Why Ad Mediation Matters for Indie Devs
In the mobile games industry, every click counts, especially when you’re running a lean studio, balancing development with monetisation, marketing, and everything in between. If your game is live and earning through in-app ads, chances are you’ve heard of “ad mediation.” But what exactly is it, and why should indie developers care?
Let’s break it down.
What Is Ad Mediation?
Ad mediation is the tech that connects your game to multiple ad networks—like AdMob, Unity Ads, AppLovin, or IronSource. Instead of relying on a single network to fill your ad placements, a mediation platform acts like a smart traffic controller, choosing the best-paying ad in real time from a pool of partners.
In theory, this setup should maximise your ad revenue. In practice, many indie teams struggle with the complexity of integrating and managing multiple networks effectively.
That’s where Yodo1’s MAS (Managed Ad Services) comes in. MAS simplifies the entire process—handling integration, optimisation, and performance monitoring—so you can focus on building your game while we handle the monetisation.
Why It Matters More Than You Think
If you’re only starting to earn from in-app ads (IAA)—or looking to add IAA to your in-app purchase (IAP) strategy—ad mediation can be a powerful way to boost your revenue. Here’s why it matters:
1. More Networks = Better Yield
Connecting to more ad networks means more competition for your impressions, which usually results in higher eCPMs and more consistent fill rates. With the right mediation stack, many developers see a revenue uplift without making changes to their game content.
2. Smart Monetisation: Beyond Just Bidding
Whether you’re using real-time bidding or a hybrid setup with waterfall, MAS handles the complexity for you. It prioritises networks, sets dynamic floors, fine-tunes formats, and runs A/B tests — all automatically. So you can save time, cut costs, and focus on building your next hit.
3. More Than an SDK: Expert Support On Top
While mediation SDKs simplify integration by centralising ad network management, developers still need to add and maintain individual adapters for each network. These adapters can introduce risks like app crashes, ANRs, and bloated builds — especially without close monitoring. That’s where MAS stands out: Yodo1’s dedicated team handles these technical challenges for you, ensuring stability and providing top-tier support.
4. Time Is Money
You didn’t become a game dev to spend your nights tweaking waterfall logic or emailing support teams. Good mediation should remove that load from your plate so you can focus on building the next big feature, not fixing your ad stack.
But Here’s the Problem…
Mediation can be a headache to manage. Integrating multiple networks, managing requests and payments across different ad networks, dealing with conflicting SDK versions, ensuring store compliance, and maintaining platform stability — these are real challenges, especially if you don’t have a monetization expert on your team.
And that’s exactly why MAS exists.
MAS: Monetisation Without the Stress
At Yodo1, we built MAS (Managed Ad Services) to give indie developers a plug-and-play monetisation engine that just works.
- One SDK. 15+ Networks. No headaches managing waterfalls or juggling SDKs.
- Up to 50 Percent Revenue Uplift. Real-time bidding ensures better fill rates and eCPMs.
- Protection Against Market Fluctuations. MAS leverages ad network diversity to keep your revenue steady — if one CPM drops, another fills the gap.
- Quick pay: Payments from all ad networks combined and payment made in advance on net10 basis.
- Done-for-You Setup. From integration to optimisation, our team handles it all, minimizing your tech debt.
- ANR-Safe by Design. We know how fragile organic growth can be, and MAS is built to protect it.
Whether you’re a solo dev or a small team trying to optimise your first hit, MAS takes the complexity out of monetisation so you can focus on what matters: making great games.
Final Thought: If You’re Not Using Mediation, You’re Leaving Money on the Table
Ad mediation isn’t a “nice to have.” It’s essential instrument for monetising mobile games effectively in today’s market. But you shouldn’t have to become an ad tech expert to benefit from it.
Let us take care of the setup, the networks, the bidding, the optimisation, so you can do what you do best: build, launch, and grow.
Ready to simplify your monetisation?
