As an Individual with having deep interest and years of experience in affiliate marketing, I know firsthand the power of incentivized advertising for driving conversions and boosting revenue. The global digital advertising market is projected to reach a staggering $876 billion by 2026, with the US digital ad spend alone hitting nearly $300 billion in 2023.
Incentive traffic has become an increasingly popular strategy, particularly in the mobile app space, where 71% of players prefer rewarded video ads over paid apps or in-app purchases.
By offering users valuable rewards like extra lives, extended trials, or virtual currency, incentive ad networks can help advertisers capture attention, increase engagement, and drive profitable user actions. In fact, 62% of mobile game developers report that rewarded video ads are their most attractive in-game ad format.
What to Look for in an Incentive Ad Network?
Incentive ad networks are platforms that connect advertisers with publishers who offer rewards or incentives to users for engaging with ads. When evaluating an incentive ad network, it's crucial to consider several key factors.
Firstly, look for a network with diverse traffic sources and high traffic volumes, ensuring a steady supply of potential customers. The ability to target specific Geos, devices, and user segments is also essential for effective ad campaigns. Transparent pricing models and fair payouts are paramount, as they directly impact your return on investment.
Advanced tracking, analytics, and optimization tools are invaluable assets, enabling you to monitor campaign performance, identify areas for improvement, and maximize your ad spend. Reputable incentive ad networks prioritize quality traffic, implementing measures to prevent fraud and ensure genuine user engagement.
When selecting an incentive ad network, consider its reputation, customer support, and compatibility with your advertising goals. By carefully evaluating these factors, you can effectively use the power of incentivized advertising to drive user acquisition, engagement, and revenue growth.
12 Best Incentive Ad Networks for 2024
| Ad Network | Description | Commission Type | Payment Frequency | Minimum Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adsterra | Powerful ad network serving over 30 billion impressions monthly worldwide. Works with mainstream and non-mainstream verticals. | CPC, CPM, CPA | Weekly, Bi-Weekly | $5 |
| JuicyAds | Industry-leading adult ad network since 2006. Offers pop traffic, banners, and native ads. | CPC, CPM, CPA | Upon Request | $25 |
| HilltopAds | UK-based CPC/CPM ad network launched in 2013. Segments traffic by quality and activity. | CPC, CPM | Weekly | $10 |
| Nativex | Leading digital marketing platform for cross-regional growth. Specializes in media buying. | CPI, CPE, CPM | – | – |
| Tapjoy | Major mobile ad network with offerwall solutions. Rewards users for engaging with ads. | CPI, CPA | – | – |
| Kevel | Helps build custom ad servers in weeks for incentivized advertising. | – | – | – |
| ASTRAD | Ad delivery partners offer more than just ads. | – | – | – |
| AdGate Media | Incentivized ad network focused on high eCPMs. | CPI, CPA | Net30 | $100 |
| Adscend Media | Incentivized ad network with high fill rates and advanced targeting. | CPI, CPA | Net30 | $100 |
| AppLovin | Mobile ad network and marketing platform for app developers. | CPI, CPA | – | – |
| SmartyAds | Ad network offering pop traffic and various ad formats. | CPC, CPM | Net7, Net14 | $20 |
| Media.net | Contextual advertising network focused on publisher monetization. | CPM, CPA | Monthly | $100 |
1. Adsterra
Adsterra, a top-leading global ad network, offers an innovative incentive traffic solution for advertisers seeking to boost app installs and drive user engagement. With its extensive network of over 18,000 publishers across the world, Adsterra delivers high-quality incentivized traffic through enticing ad formats such as Social Bar Push Ads, Popunders, Native Banners, and VAST Video Ads.
By using advanced AI algorithms, Adsterra ensures publishers receive higher eCPMs while providing advertisers with valuable insights to optimize their bids and maximize ROI. Adsterra's incentive traffic platform enables advertisers to reach a broad audience of motivated users incentivized to interact with their apps, resulting in increased installs, higher retention rates, and improved overall performance.
Why Choose Adsterra?
Pros and Cons of Adsterra
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2. JuicyAds
JuicyAds is an adult ad network offering an enticing incentive traffic solution for advertisers looking to maximize their ROI in the adult entertainment industry. With over 1 billion daily impressions across more than 4,000 active campaigns, JuicyAds provides access to exclusive placements on trusted publisher websites.
