Web Interstitial Increased Ad Revenue by 42% | Case Study
Most likely, you have already heard about the benefits regarding interstitial ads, like higher CPM prices than standard ad formats. This ad format previously was only used for mobile; however, in November 2020 Google made it available for desktop.
Previously we suggested being careful by serving interstitial ads on desktop since there were no stats on how well they will perform. And now, we have compiled the data from our publisher templatemo.com to show you the results.
Let’s dive into details!
The Challenge
For templatemo.com and other publishers, Q4 2020 was the most profitable season of the year. Moreover, during this time Google rolled out this new ad format–interstitial ad for the desktop.
Since the interstitial ad format is more efficient than other ad formats like standard banner ads, it can greatly increase overall ad engagement and revenue. For Setupad, it was crucial to understand how much the interstitial ad helped increase the ad revenue despite the good overall results due to the holiday season in Q4.
Related Article: Everything You Should Know About Interstitial Ads
The Approach
On 13th November 2020, the desktop interstitial ad was launched on the publisher’s site. Setupad compared how the publisher’s ad revenue and eCPM had changed until the end of the year by taking into account the 49-day interval before and after the interstitial ad was implemented.
According to the graph below, we can see that the eCPM price for standard ad formats (without interstitial) was 0.93€, and after launching the interstitial, it decreased by 12%.
This kind of eCPM drop isn’t bad because it usually happens for standard ad formats when an additional ad format is launched, in this case–interstitial. It’s related to the limited ad efficiency that publishers can provide. This proves that the ad revenue increase was not because of seasonality (although it must have had a minor positive influence) but thanks to a new, effective ad format–interstitial.
The figure below shows that, despite the eCPM decrease for standard ad formats, the overall average eCPM increased after adding the desktop interstitial.
It’s worth adding that since advertisers spend their ad budgets in November and December, they become quieter at the beginning of each year. When Q4 comes to an end, the overall eCPM drops for almost every publisher.
The Results
According to the Setupad data, it’s clear that the interstitial ad format was the main reason why the publisher’s ad revenue demonstrated a 42% uplift. One of Setupad’s technical capabilities is to adopt Google’s new formats and save publishers’ time across 931 of its current accounts! Increase your ad revenue with Setupad!
“The Setupad team informed me on the day Google launched the interstitial ad format for desktop. They have been helping me with feature updates and instructions on adding the ad codes. They are supportive and fast.” – Min Thu, Founder of TemplateMo
