The Yodo1 team has been fantastic to work with. It’s great when you have a partner who cares as much as you do about making a great game. They provide not only a great advertising platform but a skilled team to help you improve gameplay and ad design.

Michael Dobele

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"In Yodo1, we found a partner with expert knowledge of local ad networks and Chinese players."

Maximizing Ad Revenue in China: Protostar Partners with Yodo1

In 2014, the Australian duo Matt Knights and Dean Loades co-founded Protostar. Their goal is to make fun games with a broad appeal at the highest quality standard. Now as a team of seven, Protostar has put out a number of great titles, including Sling Kong, Super Starfish, and their latest, It’s Literally Just Mowing. Their fun and casual games have garnered more than 20 million downloads worldwide. Continue reading to learn how Protostars partnership with Yodo1 allowed them to maximize their ad revenue in China. 

Protostar needed a partner with local experts who could help them better understand the market and increase ad revenue in China through local ad networks. When the Protostar team put Super Starfish on the Chinese market, they got featured on the Apple China App Store and enjoyed some great exposure. However, they were struggling to capitalize on and monetize this traffic.

Yodo1: The Partner Who Understands Both China and Ads


Before MAS, Protostar worked with several advertising agencies, but it wasn’t until they connected with Yodo1 that the studio found the partner they were looking for. With Managed Ad Services (MAS) platform, Yodo1’s monetization team helped Protostar improve their in-game ad placements and suggested better ways to localize the game for China.

 "China is a huge market that we’re still not capitalizing on enough with our games. We’re looking forward to continually improving that with Yodo1.”

The Protostar team is now looking forward to greater success with another Yodo1 partnership: releasing Sling Kong into China’s booming H5 games market.

Learn about the many ways our partners use Yodo1 solutions to turn their games into scalable businesses.

Featured Partners

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By integrating Transformers, one of the 
most loved and recognized brands in China, 
Mini World has sold more than 360,000 
character skins in 3 months.

Mini world

The Featherweight & Yodo1 partnership has 
allowed each party to focus on what we each 
do best, with the Yodo1 team spending the 
bulk of their efforts on live ops, 
distribution and promotion.

Rodeo stampede

Transformers: Earth Wars increased their D1 retention by leveraging their in-game KTplay community, helping new players join.

Transformers earth wars

Learn how thinking outside the box helped solo developer Frank Eno create great escape room games and monetize his career.

First Time Developer Takes it to the Next Level With MAS

Like many developers before him, Frank Eno’s passion for the games he played in his youth greatly influenced his decision to pursue a full-time career in the industry. His road to success started as recently as 2020. Many years of playing escape room games provided all the tools the rookie developer needed to have a go at building his own. Subsequently, Frank’s first effort under the XScoder brand came to life. Dark Rooms is a succession of puzzles requiring players to think out of the box to open doors, advance, and move on to the next level. With its entertaining graphics and chilling atmosphere, the game soon attracted high user engagement.

Frank says of his experience, “Making the game was just pure fun. I found that when you love what you do, creating becomes easy.” Developing his first game was an enjoyable experience all around. Still, Frank needed to make money from it to establish his career within the industry. Despite the successful launch of his first game, bigger challenges were just around the corner.

“Before MAS, game revenue was so low I could not move forward.”

Frank hit his first stumbling block on his initial attempts to earn revenue. New to the business side of things, he needed guidance from his monetization partner to help him grow. It soon became evident that his chosen ad network was unlikely to produce the desired results. “Revenue was so low I could not benefit and move plans forward as I wanted,” he explains.

Delayed responses further exacerbated the problem. "The account manager presented himself as someone who could follow up on progress,” said Frank. “The trouble is, I felt he was telling me what I wanted to hear and never actually did anything. After a while, he forgot about me. That’s not what I call friendly support."

“Integrating Yodo1’s MAS in Unity is fast and easy.”

The pioneering developer needed a better monetization program to move his career forward. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long. Out of the blue, Frank received an email from Yodo1 explaining the benefits of Managed Ad Services (MAS). On the follow-up call, a team member explained what MAS is and how the system works. Because MAS automatically selects the top-performing ads from all the primary mediators, Frank was convinced that Yodo1’s A.I solution would increase game revenue—and it did!