The network's modern interface empowers advertisers to take complete control of their monetization strategies, while its global coverage ensures that campaigns reach a broad audience. JuicyAds specializes in converting offers for webcam, dating, gaming, and entertainment verticals, using its expertise to deliver highly profitable results.
As an award-winning service with over 30 industry accolades, JuicyAds prioritizes user safety by maintaining a strict no-malware policy. Since its establishment in 2006, JuicyAds has served trillions of ad impressions, cementing its position as a powerful and popular choice for adult advertisers seeking to optimize their incentive traffic campaigns and achieve unparalleled success.
Why Choose JuicyAds?
Pros and Cons of JuicyAds
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3. HilltopAds
HilltopAds, a prominent UK-based advertising network established in 2013, has become a top choice for incentivising traffic among advertisers and publishers. With its unique traffic segmentation based on user quality and activity, HilltopAds ensures high-quality traffic delivery for optimal campaign performance.
The platform offers a seamless sign-up process, instant account activation, and no minimum traffic requirements, making it accessible to publishers of all sizes. HilltopAds supports a wide range of ad formats and provides flexible placement options, frequency capping, and multiple payment methods. Known for its competitive CPM rates for premium traffic and a low minimum payout of $10 every Tuesday, HilltopAds has become a preferred partner for maximizing ad revenue.
Why Choose HilltopAds?
Pros and Cons of HilltopAds
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4. Nativex
Nativex, a mobile advertising company and app marketing agency, offers a powerful performance-based DSP for user growth. With its extensive traffic sources, including SDK ad networks, OEM traffic, and top developers, Nativex enables precise and scalable advertising across app-based, web-based, and other traffic resources.
The platform provides programmatic ad inventory from the world's largest ad networks, such as Mintegral, Unity, and The Trade Desk, as well as access to a growing Android market through partnerships with Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo.
Nativex sets itself apart with its smart bidding mechanism, ROI-oriented ROAS prediction, and deep learning algorithms, ensuring effective targeting of high-quality users. The self-developed DSP focuses on maximizing returns by identifying and targeting high-value user segments.
Why Choose Nativex?
Pros and Cons of Nativex
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5. Tapjoy
Tapjoy is a mobile advertising and app monetization platform that utilizes a unique value exchange model to connect advertisers with over one billion highly engaged mobile consumers monthly.
As a top incentive ad network, Tapjoy enables users to earn rewards like virtual currency by engaging with ads, driving up to 5x higher conversion rates for advertisers. Tapjoy's offerwall and rewarded video ads are popular among top-grossing apps and mobile games, providing a win-win for publishers, advertisers, and consumers.
The network's data-driven approach, robust targeting capabilities, and premium ad formats like playables help brands achieve their performance marketing goals. With over $1000 eCPMs and a long-standing reputation in the industry, Tapjoy continues to innovate in the incentivized advertising space, empowering publishers to maximize app revenue while enhancing the user experience.
Why Choose Tapjoy?
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6. Kevel
Kevel, formerly Adzerk, is a powerful ad-serving platform enabling businesses to build their own server-side ad platforms tailored to their unique needs.
While Kevel is not an incentive ad network, it provides the infrastructure for companies to create custom ad experiences, including sponsored listings, native ads, and other engaging formats that can drive higher user engagement and conversions. Kevel's fast, flexible APIs allow developers to build highly customized ad servers with average latency under 50ms, ensuring a seamless user experience.
By using Kevel's technology, businesses maintain complete control over their ad inventory and user data, without relying on third-party ad networks. With over 8,500 ad units powered by Kevel and a track record of helping clients like Ticketmaster and Edmunds boost revenue and save on engineering costs.
Why Choose Kevel?
Pros and Cons of Kevel
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7. ASTRAD
ASTRAD is an innovative ad delivery partner that offers a powerful platform for incentivized advertising, enabling advertisers to reach and engage high-quality audiences at scale. With the ability to process an impressive 2.5 million queries per second and 180 billion queries per day, ASTRAD ensures that advertising campaigns can captivate target audiences with unparalleled efficiency.
As a growing incentive ad network, ASTRAD provides advertisers with advanced targeting capabilities, allowing them to precisely reach specific user profiles and maximize the impact of their campaigns. By using ASTRAD's high-end technology and extensive expertise in the incentivized advertising space, advertisers can achieve higher conversion rates, increased user engagement, and improved return on investment.
