Johannes is the co-founder of Another month is over, it’s time for income facts again.
If you are new to this series, let me explain it to you: Since Android is an open platform, I decided to be open about the income I’m making with my private Android apps too. In the last report I aimed to reach $2,000 for the last month. You will see if it worked out.
For all income reports, please click here.
Which Apps?
3D Invaders – about 137,000 installs (+19k), 16% active
AL Voice Recorder – about 486,000 installs (+53k), 24% active
AL Voice Recorder Ad Free – 816 installs (+43), 41% active
Droid-Blog.net Android App – 348 installs (+46), 22% active
SmsToSpeech full – 715 installs (+17), 41% active
More than 70 thousand new downloads. What a great result!
What did I do?
I sat and waited. In other words: I did nothing affecting the apps mentioned in this report.
Advertising Stats
Here are some statistics from the two advertising networks I’m using, AdMob and Madvertise. Please read the second income report for an explanation of the following numbers.
AdMob:
Requests: 627,885 (+154k)
Impressions: 611,153 (+157k)
Fill Rate: 97.34% (+1.37%)
Clicks: 18,160 (+8.8k)
CTR: 2.97% (+0.92%)
eCPM: $1.40 (+$0.44)
House Ads: 565 (-4.4k)
Adjusted Requests: 628,450 (+150k)
Adjusted Fill Rate: 97.25% (+2.28%)
Madvertise
As I’m not using house ads in Madvertise, no adjusted requests and fill rates are shown here.
Requests: 1,112,482 (+267k)
Impressions: 165,040 (+43k)
Fill Rate: 14.84% (+0.44%)
Clicks: 7669 (+3,015)
CTR: 4.65% (+0.82%)
eCPM: $9.14 (-$0.17)
While both ad networks performed awesome in the month before, they did even better in the last month. Both click through rates increased and I was able to cross the one-million-requests-mark in madvertise.
How much?
No more prose, just numbers:
Madvertise:
3D Invaders: ~$1,044.33
AL Voice Recorder: ~$464.50
Madvertise Total: ~$1,508.83 (+$375.24)
AdMob:
3D Invaders: $310.01
AL Voice Recorder: $548.21
AdMob Total: $858.22 (+$423.26)
Market sales: ~$97.77 (+$10.75)
In-App purchases: ~$5.96 (-$2.23)
Total: ~$2,470.78 (+$807.02)
Another 800 dollar increase! As far as I’m concerned, that’s a growth rate I can live with.
What’s next?
Again, I expect the level of new installs to stay stable in this month. Since four days of this month already passed and numbers look good, I’m aiming to reach the next big goal of $3,000 in the next month.
Please feel free to share your own experiences and hints in the comments. Please also don’t hesitate to tell me if there is anything else you’d like to get some information about.
2011/12/05 at 19:19
Great post as usual, thanks!
I’m using the dual madvertise / admob combo like you.
However I have super bad results this month probably due to me being new to optimizing ads. eCPM for admob is super low at 0.12$ (madvertise: 1.05€). I’m not sure how eCPM is computed for an app (if you could expand on this topic, that would be awesome), but I understand this is linked to the eCTR which is also super low (0.2%), a bit better for madvertise (1.5%). Most of the revenue for my apps comes from the paid license so I have not paid (pun intented) to much attention to optimizing ads but I sure will!
2011/12/05 at 19:29
Hello Bob,
thank you for your comment. The eCPM is the amount of money that 1000 ad impressions in your app are worth. When having a low CTR, it of course is likely that one’s eCPM will be low too.
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/05 at 21:06
The total income is good but not awesome, especially with that CTR and eCPM at madvertise. How did you get that CTR, dude?! Thumbs up!
2011/12/06 at 15:52
Hello Richard,
I agree. But I think slowly the income grows to a height where it’s more than only pocket money, which makes me kinda happy :-)
By the way: 3D Invaders has been banned several times this month. Luckily the madvertise service was as responsive as always, so no big cuts from that side.
How are you doing with Quizoid? Did you already distribute all your stickers?
