Ad monetization on mobile has attracted mainstream global attention recently. Even before the AppLovin-Unity-ironSource love triangle, the market was characterized by multiple partnerships, mergers and acquisitions.

Over the past few years, Tenjin has become synonymous with the success of ad revenue-driven companies: Voodoo, Ruby Games, LuckyKat,  Kooapps, Kwalee, SayGames are a few notable examples. We think that means we’re pretty well-qualified to report on the ad monetization landscape, so here’s our overview of the market in Q2 2022.

Our data shows that the total ad revenue of Android apps exceeded that of iOS apps by eight percentage points in Q2. We also reveal the top 10 monetization channels and countries. The full report is available at the bottom of the post.

Ad revenue by platform

Ad revenue distribution in Q2 2022 was as follows:

• 54% - Android
• 46% - iOS

If we take a look at the data from 2020, that’s a 14 percentage point swing towards Android in just two years:

• 60% - iOS
• 40% - Android

One of the highly likely contributing factors to the decline in the ad revenue on iOS is the introduction of App Tracking Transparency (ATT). Most users opt out of ATT, leading to lower eCPM and therefore lower total ad revenue.

Ad revenue by monetization partner

AppLovin reigns supreme at the top of ad revenue ranking on both iOS and Google. Just two years ago, the monetization giant was at position number four in the same chart. Google Admob clinched second place both on iOS and Android. Download the report to see the rest of the rankings.

Ad revenue by country

Nothing new here: The USA is the number one revenue driver for apps that use ad monetization. Japan is number two, just as it was two years ago. The biggest mover over the past two years is the United Kingdom on iOS, which has moved up from fourth to third place.

Small hint for indie developers - if you want to find some juicy low-hanging fruit for ad monetization, take a look at the bottom 2 countries in the ranking!

What comes next for the ad monetization industry?

What makes everything even more interesting is that I am not sure if there has ever been a livelier quarter in ad monetization than Q3 2022. That makes this Q2 report a benchmark ‘power ranking before seismic changes take place.

Let’s look at some of the things that might affect the current standings:

• Google Play released new guidelines to minimize the use of intrusive ads, effective September 30. More on this with my commentary at mobilegamer.biz
• ironSource merging with Unity
• AppLovin proposes merger with Unity, but Unity forges ahead with ironSource
• App publishers on Google AdMob can access TikTok ads via Pangle
• Google demand was added for multiple monetization platforms (including Applovin and Chartboost)

One way or another, there will be plenty of changes to talk about and compare with Q2 next time we release our ad revenue report!

GET THE FULL REPORT

This is a guest article for Gamesforum by Roman Garbar, Marketing Director, Tenjin