Striking the Balance: How Rewarded Video Ads Drive Campaign Success While Enhancing User Experience

31 August 2023
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The mobile gaming industry is undeniably experiencing growth and evolution. In order to effectively capture the attention of users, advertisers must leverage all available tools at their disposal. One such tool is the rewarded video format in ad campaigns. 

Striking the Balance: How Rewarded Video Ads Drive Campaign Success While Enhancing User Experience

What is rewarded video format

Rewarded video ads offer users the opportunity to receive a reward in exchange for watching an advertisement. This reward can take the form of in-game currency, extra lives, or other valuable incentives. It’s important to note that rewarded video ads are not limited to mobile games only. This ad format is supported by a wide range of applications across various topics, including health trackers, women’s trackers, learning apps, video editors, and more. This format provides a win-win situation for both users and advertisers. By incorporating rewarded video ads, these applications can provide users with additional benefits, while advertisers can effectively engage with their target audience in a diverse range of app categories.

Rewarded video format and ads’ viewability 

Rewarded video advertising is highly favored by users, developers, and advertisers alike. It is considered one of the least intrusive ad formats and has been proven to generate increased loyalty among users. The popularity and effectiveness of rewarded video can be seen in its metrics, particularly when evaluating viewability. 

Viewability is a crucial metric that measures the visibility of an ad to the user, providing insights into the actual visibility of the content.

While video ads in general tend to perform well, the rewarded video ads truly excel in capturing user attention and delivering a high level of viewability. Unlike traditional ad formats where users may be more likely to skip or ignore the ad, rewarded videos capture and maintain user attention throughout the entire duration of the ad. This increased engagement leads to higher viewability rates, ensuring that advertisers’ messages are effectively seen and absorbed by the target audience. 

Striking the Balance: How Rewarded Video Ads Drive Campaign Success While Enhancing User Experience

The secret is…

One of the main reasons for the popularity of rewarded video ads is that users have the freedom to choose whether to watch the video. This element of choice gives users a sense of control and allows them to change their decision at any time.

This interactive and opt-in approach to advertising helps foster user loyalty and cultivates a trusting relationship with the brand. By presenting the ad as an offering rather than a demand, and providing bonuses or rewards for watching within the app, it creates a sense of fair exchange between the user and the advertiser.

Rewarded video funnel

Within the rewarded ad funnel, there are four key events:

  • Ad prompt. This is when the user is presented with the choice to view an ad in exchange for a reward. The prompt serves as an invitation for the user to engage with the ad content.Striking the Balance: How Rewarded Video Ads Drive Campaign Success While Enhancing User Experience
  • Opt-in. The user willingly decides to watch the ad, indicating their interest and willingness to receive the offered reward. This step demonstrates the user’s active participation in the ad experience.
  • Ad reward. After completing the viewing of the ad, the user is rewarded with a valuable incentive, such as an extra life or a power-up. This reward serves as a form of gratification for the user’s engagement and creates a positive association with the brand or app.Striking the Balance: How Rewarded Video Ads Drive Campaign Success While Enhancing User Experience
  • Item used. Once the user consumes the reward, they can continue playing the game or using the app from where they left off. This seamless transition allows users to enjoy uninterrupted gameplay or app usage, enhancing their overall experience.

Due to the desire to continue playing or using the app, users often progress through the entire rewarded ad funnel. The appealing rewards and the seamless integration of the ad experience motivate users to convert at each stage, resulting in higher engagement and a positive impact on the overall user journey.

Rewarded video advantages

The rewarded video format offers several additional benefits for advertisers:

  • Brand safety. Advertisers have the ability to select specific apps that align with their brand’s themes and values. This ensures that their ads are placed in a safe and appropriate environment, maintaining the reputation of their product or service. 
  • High level of scrutiny. Rewarded video ads consistently achieve a high view-through rate (VTR) compared to other ad formats. The majority of users who start watching a rewarded video ad continue to view it until the end, ensuring maximum exposure to the advertiser’s message.
  • Outstanding clickability. Rewarded video format also boasts a high click-through rate (CTR) globally, making the format highly attractive to advertisers. The CTR for rewarded video is one of the highest among all video ad formats, indicating that users are not only engaged with the ad content but also motivated to take action by clicking on the ad.

Striking the Balance: How Rewarded Video Ads Drive Campaign Success While Enhancing User Experience

Conclusion

By incorporating rewarded ads into their games, developers can provide users with a valuable incentive to engage with advertisements. This not only allows developers to generate revenue but also enhances the overall user experience. Users are more willing to interact with rewarded ads as they offer tangible benefits such as in-game currency, extra lives, or other valuable rewards. This creates a win-win situation where developers can monetize their games, users enjoy additional benefits and advertisers get promotion of their products.

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