.
Also the company provides mobile game owners with developer-t0-developer mobile ad
marketplace to exchange ads inside their apps directly.
• Campaign types: CPC, CPI
• Ad formats supported: Content Lock, Interstitial, OfferWall, Video
• Targeting: Custom
• Key Markets: global, United States
Applovin

Applovin is a marketing automation and analytics company, founded by Adam Foroughi

and Andrew Karam in San Francisco, US. The core goal of the Approvin mobile ad network
operations is delivering high quality users. To acquire such users the platform analyzes all
ad campaign results to focus the consequent campaign on app users who will most likely to
interact and transact inside an advertiser’s mobile app.
• Mobile platforms: iOS, Android, Mobile Web
• Campaign types: CPC, CPA
• Ad formats supported: Custom
• Targeting: Custom, Re-targeting
• Key Markets: United States
Vungle
Vungle is one of the leading performance marketing platforms for app advertisers. It brings
advertisers mobile users through engaging video ads. They rely on Vungle’s creative opti-
mization technology, targeting, and HD video ad delivery to reach and acquire high-quality
users globally. Top mobile publishers rely on Vungle to generate revenue with engaging
video ads.
• Mobile platforms: Android, IOS, Windows Mobile, Amazon
• Campaign types: CPI, CPA, CPM, CPCV
• Ad formats supported: Video, MRAID
• Key Markets: Europe, US, China

Vungle mobile in-app video advertising company
YouAppi
YouAppi is mobile advertising platform that helps brands to acquire and retain high quality
mobile users in scale. The company’s ad platform is built on Machine Learning algorithms
to deliver high level of optimization for raising awareness of a product, engage people to
purchase and set a solid ground for a subsequent retention. The company has 13 offices
around the glob, with the headquarters in San Francisco, US.
• Campaign types: CPI, CPA
• Ad formats supported: Video, Native
• Key Markets: Global
AdAction Interactive
AdAction Interactive is mobile app marketing, Colorado, US based company. It offers

advertisers data-driven CPI based ad solution to optimize ad campaigns at scale, deliver

high visibility and maximize return on ad spend. AdAction Interactive partners with TUNE,
AppsFlyer, Kochava, Adjust, Singular and Localytics to deliver industry standard ad cam-
paign tracking capabilities. Advertisers can run ads across 15+ top-performing publishers,
including Facebook, Instagram, Google, Pinterest, and Twitter.
• Campaign types: CPI, CPE
• Ad formats supported: Native
• Key Markets: Global.
AdAction Interactive mobile app marketing
Taptica
Taptica is a mobile user acquisition platform company, with offices in US, China, South
Korea, Japan, UK and Israel. Using proprietary Machine Learning algorithms, its ad platform
empowers advertisers with sophisticated mobile targeting and efficient user acquisition ca-
pabilities to deliver high return on ad investment. Taptica with a vast network of approved
publishers to reach more than 200 million mobile users worldwide.
• Campaign types: CPA, CPC

• Ad formats supported: Banners, Interstitial, Text, Video
• Key Markets: Latin America, USA
CrossInstall
CrossInstall is a mobile advertising platform for app marketers. It’s capable to deliver high
level of conversion via usage of playable ads that let mobile game users to get a sense of a
game before installing it and a global programmatic reach 100k unique publishers under its
belt. It runs ads on 2 billion unique mobile devices a month, provides unto 30% conversion
rate and serves 132 million mobile ad interactive experiences for mobile users.
• Campaign types: CPI
• Ad formats supported: playable ads
• Targeting: via device profile database
• Key Markets: global
Appnext
Appnext is a mobile app discovery company with a platform that operates on a self-serve
CPI bidding basis. It was founded in 2012 by Elad Nantason. Appnext’s ad solution fea-
tures extensive database of 700 million mobile app users, it operates in 180 countries, has
a community of more than 30,000 developers, where any new advertiser can get to know
fellow developers and get valuable hints for launching his own ad campaigns.
• Campaign types: CPI, CPC
• Ad formats supported: Interstitial, Native Ads, Notification, Rewarded videos, Actions
• Targeting: (City, State), Device, Direct Buy (advertise on specific app/ game), OS (plat-
form and version targeting)

Liftoff
Liftoff is Cost-Per-Action optimized mobile user acquisition platform for app marketers. It
provides CPI campaigns optimization via tracking post-install events for apps. It also pro-
vides retargeting features to bring mobile users back to your app and lookalike features to
connect mobile apps with users similar to people who already use these apps.
• Campaign types: CPI, CPA
• Targeting: lookalike, retargeting,
DU Ad Platform
DU Ad Platform is a Beijing, China based global mobile advertising platform.

