We’ve been looking into supporting our game via the “freemium” model so we started looking into putting ads into our game.   As cool as it sounds figuring out which ad network to use and how exactly ads work was a little daunting so I started researching all the different networks and compiling any articles or sites that help shed some light on the subject.  Here’s some of my research in the hopes that you find it useful especially if you are thinking of putting together your own iPhone ad supported game.  Let me know if you guys find any more networks worth adding to this post.  I know this space is growing by the day!

Ad Network Companies:

As the iPhone app space gets hotter and hotter the number of ad networks seems to increase.  These are the networks that seem to be popular or well known in the mobile ad space.

• Greystripe/Tribal Fusion
• Admob (now owned by the Google)
• Jumptap
• Pinch Media/Pinch Advertising
• Videoegg
• Adwhirl
• Tap Joy
• Mobclix

Articles Worth Reading:

• How Indie Developer Can Create Multiple Hit iPhone Games
• Backflip on 11 million downloads, $1 million sales, and the power of in-app advertising
• Greystripe Ups the Ante in the iPhone Ad Network Wars
• Should an iPhone Add Developer Charge or Run Ads
• Policies and Tips for admob

Key Advertising Terms:

Impressions:

The number of times a banner ad was requested and presumably seen by users. It is often hard to obtain an accurate impression count as they can be undercounted due to issues relating to cache or overcounted due to requests that were not completed. (http://www.adglossary.com/index.php?term=66)

eCPM:

Effective cost-per-thousand impressions (eCPM) is a useful way to compare revenue across different channels and advertising programs. Essentially, effective CPM represents your estimated earnings for every 1000 impressions you receive.

Effective CPM doesn’t represent how much you have actually earned — rather, it’s calculated by dividing your estimated earnings by the number of page impressions, then multiplying by 1000. For example, if you earned an estimated $0.15 from 25 page impressions, then your page eCPM would equal ($0.15 / 25) * 1000, or $6.00. If you earned an estimated $180 from 45,000 ad impressions, your ad eCPM would equal ($180 / 45,000) * 1000, or $4.00.

If that still confuses you read this article.

Difference between CPC and CPM Ads:

I can’t do this one justice so if you’re interested in the difference read this excellent article by Blogger Cash.