two & a half gamers 🎙️ Mobile Ad Monetization basics: What every studio gets wrong by Felix Braberg
If you think eCPM is the most important metric in ad monetization, this episode is for you.
Felix breaks down:
• eCPM vs Fill Rate
• Why Ad ARPDAU is king
• Recency model & impression decay
• Why more ads can hurt revenue
• SDK crash risks & ANR thresholds
• Aggressive end cards & churn
• How mediation doubles revenue
• Networks vs exchanges explained
This is a practical introduction to how mobile ads actually work once the SDK is live.
Key takeaway:
Ad monetization is not about showing more ads. It’s about optimizing per user.
The biggest misconception in mobile ad monetization is obsessing over eCPM. eCPM alone is meaningless. Revenue comes from eCPM × fill rate, and the only metric that truly matters is Ad ARPDAU. That’s your real performance line of sight. If eCPM goes up but fill drops, you can still lose money. Networks respect publishers who talk about Ad ARPDAU because it shows you understand the business, not just vanity metrics.
eCPMs are not fixed. They are dynamic and driven by complex algorithms. Networks use dozens of parameters including device type, geo, historical installs, auction loss rate, and most importantly recency models. The first few impressions per user are the most valuable. After 5–7 impressions, the per-unit value drops sharply. If you keep pushing more interstitials, you may increase impressions per DAU but flatten total revenue while damaging retention. More ads ≠ more money.
Operational discipline separates professionals from amateurs. Never rush SDK updates. Android ANRs and crash thresholds can destroy organic distribution. Aggressive end cards increase churn. Mediation doubles revenue when implemented correctly because it creates a marketplace instead of a single buyer. And exchanges are not networks — they are resellers. Understanding these mechanics is the difference between earning $100 a day and scaling to $1,200+ before expanding demand sources.
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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.
Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric
Podcast:
Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipg
Chapters
00:00 – Why Most Studios Misunderstand Ads
01:20 – The 4 Metrics That Actually Matter
03:30 – Why eCPM Is Overrated
05:10 – Ad ARPDAU: The Only Metric That Counts
07:00 – How Networks Calculate eCPM
09:20 – Recency Model & Impression Decay
11:40 – Why More Ads Don’t Always Mean More Revenue
13:00 – SDK Risks, ANRs & Crash Thresholds
15:10 – Aggressive End Cards & Churn
17:10 – Mediation Explained (Why It Doubles Revenue)
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Matej Lancaric
User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant
https://lancaric.me
Felix Braberg
Ad monetization consultant
https://www.felixbraberg.com
Jakub Remiar
Game design consultant
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar
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