Advertisers compete in a bidding auction to display their advertisements on your app, and the highest bidder wins the ad placement. But what if the highest bid isn’t good enough?
Even if your inventory is valuable, you lose out on potential earnings. To bypass this, AdMob allows publishers to set an eCPM Floor, or the lowest amount they are willing to accept for 1,000 impressions. This ensures that your advertising place is not sold for less than its genuine worth.
Setting the appropriate floor allows you to keep inventory under control, attract better advertisers, and safeguard the potential income from your app. Let’s learn about the eCPM floor in-depth today.
What is an eCPM Floor?
The “eCPM Floor” is the lowest bid price that you agree to accept for showing ads on your app. AdMob will not serve an ad if the advertiser’s bid is less than this threshold.
Remember, setting an eCPM floor preserves the value of your inventory by restricting the display of ads to those that satisfy your minimum earning targets. The balance is crucial. If it is set too low, it decreases money per impression, but if it is too high it may limit ad chances and lower fill rates.
How Does an eCPM Floor Work?
Setting an eCPM floor allows you (the app publisher) to specify the minimum amount an advertiser must spend to have their ads displayed in your app.
- Ads from your bidding ad sources and the AdMob Network are subject to eCPM floors.
- Third-party waterfall ad sources in your mediation group are exempt from them.
- Google AdMob only displays advertisements whose per-impression eCPM is equal or higher than the eCPM floor you specify for an ad unit.
- The AdMob Network disregards the request, and mediation proceeds through your other waterfall ad sources if no ad reaches that threshold.
Example:
Suppose you have set an eCPM floor of $1.00. Now, AdMob will only attempt to offer ads that are worth $1.00 or more per 1,000 impressions. The request will proceed to the next qualified ad source in your mediation arrangement, and anything below is filtered out.
Note that every impression receives a separate bid in the AdMob auction since it operates on a per-impression basis.
CPM (cost per thousand impressions) and CPC (cost per click) models are the two bidding options available to advertisers.
AdMob automatically eliminates bids below your predetermined floor for CPM ads.
AdMob calculates the anticipated eCPM for CPC advertisements based on the likelihood that a user would click, and it eliminates advertising with projected eCPMs lower than your floor.
How to Set an eCPM Floor?
AdMob automatically allows eCPM floors that are optimized for Google for every ad unit. These are modified according to traffic patterns, user location, and performance information. If you would like greater control, you can manually set your own floors.
Here’s how you can do it:
- Sign in to your AdMob account.
- Navigate to Apps and choose your app.
- Choose the name of the app for which you want to create this ad unit and then tap Ad Units in the sidebar.
- Make sure to select the pencil icon under Advanced settings.
- Select one of the following options:
- Google Optimized: Let’s Google adjust floors dynamically to maximize revenue.
- High floor (Beta): Focus on higher-paying ads.
- Medium floor (Beta): Balance between revenue and fill rate.
- All prices: Maximize fill rate across all bids.
- Manual Floor: The minimum eCPM is up to you. Ads that are less than this amount won’t work.
- Disabled: No floor for eCPM is used.
Remember, although it can lower your fill rate, a higher floor typically translates into more earnings per impression. To discover the ideal balance for your app, start small, evaluate performance, and make tiny adjustments over time.
eCPM Floors on New Ad Units
The system requires time to collect performance data before implementing your eCPM floor, precisely when you create a new ad unit in AdMob. Depending on how many people use your app, this learning phase could take a week or longer.
Ads with eCPMs below your set floor may show during this time. This does not imply that the floor isn’t working. Rather, it indicates that AdMob is still determining how effectively your new ad unit works and computing precise eCPMs, particularly for CPC-based advertisements.
You may also experience temporary inconsistencies if recently:
- You changed your eCPM floor settings or values.
- Made traffic-related modifications, such as major increases or decreases in impressions.
- You moved or relocated your ad unit within the app, which resets some of its prior performance statistics.
Once AdMob collects enough data, your eCPM floor will be effectively applied to future ad requests.
Best Practices for Setting eCPM Floors
Setting eCPM floors correctly will improve your ad income, but it needs balance, testing, and an understanding of how different markets and platforms function. Here are a few best practices to follow:
1. Use Country-Specific eCPM Floors
You can alter your default floor by setting country-level eCPM floors with AdMob. Because ad values vary greatly by region, this is helpful.
For instance, users in Canada will only see advertisements with a minimum eCPM of $3 if you set Canada to $3 and your default floor is $2. Ads in other areas will follow the $2 floor.
This ensures your fill-rate in lower-paying areas isn’t affected and assures you get better bids in premium markets.
2. Adjust Floors by Market Value
Ad prices vary based on local advertiser demand:
- High eCPM markets: U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan, Australia (typically $5–$10 or more).
- Mid-range markets: Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia (around $1–$3).
- Emerging markets: India, Egypt, Vietnam (around $0.3–$1).
Setting realistic floors by country helps you maintain a good balance between fill rate and revenue per impression.
3. Optimize Separately for Android and iOS
Platforms often have different performance. As per MonetizeMore, due to improved audience segmentation and increased advertiser demand, iOS typically commands higher eCPMs. Due to their wider global reach, Android apps might function better at somewhat lower floors in order to sustain high fill rates.
To determine platform-specific criteria that optimize overall yield, do A/B tests within AdMob.
4. Start Low, Then Optimize
Start with lower floors. You should properly analyze the performance data and progressively raise them. To determine the sweet spot that yields the highest total return, monitor your fill rate. You should also note the eCPM trends and revenue per user.
Conclusion
An eCPM floor is one of AdMob’s most powerful tools for managing and maximizing your ad revenue. It ensures that your ad inventory gets its actual worth by removing low-paying bids.
Successful implementation requires data-driven optimization rather than a guess. Begin with cautious floors, track fill rates, then modify based on region and platform. With continuous testing and clever targeting, you’ll find the proper mix to generate long-term income from your app.
