Last year, Google introduced consent management platform (CMP) requirements which mandated publishers to obtain explicit user consent before displaying personalized ads. Božo Janković, the head of monetization at GameBiz Consulting, emphasized the importance of publishers continuing to leverage personalized ads during his talk at the Dubai GameExpo Summit powered by Pocket Gamer Connects.
Janković presented anonymized data from clients, illustrating the varying opt-in rates between the top-performing and bottom-performing games. While some games only achieved a 64% opt-in rate, the best performers reached as high as 90%, with an average of 76% for Android users.
He referenced Outlets Rush as a prime example of effectively encouraging users to opt-in. Instead of the traditional ‘accept’ button for personalized ads consent, Outlets Rush utilized a ‘Play Game’ button to prompt users.
Janković underscored the necessity of obtaining user consent for personalized ads by demonstrating data comparing eCPMs for personalized and non-personalized ads from clients. For example, one publisher experienced a significant increase from a $5.5 eCPM rate without consent to $18.5 with consent.
“It’s crucial to secure that consent to maximize revenue potential,” he stated.
Janković also addressed the misconception among some publishers that ad networks utilizing bidding algorithms eliminate the need for further optimizations. He cited cases where ongoing ad tests improved performance by up to 35%, including optimizations for latency, bid floors, and exploration of new ad networks.
Furthermore, he advised publishers to compare and conduct tests between traditional networks with bidders, as bidders may outperform in some scenarios, while the waterfall model might be more effective in others.