• Mobile platforms: iOS, Android, Unity
• Campaign types: CPI
• Ad formats supported: Banner, Video, Native, Interstitial, Trigger, Offer Wall
Leadbolt
Leadbolt is an app discovery and user acquisition company, founded by Dale Carr in 2010
in Sydney, Australia. A leading Australian mobile ad network, it provides Direct Deals Mar-
ketplace for publishers to get the best offers. Leadbolt is capable to deliver with LTV (life-
time-value) users, high retention rates (a time a mobile app user continues to use an app).
Among the clients the company has are Ketchapp, Five Bits, NQ Mobile.

• Mobile platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone

• Campaign types: CPC, CPM, CPI, CPV
• Ad formats supported: Native, Video, Interstitial
• Targeting: country, region, carrier, connection type, mobile platform, OS version, device,
category
• Key Markets:
Applike
Applike is a German’s leading mobile user acquisition platform. The company video ads
platform is hosted in its own AppLike mobile app, which offers its users unto 10 mobile
games based on their tastes and preferences. With Applike app marketers can run A/B
testing campaigns for various demographics to reach out the right audience for their apps.
By factoring in an actual app usage, AppLike platform is capable to provide app marketers
with highly relevant mobile users for their apps.
• Campaign types: CPC
• Ad formats supported: video
• Targeting: gender, age, app usage
• Key Markets: global
Applike mobile user acquisition platform

Mobvista
Mobvista a global third-party mobile value discovery platform that provides user acquisi-
tion, monetization and mobile analytics solutions to app developers globally. Mobvista has
targeted traffic from 200+ countries and regions, reaching over 950 million daily devices
with its unprecedented AI technology innovation and excellent customized service. Mob-
vista was listed on the NEEQ in November 2015, with nearly $1 billion market value. It has
nearly 500 employees with offices in 12 cities across the world. Mobvista acquired nativeX,
LLC and Game Analytics ApS, which operates a native advertising platform and an SaaS
game data analytics platform for game developers in 2016.
• Mobile platforms: Android, OS
• Campaign types: CPI, CPA, CPS, CPL
• Ad formats supported: Interactive endcard, Playable ads, Panoramic 3D video in reward-
ed and native views
• Targeting: custom
• Key Markets: China, Global
Mobidea
Mobidea is a mobile ad network for advertisers to increase their number of customers and
boost profits. It supports a number of verticals such as Beauty, Sweeps, Coupons & Vouch-
ers, Mobile Content, Pin Submits, Dating, Games, Music, Health & Fitness and Videos.
Because Mobidea’s platform is CPA-based, it allows advertisers calculate ROI of their ad
campaigns and be efficient. By sending advertisers notifications of user post events, such
as churn or unqualified leads, Mobidea can identify the best and most efficient sources of
traffic.
• Mobile platforms: Android, Feature Phone, IOS, Mobile Web, Windows Phone
• Campaign types: CPA, CPL, CPS
• Ad formats supported: Banners, Interstitials, Overlay, Pop Under, Pop Up, Redirects

