iOS What constitues as excessive ads in an app?

[RizbIT]

I recently played an iphone game.

I saw an ad when the game launched.

I see an ad everytime I complete a level

I am offered to watch a video ad everytime the character dies.

The are video ads with a say 12 second timer so you HAVE to watch 12 seconds before you can exit.

TBH it can get annoying BUT its a free game, im prob not going to buy any upgrades but by watching an ad or two atleast im supporting the dev with his ROI.

 

[chamaeleon]

Every ad is a nuisance as far as I'm concerned, and I will not really put up with any. Give me the opportunity to disable ads for $0.99 or whatever. If it's not worth $0.99 for me, it is very unlikely I will play the game at all. To answer the question in the subject, one ad is excessive to to me if it impacts my ability to proceed with the game play.

 

[Gaijin]

Look at Star War Galaxy of Heroes. Not a single add, free to play, and has reportedly made $152 Million.

As @chamaeleon said, if it doesn't have a buy and get rid of all adds option, then it won't last long on my device.

 

[Slow Fingers]

I can live with them on startup, and when the "loading" screen should be, but everywhere else, it's enough for me to uninstall an otherwise potentially very cool game. That said, I much rather have none at all once the game has booted up, and much rather pay a one-time price and have none if the game is cool. I miss the days of free demos -> go buy the game. It was simple.

 

[Deleted member 13992]

All of them.

I prefer to pay for software upfront then have a clean, minimal and responsive interface.

 

[Yal]

What you're describing would be unacceptable on most PC gaming platforms, and it's horrifying how it's managed to get this widely accepted on mobile targets. I'm personally very contrarian to monetization schemes - try to squeeze out some extra bucks with predatory schemes, and I'll not only never play the game ever again, I will personally tell all my friends never to touch it. (Random example: Code Vein DLCs). But release a fantastic labor of love like Hollow Knight or Brigand: Oaxaca for like half the price it's worth and I'll compensate by giving two friends it as a Christmas gift to really support you.

 

[Mr Magnus]

I hate ads in games, but as a person who works at an ad-driven company I understand their importance in many games.

On our websites our ads are simply off to the side, where people can happily ignore them, so that's all well and good. However on our app we give players two or three games (or rounds, or hands, or whatever) before displaying a single
ad. Then the player can play another couple of hands and then we roll the next ad. Given that it takes a couple of minutes to play a hand this gives our users maybe an ad every five minutes give or take, and so far that seems to be an *ok* amount as far as player retention on the app goes. It's often enough that it's worth it to play the ads financially for us, but it's infrequent enough at good stopping points (between the results showing and the player deciding if he wants to play another hand) that it's not interrupting the user.

Generally, that's more or less what I'm OK with. Something that is not intrusive, placed in logical spots to show an ad, and there are some number of minutes apart. If you're interrupting me enjoying your product to show me an ad or have so many or long ad breaks that I start seriously considering if I should just put Love, Actually on and make myself a cozy night with coco instead of playing that's bad design.

But it apparently works given how prevalent it is, so what do I know?

 

[Padouk]

I agree with first few posts... « one » Ad is « too much » for games rated E or E10+. They are most likely click bait and that’s beneficial neither for the targeted kid nor for the paying marketer... when the ads does not benefits the marketer (aka no conversion potential) and does not benefits the client (aka he is freaking annoyed) then the game studios leaching off underserved ads money should burn in hell.

For anything rated 13+ gne.. why not.. I mean... Ads during your entertainment time are less damaging than ads during your work or study hours...


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On the other hand, if you are looking for advice on ads placement on mobile devices:
3-4 ads per hour has shown to be an adequate threshold to keep your eCPM high. More than that and your ads revenue will usually drop considerably. Meaning you will get less per ad, and will be losing clients at the same time.
Thats what... a 5 sec ad every 20 ish minutes..

 

[Yal]

But it apparently works given how prevalent it is, so what do I know?

Given the average quality of mobile games, my guess is that the shovelware makers know that their player retention will be 0% - i.e. players only play the game one time and then uninstalls it - so they're trying to squeeze as much ad revenue out of every player as possible.