Pocket FM Corp. is an Indian studio known for its hit Pocket FM, one of the of the most popular audiobook apps in India. When they wanted to monetize their non-paying users, they tried out a hybrid monetization strategy, implementing ad units and offerwall, a rewarded marketplace, into the Pocket FM app.
Sujit Jha, Senior Product Manager at Pocket FM Corp., explains how diversifying their monetization strategy with offerwall and rewarded video ads boosted both their revenue and retention by 20%.
Testing a hybrid monetization model
We’ve seen lots of success with our monetization strategy, but we knew there was still room to optimize and grow. 100% of Pocket FM’s revenue came from in-app purchases (IAPs), and we realized we were missing out on a key group: non-paying users. To open up new monetization opportunities, we decided to implement a virtual economy into our app, starting with coins. Learn more about how apps can implement a virtual economy here.
With our new virtual economy, we could utilize new monetization tools like offerwall, so we reached out to the Unity team to start using their offerwall, Tapjoy from Unity. The Unity team recommended we set up both offerwall and rewarded video ads to maximize our growth potential. We were very interested, but we were also concerned about cannibalizing in-app purchase revenue.
The Unity team, however, assured us that cannibalization wouldn’t be a problem - after all, offerwall and rewarded video are completely opt-in. Not only do offerwall and rewarded video improve users’ in-app experience, they also keep users playing in the app longer - boosting the app's revenue as a result. And since offerwall and rewarded video give users a taste of premium content, users are even more likely to pay for IAPs as a result. Thanks to all these benefits, we very excited to start implementation”
Implementing rewarded video ads and an offerwall
“With our new currency, we first implemented rewarded video ads. Rewarded videos give users the tools they need to advance in the app - and boost retention - so they were a natural fit to start out with. To reach our non-paying group, we decided to show the ads only after 30 days of no in-app purchase activity.
This first step turned out to be very promising, so we felt confident to take our new monetization strategy a step further with the Tapjoy offerwall. Thanks to the resources and instructions from our Tapjoy partners, we were easily able to implement the offerwall ourselves - and we were ready to start monetizing quicker than expected.
Enjoying positive results
With Tapjoy from Unity in place, the Unity team’s predictions were proven correct - our revenue jumped 20%. So we were able to increase revenue and monetize non-paying users without cannibalizing any IAP revenue. Not to mention, session length grew by 5%, and retention jumped 20%. Since the offerwall and rewarded videos were helping improve our users’ in-app experience, users were more engaged with our app than ever before.
Continuing to optimize
Even after our KPIs grew, we were eager to see how else we could optimize our monetization strategy,and the Unity LevelPlay team helped us optimize our rewarded video strategy by conducting regular waterfall reviews. As it turned out, we were missing key networks and bidders - so they suggested integrating specific networks, like Unity and ironSource Ads, to increase competition and boost our eCPM. They helped us A/B test adding these networks with LevelPlay’s A/B testing tool.
To optimize our offerwall strategy, the Tapjoy team recommended we take part in currency sales. These holiday-based promotions offer users up to 10x the standard reward amount and, as a result, provide a major boost in offerwall engagement. We decided to start participating on Android, and the extra traffic made a huge difference. Thanks to the currency sale, we saw our revenue almost double.
Overall, this experience exemplified the value of virtual economies and ad units, even for entertainment apps like ours. Not only did switching to a hybrid monetization strategy boost our revenue, but it also boosted the overall time users were spending in our app. We look forward to continuing to work with our Unity partners and exploring new ways we can expand our growth.