Propeller Ads
Propeller Ads is an online advertising company, founded in 2011. It maintains one of the
biggest ad networks on the market, with over 1B daily advertising impressions across the
globe. PropellerAds has more than 150,000 premium publishers’ sites registered in the net-
work. In addition, PropellerAds offers such solutions as: performance based marketing for
agencies & CPA networks, mobile app monetization with SDK integration, buying traffic via
Real-Time Bidding model and more.
• Campaign types: CPM, CPA, CPL, CPC
• Ad formats supported: Push Notifications, Interstitials, Popunder, Native Ads
• Targeting: Language, OS, GEO, 3g/WiFi, Device type, Browser, Mobile Carrier, Day &
time, User Activity (new)
Youmi
Youmi is a mobile advertising platform, founded in China in 2010. It powers 10,000 adver-
tisers ad campaigns with 600,000 publishers mobile inventory to reach out mobile audi-
ence in 200+ countries on 2.2 billion mobile devices.
Mobile platforms: Android, IOS, Mobile Web
Campaign types: CPA, CPC, CPM
Ad formats supported: Banners, Rich Media, Text
Targeting: Device, Local, OS, Time
Key Markets: China
Youmi mobile advertising platform

Smaato
Smaato is a global real-time advertising platform for mobile marketers and app developers.
It features mobile-first ad network and ad server solution for publishers and app devel-
opers. Smaato hosts the largest independent mobile ad exchange with global reach. For
advertisers it offers Smaato Demand Platform with advanced traffic optimization features,
for publishers Smaato Publishers Platform that allows them to achieve high fill rates and
yield high eCPMs.
• Mobile platforms: Android, IOS, Mobile, Windows Phone
• Campaign types: CPC
• Ad formats supported: Banners
• Targeting: country, publisher, app, ad format, device, connection type, GPS data, device
ID
• Key Markets: Germany, global
Headway
Headway is a mobile ad network, founded in Spain in 2010, with a focus on CPI acquisition.
It helps advertisers to reach and engage mobile users. The network features Mobrain Ge-
nius – sophisticated fraud protection system and Headway Data audience clusters building
and management system powered by Dataxpand.
• Campaign types: Mobile Ad Network, Mobile DSP
• Ad formats supported: Banner, Content, Interstitial, Native, Video
• Key Markets: Europe, LATAM, Middle East, SEA, US

ArmorAds
ArmorAds is a global mobile advertising company with a focus on advanced data-driven ad

campaign optimization capabilities and an in-house-built anti-fraud technology to shield
advertisers from malicious activities. The company’s team is committed to protect adver-
tisers from brand damage and revenue loss and to empower them to generate predictable
ROI.
• Mobile platforms: Android, iOS
• Campaign types: CPA, CPL, CPM, CPS
• Ad formats supported: Banners, Native, Rich Media
• Targeting: Audience, browser, Carrier, Country, Device, Geo, Language, Location, OS,
Platform, Time, White & Black Lists
ArmorAds mobile advertising company

MobAir
MobAir is a performance-based mobile app marketing platform, launched in 2015 in Israel.

The mobile ad network platform offers advertisers 100% fill rate, focus on native ad for-
mat, as well as full automation and control over their ads performance.
• Mobile platforms: Android, IOS, Mobile Web
• Campaign types: CPA, CPI
• Ad formats supported: Banners, Interstitial, Offer Wall, Video
Mpire
Mpire provides performance-based advertising to help mobile app advertisers acquire their
new users wherever they are in the digital world. Its innovative platform nxus® processes
in excess of 6 billion data points a day, to drive superior campaign performance. This ena-
bles Mpire Network team to:
• Maximise ROI
• Get you real app users and safeguard quality with TrafficGuard™
• Scale campaigns to get fast access to your next app users
Features:
• Mobile platforms: Android, Desktop, IOS, Windows Phone
• Campaign types: CPA, CPI, CPL, Pay Per Call
• Ad formats supported: Display

Mpire performance-based agency
DAU-UP ClicksMob
DAU-UP ClicksMob is a leading user acquisition and monetization platform. The company’s
platform is focused on delivering to businesses from four sectors – finance, ecommerce,
entertainment and mobile games. DAU-Up ClicksMob partners with the leading companies
in the digital ad space such as Facebook and Google to help businesses to launch, scale and
grow their app business. DAU-UP ClicksMob is part of the Webpals Group, a performance
marketing company, which is wholly owned by XL Media (AIM: XLM).
• Campaign types: CPA, CPE, CPI, CPL
• Ad formats supported: Banners, Video, Native
• Targeting: Location, Device, Demographics, Similar Apps
• Key Markets: Global.