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/05 at 21:16
Congratulations for reaching your goal again ! :) I noticed you have a very nice ctr on admob. How long refresh rate are you using on your applications?
2011/12/06 at 15:53
Hello Thrasheri,
thank you. I have no custom refresh rate set.
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/06 at 16:24
Well, your earnings are more than just pocket money already. I just wanted to say that the total sum is not a suprise to me, but is the CTR. We reached a CTR of about 0,29% last month, so I am really interessted in how you got that 4,65% CTR for madvertise.
Quizoid also has been banned once last month, so I think this really is an issue. In my oppinion the ad-networks has to deal with that, e.g. install a clickfraud protection and not leave this to the publishers.
The stickers: We still have some here, thanks for asking. Want some as giveaways for your friends?
2011/12/07 at 10:29
Okay, now I got that.
Since I don’t have any apps that performing in the lower-than-two-percent-range, it’s a bit hard for me to figure out why my apps are doing better than others. Maybe one of my or ANDLABS’ next apps will give me some more insights.
I totally agree. I hope it won’t take them too long to implement a better solution.
Sure I want some, you can send them to the ANDLABS office: http://www.andlabs.info/#impressum_andlabs.
2011/12/06 at 19:27
Johannes, I’m following your blog carefully :)
Congratulations. I’m happy to see you succeeding. It inspires me.
I have two doubts:
1 – Why do you use both madvertise and admob? Why don’t you stick with just one of them? I like inneractive and don’t see any reason to use other (maybe I’m missing something)
2 – in your answer to Richard you told 3D invader has been banned several times this month. Banned from what and why ?
Regards.
2011/12/07 at 09:41
Hello Marcio,
thank you, I’m happy you like it.
Regarding your doubts:
1 – While madvertise has the strongest CPC i’ve seen so far, it is only available in western Europe. AdMob on the other hand offers medium CPC but is available worldwide. So in order to gain the highest income, this combination is necessary.
2 – It has been banned bacause of clickfraud. When a user wants to do something good (or bad) to you, they might get the idea that many clicks will get you more money. Of course the ad servers have some algorithms to recognize these behaviour which then leads to the app being banned (usually 24 hours at madvertise).
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/07 at 03:40
That’s pretty impressive Johannes! My name is Jorge nice to meet you.
I have absolutely no programming experience and I want to start creating my own
android applications. I’ve done a little research and I downloaded Eclipse IDE, JDK, and
the Android SDK. Now my question is, where can I learn how to write the lines of code
necessary to write apps? What tools do you recommend I use in order for me to learn
whatever programming languages I need to learn? I would really appreciate any guidance or tips
you could provide. Thanks in advance Johannes!
Best Regards,
Jorge
2011/12/07 at 10:03
Hi Jorge,
thank you for your comment, great you want to start Android development!
I think it would be good to start with some general java introduction first.
Once you know the basics of Java, it’s time to start with Android. If you have some knowledge in HTML that could also be helpful in order to understand the way the UI design in Android works, but it’s definitely not necessary.
To be more precise with what I mean with basics. Once you can answer the following questions, it should definitely be fine:
(All questions are asked in the Java-context)
What’s the syntax for a while loop?
What’s the syntax for an if-else construct?
What does object oriented programming mean?
How can you compare objects?
What is a member (or field) variable vs. a local variable vs. a constant?
What’s a generic?
What is a thread?
How do you start a thread?
How can you stop a thread?
What are exceptions and how can you handle them?
I hope this gives you some orientation.
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/08 at 03:56
Hi Johannes,
Thank you very much for you help! I have a few more questions, what do you think is a reasonable time frame
for someone like me (with no programming experience) to start creating apps? How long did it take for you to know what you know right now? Finally, is Java the only language that can be used to create apps? Thank you!