The indie solo developer was very impressed with the service. After a few discussions with a Yodo1 games growth specialist, Frank was able to integrate MAS quickly, after which he received guidance on App Store Optimization (ASO) and some great suggestions to improve his games from a dedicated Customer Success Manager. Best of all, “MAS integration in Unity is very easy,” said Frank. “The support team is great, friendly, and the response is quick, no matter the issue.”

“Yodo1 is the best service out there, and it’s not just about good revenue.”

After implementing MAS SDK, daily revenue for Dark Rooms increased dramatically compared to his previous solution. The boost in income has allowed Frank to focus on other areas for further growth. Specifically, he could now concentrate on ASO to get more visibility for his games in the App Stores. “Yodo1 is the best service out there,” concludes Frank. “And it’s not just about good revenue, but great support and the chance to have a dedicated customer manager who follows up with you along the way.”

Is your current solution holding you back, too? Unlock your game’s full potential by going to our MAS Portal to register and set up MAS for your game in just three easy steps, or contact a Games Growth Specialist here to learn more. 

House of Celestina developer Ricreator blown away by increase in revenue and great support after switching to MAS.

Through MAS, Solo Developer Rico Finally Gets His Breakthrough

The best success stories in the world of mobile games don’t always end in fame and fortune for the creators. Success for many indie developers is finding a way to make a good living doing what they love to do most. Inspired by his developer brother, Rico Margallo started making games several years ago. Still, it took many years of hard work and commitment before securing his place in the industry.

His story is not altogether uncommon. Having developed a series of titles under the Ricreator brand, our Philippine solo developer struggled to find the breakthrough he needed. “All I want to do is make games,” says Rico. “I like nothing more than to create entertainment that people enjoy and want to play.” His games, which primarily targeted a Filipino audience, were indeed popular. The real problem was that monetization did not correlate with growth and increasing downloads.


“Configuring Unity Ads to work with multiple networks was the most complicated challenge of my gaming career.”

In the early years, Rico didn’t earn much at all from his original monetization setup. Not enough, at least, to turn his passion into a full-time career. Like many solo independents that develop in Unity, he just went with its ad platform - Unity Ads. While it seemed like the best option at the time, the developer struggled to combine multiple ad networks to maximize revenue. “It is the most complicated challenge I ever had to face in my gaming career,” explains Rico. As the issue persisted, he understood the need for a fresh approach and expert assistance.

“I couldn’t believe the publishing partner for Transformers would work with a small indie developer like me!”

Finding a new partner to help better monetize his games was not as difficult as Rico first thought. After researching various alternatives, he came across Yodo1’s Managed Ad Services (MAS). MAS appeared to be the solution he sought since it requires only one easy to install SDK to integrate multiple networks. 

Unlike his original setup, MAS turned out to be fast and easy to install. Throughout the MAS integration on his first game, House of Celestina, Rico was surprised by the level of support he received from Yodo1. It was hard for him to believe that the publishing partner for big games like Rodeo Stampede and Transformers would be interested in working with a small developer. “Not only was I amazed that Yodo1 would work with me,” he said, “but the level of support I received from the company’s friendly staff made integration easy.”

“Before MAS, revenue behaved like a turtle - low and slow. Then, in the blink of an eye, my revenue increased by 90% after installing the new system.”

Making the effort to maximize the monetization potential of his games had a huge impact. Rico experienced a 90% increase in revenue in just the first month. It freed him from his day-to-day financial worries and meant that he could focus entirely on developing new games. He has since made more games with many more planned for the future. The revenue growth he has witnessed through intelligent AI automation has convinced Rico to monetize all his future games through MAS exclusively. Of the new partnership, he went on to conclude, “I am very sure that I will never leave Yodo1, and all my future games will integrate with it.”

Does Rico’s story resonate with you? Have you faced similar monetization challenges? Set up MAS for your game in three easy steps today, or speak to a friendly Growth Specialist to learn more.

Game creator Azmil Arash struggled with a low eCPM with his previous monetization system. A problem that is easily solved using MAS.

