Stop Ignoring these 6 ad placements in 2025 by Felix Braberg

In this solo episode, Felix Braberg walks through the six most effective ad placements he’s tested and rolled out across top ad-monetized mobile games and client portfolios in 2024 and 2025. Drawing from live examples in games like Woodoku, Happy Color, Screwmaster 3D, Subway Surfers, and more, Felix details exactly how to engineer ad placements that boost ARPDAU, drive first purchases, and turn non-payers into rewarded ad whales.What’s inside:Step Offer Chains: Build offers as a chain of steps—first offering free items, then a rewarded ad, then paid, and finally more free, creating a mental ladder that nudges first-time purchases and ad engagement. Use notification buttons to highlight available rewarded ads.Recency Effect Monetization: Use mediation hacks to always serve the highest eCPM ad unit. Supersonic’s tactic: on app open, cache both rewarded and interstitial ads, then dynamically check which one pays more at every impression. Serve interstitials in rewarded slots if they outpay, but never the reverse.Convert-or-Die Placements: At every natural gameplay break, offer a rewarded ad first—if skipped, immediately serve an interstitial. Users quickly learn there is always an ad coming and will shift to rewarded for better value.Store Exit Rewarded Ads: Instead of putting rewarded ads inside the store, show them as a standalone pop-up only if a user leaves the store without buying. This boosts conversion among non-payers and is now rolling out across portfolios at scale.Unlockable Skins and Paint Jobs: Rewarded ads are used to unlock new skins, paint jobs, or game modes—sometimes requiring up to five ads for a single unlock. Use first cached ad eCPM to decide if a rewarded placement should show, especially for likely non-payers.Meta Rewards for Ad Whales: Give users bonus rewards for hitting high ad-watch thresholds (ten ads a day unlocks a speed buff, for example). This turns high-volume ad viewers into meta progression junkies, boosting both ad ARPDAU and retention.Key Takeaway:Test these placements, track them against the best ad-monetized games in the market, and always iterate. Small changes in placement, sequence, and creative lead to big jumps in revenue—especially for non-payers and ad whales.Get our MERCH NOW: 25gamers.com/shopVibe. Vibe is the leading Streaming TV ad platform for small and medium-sized businesses looking for actionable advertising campaign performance.https://www.vibe.co/This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix BrabergYoutube: https://youtu.be/blw0JNMcfh8Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipgChapters00:00 Introduction to Ad Placements04:09 Exploring Effective Ad Strategies10:20 Innovative Ad Placement Techniques15:06 Meta Rewards and Long-Term EngagementFelix BrabergAd monetization consultant⁠https://www.felixbraberg.com---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - [email protected] you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej LancaricDo you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai