According to a report from advertising specialist Admix, in-play ads appear to be the most exciting format on offer in 2021.

Unsurprisingly, in-play ads are better received by players due to them not taking away from their experience. As such, more mobile developers are looking at this method.

Overall, the report included responses from 80 mobile game developers, of which eight managed to secure a spot on PocketGamer.biz's Top 50. Moreover, combined, the surveyed companies have surpassed three billion downloads on iOS and Android devices.

Moreover, a keen interest in in-play ads was shown by all developers that took part in the report.

Change is coming

In "early spring," Apple is set to bring about its IDFA changes, which will impact the earnings of mobile publishers. Without the IDFA, companies will no longer be able to measure various attributes, which could result in fewer CPMs.

Therefore, companies are forced to look to alternatives to bring in revenue. One such solution is in-play ads as they will be less impacted by IDFA changes.

The less impactful ads are to a player, the better. The survey found that the majority of player bases, at 93 per cent, felt no negative impact from the advertising format.

Furthermore, over a third of players enjoyed having the ads in the game, with just seven per cent claiming not to like them.

All mobile game genres are capable of utilising non-intrusive ads. For example, sports and racing titles can implement completely natural ads through placements around the track.

 

However, Hypercasual titles are leading the way when it comes to in-play ads implementation.

To the future

As part of the report, respondents were asked how they intend to use in-play ads, 94 per cent claimed they would use more, while no developer said they would use fewer.

Overall, at 44 per cent, in-play ads was the format that surveyed developers were most excited by. However, it was followed by rewarded video at 32 per cent.

"It's fantastic to see such an epic shift in attention and positive sentiment to our new revenue stream," said Admix CEO Sam Huber.

"We have spent the last few years developing the technology to scale and support this new monetisation format, and now it's really starting to pay off for our developers."

Admix got off to a great start in 2021 as it made two key hires, welcoming Google vet Michael Silberberg and Spotify's former global leader of international ad sales Alex Faust.