After months of testing, I can say that MobClix has definitely paid me more than Admob. When I first wrote this article, I was still waiting for payments, but now that they checks are regularly arriving the winner is clear: MobClix. Read on for details.
Update: Check out the just-released Android Ad Network Primer on Kindle and in print for a crash course in getting advertisements into your Android app quickly. It covers these and many other ad networks.
Update: Mobclix went into bankruptcy, and had lots of trouble paying developers before that. Their technology has been acquired by Telefonica, and the new platform is called Axonix. A review for that network may be coming, but poke around here now to find good choices to use instead of Mobclix.
[Update, Axonix is no longer available either]
Major Features – Admob vs. Mobclix
There are numerous other factors that I’m not covering here. This is a rundown of the major differences that concern me the most.
Admob
- Easy to integrate
- No payment until you get to $20. No ability to convert to ad credit
unless you have $50 pending. - Payment occurs 6 weeks after close of a month with sufficient credit
- Good analytics. Can see geographic location of users.
- Nice visuals for daily activity
- House ads – serve when no ads are available. Metrics on house ads just as with advertiser ads. Easy to create house ads (text or graphic). UPDATE the new house ads don’t allow you to just serve ads when no paid ads are available – you must specify a target number of clicks.
- Single library to integrate into your app
Mobclix
- Easy to integrate
- No payment until you get to $100. If you don’t make it there in 180 days (6 months) it all gets converted into ad credit, which in turn expires in another 180 days.
- UPDATE – they now pay 90 days after the end of the month where you meet the minimum, no matter when the ad network pays them. No more guessing!
- House ads were a little tricky to set up.
- Multiple ad networks means that fill rate is much less likely to dip (which has happened for me with Admob)
- Adfonic
- Adtini
- EJam
- InMobi
- Jumptap
- Mdotm
- Mojiva
- Smaato
- Todacell
- Traffic Marketplace
- Vdopia
- Velti
- ZestADZ
- Admob and Google (through open allocation)
- Single library to integrate (although it’s a little larger, around 150kb)
Deciding factors
- Mobclix has consistently earned at least 3x what I get from Admob. Part of it is the opportunity for ad networks to have high-CPC (Cost-per-Click) ads, part of it is the higher number of ads served (the two networks previously had different ad switch frequencies, but even after updating that frequency I still can’t figure out the discrepancy), and part of it might be a higher click rate.
- Admob analytics have been very useful in understanding where my app is being used in the world. That info is helpful when deciding if I should investigate an alternative marketplace. For example, until I released to a market specifically for Central America, I saw zero requests for ads from that region.
- I use the Admob house ads to advertise for my paid app
Doing some quick math (3x the income for Mobclix, but 5x the payout requirement, plus a longer payout delay) I expect to get paid by Admob first. It will be a small payout, though. (see updates below)
For now, I’m keeping both ad networks in my app. I do intend to drop Admob eventually, but an event like the Mobclix analytics coming online or getting paid by Mobclix would bump that transition along faster. In the meantime, I’m more likely to make Mobclix show up more often than Admob, since it pays more
Further thoughts
Motorola’s app market Shop4Apps also serves China, but I can’t deploy my app there until I use their ad network Amobee. See my review of Amobee for why I don’t suggest it.
The additional danger is that the more ad networks I split my income between, the longer it takes before any of them pay me. Until my ad revenue is up (and until I get my first check) I think that being cautious and concentrating on one network is my best bet.
Updates
I have now received payments from Admob and MobClix, as well as MobFox. All of their payout mechanisms worked as I expected, although MobClix took a while to get things smoothed out (they changed their payout timeframe and are now more predictable).
I continue to post new reviews and updates on ad networks, so click here to read more. You also might want to read the next part in the MobClix vs. AdMob saga:
Mobclix Vs. Admob Round 2 – Getting Paid
Update: Mobclix is defunct – see the note at the top of this post
If you’re looking for a rundown on more of the ad networks, including instructions for quickly implementing them, check out the Android Ad Network Primer, now available on Kindle and also in print from Amazon. You’ll get all of my recommendations and it will get you up and running with easy-to-follow instructions to integrate advertisements from networks such as Admob and MobFox into your Android app. Check it out now!
Thanks for sharing your experiences, I found it immensely useful.
I’ve used both and had a higher click through rate and more ads served on MobClix but a much lower CPC on MobClix. The result? About a 10% increase in revenue. Both generated about $0.60-$0.70 cpm after tens of thousands of ads have been served. I’m still looking for a platform that can generate $2-$3 cpm as advertised.
Promises abound from every ad network, and it can get very frustrating because (in my experience) those promises don’t pan out exactly as stated. Thanks for sharing your experiences and numbers.
Just curious. Are you still seeing a significant different between revenue coming from mobclix vs admob at this time? I have all my apps on admob now….considering a switch to mobclix and wondering if it’s worth the effort. Thanks!
Yes, I’m still having better results with MobClix. The biggest changes to be concerned with are the additional size from the library, and the additional permissions required. Also, house ads aren’t as easy to manage.
To compare, I suggest randomly selecting between the two networks in your app to let you see the relative performance on the same day.
According to the people that owe/operate AdMob, “house ads” are *NOT* shown when “no ads are available”:
> At this time we are not able to provide the option to only
> show house ads when paid ads are not available
Thanks for catching that. Admob changed things with the new house ads system (which target the number of views, rather than allocate a percentage of ad requests to house ads). I’ll stick with the old method until they force me to update, because I don’t like how the new system works.
You say that Mobclix has a *MUCH* higher fill-rate than Admob… but then you don’t say what the rate is on Admob at all.
I get 95%-100% fill-rates on Admob. How can Mobclix be *MUCH* higher than 100%???
There have been periods when my Admob fill rate has fallen to below 50%, and other times when the fill rate has bounced around the 80’s and 90’s. As a single ad provider, there may be times when they have an overage of demand for ads and a shortage of supply. Mobclix has the ability to smooth those issues out by going to another ad network.
If you’re consistently getting 95%, then this isn’t likely to be a deciding factor for you. I updated the wording a little bit to be more clear.
It depends on the framework you use to package your flash game. I don’t think it can be embedded directly in the flash.
Thanks for sharing, definitely worth the try for mobclix