GOWIDE
GOWIDE is a digital marketing company that provides user acquisition and monetization
services for app businesses. Since its foundation in 2013, the company has grown a top
mobile CPA network that counts over 300 direct integrations with publishers and net-
works. Together with the AppBooster ad platform, GOWIDE network generates over 500K
monthly in-app events, including installs, registrations, purchases, and other engagements.
• Campaign types: CPC, CPI, CPA, CPE
• Ad formats supported: Banners, Interstitial, Native, Social, Video, Rewarded
• Targeting: Audience, Custom, Device, Platform
• Key Markets: Asia, Europe, North America
Epom
Epom is an ad serving company, founded by Anton Ruin in 2010 in Kiev, Ukraine. Provides
reliable 24/7 technical support that covers tech. issues, advice on inventory management
and media planning. Among Epom partners are Aol, Ask.com, Smaato, Amazon.com, Aliex-
press. Among features that the company provides publishers with are 100% fill-rate, global
reach and highest eCPM.
• Campaign types: CPM, CPC, CPA
• Ad formats supported: Interstitial, Background, Banner, Native, Video
• Targeting: country, language, OS, browser, behavioural, demographic
• Key Markets: Canada, Europe, Germany, UK, Ukraine, United States, US, USA
Appness
Appness is a creative & media buying lab for mobile advertising that provides marketers

with access to the human cloud: freelance ad designers and in-house advertising profes-
sionals powered by the platform’s intelligent ad optimization algorithms.
The Appness platform was designed to eliminate the major problems encountered by
advertisers in implementing ad campaigns and to support companies that lack expertise in
user acquisition by streamlining and automating media buying processes.
Headquartered in Cyprus, Appness currently works with 1000+ ad designers from all
around the world and employs 50+ qualified advertising experts.
• Campaign types: CPA, CPI, CPL, CPS
• Ad formats supported: Banners, Video
Creative Marketplace for Facebook Advertising
myAppFree
myAppFree is a performance-based advertising platform, founded in 2015 in Italy by Mas-

simo Caroli and Riccardo Fuzzi, that matches advertisers and publishers. One of the unique
features it offers in terms of inventory for advertisers is an access to 40 million plus Sony
Xperia smartphone users, as well as own App Discovery that features the best mobile apps

for users to discover.

• Mobile platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone
• Campaign types: CPA, CPC, CPI
• Ad formats supported: Banners, Interstitial, Native, Notifications
• Targeting: Audience, Geo, Interests, OS, Platform
• Key Markets: Asia, Europe, Latin America, USA
AdTiming
AdTiming is a mobile marketing platform that is focused on using Big Data to run ads
geo-targeted in 200+ countries. With AdTiming advertisers can choose from 20,000 tags
to laser focus their mobile app ad campaign in time to reach a particular target audience.
• Campaign types: CPA, CPI
• Ad formats supported: Banners, Native, Rewarded Video
• Targeting: Device, Operator, OS
• Key Markets: Europe, India, Japan, Middle East, USA
TAB
TAB is a Germany-based mobile advertising platform with a focus on connecting brands

and mobile users. The company established in 2016 by Klaus Markefsky, Matthias Lesch
and Scott Park. Using Big Data allows TAB to help brands reach the right customer at the
right moment to engage.
• Campaign types: CPA, CPC, CPI, CPL, CPM
• Targeting: Age, Carrier, Demographic, Device, Geo, IP, OS

TAB mobile advertising platform
Billy Mobile
Billy Mobile is mobile ad network company, founded in Barcelona, Spain in 2014. It pro-
vides advertisers with access to 5,000+ direct publishers, features anti-fraud protection
system and superior account management support.
• Mobile platforms: Android, IOS, Mobile Web
• Campaign types: CPA, CPC, CPI, CPL
• Ad formats supported: Banners, Direct links, Video
ironSource
ironSource is a mobile ad platform, launched in 2012. In heart of the ironSource mobile ad

network is a sophisticated campaign manager solution that features multiple ad-unit and
campaign type support, creative assets management and advanced reporting.
• Mobile platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Cocos, Amazon, AdobeAir
• Campaign types: CPC, CPE, CPA, CPV
• Ad formats supported: App Wall, Interstitial, Offer Wall, Video
• Key Markets: United States, Israel
Persona.ly
Persona.ly is a global mobile ad-tech company, creating mobile monetization solutions and
acquiring users for its partners.
Persona.ly‘s monetization SDK offers developers a variety of interactive and engaging ad
units to monetize their apps with, like playable ads and rewarded video.
• Campaign types: CPA, CPE, CPI
• Ad formats supported: Banners, Interstitial, Offerwalls, Rewarded, Rich Media, Video
• Key Markets: Brazil, Canada, India, SEA, UK, USA
Persona.ly global mobile ad-tech company