MAS Inspires Game Success on the first attempt for Solo Developer

Azmil Arash began his indie games development career in 2019 after the inspiration for an idea that he believed could be a big hit. Armed with a passion for creating games, his thinking behind the decision was a simple one: whether it became a hobby or the foundation of a full-time career, either way, it would be a worthwhile experience. 

With much hard work and dedication, the latter has become Azmil’s reality following the launch of Smashgrounds.io under the Malaysian-based AZ Game brand in 2020. Achieving success on the first attempt, however, was not without its challenges.

Lack of Ad Network Competition Resulted in low eCPM

As many indie developers have come to understand, launching a great game is just the first step in finding long-lasting success in the game development industry. Game creators must find ways to monetize their games successfully to survive and thrive. As is often the case, Azmil experienced monetization issues on the release of his crazy 3D battleground game for iOS and Android.

Ad campaign funding did not produce the desired return on investment (ROI) initially. This was clear from the disappointingly low eCPM (effective cost per thousand impressions) it was receiving. In layman’s terms, the ad performance metric indicated poor earnings from the money invested. There are several reasons why this can occur. The most common is an ad network’s unsuitability to a game’s target audience and the lack of competition between networks for game traffic. Azmil’s initial efforts to monetize utilized a platform configured to one underperforming ad network. As results went on to prove, Smashgrounds.io would never realize its true revenue potential with this setup.

Fast and Easy MAS SDK Integration Supercharged Performance

After much research, Azmil turned to Yodo1’s Managed Ad Service (MAS) to introduce multiple ad networks and increase competition. MAS would give Smashgrounds.io access to multiple top-performing ad networks and automatically insert the highest bidding ad at the optimum injection point. 

To Azmil’s surprise, integrating the MAS SDK was also a lot easier than he had imagined. “There were far fewer steps to complete compared with other ad mediation providers,” Azmil observed. “And the fast and helpful response from the MAS team was, in fact, one of the things I most enjoyed about working with Yodo1!” 

AZ Games had never achieved more than $5,000 in revenue prior to implementing MAS. Now it is earning +$7,000 per month. This represents a 30%-50% increase in eCPM, achieved by applying the right solution with regular monitoring and tweaking from day one.

Consistency in revenue earnings has given Azmil the means to turn his passion into a full-time career. Starting as a solo developer, he can now think about enlisting the help of a small team of people. With a reliable partner in place to help monetize all his future games, new hyper-casual game projects are on the horizon.

It is not uncommon for first-time game developers to experience low levels of eCPM on their initial attempts to monetize. But this is an issue that is easily overcome when aligned with an experienced ad mediation partner like Yodo1’s MAS.

If you are an indie developer with a great game that’s experiencing poor performance in ad monetization, go to our MAS Portal to register and set up MAS for your game in just three easy steps, or book an appointment with a Games Growth Specialist here to learn more. 

Multiple monetization techniques optimized ARPDAU and boosted revenue to the number we were expecting. Achieved within days of SDK installation.

Downloads growing but revenue slowing – MAS resolves disconnect

Nick Madonna, the founder and driving force behind the PHL Collective, had a deep love for art, video games, and comic books in his formative years. He continued to pursue these interests in college when he first started making games after many years of studying and playing them. 

Ultimately, this led to the decision to roll his passions into a full-time career, one that he is still excited about every single day. “It’s impressive,” says Nick. “The industry is still very young, and there is constant innovation happening which offers so much opportunity to explore, grow and push the medium forward.”

PHL Collective is now a successful US-based game studio consisting of several dozen programmers and artists driven to create bold and unique titles. With many highly successful games in its portfolio, the company continues its mission to design games for players of all ages available on console, PC, and mobile devices.

Performance issues in monetization required urgent attention

As game demand grew, the company noticed a significant disconnect between increased downloads and resulting revenue. In the fantasy adventure game Goozy, for instance, players were downloading the game in huge numbers. However, this did not convert into more revenue with the monetization solution they were using. In a nutshell, the game struggled with monetization performance issues, a situation which needed urgent attention to serve and satisfy the increasing number of players downloading it.

“We assessed Yodo1’s MAS to be the best available option.”

On further investigation, Nick and his team realized the current monetization strategy centering around the Unity Ads Network had to change. A substantial effort was made to find the best solution, and after much market research, one was found. In 2020, the company decided to align monetization with Yodo1’s Managed Ad Services (MAS). MAS, they concluded, was the best available option to address the issues they were having. 