Why Choose ASTRAD?
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8. AdGate Media
AdGate Media is a prominent incentive ad network that connects digital advertisers with highly engaged users across popular apps and websites. As a trusted partner for both advertisers and publishers, AdGate Media offers a comprehensive platform for user acquisition and monetization.
With their innovative offerwall and rewarded video ad units, publishers can boost revenue while providing a non-intrusive and engaging experience for their users. Conversely, advertisers can use AdGate Media's performance-based model to achieve their goals, whether it's app installs, user engagement, or sales.
By only paying for desired outcomes, advertisers can maximize their return on investment and acquire high-quality users at scale.
Why Choose AdGate Media?
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9. Adscend Media
Adscend Media is another leading incentive ad network that has been delivering innovative monetization solutions for publishers and advertisers since 2009. As a pioneer in content-locking technology, Adscend Media offers a wide range of high-performing ad formats, including offerwalls, rewarded videos, and affiliate marketing.
With a strong focus on user engagement and retention, Adscend Media helps publishers boost their eCPMs by providing users with enticing incentives for interacting with ads. Boasting an extensive network of over 2,000 offers and a global reach spanning 180+ countries, Adscend Media enables publishers to maximize their ad revenue potential.
Why Choose Adscend Media?
Pros and Cons of Adscend Media
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10. AppLovin
AppLovin is a mobile advertising and app monetization platform that offers incentivized ad solutions for publishers and advertisers. As an incentive ad network, AppLovin enables app developers to reward users with in-app prizes or currency for engaging with advertisements.
This innovative approach to mobile advertising helps publishers boost user retention, drive engagement, and maximize revenue. AppLovin's advanced technology, which includes machine learning algorithms and data-driven insights, ensures that the right ads are delivered to the right users at the optimal time.
With a vast network of over 140,000 apps and a reach of more than 2 billion monthly active users, AppLovin provides advertisers with unparalleled access to a global audience.
Why Choose AppLovin?
Pros and Cons of AppLovin
| Pros | Cons |
| Advanced targeting and optimization capabilities in its DSP (AppDiscovery) | Requires technical integration via SDK, which may need dev resources |
| Access to diverse demand sources and premium inventory | Focused more heavily on gaming apps, it may have less traction in other verticals |
| Creative studio (SparkLabs) for driving marketing performance |
11. SmartyAds
SmartyAds is a global ad tech company that offers innovative incentive advertising solutions through its comprehensive programmatic ecosystem. As an incentive ad network, SmartyAds enables advertisers to engage users by rewarding them for interacting with ads, driving higher engagement and conversion rates.
Advanced targeting options allow advertisers to reach the right audience and optimize their incentive ad campaigns across mobile, display, and video formats. SmartyAds' platform provides access to premium inventory from over 10,000 direct publishers worldwide. Powered by machine learning algorithms, SmartyAds ensures efficient and effective ad delivery, maximizing ROI for advertisers.
The company's user-friendly self-serve interface and white-label solutions make it easy for businesses to launch and manage their incentive advertising programs. Trusted by clients across various verticals, SmartyAds delivers results-driven incentive advertising campaigns that boost user acquisition, retention, and monetization.
Why Choose SmartyAds?
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12. Media.net
Media.net is an emerging global contextual advertising company that offers innovative incentive-based ad solutions for publishers and advertisers. As one of the top ad tech companies worldwide, Media.net uses its advanced technology platform to deliver highly targeted and engaging ads that drive superior results.
By providing access to exclusive search demand from the Yahoo! Bing Network and connecting publishers with major advertiser networks, Media.net helps maximize monetization opportunities while prioritizing user experience. With its comprehensive portfolio of advertising products, including native, display, mobile, and video ads, Media.net serves over 500,000 websites across diverse verticals.
The company's commitment to quality, compliance, and customer success has established Media.net as a trusted partner for businesses seeking to unlock the full potential of their digital advertising efforts.
Why Choose Media.net?
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Incentive Ad Trends and Performance
Incentive ads offer a powerful advertising format, offering unique benefits to advertisers and publishers. Here are some notable trends and performance statistics surrounding incentive ads:
High Conversion Rates
Incentive ads consistently outperform standard ad formats in terms of conversion rates. According to a study by Liftoff, users who engaged with incentivized ads were 4.5 times more likely to make an in-app purchase compared to those who did not interact with such ads. Another report by Tapjoy revealed that incentivized ads had a 33% higher conversion rate than non-incentivized video ads.
