Embedding ads on Android app?

I would like to make a free version of the Android app I have, but would like to embed ad on it. I am not sure where I should start? Is there a well known mobile ad company out there that is specialized in mobile advertising?

I have personally used both Admob and Adsense.

I was wary when I first implemented ads thinking that my users would be upset, but I have not received one complaint from over 500,000 active installations.

The only permission that you need to add for either ad SDK to work is the android.permission.INTERNET permission. 

Admob is open for anyone above the age of 18 to use, just download the SDK and set up an account. Integrating the ad into your app is very straight forward and the example in their SDK was clear. I used Admob for about 2 weeks, every day I earned double digits (>$9, <$100) and I was happy with it. I never bothered looking to see what sort of developer resources they had available (groups/forums) but their SDK was great and caused me no problems.

Adsense is a Google product and is available by invitation or through the application process. I got into the program via an invitation from a member of the Adsense For Mobile Applications (afma) team. Implementation was nearly identical to Admob, download the SDK, and setup your Adsense account accordingly. They have nice developer resources and are quick to respond when someone has a question.

They both offer an SDK that provided a GUI element which is basically a web view that retrieves ads from their servers.

Overall both ad platforms have given me a good experience. The click through rate has been almost identical between the two but I am sticking with Adsense because in my experience it is more lucrative.

My only complaint is the wait time on payouts. As an Android developer when I sell an application I receive the money for that sale in my bank account within a few days but with both of these services they payouts are monthly, and are processed the month after. So all of my ad revenue earned in March will be processed and paid to me at the beginning of May.

At the time of writing this I am bringing in about as much revenue from ads as I am from application sales. I won't get specific on that number but have said in another post my monthly revenue from application sales is enough to pay rent on a decent place for me and my wife and daughter.

If you have an application that you want to release for free I would highly suggest adding ads to it. Now that I have done it I don't think I will ever release a free application without ads and I plan on going back and adding ads to any of my apps that are currently free and do not have ads.

Feel free to ask any questions here on SO when implementing these SDKs, I will try and respond.

Update Feb 2012

I still use Admob as Google has shut down Adsense for mobile apps.

I still earn about as much from ads as I do from sales on a monthly basis, but my monthly revenue has dropped about 90% over the past year. I am no longer able to pay the rent from my mobile apps, I can take my family out to a dinner a few times a month though.

Update Jan 2014

In March of 2013 I sold the apps that I monetized with ads to a different publisher so I have no insight in to monetization of apps using ads since that time.

I am one of the co-founders of MoPub and a former member of the AdMob team.

The question you ask has no great answer. There are a myriad of mobile ad networks that you can use to monetize your app. On Android in particular, you should try out Millennial, AdMob, JumpTap, MobFox, etc. The problem is integrating all the different SDKs is a giant pain and doesn't really provide you much control.

Ads are important, but don't forget the importance of upselling your paid application and understanding when and how it works.

I ran into this exact problem and started developing MoPub to give application developers full control over over what ads show when. We serve all our ads through HTML5 so our client library is low footprint and the server gives you all the knobs you need to control.

We're also going to releasing an optimization feature that let's you push a button and let's us handle all the adjustments for you.

There was a post recently on the topic: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5514945/mopub-for-android

http://www.mopub.com

This link should help you to implement ads using Google's AdSense.

Hope it's useful. (There are some terms and conditions)

Adding Ad's into Mobile Applications

Original Source

Edit: I've never tried but would it be possible to use a miniature web view in the application itself and link a static image to it?

There are very many different advertising companies you can choose from. Simply google for "android app monetization" or something similar and you'll find them. The most common ones are Admob, Millennial media and InMobi.

(Disclaimer, I'm working for AppBrain): AppBrain also has an app-promotion ad SDK called AppLift, which has been working very well for our partners so far, as it doesn't use the banner ads that most users are trained to not click anymore. You can find more information on http://www.appbrain.com/info/sdk.

quattro and admob were aquired by Apple and Google respectively and should be good. Adsense is pretty good as well, but the beta admission was pretty stringent for a while and I'm not sure how difficult it is to get in now.

You should try both Admob and Adsense. They're pretty good both, but i heard that Adsense will give better conversion rates.

Don't know really, I don't use much ads.

Looks like you have to add Adsense to your Google merchant account to even receive payouts. It says that even if you don't use the Adsense you still have to sign up for it and link it to your Google account. I just applied not knowing this and will have to wait like 2 days before I get contacted for verification. At least Google is more friendlier than Apple with their business developer signup. Took them 5 days just to get me to the point where I have to send my articles of incorporation just to continue their enrollment process. This is why I like Android a lot easier to get things done in a timely manner.

If you integrate MobFox, you can have them handle the high-revenue clicks and send the rest of the traffic to Admob or InMobi. It's a web-based configuration, so you only need to integrate the SDK once. Their SDK is about the same as Admob for ease of integration.

I wrote a guide with pictures on how to set it up, if you're interested:

http://www.projectjourneyman.com/android-income-quickstart-guide

Edit: the AdMob integration broke, and they never fixed it. InMobi backfill only at this point.

Push-notification ads are also another option for your Android app(s). Airpush offers much higher CPM's than AdMob or Adsense (although it is a different ad unit) and much higher fill rates. It could be worth testing - Airpush

We now use both AdMob and Airpush in the same app and are receiving great results. Best part is they do not cross over each others terms of use policy. They have an Android Developer Relations contact that really helped us.