A crucial factor in their decision was the way Yodo1’s solution works. MAS uses AI-powered tools to manage ad mediation between the top-performing networks by automatically selecting the ads that favor developers the most. The first game PHL Collective used to test the new monetization system was Goozy, a game released in partnership with a YouTube influencer with 20m followers - FGteev.

“Revenue more than doubled, and the amount of support we’ve received is absolutely first class.”

Fully committed to migrating monetization to Yodo1, PHL Collective was able to integrate the MAS SDK in Goozy and deploy an update across all platforms very quickly. A new system using multiple monetization techniques to ensure optimal revenue per player (ARPDAU) was up and running in a matter of days. “The MAS team has been very hands-on and helpful when it comes to integration and maintenance,” Nick explained. “The constant contact has been absolutely incredible.”

MAS kicked in immediately after the update. Nick noticed a boost in revenue straight away and began to see the numbers they had been expecting. This amounted to more than double the amount received using the old system. Introducing a new strategy to optimize monetization has come at the perfect time for the PHL Collective, who are currently busy on many new and exciting projects. 

“After our positive experience with MAS,” Nick concludes, “it’s safe to say that we will continue to monetize with Yodo1 exclusively for all our future games.” Moving forward, the company has been true to its word with the release of FGeeTV Soundboard, their second and latest game using MAS for monetization. 

Do these challenges sound familiar to you?  Does your game’s monetization system need an upgrade to reach its full revenue potential? It’s easy to get started: just go to our MAS Portal to register and set up MAS for your game in three easy steps, or book an appointment with a Games Growth Specialist here to learn more. 

MAS doubled revenue for Kitchen Tale and gave Anas Ali and his team the freedom for Vie Games to work on more projects.

“In Yodo1, we have found a solution for fast and effective monetization.”

Like many small independent creators, Anas Ali made games as a hobby before crafting a full-time career within the industry. Along with his partner, current CEO Hamid Bashir, Pakistan-based studio Vie Games came to life with the success of Fidget Box 3D Anti-stress Toys, a hyper casual game centred around ASMR and stress relief therapies. “We had many challenges in those early days,” explains Anas, the company COO. “Chief amongst them was the same issue many small independent game developers face: ineffective and inefficient game monetization. 

“When we first started in 2016, we could never have imagined that our small, tightly-knit team could make a six-figure income every month from our games.”


Most Popular Does Not Always Equal Most Profitable

“Dealing with different ad networks and providers was very messy and time-consuming. Worse still, we were unconvinced that the in-game ads shown were the ones that would make us the most money. We needed a better solution. Preferably through one partner and one account and ideally one single revenue stream for Kitchen Tale and all our games,” said Anas. 

“The game industry is growing, and I love being a part of it. We understood the urgent need to monetize efficiently to stay in the game, as it were. Fortunately for us, we found a solution that gave us the resources to turn Kitchen Tale and subsequent games into massive hits.”

“Dealing with the failures of our initial setup was a daunting prospect initially, but one that needed urgent attention. Implementing Yodo1’s Managed Ad Services (MAS) in December 2020 was a turning point,” said Anas. 

Through a single, easy to integrate SDK, MAS automated the process of inserting the highest paying ad from multiple top-performing networks at the optimum injection point. In simple terms, it took the guesswork and administration of ad revenue optimization for Kitchen Tale off their plate. “In Yodo1, we have found a single partner and solution we can turn to for fast and effective monetization for all our games.”

Installing the MAS SDK has freed up the time and resources for Anas Ali and his team to work on more titles rather than worry about the best monetization practices and solutions. The resulting efficiencies have helped them to double their revenue since partnering with Yodo1. 

“Installation of the SDK was straightforward and set up in a matter of days. “The MAS team was with us every step of the way, and it was a great experience working with them,” said Anas. “Having the best support team in our corner gives us a lot of confidence, which is why we will continue using MAS for all future releases.”

Do these challenges resonate with you? Are you looking for a reliable, effective monetization solution? Go to our MAS Portal to register and set up MAS for your game in just three easy steps, or book an appointment with a Games Growth Specialist here to learn more. 

