It’s been about 4 months since my last post on WP7 monetization so I wanted to give an update to those who are interested. I made my last post around the time that I submitted my second app called Let Er Ride. It is a card game which is a casino poker variant played mostly in the US. My previous app is a utility shopping list called EZ Shopping List. Both apps are free and are monetized using Microsoft Pubcenter ads. Following are my results for both apps that I have on the market.
First up is a graph showing the eCPM for both applications over the last 4 months. I can’t explain the massive fluctuation that is seen at times. My best guess is that Microsoft has been trying to refine their algorithm for determining eCPM. As this image shows, EZ Shopping List has a much higher eCPM than Let Er Ride. My theory is that eCPMs are probably higher because I have a targeted demographic of those who are shopping for grocery items. It would be more desirable for advertisers to serve impressions in a shopping app than a game. EZ Shopping List eCPMs hover at about $1.50 whereas Let Er Ride is much more consistent around $.05-$.10.
Combined eCPM WP7 Monetization
Next is a graph of the number of impressions for EZ Shopping List. EZ Shopping List is much more popular than Let Er Ride with a large amount of fluctuation hovering around 150 impressions a day. See the graph below for a nice view of the numbers.
EZ Shopping List WP7 Monetization Impressions
See also the number of impressions for Let Er Ride. I would say that you could call this app a flop. The first month there are a decent number of impressions. This is due to the app being listed in the New section of the marketplace. Without marketing, the only place people can find your app is in the marketplace itself. If you do not make the leap from the New section to the Top section then your app is likely doomed to fail (especially given a lack of marketing efforts). One region to note here, however, is the second week in October. Here the app was released with an update. An update to your app is like free advertising. Anyone who has your application on their phone will see the update and some of them will be curious to see what was actually updated. This is a good lesson learned from an app that really had no other value.
Let Er Ride WP7 Monetization Impressions
The next graph shows my actual revenue from both apps. Given the low impressions and low eCPM, you can see that Let Er Ride really doesn’t make any money. Daily revenue from Let Er Ride is consistently under $.05. I do wonder if the low number of impressions translates to a low eCPM. I haven’t done much with the actual ad units, but I suspect that with some tweaking I could increase the eCPM slightly. However, EZ Shopping List provides a consistent revenue stream with spikes at over $1.00 a day. The fluctuation in revenue is due solely to the fluctuation of eCPM. Revenues for the most part have stayed somewhat consistent from $.25-$.50 a day.
Combined Revenue WP7 Monetization
The last graph I’m somewhat disappointed to post because I’d like these numbers to be much higher. It provides a good view into the total amount of money I have made over the past 4 months. The top shows the total number of impressions for both apps. The bottom shows the total amount of revenue. With only ads for monetization and no outside marketing for either app, I have made a total of just over $30.00 in 4 months.
Total Revenue vs Impressions WP7 Monetization
In conclusion, I don’t really have a large number of impressions for my apps but I do have some tangible revenue. I can pay off my $100.00 a year fee to Microsoft at least. I have just submitted a new game called Shake The Weasel and I plan to monetize it a bit differently. The plan is to release it for free and switch to a $.99 price tag after I get a few thousand downloads and some reviews. I have implemented some Facebook integration as well and some fun hooks to keep people playing. Look for my next post on monetization results for this technique. Thanks a lot for reading! Please follow me on Twitter at @scottrehlander and don’t forget to support indie apps!!
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Interesting article and I’m going down the free road with ads too.
Since I live in Sweden I can basically only use Admob or AdDuplex.
At the moment AdDuplex looks promising and might be something for you to consider to get broader coverage of your apps.
Thanks for your interest in my post. If you don’t mind me asking, what is your range of eCPMs? Or are you paid per click?
My app is still in cert and failed due to inappropriate content of a Google Ad, so I removed Admob for now.
With AdDuplex there is something called mixed mode CPM which is set every month. Currently it is $0.70 per 1000 impressions. So ½ of what you are getting but you also get better exposure so maybe it still could be good for you.
This is the only option for me anyways
I’ll post more info on Twitter once I get going. If you want you can follow me on Twitter: Fredrik___
Thanks for using the time and effort fir this, very interesting!