Hi, I've found myself in an odd position, currently my game Pocket Ninjas is in the top 25 free games and top 50 free apps. It was totally unexpected (I have done zero advertising and it hasn't been featured) and has been downloaded roughly 500k in the last week. I have some IAPs that are making me some very solid revenue but have been inundated with emails from various Ad Networks that want to help me further "monetize" my game. I guess my question is since I have ZERO experience with Ad Networks, does anybody have any insight they could offer? Personally I hate when I download a game and am faced with ads and never expected or thought about including any in my games, but I also never expected a game I made to be much of a hit so I don't want to automatically dismiss anything either. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Tony
Tony users are used to ads. So it shouldn't be a surprise to them. Secondly - you've to monetize your efforts - even if a small portion of users get pissed off. Checkout angry birds. They put up ads ON TOP of the game. Didn't even create a separate area at the top or bottom that doesn't overlap with the game. Just pasted em on top and more people are happy that it's free with ads than if they had to pay for it. As for the adnetworks. Better work with mediators so you can test a bunch of adnetworks at the same time. Between adwhirl and mobclix - I choose mobclix. Mobclix has more adnetworks - plus you don't have to signup with every one of them. Mobclix does that - you just collect the money. Chartboost is also killing it right now.
There is nothing bad in showing ads in your games. Just make sure that ads does not ruin the gameplay.
