15 Best Ad Metrics to Increase App’s Revenue

5 min readOct 9, 2023

In this article, we’ll look at key advertising metrics such as impressions, engagement, and ad revenue metrics, with a particular focus on eCPM (effective cost per thousand impressions).

Impression Metrics

Impressions are the total number of completed ad views provided by an ad network. However, it’s important to note that revenue only comes from completed ad views, not incomplete ones. To better assess advertising performance and user engagement, several derived metrics are used:

Ad Impressions per Session. This is the average number of ad impressions shown to users during a single app session, providing insight into user engagement during a session.
Ad Impressions per DAU. It indicates the average number of ad impressions seen by a user who interacts with the app on a daily basis and gives an idea of daily ad exposure.
Lifetime Ad Impressions per User. This metric reflects the total number of ad impressions a user accumulates over their lifetime in the app, indicating long-term engagement.

Another metric from this group is Display rate. The Display rate metric measures the proportion of ads viewed until the end of the total played ads. To increase ad revenue, developers must work to maximize this metric. Encouraging users to watch ads until the end is key to achieving this goal, as it leads to increased engagement and better conversion rates.

Engagement Metrics

Engagement is a crucial factor when it comes to ad revenue. Engaged users are those who watch an entire ad, and measuring daily engaged users (DEU) helps understand the daily number of users viewing an ad. The Impressions/DEU ratio provides insight into the average number of ad impressions served to each user watching ads.

Engagement rate, which is the percentage of users who watch ads, can be broken down further:

Engagement rate per Lifetime. It represents the percentage of users who have watched ads at least once during their time using the app.
Engagement rate per DAU. It reflects the percentage of users who watch ads daily.
Engagement rate per Session. The metric shows the percentage of users who watch ads each time they open the app.

Clicks is another metric of engagement. It refers to the number of times users interact with the displayed ads. The most important derived metric is CTR (click-through rate). This metric measures how many users click on the ad, divided by the number of impressions of this ad.

Ad Revenue Metrics

Ad revenue is the total revenue generated by advertising. Ad ARPU (Average Revenue Per Active User) provides insights into the average revenue earned per user, measured daily, monthly, or over any other period (ad ARPDAU, ad ARPMAU, etc.).

However, the most critical qualitative measure of ad monetization is eCPM (effective cost per mille). It measures the revenue generated for every 1,000 ad impressions. eCPM varies depending on several factors such as the game’s audience, audience quality, platform, country, and ad placement. Additionally, ad type greatly impacts your eCPM.

For instance, mid-2023 eCPM data on banner ads and rewarded videos showed a substantial disparity. eCPM ranged from 42 cents per 1,000 banner ad impressions to an impressive $17.84 per rewarded video impression served to US users. To earn the same revenue from 1,000 ad impressions served to US users through banner ads, developers would need to display as many as 40,000+ banner ads!

Understanding the nature of eCPM is essential to optimizing your advertising revenue. It helps developers understand the complexity of this critical metric and develop strategies to positively influence it.

By viewing advertising from a different perspective, developers can unlock the secrets to maximizing ad revenue. Instead of merely showing ads to as many users as possible, the focus should be on engaging the right users who are genuinely interested in the ads. Encouraging them to take action, such as visiting the app store or installing the app, leads to higher revenue.

The more users that have the potential to pay and generate revenue for advertisers, the more advertisers are willing to pay a higher eCPM. As a result, users from developed countries such as the US tend to have higher eCPM due to their greater revenue-generating potential.

eCPM Decay: The Impact of Ad Impressions

Contrary to popular belief, more ad impressions to the same user does not lead to higher ad revenue. eCPM decay is a phenomenon in which revenue decreases with each subsequent ad impression served to the same user per day. Users are more likely to click on the first ad they see in a day, resulting in a higher eCPM for that initial impression. As subsequent ads are shown, user engagement may decrease, resulting in lower conversion rates and, as a result, lower eCPM for subsequent impressions.

To combat eCPM decay, developers should focus on optimizing user engagement and encouraging meaningful ad interactions to support higher conversion rates and preserve ad revenue.

Optimizing eCPM and Maximizing Revenue

To maximize your ad revenue, you need to focus on optimizing your eCPM. This involves increasing user engagement o ensure users watch ads until the end and take the desired action after clicking on the ad.

By understanding the nature of eCPM and the factors that influence it, you can tailor your advertising strategies to reach engaged users from higher-revenue regions. Targeting users who have the potential to generate more revenue can have a significant impact on your eCPM and therefore your ad revenue.

In conclusion, a comprehensive understanding of ad metrics and user engagement is vital to successful app monetization. By analyzing and optimizing metrics like eCPM, developers can create effective advertising strategies that generate higher revenue and create a win-win situation for both users and advertisers.