Mobile Ads: Best Practices for Publisher (2025)

With billions of users glued to their mobile devices, programmatic advertising on mobile has become a cornerstone for publishers and advertisers alike. In October 2024, the number of mobile internet users globally had reached 5.75 billion users, making mobile the most critical channel for advertisers. Moreover, over 90% of display ads on mobile are now purchased programmatically, showcasing the efficiency and popularity of this method. To maximize revenue and enhance user experience, it’s essential to implement best practices tailored to the mobile environment. Here are key strategies, supported by industry insights.

Optimize Ad Formats for Mobile

Utilizing mobile-friendly ad formats such as responsive display ads, native ads, and interstitials ensures seamless integration with mobile content, leading to higher engagement rates.

For example, native ads that align with the app’s design can enhance user experience and increase click-through rates. According to Native Advertising Institute, Native ads on mobile achieve 40% higher engagement rates compared to traditional banners.

Additionally, consumers look at native ads 53% more than they do display ads, and native ads create an 18% increase in purchase intent and generate 9% higher brand affinity than banner ads.

Optimize Ad Placement

Effective ad placement on mobile is critical to optimizing user engagement, ad performance, and revenue. The best placements are those that balance visibility with user experience. Some best practices for mobile ad placement are:

1. Above-the-Fold (ATF) Placements

Above the fold refers to the portion of a webpage that is visible without any scrolling when the page first loads. This prime real estate is the first thing users see upon landing on a page, making it a critical area for capturing immediate attention. The prominence of this section means that any content or advertisements placed here are highly visible and likely to attract user interaction right away.

Best ad format for this position are usually sticky banner ads and banner ads.

2. In-Content Placements

• Why It Works: Placing ads  within the main content aligns them with the user’s attention as they scroll through.
• Best Formats:
  • Native ads (blend seamlessly with content)
  • In-feed ads (ideal for news or social media-style layouts)
• Performance Insight: Ads integrated into content have a higher click-through rate (CTR) due to contextual relevance.

Optimize Mobile Pagespeed

Faster-loading pages not only improve user experience but also have a direct impact on ad performance and revenue generation. Here’s how enhancing page speed affects mobile programmatic advertising:

• Improves Ad Viewability: Faster pages ensure ads load promptly, increasing viewability rates by up to 25%.
• Reduces Bounce Rates: Quick-loading pages retain users, as 53% of users abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load.
• Enhances User Experience: Faster sites lead to 70% longer session durations, encouraging ad engagement.
• Boosts Revenue: A 1-second improvement in load time can increase ad revenue by 20%.
• Supports Real-Time Bidding (RTB): Fast pages streamline RTB processes, reducing missed bidding opportunities.
• Improves SEO Rankings: Faster pages rank higher in mobile-first indexing, driving more traffic and impressions.
• Increases Ad Interaction: Pages loading within 3 seconds have 2x higher ad interaction rates.

Here are some methods you can implement to dramatically enhance your pagespeed.

• Enable AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages): Ensure lightning-fast loading for mobile pages.
• Optimize Images: Use compressed formats like WebP to reduce file sizes.
• Minimize JavaScript and CSS: Reduce render-blocking scripts to speed up loading times.
• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): Distribute content efficiently to users worldwide.
• Lazy Load Ads and Content: Load only visible content to enhance speed without sacrificing ad performance.
• Using Pagespeed Insight: Help you measure and optimize your website’s performance, ensuring a fast, user-friendly experience.

Use First-party Data

As third-party cookies are phased out and data privacy regulations tighten, first-party data has emerged as a critical asset for publishers and advertisers. First-party data is information collected directly from your audience, such as website visitors or app users, through their interactions with your platform. It includes behavioral, demographic, and transactional insights that can dramatically enhance mobile programmatic ad performance.

Here’s how it makes a difference:

• Precise Targeting: Enables detailed audience segmentation, allowing for highly relevant ads.
• Personalization: Delivers tailored ad experiences, boosting engagement and conversions.
• Cross-Device Consistency: Tracks users across devices for cohesive ad experiences.
• Privacy Compliance: Collected with consent, ensuring adherence to regulations like GDPR and CCPA.
• Lookalike Audiences: Creates new audience groups with similar traits to existing users, expanding reach.

Here are some methods for publishers to collect and use first-party data

• Invest in Data Management Platforms (DMPs)
  • Use DMPs to organize and analyze your first-party data effectively, enabling better targeting and insights.
• Integrate with Programmatic Platforms
  • Share first-party data with demand-side platforms (DSPs) and advertisers securely to enhance the value of your ad inventory.

Boost Mobile Ads with Experts

Collaborate with PubPower’s experienced team to take your mobile advertising strategy to the next level. Our experts will analyze your ad performance, fine-tune placements, and implement tailored solutions to maximize engagement and revenue. With PubPower, you’ll have dedicated support to ensure your mobile ads consistently deliver the results you need.

Get started today and experience the power of expert-driven optimization!

Final Thought

The mobile advertising landscape is ripe with opportunities, but success requires adhering to best practices such as using optimized formats, prioritizing user experience, leveraging first-party data, and embracing programmatic technologies like header bidding. By focusing on data-driven strategies and maintaining ad quality, publishers can maximize their mobile programmatic revenue while ensuring a seamless user experience.