Increased Revenue Potential for Publishers
Publishers have experienced significant revenue boosts by incorporating incentive ads into their monetization strategies. A case study by AdGate Media found that implementing rewarded video ads led to a 40% increase in overall revenue for one of their gaming app partners. Similarly, AppLovin reported that their publishers saw an average revenue lift of 20-30% after integrating incentivized ad formats.
User Engagement and Retention Benefits
Incentive ads have proven effective in enhancing app user engagement and retention, particularly in the gaming industry. A study by ironSource revealed that users who engaged with rewarded video ads had a 67% higher in-app purchase rate and a 16% higher retention rate after 30 days compared to non-engagers. Additionally, Tapjoy's research showed that apps using rewarded ads experienced a 34% increase in user session length.
These trends highlight the potential of incentive ads to drive conversions, boost publisher revenue, and foster user engagement and loyalty. As the demand for effective mobile advertising solutions continues to grow, incentive ad formats will likely gain further traction, offering a win-win scenario for advertisers and app developers.
Quenching Questions on Incentive Ad Networks
How can Incentive Ad Networks help boost User Engagement and Retention for My Mobile App?
A: Incentive ad networks like Tapjoy and AdGate Media offer rewarded ad formats such as offerwalls and videos that provide users valuable incentives for engaging with ads. This can significantly increase user engagement, retention, and lifetime value by making ads feel less intrusive and more rewarding.
What are the Key Factors to Consider when Selecting an Incentive Ad Network for My Business?
When choosing an incentive ad network, look for platforms with diverse traffic sources, advanced targeting capabilities, transparent pricing, and robust analytics. Consider the network's reputation, ad formats, and compatibility with your advertising goals. Adsterra and JuicyAds are significant options that tick many of these boxes.
What are the Benefits of Using a Self-Serve Platform for Incentive Advertising?
Self-serve platforms like Kevel provide businesses with the infrastructure to build custom ad experiences while maintaining complete control over ad formats, targeting, and data. This allows for greater flexibility, innovation, and ownership of the advertising technology stack, which can lead to improved performance and cost savings.
How Can I Ensure the Quality of Traffic from Incentive Ad Networks?
Reputable incentive ad networks implement strict measures to prevent fraud and ensure genuine user engagement. Look for platforms prioritizing traffic quality, offering transparent reporting, and having a proven track record of delivering results.
What are the Most Effective Ad Formats for Incentive Advertising?
Rewarded video ads and offerwalls are among the most engaging and effective formats for incentive advertising. These formats provide users valuable rewards for interacting with ads, leading to higher conversion rates and better user experience.
Can Incentive Advertising Work for Non-Gaming Apps and Websites?
Absolutely! While incentive advertising is viral in the mobile gaming industry, it can be highly effective for a wide range of apps and websites. Networks like Adscend Media and SmartyAds offer solutions for various verticals, helping businesses across different industries boost user engagement and monetization.
How Can I Integrate Incentive Ad Networks into My App or Website?
Most incentive ad networks provide easy integration options through SDKs, APIs, or web views. These tools allow you to quickly implement rewarded ad units and start monetizing your app or website. Networks like Adscend Media and AppLovin offer lightweight SDKs and dedicated support to streamline integration.
What are the Key Metrics to Track when Running Incentive Ad Campaigns?
When measuring the success of your incentive ad campaigns, focus on metrics like conversion rates, user engagement, retention, and lifetime value. Keep a close eye on eCPMs and ROI to ensure you're getting the most out of your ad spend.
Incentivized Advertising Done Right
As someone deeply immersed in affiliate marketing, I can't overstate the immense potential that incentive ad networks hold for driving conversions and boosting revenue. The incentive ad networks profiled here represent the things that they offer, each offering innovative solutions to engage users and maximize returns for advertisers and publishers alike.
Whether you're an app developer looking to monetize through rewarded videos, an e-commerce brand aiming for higher install rates, or a publisher seeking to increase eCPMs, there's an incentive ad network for you.
What excites me most is how these platforms are using advanced technologies like AI, machine learning, and programmatic advertising to deliver hyper-targeted, high-performing campaigns at scale. The ability to reach precisely the right users with compelling incentives is a game-changer.
So which Incentive ad network will you look forward to?