Fyber
Fyber is a leading mobile advertising technology company with headquarters in Berlin. The
mobile ad network by Fyber supports a broad range of parties – app developers, advertis-
ers and agencies, other ad networks and DSPs. It providers advertisers with programmatic
ad formats that are IAB-standard compliant (Open RTB 2.3, HTML5, VAST). With Fyber
app developers can run video, interstitial, engagement and install campaigns.
• Campaign types: CPA, CPM, CPI, CPV
• Ad formats supported: Banner, Interstitial, Native, Video
• Targeting: carrier, device, OS
Fyber mobile advertising company

InMobi
InMobi is a mobile advertising platform, founded by Naveen Tewari, Amit Gupta, Abhay
Signal and Mohit Saxena in San Francisco, US. InMobi offers advertisers to reach over
1,5 billion mobile users across more than 32,000 mobile properties to choose from. With
InMobile mobile ad network advertisers can launch brand engagement, user acquisition or
remarking ad campaigns.
• Mobile platforms: Android, iOS, Mobile Web
• Ad formats supported: Banner, Native, Video, Interstitial, Rich Media
• Targeting: carrier, channel, country, device, operator, os, time
• Key Markets: Europe, India, Japan, Kenya, South Africa, UK, United States
Tapjoy
Tapjoy is an app monetization and mobile user acquisition company, founded by Lee Lin-
den, Ben Lewis and Mitch Liu in 2007 in San Francisco, US. The Tapjoy mobile ad network
services lineup are focused on helping premium mobile app publishers to increase revenue
on each user they have.
Mobile platforms: Android, iOS, Mobile Web
Campaign types: CPC, CPD, CPI, CPM
Ad formats supported: Content Lock, Interstitial, Offerwall, Rewards
Targeting: custom
Key Markets: Europe, India, Japan, Kenya, South Africa, UK, United States
Feature Focus: Tapjoy’s Future Value Map
Startapp
Startapp is a mobile advertising company, founded by Gil Dudkiewicz and Ran Avidan in

December, 2010 in New York, US. It provides a self-serve platform for advertisers to quick-
ly build and launch ad campaigns, controlling audience, creatives and budget aspects of
their campaigns. Among features that sets it aside from other ad networks are uniquely
designed animated and interactive ads, data-enhanced targeting, using data derived from
over 300,000 mobile apps and native ad units.
• Campaign types: CPA, CPC, CPI, CPM
• Ad formats supported: App Icon, Full Page Ads, InApp Ads, Interstitial, Video
• Targeting: App, Carrier, Competitors, Connection Type, Device, Gender, Geo, OS
AirPush
AirPush is one of the largest ad network for Android OS, founded by Asher Delug in De-
cember, 2010 in Los Angeles, US. The mobile ad platform for advertisers is characterized
by Performance Creative Initiative solution that gives them access to custom design, media
buying, as well as real-time campaign optimization to maximize their campaigns efficiency.
The other distinctive feature is the Conversion Optimizer solution to increase mobile ad
campaign performance via utilizing sophisticated learning algorithms.
• Mobile platforms: Android
• Campaign types: CPC, CPM
• Ad formats supported: App Icon, Messaging, Notifications, Offerwall
• Targeting: custom
• Key Markets: Global, United States
YeahMobi
YeahMobi is a performance based mobile advertising company, founded by Peter Zou and
Frank Wang in May, 2009 in China. Among all ad formats that are supported by YeahMobi,
a special focus is made on Native ads that allow advertisers and publishers to deliver us-
er-friendly experience and relevant ads. Another feature that distinguish YeahMobi from

other companies is location-based ad format support.

