2022

2021 has been a big year for app developers — global consumer spend has reached new heights; expectations around digital security continue to shift; and mobile platforms and regulators are introducing changes to better protect user privacy. These will likely continue to be major themes in 2022, so we’re sharing some monetization strategies to help you drive business growth in a fast-evolving landscape.

Diversify your demand sources to deliver more value

As the industry pivots to real-time bidding, strong demand sources can help you make the most of your unique inventory. Access to a diverse range of buyers in particular can deliver strong effective cost per thousand impressions (eCPMs) for your inventory.

Google AdMob supports many demand sources to help you earn more across real-time bidding and waterfall mediation. The AdMob network includes demand from Google Ads, Display & Video 360 and more than 200 demand-side platforms (DSPs). Soon, we’ll introduce software development kit (SDK) integrations with buyers like Snap to further enhance performance — with more to come in 2022. For direct-sold inventory support, you may want to consider Google Ad Manager.

After mobile game developer Me2Zen saw strong performance from the AdMob network, they decided to move to the AdMob platform. The team adopted both bidding and waterfall mediation and saw a 15% increase in their average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU).

Simplify operations to free up resources

An effective suite of tools to manage operational tasks can save time and help you focus on growth. For example, a robust A/B testing strategy can help you decide what levers to pull to optimize performance with confidence. With AdMob, you can set up an A/B test with a few clicks and get actionable insights to earn more.

Onboarding and testing can be another manual and time-consuming task for developers. With tools like ad inspector, you can test adapter setups, demand sources and more with the shake of your hand — which accelerates the testing process and adds a bit of fun.

RisingWings, a fast-growing casual game company, cut operational costs by 50% and saw ARPDAU increase by 8.7% after switching to AdMob. The team took an integrated approach with in-app ads for all their hybrid games, and built a reliable revenue stream without affecting user retention.

Use data and insights to drive growth

The right insights can uncover new opportunities beyond monetization. A broad understanding of user lifetime value (LTV) can help you refine your user acquisition strategy. And insights on how ads influence user retention can help you optimize total revenue while maintaining a good user experience. With resources like the ads activity report and cohort report available on AdMob, you’ll get a clear picture of ads performance and user LTV. You can then use these insights to find more high-value users through solutions like target return on ad spend (tROAS) for ads revenue.

During the transition to a hybrid model, game developer IGG combined LTV data from AdMob with internal ROI analysis to identify new growth opportunities in their top markets. These insights helped the team double their user base by increasing spend on regional App campaigns.

Apply strong brand safety controls to maintain user trust

As people’s expectations around digital privacy continue to rise, it’s critical to build trust through engaging and brand-appropriate ads. While a meaningful ad experience can complement your app and increase trust, a bad experience can lead to an uninstall or, even worse, a loss of trust in your brand.

To ensure brand safety, your platform should have a high bar for the quality of advertiser demand and provide controls to help you deliver an optimal ad experience. With AdMob, you can block ads from certain categories or specific competitors, or use the Ad review center to review ads flowing through the AdMob network and manually block them if needed. We’ll expand these same ad quality controls to third-party buyers participating in bidding in 2022.

We’ve learned so much in an industry that’s changing faster than ever. As we head into 2022, we look forward to continuing to partner together to shape the future of app monetization.

Karrim Omer loves his new career. As an associate analyst at Infosys, he enjoys collaborating with his teammates — using data-driven insights to solve complex problems for the company.

But the road to a career in data analytics wasn’t always easy. In fact, when Karrim graduated with a bachelor’s degree in management information systems in December 2020, he wasn’t sure what might come next. During his job search, he started to explore the data analytics career path and enrolled in the Google Data Analytics Certificate. With his new skills came newfound confidence, and within a month of earning his certificate, he landed his job with Infosys — one of the more than 150 companies in our employer consortium who are ready to hire certificate graduates.

It’s been an exciting year for Karrim, and his career is just getting started. We caught up with him about his new career and his 2022 new year’s resolution:

What was your proudest professional moment in 2021?

I would definitely say getting the job at Infosys. Once I got that offer, it felt like all the hard work I put in wasn’t for nothing. It felt like a big accomplishment.

At the beginning of 2021, I didn’t see myself getting a job as a data analyst within the year. I thought it would be hard to do. When I graduated from college, I thought having my degree would be enough, but after weeks of putting in applications and looking through requirements, I noticed that I didn’t have enough of the necessary skills.

Taking the Google Data Analytics Certificate course showed me all the skills I needed in order to get an entry-level position and helped me add things to my resume. I was learning every day, starting to build more confidence and feeling more and more like I was ready for the challenge of getting a job. And for me to actually get the job made me feel like I can do anything I set out to do.

How has your new career changed things for you personally?

It’s boosted my confidence. I was unemployed early in the year and I started questioning if I was working hard enough. It was such a weight lifted off my shoulders when I received an offer from Infosys.

I remember I was like, OK, finally I’m going to have money to pay for things I need to pay for. And then I started thinking about the future. This is a stepping stone for my career and I can grow with this. I’m thinking about all the endless possibilities — from networking to seeing what positions I can move up to. I went from not knowing if I was going to get a job to then getting the job, and I was like, OK, I know what I’m doing, I’m on the right path. Now I just have to keep going.

Do you have a professional New Year’s resolution going into 2022? Anything you’re looking forward to, or hoping to achieve in 2022?

In 2022, I’m looking to get more into product analysis and trends. Using data to see cities where a product’s most popular, how much time people are spending with the product and trying to find more ways to get people involved — I feel like that’s the kind of information you can use to help a product grow. It’s fulfilling for me to see that.

What would you say to anyone considering a Google Career Certificate?

Keep going and keep trying. I know what it feels like to think it’s not working out. At the beginning of the course you’re on a high. But then — I think it was the third course — that’s when it dives deep into more technical concepts. That’s when you have to think, how badly do you want it?

You have to keep in mind what you’re working towards — just finish this course and see what happens. That helped me get through it. I tried to put in an hour or two every day, and if I couldn’t wrap my brain around something, I could just take a break and come back fresh a couple hours later. That definitely helped during times when it got a little bit rough. A Google Career Certificate can take you from zero to 100, so as long as you put the work in, you will go as far as you can go.

Karrim is one of thousands of people who’ve gained job-ready skills through the Google Career Certificates. If learning new skills or making a career change happens to be your resolution this year, explore our certificates at grow.google/certificates.