With Yodo1’s AI capability and market experience, we did more than increase impressions and retention- we found a trusted partner.

Sweaty Chair: A successful partnership with Yodo1

With MAS, all we had to do was register and submit
our games once, then the system took care
of all the network configurations for us.

We boosted ad revenue from 10% to 40% since integrating MAS.

Dmobin Studio: “You can rely on MAS to increase your ad revenue!”

For Dat and his team in Vietnam, making games was just a spare time activity—until they took the leap to follow their passion and started Dmobin Studio. They love developing adventure games and puzzles with game mechanics that mimic real-world physics, where players can be the hero.

The Challenge: Growing Games, Stagnant Revenue

While their games were racking up downloads, monetization was unfortunately another story.

“We had a hard time creating a monetization strategy because we didn’t have much experience optimizing our ads, and we had difficulties when using other mediation networks. Then we met Chaula from Yodo1 and discovered MAS.”

What Dmobin Studio needed most was help optimizing the ad placements and monetization model of their games, customizing it to their player base and characteristics.

The Solution: A Painless Platform and a Team that Takes Care of You

A pleasant surprise when switching to MAS was just how easy it was.

“Since we started using MAS, on average our revenue has increased from 10% up to 40%, which makes us very happy to be using it.
And the MAS team does a lot more than provide technical and managerial support: they are passionate about working with us to keep making our games perform better.”

“We now have eight games setup with MAS, and the best part of the experience is the revenue uplift.
We are definitely planning to add more games in the future”

“We always hoped that someday there’d be a mediation platform that would help us optimize our ad revenue without a difficult set-up. If you’re looking for an easy way to monetize with great results, integrate MAS. It will help you build scenarios for optimal monetization, and you can rely on it to improve your revenue.”

Yodo1 is definitely a great company to work together with and provides good opportunities within a crowded market.

SimpleBit Studios

After releasing Trench Warfare 1917, SimpleBit’s initial attempts to monetize failed until they identified the problem and found the right solution.

How SimpleBit used Yodo1’s MAS to increase eCPM by almost 80%

When childhood friends Mads and Oliver noticed the lack of real-time strategy war games on Android, they set about creating one to fill the gap. In the fall of 2019 and while still in high school, Mads developed what was to become the foundation for ‘Trench Warfare 1917’- An engaging and highly customizable real-time strategy game set during World War 1.

After agreeing on further development, they decided that their game had to be fun and engaging, with a high degree of flexibility for players. In terms of gameplay and monetization, they wanted to allow players to create teams, battles, strategies, and levels. It should have no forced ads, only those that would reward you. Also, the game should have no protracted fake waiting periods. Ultimately, this turned out to be a challenging set of criteria to fulfill, resulting in a low eCPM in their initial attempts to monetize. The team identified poor communications with their partners as a contributing factor, an issue that persisted until they found the MAS team at Yodo1.

The Challenge: Most Games have too many ads

Mads, Oliver, and Bertin became SimpleBit Studios ApS after meeting each other in their teenage years. Before living together as roommates, Mads was already programming games in his spare time and asked if Oliver wanted to join him as the game artist. While the duo made many small games on the weekends throughout high school, it wasn’t until the fall of 2019 that they started considering creating games as a serious career opportunity.

SimpleBit’s big game breakthrough came about while Oliver was traveling Asia with his girlfriend. Having identified a niche in the market, Mads conceived and developed ‘Trench Warfare 1917’- A game where players are able to decide their adversary, build custom battle teams and devise strategies to defeat the enemy. Oliver liked the idea, and along with a good friend Bertin they set about developing the game further. 

From the onset, the team understood their unique concept would take time for new players to master. They also observed that most games had too many ads. With this in mind, a monetization strategy with minimal ad distractions was necessary to encourage high player retention and engagement levels. Meeting this criterion would be a challenge, but making it work would reduce entry barriers and help the game become more attractive for new players to get started.


We had Ad challenges before we found the optimal solution

SimpleBit released a base game after three months of further development, and it was time to focus on game monetization.Their first choice was to align with a provider that offered quick and easy integration. Over time, it became clear that this solution would allow the company to reach its long-term business goals, as the eCPM they were getting was too low. Furthermore, SimpleBit was frustrated by the lack of personal support from their ad provider. After careful deliberation, the team decided to seek out better opportunities and found a third-party ad provider to better serve their interests.