• Campaign types: CPM, CPC, CPA
• Ad formats supported: Native, Interstitial, Video, Ad Walls, Feeds, Icons, location-based
ads
• Targeting: options supported by ad platforms by Facebook, Google, Yandex an VK.
YeahMobi performance based mobile advertising
Mobusi
Mobusi is a mobile performance advertising agency. Founded in 2012 in Madrid, Spain.

Mobusi has more than 20, 000 publishing partners and 5,00 advertisers in Europe and
South America.
• Campaign types: CPM, CPC, CPI, CPA
• Ad formats supported: Interstitial, Banner, Video
• Targeting: country, carrier, OS, device, browser, wifi / mobile connectivity

Mobusi mobile advertising network
Avazu
Avazu is multinational corporation in the digital marketing industry, specializing in

cross-device advertising and mobile game publishing, founded by Yi Shi in October, 2009 in
Germany and later headquartered in Shanghai, China. Avazu features Precision Ads – a pay-
per-calling advertising platform to drive quality leads and revenue to businesses.
• Campaign types: CPM, CPC, CPA, CPL
• Ad formats supported: Banner, Interstitial, Text ad
• Targeting: device, carrier, OS
• Key Matkers: APAC, Asia, China, Latin America, Middle East, United States

Digital Turbine
Digital Turbine is a mobile app advertising platform for app delivery and discovery. The
company is double down on a mobile native format to allow advertisers cut through the
noice and reach out their target audience. Digital Turbine bypasses app stores and partners
with major global telecom companies to introduce apps to mobile users with sponsored
recommendations and native preloads.
• Ad formats supported: Banners, Interstitial, Native, Offer Wall
• Targeting: Geo, OS
• Key Markets: Asia, Europe, USA
• Preload Your App on New Devices – Digital Turbine
Final Thoughts
The list of 47 mobile ad networks we’ve composed in this article presents a snapshot of
some of the best players in this field. Of course this is not the ultimate list and there are
more mobile ad networks but it does represent the ones that are well established, trust-
worthy and we suggest you to consider working with one or more of them.
To pick up the right mobile ad network to advertiser your app(s) or to monetize your ap-
p(s) or mobile website traffic you need to consider such criteria as what platform and key
markets a particular company covers to match your targeted audience, will you be able to
accept payments via payment methods it supports. As well as if a particular ad network
offers programmatic mediation solution or not. Programmatic mediation allows publishers
to monetize their traffic more efficiently with the highest bid offers. The most efficient ad
formats of today, and most likely of foreseeable feature, are Native an Video.

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Top Mobile Ad Networks Guide

Featured Mobile Ad Networks

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Mobile Advertising Business Models

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Mobile Ads Reporting

Mobile Ads Targeting

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Mobile Advertising rankings

Top 10 Media Sources [both iOS an Android]

Singular ROI Index Top 10 [Android app data]

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TUNE Top 10 US Ad Partners List

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• Mobile platforms: iOS, Android, Web

Apple Search Ads

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Apple’s Search Ads app promotion platform

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• Ad formats supported: Rich Media, Video

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Applovin is a marketing automation and analytics company, founded by Adam Foroughi

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Vungle mobile in-app video advertising company

AdAction Interactive is mobile app marketing, Colorado, US based company. It offers

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AdAction Interactive mobile app marketing

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DU Ad Platform is a Beijing, China based global mobile advertising platform.

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• Mobile platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone

Applike mobile user acquisition platform

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ArmorAds is a global mobile advertising company with a focus on advanced data-driven ad

ArmorAds mobile advertising company

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MobAir is a performance-based mobile app marketing platform, launched in 2015 in Israel.

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Mpire performance-based agency

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Creative Marketplace for Facebook Advertising

myAppFree is a performance-based advertising platform, founded in 2015 in Italy by Mas-

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for users to discover.

TAB is a Germany-based mobile advertising platform with a focus on connecting brands

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TAB mobile advertising platform

ironSource is a mobile ad platform, launched in 2012. In heart of the ironSource mobile ad

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Persona.ly global mobile ad-tech company

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Fyber mobile advertising company

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