If you’ve ever tried to integrate a mobile ad SDK into your application, then you’ve definitely had to declare a few permission for it to work. Permissions in mobile platforms such as Android and iOS have been baked in from day one as a mean to control what applications could do or access on your phone, preventing despicable people getting access to your most personal and sensitive data. In this article, we will review what permissions are required to integrate 10 of the most popular mobile ad SDKs out there.

For the sake of clarity and consistency, we will use the Android SDK permissions. Since most of these mobile ad networks mirror their Android and iOS SDKs this is an acceptable simplification, so without further ado, let’s jump right in.

The Internet Permission

This is a no-brainer really. If any ad SDK is going to be able to serve real-time ads, then it has to be able to communicate with an adserver over the internet. It’s no surprise then that all 10/10 SDKs require this permission.

The Network State Permission

Accessing the network state simply means identifying if the device is connected to the internet. If the answer to this question is yes, then this permission can also be used to identify if the connection is through a WiFi or a Cellular connection. This is the second most common permission across our sample with 7/10 SDKs requiring this permission and another 2 listing it as optional.

Access WiFi State Permissions

Using this permission is another way to check if a user is connected to WiFi or not but is clearly not the most popular method as only 2 SDK mark this as required with another 3 making it optional.

Read Phone State Permission

A less popular permission as only 3 SDKs require this but nevertheless all three make this a requirement.

Access Coarse/Fine Location Permissions

This is a very important set of permissions. Traditionally location has played a key role in advertising but has an especially increasing importance in digital mobile advertising. It comes then as no surprise that 7/10 SDKs are interested in this permission. There is a clear trend here that these permissions are mainly optional permissions because they can be considered as more “intrusive” by users so developers tend to avoid them if not using them already. On the other side, including location info with an ad request can usually boost potential by a great deal so this situation can present a great dilemma.

Other Permissions

While the permissions mentioned above are the most popular ones, you may encounter some less frequent ones like write to external storage or even record audio. Throughout the 10 SDKs mentioned in this article, we measure 12 distinct permissions which is not a very big number considering that the Android OS has more than 100 available to declare.

Most SDKs that we have reviewed for this article have very reasonable permission requirements. Ultimately, it’s up to the app developers to find the sweet spot on what they will allow these SDKs to collect and if they are willing to introduce new permissions in their apps just for this. On the other hand, by doing so, app developers can realise a substantial boost in earnings due to more targeted and relevant ads, which can be a great thing for the end-users as well!

How to choose a good mobile ad network

You probably have already tried a handful of mobile ad networks, spending the good part of a day every time to integrate them and have experienced so far both feelings of disappointment and satisfaction. If it helps, you are not the only one.

The road to building a successful app business is not an easy one and you have to constantly experiment with new ad networks and technologies to find the one that best matches your app’s unique needs.

It doesn’t have to be a painful experience though and here are 5 different angles to look at a mobile ad network before you decide to invest your time and give it a try.

Angle #1 – Fill Rate

A quick look at your mobile analytics provider will show the countries or regions the majority of your users are coming from.

Geography: If most of your users are coming from North America, for example, you should actively search for mobile ad networks that have a high fill rate in this region otherwise you will not be making money at your full potential.

Consistency: This is slightly tricky to evaluate beforehand, but aim for a monetization partner that in the last 3 months had consistently high fill rates in the regions you are most interested.

Many in-app advertising solutions have developed mediation technologies and partnerships with ad exchanges to combat these issues and while touting near 100% global fill rate, make sure you evaluate on hard numbers and not just marketing talk.

Angle #2 – eCPM

Choosing a mobile ad network based only on its average eCPM has a caveat because eCPM measures performance on a relative basis. Only when combined with the fill rate and your estimated monthly ad requests you can get a good sense of your expected earnings in absolute terms.

Have in mind that there are many factors that will cause significant fluctuations on eCPM, including the seasonality of advertising campaigns and the quality of traffic you send from your apps. You should anticipate fluctuations, especially if you are working with a single mobile ad network, and use the network’s average eCPM to get an “order-of-magnitude” feeling on what to expect.

Angle #3 – User Experience

People who download a free app are well-aware that it has to be funded somehow and they expect that the app might include a form of advertising.

App developers, however, have a choice whether they want to deliver a spammy user experience or interrupt the normal user flow to display ads and by choosing to do so they consciously take the risk that user retention can fall dramatically.

If quality user experience is important to your app, some mobile ad networks are more flexible than others and have started embracing native advertising technologies to offer developers more control on how and where ads get displayed.

Angle #4 – Technology

You can also evaluate a mobile ad network based on its technology.

SDK: A lightweight SDK that has been battle-tested enough will ensure your app’s performance will not be impaired at any time.

Dashboard: A fully-featured dashboard can enable thorough monitoring and effortless fine tuning which helps in both maximizing your revenues and increasing transparency.

Ad Server: This component is the most difficult to evaluate but among others, low-latency infrastructure and yield optimization algorithms are the backbone for a good eCPM, so you can use that as a proxy.

Angle #5 – Payment Options

We’ve covered previously the different payment options offered by major mobile ad networks and is important to be familiar with them well in advance in order to avoid unpleasant surprises.

Payment methods: Mobile ad networks often support a limited number of payment methods and you have to make sure your individual circumstances can be covered before you start integration.

Payment schedule: This is usually not a deal breaker, but some networks offer a faster payment schedule than others.

Sum Up

Experimenting with various solutions to find the ones that best match your needs is critical for a successful app monetization strategy but due to the sheer volume of mobile ad networks out there it can get quickly overwhelming.

Avocarrot have explored here 5 different dimensions that can hopefully help you get a well-rounded picture of any mobile ad network you come across and quickly decide whether or not you will invest some of your time to give it a try.