作者：Daniel Williams

某一天，你想出了一个自己认为必将大热的游戏理念。你将花费无数时间将这个理念变成现实，而之后你需要投入更多时间去修改所有的漏洞。

一旦你完成了游戏，你便会决定添加一些视频广告。你并不清楚该在哪里添加这些广告，所以你只能随意地安置它们而未真正思考最佳用户体验。当你发行自己的应用时，你便会收到这样的评价：“这里有太多广告了！”

如果遇到这种情况，你可能会围绕着游戏去计划盈利方式，而不是围绕着盈利方式去规划游戏。糟糕的广告执行会影响到之后应用的发行，而我将通过本文告诉你一些可行的视频广告类型，如何使用视频广告，供应商，并分享一些最佳执行案例。

视频广告类型

视频广告拥有各种长度，但产业标准大概是15秒，偶尔也会出现30秒的广告。本质上存在2种类型的视频广告（强迫型与非强迫型）以及2种类型的执行方式（自愿与非自愿）。

强迫型与非强迫型

强迫型视频广告并不允许玩家略过视频内容。有些视频供应商会根据视频的观看率计算你的收益，而强迫型视频广告总是能带来更高的收益。然而强迫型视频广告却会导致糟糕的用户体验，因为它们会打断游戏的自然发展。

非强迫型广告是那些在用户不知情的情况下出现的广告。这些广告常出现于关卡之间或游戏中的某些重要事件中。

如何执行视频广告：快速概览

尽管每个平台都会提供一个不同的API，但是你需要利用一些基本的功能去执行你的视频广告。大多数平台至少都拥有如下功能：

isAdAvailable()

playAd()

注：本教程是着眼于呈现视频广告的虚拟程序代码和一般概念。所以如果你想要获得关于整合视频广告的更多信息，请参考你们目标平台的相关文件。

首先是功能isAdAvailable()。大多数平台都应该支持这一功能，它将判断视频广告是否可行。有些平台甚至会为你下载并缓冲下一个视频。

其次，所有视频都应该支持playAd()功能。当你调用这一功能时，你将能够在应用中呈现全屏广告。

当你想要呈现一个应用时，你会想判断一个广告是否可行以及一个视频是否能够有效地将其呈现出来。你可以先调用isAdAvailable()，然后再调用playAd（）去完成这一任务。

视频广告供应商

随着视频广告越来越受欢迎，我们也看到更多视频内容供应商的诞生。如果你才刚刚开始，你可能要判断你的平台是支持Vungle还是AdColony。这两个平台都得到了广告的使用，并且也具有很好的执行力。

为视频广告创造的游戏

在今天的市场中总是会不时出现一些新的游戏类型—-点击类（如《比特币百万富翁》）和动物模拟（如《疯狂的山羊》）便是最近出现的两种类型。为了更好地理解视频广告，让我们深入探讨什么类型的游戏更适合视频广告盈利。

你的游戏是付费还是免费？

如果你的游戏是付费的，你的盈利策略只需要一步解决。你的消费者会一次性付清应用的钱，大多数这类型游戏不会再要求额外的费用。

如果你的游戏是免费的，那么尽管大多数消费者不喜欢广告，他们还是会愿意（并且期待）看到游戏中的广告。

你正在创造什么类型的游戏？

比起其它类型，某些游戏类型会更适合视频广告。休闲游戏和动作游戏便是最佳代表，因为它们已经明确了玩家的前进方式，而像RPG或益智游戏却并未如此。

通常情况下，如果你的游戏使用了嵌入式盈利系统（游戏邦注：即在玩家前进道路中提供虚拟道具或奖励给玩家虚拟道具），你的应用便会非常适合视频广告。

你将在哪里整合视频广告？

比起在关卡间插入视频广告并强迫玩家观看广告，你的应用如果能够选择性地添加视频的话便能够创造出更棒的玩家体验。尽管存在许多具有创造性的广告整合方式，你的整合点可以专注于游戏玩法前，游戏玩法期间以及游戏玩法后这三个过程。然而你的游戏结构也许不能呈现出广告整合的自然断点。

游戏玩法前：如果你的游戏分为不同关卡或阶段，或像《Flappy Bird》那样拥有较短的游戏玩法，你便能够提供给玩家能够影响他们在之后的关卡中的表现的升级道具或推动力量。

游戏玩法期间：如果你的游戏中存在一些玩家需要暂停去思考谜题或如何前进的位置，你便能够提供给玩家一些提示。

游戏玩法后：如果你的游戏突出了关卡或不同阶段，或者拥有小段的游戏玩法，再或者玩家有失败，死掉的可能性，你便能够提供给他们提高分数的机会，或者让他们在最后冲刺时能够得到虚拟道具。