With Appreciation,
Jorge
2011/12/08 at 10:56
Hi Jorge,
well, I started programming Java in 2006 and Android in 2009, so it took me five years in total. But I think if you really want to program your own Android apps and are willing to learn hard, sacrifice some time and have the tendency to think in logical ways, your first smaller app can be done within two months or so. I think the important part is that you understand the Java syntax, how object orientation works and the core concepts of Android like late runtime binding, Activities, Content Providers, Services and resources.
I’m looking forward to seeing your first app ;-)
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/08 at 14:29
Hi Jorge,
sorry, I forgot about the language: While Java is the native Android language which I would recommend, you can also use cross platform solutions like phonegap or titanium or code native in C/C++ or use other JVM-based languages like Scala. There also is a solution for Qt and I’m sure some other frameworks exist too. Personally, I prefer Java because thats my mother tongue and brings the best user experience.
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/09 at 03:44
Hi Johannes,
Thank you very much for your time! I really appreciate your responses. Looks I have a lot of work to do, but
I know for a fact that I will enjoy this whole journey that awaits me. :) I’ll publish my app soon don’t worry ;).
Best Regards,
Jorge
2011/12/09 at 08:42
Hi Johannes,
again, Thumbs up!
We’re constantly working on improving our service, including fraud protection mechanisms. So yes, this is not the end, an improved solution will definitely be developed within the next few months.
@Richard: Thanks again for the stickers. I’ve taken some with me on Wednesday to the Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart. Lots of Android users there ;-)
Regards,
Antje
2011/12/12 at 11:00
Hi Antje,
once again, thank you for your great service. I’m looking forward to your solution.
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/09 at 09:58
Hey Antje,
thank you for that Information about the clickfraud-protection. That will be very helpfull for every honest publisher.
2011/12/13 at 05:04
Great work with this month’s income! Looks like your’re building up quite a successful business there. This month I also got very good results with Madvertise, hopefully the CPC will increase a bit again over the Christmas period.
2011/12/13 at 14:20
Hi David,
Thank you for your continuous support.
I hope you will be able to catch up with your reports soon. Indeed, another increase in CPC would be awesome!
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/13 at 20:08
Hi Johannes!
I’ve been following your blog for a little while now, too! Truly motivating! Still my ad revenues are low which makes me unhappy but I’m happy that I don’t get banned from a service – let’s name it Madvertise – because of users who love to click on beautiful ad banners.
To be honest I’m trying to report this issue to Antje.
So my idea was if someone clicks on an advertisement then make it disappear for ten seconds, for a minute, until this activity is started again or the whole app is started again. This should somehow be open to the needs of developers.
Let’s dive into code to make it more specific:
// Java code
AdMobView.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void
onClick(View v) {
Log.d(“AdMob”, “You clicked on the ad”);
}
});
MadvertiseViewsetOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void
onClick(View v) {
Log.d(“Madvertise”, “You clicked on the ad”);
}
});
This obviously does not work as well as this:
android:onClick=”goToMyAdClickHandler”
But there is a way in Admob:
// Java code
AdMobView.setAdListener(new AdListener() {
/*
** Please note that several functions were removed
** for better readability. You need to implement them
** if you want to use this piece of code.
*/
@Override
public void
onLeaveApplication(Ad arg0)
AdMobView.setVisibility(View.GONE);
Log.d(“AdMob”, “Advertisement disappeared”);
}
});
This is not supported by the MadvertiseViewCallbackListener. But I might be missing something. Please inform me how to handle a click on a MadvertiseView.
Sincerely
Ben
2011/12/14 at 09:53
Hi Ben,
great you like it.
The madvertise SDK doesn’t provide an onClickListener. To implement such functionality, you have to go into the class MadvertiseAd and implement your logic there. It would be great if you could then publicliy provide a fork of your solution.
I’ve thought about a solution to this problem too, I think looking on the CTR and setting a maximum limit would be a good solution.
@Antje: Do you have any idea from which percentage on a CTR is considered a clickfraud?
