Increase Revenue With Multiple-Line Items In Your Waterfall

The mediated ad-network waterfall has been the mainstay of in-app monetization for quite some time now. While it must be acknowledged that the industry is beginning to shift towards real-time, programmatic auctioning of ads, the waterfall is still the dominant infrastructure in place that developers depend upon to monetize their users. ?As such, it is important to have a waterfall strategy in place that maximizes revenue; this is where the multiple-line item approach comes in.

What are ?multiple-line items??

The strategy involves placing an ad-network at multiple positions within a waterfall. ?Each position has an associated fixed eCPM rate, typically a high, middle and low, giving the network 3 opportunities to show an ad. If the high eCPM line item cannot fill an ad request, then there are two additional chances at the middle and low line items.

What are the benefits of multiple-line items?

By calling the same ad partner multiple times, developers achieve better fill-rates and higher eCPMs, while they consolidate their ad-network relationships.Giving a network more than one opportunity to show an ad allows publishers to get the best performance from their partners in each context. Networks may have better fill in the low eCPM tiers at a given point, while at other times, they may be able to fill the top tier eCPMs. If you have a blended eCPM prediction per placement, you are not allowing them to perform at their best in each tier, depending on the type of advertising campaigns they are representing at each moment. While this setup is not a true RTB-auction, it is an approximation.Multi-line items also allow you to work with fewer ad-networks by placing the same network(s) multiple times across your waterfall. This reduces the number of SDKs in a given game/app resulting in less bloat.

Who should use multiple-line items?

The use of multiple line items is broadly applicable. Any developer with games/apps that serve ads to a large daily active user (DAU) base can benefit from this strategy. To find out if it?s right for you and to explore the potential revenue impact, you can contact the supply team directly at supply@chartboost.com for a consultation.We worked closely with Magmic and helped them setup multiple-line items at three levels for their key markets; the US and Germany, and we were able to help them increase revenue by over 580%! Read our latest case study with Magmic!

How do you get started with multiple-line items?

Make sure you have the latest version of the Chartboost SDK in order to enable multiple-line item setup.Besides in-house mediation, it is available on MoPub, AdMob, and IronSource mediation. To view how to get set up for each mediation platform see our documentation on our help site; MoPub, AdMob, and IronSource. If you?re setting up multiple-line items on in-house mediation and need support, please reach out to our support team.