Are ad revenue still a viable way to monetize an app in 2022?

Question

Do you have examples of app that still make their main profits from ad revenue ? If so, are their better alternatives than AdSense to put ads on a website ?I guess a typical answer would be "it depends on the app", so I'll give a bit of context, you can skip if you don't care: I'm building an app which fetch and process big amount of data from multiplayer game, and users can check their data and stats (similar to op.gg for those who know). Processing and storing such data is costly, and ads seems like the most natural way to monetize the app, since ideally users would regularly come and check multiple pages

tmp65535 · Accepted Answer

This app has earned significant money since 2017:http://driftwheeler.comNot safe for work. Pornography advertising.I get a cut of the monthly fees when somebody signs up for MetArt.

urbandw311er · Answer

Yes, but only with significant numbers of active users ideally DAUs.Our app has several hundred thousand MAUs and we make about two cents per month per active user. Margin on this is about 50%.

Ahmedb · Answer

I just wrote about how ads actually hurt my user retention. My case is particular, my app is privacy-orientedhttps://ahbou.org/post/696176028423487488/ads-impact-on-perc...

cercatrova · Answer

Just have both, an ad version and offer an in-app purchase for an ad-free version. That way you can capture both types of consumers.

disadvantage · Answer

How much traffic will you be getting? Would the traffic bring in substantial revenue, as in, enough to pay rent, eat food, etc?You could always go AD-free and offer a premium-only app. I prefer this model since ADs invade privacy and I block them anyway with ADGuard.

lw_seventhree · Answer

So you could just use a platform that has money-taking built in (www.salable.app)

j0hnyl · Answer

If you make an app that gets a lot of users, advertisers/networks/etc. will find you.

reducesuffering · Answer

Pretty sure GasBuddy, for tracking US gasoline prices, is mostly ad-supported.

eimrine · Answer

How about gathering as much of personal data as you can for the sake of selling it to Facebook/Google/Bytedance?

Are ad revenue still a viable way to monetize an app in 2022?

This app has earned significant money since 2017:
http://driftwheeler.com
Not safe for work. Pornography advertising.
I get a cut of the monthly fees when somebody signs up for MetArt.

Yes, but only with significant numbers of active users ideally DAUs.
Our app has several hundred thousand MAUs and we make about two cents per month per active user. Margin on this is about 50%.

I just wrote about how ads actually hurt my user retention. My case is particular, my app is privacy-oriented
https://ahbou.org/post/696176028423487488/ads-impact-on-perc...

Just have both, an ad version and offer an in-app purchase for an ad-free version. That way you can capture both types of consumers.

How much traffic will you be getting? Would the traffic bring in substantial revenue, as in, enough to pay rent, eat food, etc?
You could always go AD-free and offer a premium-only app. I prefer this model since ADs invade privacy and I block them anyway with ADGuard.

So you could just use a platform that has money-taking built in (www.salable.app)

If you make an app that gets a lot of users, advertisers/networks/etc. will find you.

Pretty sure GasBuddy, for tracking US gasoline prices, is mostly ad-supported.

How about gathering as much of personal data as you can for the sake of selling it to Facebook/Google/Bytedance?