I have seen a lot of people on here write/talk about different ads to integrate in Apps. Do people actually make a living or generate any substantial revenue from the ads? These pay per click on the ads? Best ones for Android? Thank you for educating me in the ad market. LA

@LA see this post https://www.buzztouch.com/forum/thread.php?tid=3061411DA45FA8EF8B79779 Some good info and code in there.

Thank you Mr stuck. Did you start using admob? LA

I just can't seem to find the time to get anywhere near a laptop at the moment. I did a calculation based on the installs of a free app i just released on 5th December and if i had installed startapp in it then I would already have generated around $50 - $60 from it so I am going to add it as soonaas i get some time to do so. I am going to keep revmob even though its not generating much and put admob in too. So I will have all 3 running and see how it goes. Best of luck with whichever you go with

Great info Mr stuck thanks! LA

@LA - What I love about adverts is that it's residual income. 2 year old apps are still earning money every day without too many new installs. I don't think you'd get that earnings consistency with paid apps. Another benefit is that with paid apps you have a responsibility to fix bugs, update content, respond to users etc asap. With a free app there's less responsibility, you can deal with issues whenever. Free apps are more 'set and forget' yet still continue to earn money. In answer to your question, I make a living (not great, but I'm debt free and pay the bills!) with ad supported free apps, using admob and leadbolt. Today I'm testing an app with StartApps which looks promising. Hope that helps.

Hey @raveyd, So if I put another free App on Google Play and integrate admob, would I receive revenue on installs or clicks? LA

admob is a cpc network so you get revenue on banner clicks. Just don't EVER click on your own banners! Serious, don't do it! Putting admob in a tabbed layout is good because there's a slight delay before the banner appears. When it appears the tabs move up a bit, so someone about to press a tab will often press the banner instead. *evil laugh*

ok, in a nutshell, a consumer downloads the App and then you get revenue if any of the customers click on that banner? LA

That's it, yes. I'd just like to add that it's not 'if someone clicks a banner', it's 'when someone clicks a banner'. You and I may not like banner ads, but plenty of people click on them.

Do you receive a lot of downloads on your free app? LA

@LA as @Raveyd pointed out in the other post, the more people who use the apps is more important than amount of downloads for generating steady income. If like me you have an app that gets lots of downloads but is maybe just fun for a while then startapp would be a better revenue source as you get paid every time someone downloads your app. Lots of options to earn a few $$`s I am going to add startapp to my app as i feel this will pay the most but around 1/3 of installs are being retained so i am going to put in admob too to maximize income. I can't wait to see what happens. Keep you posted

I've got around 30 apps, some are abject disasters, some get good downloads. Across all the apps and all the markets I submit to, yes, I get a decent amount of downloads.

Thanks @Mr stuck. @raveyd: just curious because I didn't see any published Apps on your profile here. LA

@LA lol! I've been in internet marketing for 10 years - I learned 9 years 11 months and 3 weeks ago to keep things close to my chest!

lol ok. LA

I'm curious; do you get to 'filter' the kinds of banners that display in these SDK's, or do you just display what they send you?

@SmugWimp - Most ad networks have some sort of filtering. With admob, banners are family friendly by default, but you can select adult banners as well. Admob is pretty advanced as you'd expect from google, so when you set up an id, select the right category and fill out the description with as much detail as possible and it'll serve fairly relevent ads. (it's early days really, so it'll get better over time) They've nailed it pretty much with adsense, so they should do it eventually with admob. Leadbolt has some rudimentary filtering by category, it's good for entertainment type apps, but not so good for 'serious' apps. Best to look at the individual networks documentation really.

I'll snoop a little closer. I'm still trying to figure out the Advertising thing. Most of my app 'ideas' (although I'm planning to launch my first app around Jan 31st, wish me luck) are centered around our local community; I live on Guam, way out in the western pacific. I'm sure that iAd and that sort of stuff will technically work just fine. But most of my 'planned' recurring income is from advertising, and I'm afraid that ads from, I dunno, 'whole foods' or someone isn't going to generate a lot of interest out here. That said, my initial idea is to basically do long term (3/6/12 month) 'leasing' of banner space in my apps to local businesses that have a direct link to the kind of market my apps target, but that's a lot of shoe leather as opposed to sitting back and watching the numbers tick... I guess I just need to do my homework and check out each one and figure out which, if any, can suit our needs out here, and if it's any different than anywhere else. Thanks for the info! Cheers! -- Smug

Hey Smug, Can't wait to see your App. This is why I named this post, "Ad 101, so users and new users of Buzztouch can learn, explore, and share the foundations of ads. Your story of bringing ads locally is part of that foundation. This knowledge is priceless here at buzztouch! LA