Related engagement
Monetization Audit
A structured review of revenue mechanics, mediation, ad load, player context, and the product decisions underneath the numbers.
Explore the engagement →Topic 01 · Revenue systems
Gaming expertise. Impact that travels.
Ad Monetization & Mediation.
Ad revenue is a product system before it is an AdOps report. The useful questions connect player state, placement design, auction mechanics, latency, fill, and long-term trust. These notes come from building and rebuilding those systems at mobile-gaming scale—and apply anywhere an ad-supported product needs better yield without degrading the experience.
Diagnostic frame
Start with the questions behind the metric.
- Is a placement creating value, or monetizing friction the product created?
- Where are latency, bidding participation, or partner concentration leaking yield?
- Which revenue gains survive beyond the first-week test window?
Selected writing
Read the field notes
- Sep 2026 D—05 · Networks 3 min
AppLovin MAX vs Unity LevelPlay vs Google AdMob: Choosing Mediation in 2026
The three platforms dominate mobile game mediation, and each is tied to a UA and demand ecosystem. Choose on delivery quality for your placements, not on a dashboard eCPM.
- Sep 2026 D—05 · Networks 3 min
Mobile Ad Networks for Games: A Directory by Role
The mobile ad ecosystem looks like dozens of categories, but a game’s revenue and UA usually run through a handful of platforms. Here is who does what.
- Sep 2026 D—05 · Networks 3 min
Revenue per Eligible Opportunity: The Ad Metric That Fill Rate and eCPM Miss
eCPM ignores unfilled requests; fill rate ignores price. Revenue per eligible opportunity counts both — which is why it is the right scorecard for floors, networks and bidding migrations.
- Sep 2026 D—04 · Revenue 3 min
Rewarded Video vs Interstitial vs Banner Ads: Format Economics for Games
Each ad format earns differently and costs the player differently. The right mix depends on your genre, your IAP depth and where each exchange lands in the player journey.
- Sep 2026 D—04 · Revenue 3 min
Web Shop Platforms for Mobile Games: How to Choose a Provider
Web shop providers handle payments, tax, fraud and storefronts so studios can sell directly. They differ in merchant-of-record coverage, store building tools, LiveOps features and pricing.
- Sep 2026 D—04 · Revenue 3 min
What Is Hybrid Monetization in Mobile Games?
Hybrid monetization combines IAP, ads and sometimes subscriptions. Done well, it routes each value exchange to the moment where it fits. Done badly, it is format stacking.
- Sep 2026 D—05 · Networks 3 min
When to Add Another Ad Network — and When It Hurts
A new network can fill a real gap. More often it adds SDK weight, latency and crashes for a lift that disappears in the blended numbers. Here is how to tell the difference before you integrate.
- Sep 2026 D—04 · Revenue 3 min
When Should a Mobile Game Launch a Web Shop?
A web shop can improve margin and deepen the relationship with payers. It only pays off when you can drive players to it and connect its purchases back to the rest of the player journey.
- Sep 2026 D—05 · Networks 3 min
When to Switch From Waterfall to In-App Bidding
Most games should already run bidding-first mediation. The real questions are what to keep in the waterfall, how to migrate without a revenue dip, and how to tell whether it worked.
- Sep 2026 D—05 · Networks 2 min
Network Revenue Quality Is More Than eCPM
eCPM is still useful. It just does not tell you enough once bidding is involved — a bidder can show a strong eCPM and still contribute less.
- Sep 2026 D—04 · Revenue 2 min
Hybrid Monetization Is Not Format Stacking
Adding IAP, rewarded video and interstitials does not by itself create a hybrid strategy. Without routing logic, it creates more ways to interrupt the same player.
- Sep 2026 D—05 · Networks 2 min
Stop Managing Monetisation Like an Ad Tech Directory
Ad tech landscape diagrams show 20+ categories. A mobile studio’s revenue flows through two or three pipes. When revenue softens, the fix is usually in the game, not the stack.
- Aug 2026 D—05 · Networks 2 min
Fill Rate Is Not a Strategy
Fill rate tells you how many auction opportunities returned an ad. It does not tell you how much value the auction created across all of them.
- Jul 2026 D—04 · Revenue 2 min
Monetization Optimisation Should State What It Refuses to Damage
“Increase ad ARPDAU by 10%” is a valid target. The brief is incomplete until it also says what the team is not willing to damage getting there.
- Jul 2026 D—04 · Revenue 4 min
Same Ad, Different Player Moment
A rewarded ad is not only an ad format. It is a product event. The same placement can be a continuation mechanic in one context and an escape route in another.
- Jun 2026 D—04 · Revenue 2 min
Royal Match and the Renegotiated “No Ads” Promise
Delaying ads until the system understands a player’s value is rational on a spreadsheet. At Royal Match scale, it is a product contract being renegotiated.
- Feb 2026 D—01 · Gaming 11 min
Against the 'whale' metaphor
Top-spending users aren't a species. They're a stage. The taxonomy is costing you product decisions.
- Dec 2025 D—03 · Analytics 6 min
Diligence checklists for ad-network acquisitions
What I check in a target's investment deck before reviewing anything else — the flags that decide if deeper diligence is worth the time.
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