如果你选择基于视频广告提供一个奖励系统，你便需要考虑你将提供怎样的奖励去平衡游戏玩法。否则你最终将会创造出一款完全失衡的游戏！

整合视频广告的案例

有效整合的视频广告能够促进游戏的整体体验，从而让满足的用户留下满意的评论。比起在关卡最后或游戏体验期间添加视频广告，让我们着眼于一些真正的案例。

玩家进程

整合视频广告的一种受欢迎方式便是允许玩家在观看一则视频广告后继续前进。比起强迫玩家购买应用内部道具，你可以提供给他们观看短暂的广告的选择，并因此奖励给他们游戏提示或道具。在以下截图中，玩家可以轻敲开始图标以观看一个15秒钟的广告，并因此获得有关游戏谜题的2个提示。

通过让玩家选择性观看视频广告，应用便不再将广告强制推给玩家，玩家也会对此感到满意，如此你的应用也就能够带来更多收益。

文字游戏并不是推动玩家基于视频广告前进的唯一方式。如果你的游戏是一款打斗游戏，应用便能够让玩家通过观看广告而获得更快的出击或更强大的子弹。

奖励

执行视频广告的另外一种方法是让玩家在观看一小段广告后提升奖励。这种感觉不错的体验能够引出更棒的用户体验，并提升应用收益。如果每当用户获得奖励时便出现这种选择，那么游戏的潜在收益将多于独立的应用内部购买。

使用视频广告进行奖励的一个有效例子便是双倍增加玩家的体验点数。如果玩家赢得一个关卡能够获得25个XP，如果他们愿意观看一则短短的广告，你便可以提供给玩家获得50个XP的机会。

还有一个例子是来自《比特币百万富翁》中的视频广告。当drone出现时，玩家便可以轻敲对话框去接收随机的积极或消极事件。如果事件是积极的，玩家便能够通过观看短暂的视频广告而获得双倍奖励。

从检查点重新开始

还有一种提供广告的方式是让玩家在失败的地方做出选择。这在基于关卡并设定了开始和结束点的游戏来说特别有用。如果你的玩家在一款赛车游戏的比赛中途撞车了，你便可以让他们在此观看广告后重新出发。

结语

在阅读了本文后，我希望你能够了解如何在应用中使用视频广告而获取收益以及如何更有效地使用这些方法。

虽然我比较侧重游戏，但视频广告也可以有效作用于非游戏应用中。你可能会局限于视频广告的使用；但其实你应该将其置于内容的自然休息区。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

How, Where, and When to Add Video Ads to Your Mobile Games

by Daniel Williams

One day, you come up with a great game idea that you think could be a hit. You and your spend countless hours bringing your idea to life, and then a few more to squash all the bugs.

Once you’ve finished, you decide to add a few video ads. You aren’t quite sure where to add them, so you place them haphazardly without thinking about the best user experience. When you publish your app, the reviews come piling in: “There are too many ads!”.

If this has happened to you, then you probably planned your monetization around your game instead of your game around monetization. Poorly implemented ads can decimate the launch of the next big app and this article will help guide you in the types of videos ads available, how to use the video ads, providers, and best practices for implementation.

Types of Video Advertisements

Video ads come in at varying length, but the industry standard seems to be 15 seconds, occasionally 30 seconds. Essentially, there are two types of videos advertisement (forced and un-forced) with two types of implementation (voluntary and involuntary).

Forced vs Un-Forced

Forced video advertisements do not allow the player to skip the video content. Some video providers calculate your revenue by percentage of the video watched, and forced video ads will always result in higher revenue. However, forced video ads can result in a poor user experience because they can interrupt the natural flow of the game.

Un-forced video ads allow the player to skip the video content by pressing a Close button. This type of video ads results in lower revenues, but can allow a better user experience because the user can skip the video content.

Voluntary vs Involuntary

Voluntary ads are considered opt-in ads where the user has to initiate the video advertisement. With these, the user is usually rewarded with a virtual item for watching the ad.

Involuntary ads are videos that appear without the user’s consent. These are commonly displayed between levels or at certain milestones within the game.

How to Implement Video Ads: A Quick Overview

Although each platform will offer a different API, you should have access to some basic functionality with implementing video advertisements. Most platforms should at least have the following:

isAdAvailable()

playAd()

Note: This tutorial focuses on pseudocode and the general concept of displaying video ads. Please refer to your platform’s documentation for detailed information on integrating video ads.

First up is the function isAdAvailable(). Most platforms should support this and it will return true or false depending on whether or not a video ad is available. Some platforms go so far as to download and cache the next video for you!

