Unity Ads vs AppLovin MAX: eCPM, Fill and Payouts Compared

At a glance

eCPM by format and tier

Android baseline eCPMs in US dollars per 1,000 impressions, before category and platform multipliers.

Banner shows the widest Tier 1 gap: AppLovin MAX at $1.10 against Unity Ads at $0.80. Native is only modelled for AppLovin MAX. App open is only modelled for AppLovin MAX.

Which wins for each kind of app

Each row runs 10,000 daily users with that category’s typical format mix and a balanced region split.

Unity Ads leads in 0 of 9 categories and AppLovin MAX in 9. The widest gap is in Social / Lifestyle, where AppLovin MAX earns about 232% more. The closest race is Mid-core / Strategy, where the two sit 20% apart.

How region changes the result

The same casual game at 10,000 daily users with three different audience splits.

AppLovin MAX stays ahead across all three audience splits, by 24% to 25%.

Unity Ads / AppLovin MAX

About Unity Ads

Unity Ads is a video-first network tied closely to the Unity engine, and in our tables it covers rewarded, interstitial and banner but not native or app open. Its Tier 1 Android estimates of about $13.00 for rewarded and $9.00 for interstitials sit among the stronger figures, helped by game studios buying installs from other games.

Strengths

• Rewarded and interstitial video are its core formats, and its central estimates for both are above AdMob's in our tables.
• If your game is built in Unity, the Ads package plugs into the editor and most of the work is configuration.
• Its advertisers are largely other game studios, so the creative usually suits a player audience.

Watch-outs

• There is no native or app open format, so those placements need a second network.
• Blended fill of about 84% trails AdMob and AppLovin MAX in our model, which leaves some requests empty without a backup source.
• Payment typically arrives 30 or more days after month end, so build that delay into your cash flow.

Best for: A Unity-built game whose earnings rest on rewarded videos offered at reward moments such as extra lives or doubled coins.

About AppLovin MAX

AppLovin MAX is a mediation platform built around in-app bidding, with AppLovin's own demand competing alongside other networks in each auction. It posts the highest central estimates in our mobile tables, about $14.50 for Tier 1 rewarded and $9.80 for interstitials on Android, and the highest blended fill at roughly 90%.

Strengths

• It supports all five formats we model, including native at about $4.00 and app open at about $6.00 in Tier 1.
• Bidding puts networks into a single auction, which removes much of the manual work of ordering a waterfall.
• AppLovin's own demand is deep in games, which is why it so often leads for game studios.
• Its banner estimate of about $1.10 in Tier 1 is the highest of the eight mobile networks we track.

Watch-outs

• Payment terms of roughly net 45 days mean the first payout comes later than it would from Google.
• Every extra adapter adds SDK weight and testing time, so add networks only where they actually win impressions.
• Its edge is concentrated in games, so a utility or content app may see a smaller gain over a single network.

Best for: A game with steady daily users that wants several demand sources bidding on every impression.

Payout terms

Verdict

On our numbers AppLovin MAX is the stronger single choice for most categories, and particularly for Social / Lifestyle, Finance App. Unity Ads holds its own in Casual Game. Many studios run both inside a mediation stack, which our model does not combine.

All figures come from our benchmark tables: Android eCPMs by tier, category or niche multipliers, modelled fill and the iOS multiplier. They are estimates for planning, not quotes.