The Solution: Yodo1’s AI-Powered tools and expertise eliminated obstacles to growing revenue

In search of the perfect solution, it wasn’t long before SimpleBit enlisted the help of Yodo 1’s Managed Ad Services (MAS). In simple terms, MAS uses AI-powered tools combined with expert knowledge in maximizing Ad revenue from their own games to simplify the monetization process. With data-driven ad management, optimal ad injection points, and dedicated customer service, the MAS team aims to eliminate the frustrating task of growing revenue.

By switching to MAS, SimpleBit achieved an increase of almost 80% in eCPM from Trench Warfare 1917’s Android version alone. The fact that the team at Yodo1 are developers and avid gamers themselves helped significantly. “They understand us and our unique needs,” quoted SimpleBit.

“Overall, we experienced great customer support. Through Skype, they were able to answer questions very quickly. On top of that, Yodo1’s MAS team were good at setting up meetings to catch up on progress, in the case that we hadn’t talked for a while.” In conclusion, SimpleBit goes on to explain, “The MAS team at Yodo1 is definitely a great company to work together with, and provides good opportunities within a crowded market.”

Moving forward, Yodo1 will provide a consistently high level of service to build an enduring partnership with SimpleBit. Mads, Oliver and Bertin can expect regular feedback and advice regarding Ad monetization and player engagement as they strive to develop more advanced games in the mobile space.

MAS AI and accumulated knowledge have given Yodo1 over 10 years of experience in growing and optimizing revenue. Not just for us, but for all of our partners. 

If you’re ready to take your ad revenue to the next level, contact our expert team today and let’s get started.

You don’t need to register with any ad network yourself–it’s all taken care of.The dashboard inside the service is also very convenient – nothing superfluous, everything is intuitive.”

Alexander Tavintsev

With frequent game crashes during Ads, the SDK stability of MAS eliminated complaints and doubled eCPM

“Great eCPM and Stability with MAS!” - Alexander Tavintsev

Alexander Tavintsev from Krasnodar, Russia, has always loved video games; this former website designer’s life changed in 2016 when, after a simple Google search, he taught himself how to design games.

Just three months later his first game, Zombie Forest HD, was released. “After that, I could no longer do anything except create games!” Since then his one man studio has released eight games for Android, iOS and PC.

Zombie Forest HD is a hardcore survival simulation game set during—you guessed it!—a zombie apocalypse.

Complete with minigames, a heap of weapons and the possibility to play together with other players, the game will put your strategic planning skills to the test, in order to survive this global zombie outbreak.

Zombie Forest HD (Android, iOS). Official Trailer

The Challenge: Low eCPM and Fill-Rate, Too Many Crashes

With the majority of its user base located in Russia and the former USSR countries, the fill-rates and eCPM generated by the local ad mediation platforms
were not up to the standards Alexander was hoping for. Paired with instability SDK issues and difficulties in payment, Alexander needed a different solution. 

“The game crashed quite often when displaying ads. In addition, one of my games was banned from Google Play for malicious code in one of the ad networks used in mediation. Some networks also did not allow the withdrawal of profits to residents of Russia.” — Alexander Tavintsev

The Solution: 2.5x eCPM and SDK Stability with Managed Ad Services

To Alexander’s delight, his eCPM is now 2.5 times higher than it used to be. The stability of the SDK is also a major plus, and complaints of the game crashing during ad runs are now rare.

SDK integration is very easy; just install the plugin and fill in your game IDs. There is an excellent debugger that will report any integration errors in the application itself.

“On the same day I signed up for MAS, a separate group chat was created for me on Skype, where they almost instantly reacted to all my messages. I can’t say enough good things about the support response speed! Don’t be afraid to experiment. Especially if you have problems with fill rate, low eCPM or application stability. In addition to increasing your income, you can increase the stability of your game and, from there, its rating.” 

If some of Alexander Tavintsev’s challenges resonate with you, why not reach out? We love nothing more than working with developers to bring their games even greater success!