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/14 at 02:56
Hey Johannes,
Great work on the apps and especially monetizing them. I started Android development this summer and I’m about to publish my first app on the market. It involves soccer so I think it will be more popular with the European crowd than the American crowd (where I am from). So Madvertise sounds like a great idea, but I would like to use Admob as well, after seeing your great results. I recently downloaded your 3d invaders game which is great, but I could only see Admob ads. Am I missing something here? Or was the Heyzap thing part of Madvertise? Also, I’ve heard that Tapjoy has been successful for some developers, do you have any experience with that?
Thanks,
Lou
2011/12/14 at 09:58
Hi Louie,
AdMob is my backup framework. So when no madvertise ad is available, AdMob will be displayed. Since madvertise is not very strong in the US, it is likely that you will never see any madvertise ad in 3D Invaders, but I can assure you that they serve well in the western Europe region.
Good luck with your app, I hope you will share your experiences with us.
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/15 at 19:00
Came across your blog, very nice. I have a few apps on the market and I get around 4 million requests a day. I found your numbers very interesting and I have some questions:
1. Admob with almost 3% and the other network with over 4.6% CTR. How in the world did you achieve that? I am lucky if I get .40 CTR and I have a ton of requests and users. What did you do here exactly?
2. MAdvertise, has a nice eCPM, but a terrible fill rate. Does this fillRate assume globally or only in Europe? If just Europe, this is really bad
3. Are you going through AdWhirl or another aggregation company?
4. Are you sending any type of targeted information to the ad companies or is it blind?
2011/12/15 at 19:50
Hi Jim,
thank you for your comment.
4 million requests a day is really awesome! May I ask which your apps are?
1. Indeed, this month the AdMob CTR is even better so far. This is a) because I don’t have any fillrate set b) because I place my ads at positions where they are more likely to be clicked and c) something I haven’t figured out yet.
2. This fillrate is globaly. In mann european countries like Germany or Great Britain, there is a fillrate of more than 99.9%.
3. No, I’m not. I used Mobclix some time ago but was not satisfied. I’m planing to use AdWhirl as soon as they complete the madvertise integration (see this issue)
4. Besides keywords it’s all blind.
How do you handle these questions?
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/15 at 21:28
1. I don’t change positions of the ads, I have seen more often that users get upset at placement when it changes. I guess it would work for a game, but not all types of apps.
2. Good to know.
3. I do use AdWhirl, have used it for a very long time. I know the issue with MAdvertise, but then again you can always add a custom event…very easy. Granted, certain things are not there with a custom event, but you get most.
4. Interesting.
Basically, the CTR is my biggest question. I get placement, not sure what you mean by ‘no fillrate set’. If my CTR was that high, I’d be on a beach on some island by now!
2011/12/15 at 22:05
Hi Jim,
1. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not moving the position of my ads, I think that’s terrible UX. What I do is place ads in positions where I think they are more likely to be clicked in general.
3. That’s true. Still, since I’m not planing to integrate more than the two ad networks I’m using, I don’t have the urge to use custom events at the moment.
I understand that CTR is one of the main issues for many developers. By ‘no fillrate set’ I mean that I don’t have a custom fillrate set ala “refresh every 30 seconds”. This decreases the total number of requests but increases the CTR of course (but not necessarily the total revenue).
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/20 at 07:58
Sorry about that but I can’t find a RSS feed on your blog…
It’s for me the only way I can read it, can you please provide me one ?
2011/12/20 at 09:23
Hello xav,
you can find the feed at http://droid-blog.net/feed/.
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/21 at 08:51
Just to let you know, your blog comments fail to transload via opera mini browser (android version)…check dis url: droid-blog.net/2011/12/05/android-income-report-7-november-11/#comments
Btw, have to read android book from kreci, i’m going to buy, just need your review.
Thanks.
2011/12/23 at 23:16
Hi Pete,
thank you for the hint.
Yes, I have read KreCi’s ebook. It contains very basic Information on app monetization like that it’s useful to use houseads for one’s unfilled inventory. I think it you can also find every information it contains on this blog, but please make yourself a picture.
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/23 at 14:30
Hi Pete,
Before you go out and spend money on that book.. why dont you check out some tips and experiences I’ve shared here:
In the meantime… My success story!
