What are Mobile Advertising Platforms?

Mobile advertising platforms provide the infrastructure to publish ads on smartphones and tablets. The platform acts as a broker between advertisers (advertising agencies, businesses, and individuals) and publishers for the purpose of buying, managing, and placing ads on popular mobile ad real estate.

These platforms generally support 3 ways of launching and managing ad campaigns: managed service, programmatic, and self-serve. They are most commonly used by digital and social media marketers or independent advertising agencies. The self-managed option gives small businesses and individuals the flexibility to purchase ad space and manage ad campaigns themselves.

Major mobile advertising platforms can be broken down into the following, sometimes overlapping, categories:

• Mobile Ad Networks
• Mobile Ad Servers
• Mobile DSPs (Demand Side Platforms – supporting the purchase of ads across multiple ad exchanges or social media platforms)

Mobile Advertising Platform software supports ad campaign budgeting and ad targeting. Targeting parameters typically include device type, operating system, location, time of day, customer behavior, and demographics. Increasingly AI is deployed to optimize targeting. Ads can be placed within Google search results, within a mobile app, and on mobile websites. They are supported by a variety of formats: native ads, video ads, interstitial ads, and banner ads.

The platforms support all the major mobile operating systems and offer access to global markets. Most mobile platforms also provide analytics and reporting capabilities to evaluate ad performance. Mobile advertising platforms are often part of larger cross-channel advertising platforms.

Mobile Advertising Platforms Features
Most mobile advertising platforms will include the following features:

• Managed service, programmatic service, and self-serve options
• Campaign dashboards
• Ad budgeting
• Ad targeting, retargeting, and meditation
• Placement in search results, mobile apps, mobile websites, push notifications, and SMS
• Multiple ad formats: native ads, video, interstitial ads, offer-walls, banner ads
• Content tools for creating ads or uploading ads
• Mobile advertising ids
• Support for Android and IOS mobile operating systems
• Fraud protection
• Ad campaign tracking and performance analytics

Mobile Advertising Platforms Comparison

Before investing in a new mobile advertising platform, consider the following key points:

• Target Audience: Identifying your target audience is critical to choosing the right ad platform and tailoring your ad accordingly. Which mobile apps and websites do they spend the most time on? Apps? Gaming? Social Networks? Mobile websites? What are their consumption and search patterns and what devices do they use?
• Scope and Objectives: What are your ad objectives? What is your budget? Do you prefer specific ad formats? Video? Do you require delivery across multiple advertising networks or do you want to advertise exclusively on one or two networks (E.g. LinkedIn and Twitter)? How extensive is your need for ad campaign performance metrics and reporting?
• Fraud Protection: There are opportunities for abuse by advertising networks and mobile ad platforms. For example, some users feel that certain platforms render their campaigns more costly and less effective. Evaluate your choices to ensure the appropriate controls and metrics are in place to identify or help prevent this type of activity.

Pricing Information

There is a wide variety of pricing models for mobile advertising platforms. Many platforms allow you to set your own ad budget and bid for placements.

Some of the different types of pricing models include CPM, CPC, CPI, CPA, and CPE:

• CPM (Cost per Mille) pricing is calculated as the cost per 1,000 views of the ad.
• CPC (Cost per Click) pricing is based upon the number of clicks an ad receives.
• CPI (Cost per Install) bills based upon the number of app installations.
• CPA & CPE (Cost per Action, Cost per Engagement) calculates the cost based upon specific user actions taken within an app or a game.

The placement of the ad along with its format will dictate the pricing. More coveted ad real estate will be more costly. Ads with more complex formats such as video will be more expensive than banner ads.

Some platforms offer basic plans beginning at $99 per month, ranging to over $5,000 per month offering a set package of ads and services bundled to support your campaigns.