Get early access

Published · By Ailumic

How do ads in mobile apps work?

An app that shows ads sets aside slots, such as a banner at the bottom of a screen or a full-screen pause between two levels. When a slot is about to appear, the app offers it for sale, an auction runs in a fraction of a second, and the winning ad is drawn in the slot. The app’s maker earns from the sale, and with Ailumic you pay only for ads that were actually shown.

The slot

An app that carries ads decides, when it is built, where they go: a strip at the bottom of a screen, a card among the items in a feed, a full screen between two levels. Each of those places is a slot. The app’s maker does not sell every slot by hand; the app offers each one for sale at the moment it is about to appear.

The moment between screens

When a slot is about to appear, software acting for the app offers it, software acting for advertisers names a price, and the best bid wins. The winning ad is drawn in the slot before the person has noticed anything was missing. Our guide on how real-time ad auctions work follows it step by step.

The shapes an ad takes

  • Banner: shown beside the content, on mobile apps and websites.
  • Native: shown in the feed, styled like the content around it.
  • Full-screen: shown between pages or levels, on mobile apps.

Rewarded video is next: a short video a person chooses to watch for something in the app. Which shape suits which ad is the subject of our guide on banner, native or full-screen.

What the person sees

An ad in an app is marked as an ad. A native ad takes the look of the content around it, and a full-screen ad takes the screen for a moment and lets the person carry on. In every case the person is using the app for something else, which is why an ad that says one thing clearly does better than one that says everything.

Who earns, and what you pay

The app’s maker earns from the sale of the slot; that is how many apps are free to use. The advertiser pays for the viewing. You pay only for ads that are actually shown. The price is in front of you before you confirm, and nothing runs until you do.

What you see afterwards

The report says where the ad ran, when, and what it did. Our guide on how to read an ad report takes the report in order.

Example

A puzzle game shows a banner at the bottom of the screen and a full-screen ad between levels. A café owner who runs an ad that day has her banner drawn in the first slot when someone near the café opens the game, and nothing is charged for the slots her ad did not win.

Guides

  • How do real-time ad auctions work?

    Every ad slot is sold in an auction that lasts a fraction of a second. Who bids, what decides the winner, who pays, and what it means for a small budget.

  • What is a CPM in advertising?

    CPM is the price of showing an ad one thousand times. Why ad space is priced per viewing, what moves the price, and why Ailumic publishes no price list.

  • Banner, native or full-screen: which ad format should a small business choose?

    A banner runs beside the content, a native ad sits in the feed, a full-screen ad fills an app between pages. How to pick one for the ad you have.

  • How much should a small business spend on ads to start?

    Size a first ad budget by what you can afford to learn from, not by a rule of thumb: enough to run a full week, small enough that a lesson with no sale is fine.

  • How do I read an ad report?

    Read an ad report in order: times shown, clicks, cost, then where and when it ran. What the click-through rate tells you, and what to change next.

  • How long should an ad campaign run?

    Run a first ad for a full week and no longer than it takes to learn one thing. Why a week, why not months, when to stop early and when to add budget.

  • What is programmatic advertising?

    Programmatic advertising is ad space bought by software, one viewing at a time, in an auction. What it replaced and what it means for a small business.

  • What is a DSP, or demand-side platform?

    A DSP is software that bids for ad space on an advertiser’s behalf. How it differs from an ad exchange and a supply-side platform, and where Ailumic fits.

  • How do I write an ad for my small business?

    Write one message for one kind of person, say what to do next, and cut the rest. How to fit it to a banner, native or full-screen ad, and when to rewrite.

This site sets no cookies, stores nothing in your browser and loads nothing from other companies, so there is nothing to accept or reject. The categories below are what we would ask about if that ever changed.

Read the cookie policy