I posted a comment on Kreci’s blog with a link to the above, and somehow he has not approved my comment. Weird indeed.. maybe he only approves comments that are positive reviews of his book? Or maybe my tips cover most of what you will get from his book.
Go give some feedback!
And Johannes! Awesome achievement… here is to an even richer year ahead!
Merry Christmas all!
2011/12/23 at 23:28
Hello Johannes,
Firstly I would like to thank you for providing so in depth numbers! I am a starting developer working on a few ideas , and recently I found out that I can’t publish paid apps on the Marketplace because my country is not in the list, so I have been looking for alternative means of income. Your numbers brought an influx of motivation to me. I didn’t tough in-app ads to be such a good income source, but you show it is possible, even more so that your free apps are bringing in really amazing stats!
My actual question is, as a solo developer can I make decent products if I put heart and soul into them? I’m handling all of the design and code. I am a student so I don’t have any income to speak of to start anything like a studio (I would love to), I could barley pay for my Android device. I do have a lot of friends who are testing my apps and giving really valuable feedback. What are your advises for a starting solo developer? I know I should focus on simple and polished, any other advice would be greatly apriciated.
Thank you again for your great blog!
2011/12/26 at 19:00
Hello Dan,
It’s great to hear my numbers motivated you that much.
Of course you can make decent products on your own. You will probably feel when your app is complete enough to be published and your friends and users will show you the right direction for your next steps. One advice for your friend-testers: Don’t show or tell them how to use your app, this way you will see what is intuitive and what isn’t.
If you have any other questions, please fell free to ask them.
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/29 at 11:14
Hi Johannes!
Are you experiencing very low fillrates on Madvertise? My fillrates have dropped a lot. (from 15% to 2%)
2011/12/29 at 23:23
Hi Thrasheri,
my fillrates are still constant. I’m experiencing some little ups and downs in the request rates, but that is most likely related to the holidays. Are there any irregularities in your country statistics? Or did your impressions cross the one-million-border?
Best regards
Johannes
2011/12/30 at 13:16
Impressions are definitely not crossing the one million border :D
The country statistics haven’t changed. I contacted the Madvertise support and they said that a lot of the campaigns that were running on Android traffic have run out while there have not been enough other campaigns to replace them.
Strange though that you haven’t experienced this since you have a lot more impression than i have so it should be even clearer on your side.
2012/01/02 at 14:20
Has your fillrate increased again by now? I’m also wondering why your numbers went down that much and my didn’t.
2012/01/05 at 20:51
Yesterday, my fillrate also dropped to 4%, today it was at a sensational 0%. Some campaigns are still there, but it’s really way less than in the last months. I hope this changes soon!
2012/01/01 at 15:39
Hey may i ask you a question?
So the thing is im kinda new at madvertise and wanted to know how long it usually take to get your money on your Bank Account?
I already got an email from the madvertise team, but the money is still not on my Bank Account…
I hope it is because the holidays :D
2012/01/02 at 14:17
Hi oldiemaus,
it usually takes about 45 days after a month, in which you earned more than 100€, has ended. This means you should receive your payment in the middle of this month.
Best regards
Johannes
2012/01/02 at 09:11
Hi guys, hi Thrasheri
my fillrates decreasing in december . Before Christmas , i have fillrates from 70-80% , after Christmas my fillrates go down to 5 %. My apps only get advertisement from 12 to 1AM. That is the only hour, i earn a bit money. After 1 AM i didn’t get advertisement any more.
Why did you talk about a impressions border from one-million-border
cu
Markus
2012/01/02 at 14:12
Hi Markus and Thrasheri,
I had a drop to 8% on the 20th, but the days after that it went back to normal (16%).
Once an app produces more than one million impressions per month, it is not in the madvertise developer fund anymore. Since many campaigns are bound to the fund, not only will you get only 60% orevenue share, you will also get a fillrate that is way worse.
So if you are close to the million, you better wait until march to cross it.
Best regards
Johannes