iOS iAd requests are high, impressions are low

[jared_kipe]

What is going on with the iAd network? My iAd supported app has been on the store for 4 days now and I'm seeing some very troubling things.

My fill rate is only about 35%, meaning that 60+% of the time someone opens my app no ad gets delivered to them even though they have an internet question.

A friend of mine several states away told me that they downloaded my app and no matter what they do they can't get an ad to show up.
Not surprising given what the iAd Network page is telling me in iTunesconnect.


Whats worse is my fill rate is in an exponential decline.
Over 4 days it has gone -
50%
47%
22%
11%


It almost seems like a ploy from Apple to get developers to convert their apps to "free" versions, require that they "hide" the ads when they're not being displayed and then only fill 30% of the requests for Ads.

 

[dejo]

Probably caused by a current lack of active advertisers (I've only seen two: Nissan and Dove) coupled with limiting the number of ads served (since they pay for impressions; they almost certainly have a cap on the number).

 

[LastLine]

To be fair you've done well to get that high mine are usually much lower in the 10-15% range, still as people say it's in it's infancy things will likely get better in time.

 

[jared_kipe]

To be fair you've done well to get that high mine are usually much lower in the 10-15% range, still as people say it's in it's infancy things will likely get better in time.

I understand that, but that flashlight guy made $1400 in one day, with 9,300 impressions. Why can't I have a couple hundred impressions a day? Are ads only going to work for those few apps that get downloaded hundreds of thousands of times?

 

[dejo]

I understand that, but that flashlight guy made $1400 in one day, with 9,300 impressions.

And a nearly 12% CTR! What's yours?

 

[jared_kipe]

And a nearly 12% CTR! What's yours?

0, 3.5, 7, 14

But thats not my point. I'm not really commenting on the $ value as much as the raw number of impressions, nobody can click my ad if it doesn't get displayed first.

When designing my app I decided to encourage people to click through by hiding the ads after successfully clicking through. (for a certain period of time)

If Apple doesn't show ads, then it kinda belittles that point.

 

[dejo]

Maybe you should consider some kind of mediation layer (like AdWhirl or MobClix) then. Normally they can serve ads from other services if your current one doesn't fill it.

 

[macster84]

...My fill rate is only about 35%, meaning that 60+% of the time someone opens my app no ad gets delivered to them even though they have an internet question....It almost seems like a ploy from Apple to get developers to convert their apps to "free" versions, require that they "hide" the ads when they're not being displayed and then only fill 30% of the requests for Ads.

Maybe the low fill rate is partly due to iAds not being served outside the U.S. yet?

Also, Steve said iAds will provide revenue for free apps. He didn't say you had to convert your paid app to free.

 

[jared_kipe]

Maybe the low fill rate is partly due to iAds not being served outside the U.S. yet?

Also, Steve said iAds will provide revenue for free apps. He didn't say you had to convert your paid app to free.

During submission, I made it only sellable to USA, so thats not it.

I never said the almighty Steve said to convert my paid app to free. (I do find it very distasteful and somehow preachy when people make mention of what "Steve" said to backup their arguments)

But if we want to play that game, Steve never said that ads would only show up less than 1/3rd of the time.

 

[dejo]

But if we want to play that game, Steve never said that ads would only show up less than 1/3rd of the time.

Neither did the agreement you ok'ed when you signed up for iAds. If you were expecting a minimum fill rate, you chose the wrong service.