Next, all platforms should support the playAd() function. When you call this function, you’ll display the full screen ad within your app.

When you want to display an app, you’ll want to check to see if an ad is available and if a video is available display it. This can be done by first calling isAdAvailable() and then calling playAd().

Video Advertising Providers

With the popularity of video advertisements growing, there are a lot of video content providers available. If you are just starting out, you may want to see if your platform supports Vungle or AdColony. Both platforms have widespread adoption, and have been implemented very well.

Games Built for Video Ads

In today’s market, there are new game genres popping up all the time—clickers (like Bitcoin Billionaire) and animal simulations (like Crazy Goat) being two recent examples. With a better understanding of video advertising, let’s dig into what types of games are a good fit for video ad monetization.

Is Your Game Paid or Free?

If your game is paid, your monetization strategy is solved in one step. The consumer pays for your app once and most games do not ask for additional purchases.

If your game is free, it’s an unwritten truth that, although most consumers dislike advertisements, they will be willing (and will most likely expect) to see ads in it.

What Type of Game Are You Creating?

Certain genres lend themselves better to video advertisements than other genres. Casual games and action games can be a perfect fit due to the way player progression is set up, while other games, such as RPGs or puzzle games, often are not.

In general, if your game uses a built-in monetary system using virtual items for player progression or if you reward the player with virtual items, your app is probably a good fit for video advertisements.

Where Can You Integrate Video Ads?

Instead of injecting video ads in-between levels and forcing players to view the ad, your app will have a better player experience if they opt-in to the videos. Although there are plenty of creative ways to integrate ads, your integration points can focus on pre-gameplay, during gameplay, and post-gameplay. However, the structure of your game might not provide natural break points where ads could be inserted.

Pre-gameplay: If your game is split into levels or stages, or has typically short “bursts” of gameplay like Flappy Bird, you could offer the player a power-up or boost that will affect their performance in the next level or on their next attempt.

During gameplay: If there are points in your game where the player will naturally pause to think about the answer to a puzzle or how to progress, you could offer the player a hint.

Post-gameplay: If your game features levels or stages, or has short bursts of gameplay, or if it is possible for the player to fail, lose a life, or die, you can offer the player the chance to increase the score or virtual items they obtained on their last run, or to pick up where they left off.

If you choose to offer a reward system based on video ads, you need to consider what type of bonuses you’ll offer to balance the game play. Otherwise, you could end up with a game that’s very lopsided!

Examples of Integrated Video Ads

Video advertisements that are integrated well can add to the overall experience of your game, and a happy user tends to leave happy reviews. Instead of just placing video ads at the end of a level or in the middle of the gameplay experience, let’s look at some real case examples of ways that you can integrate video ads in your next app.

Player Progression

One popular way to integrate video advertisements is to allow player progression after watching a video advertisement. Instead of forcing the player to purchase an in-app item, you can give them the option to watch a short ad and reward them with an in-game hint or boost. In the screenshot below, the player can tap the star icon to watch a 15 second video to receive two hints that are instantly applied to the puzzle.

By allowing them to opt-in to a video, the app isn’t forcing advertisements on the player, the player is happy, and the app still generates revenue.

Word games aren’t the only way to allow player progression with video ads. If the app is a fighting game, the app could allow the player to watch a video for faster punches or stronger bullets.

Rewards

Another way to implement video advertisements is to allow the player to increase their rewards after watching a short ad. This feel-good experience leads to a better user experience, and can lead to recurring revenue for the app. If this option is provided any time the user earns a reward, the potential revenue could be more than an individual in-app purchase.

One example of using video ads for rewards is in doubling the player’s experience points. If the player beats a level and earns 25XP, you can give the player a chance to earn 50XP instead, if they watch a short ad.

Another example is the way that the popular game Bitcoin Billionaire incorporated video ads. When a drone appears, the player can tap the box to receive a random positive or negative event. If the event is positive, they can potentially double the reward by watching a short video.

Note: I spent more time in Bitcoin Billionaire than I care to admit, and I watched a lot of ads to double my rewards.

Restart From Checkpoint

Another way your app can offer an incentive for watching an ad is by allowing the player to pick up where they lost. This is especially useful in games that are level-driven with set beginning and end points. For example, if the player crashes half way through the race in a driving game, you could offer the player a chance to watch a short video to pick up where they crashed.

Closing Notes

After reading this article, I hope that you have learned how to get started monetizing your app using video advertisements, and how to use them effectively.

I’ve focused heavily on games, but video advertisements can be used within non-game apps as well. However, you are more limited with the usage of video ads; they should be placed at natural breaks in the content.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Are there other ways that you are currently using monetization? I’d love to hear them!(source:tutplus)