Unity Ads vs Chartboost: 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.

Rewarded video shows the widest Tier 1 gap: Unity Ads at $13.00 against Chartboost at $10.00.

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 9 of 9 categories and Chartboost in 0. The widest gap is in Mid-core / Strategy, where Unity Ads earns about 38% more. The closest race is Social / Lifestyle, where the two sit 25% apart.

How region changes the result

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

Unity Ads stays ahead across all three audience splits, by 31% to 34%.

Unity Ads / Chartboost

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 Chartboost

Chartboost is a game-focused network that grew up on interstitials and rewarded video, and it also runs its own mediation product. In our tables it covers rewarded, interstitial and banner, at about $10.00, $7.20 and $0.70 respectively in Tier 1 on Android.

Strengths

• Its demand comes largely from game advertisers, which suits players who are open to trying other games.
• It has a history of supporting cross-promotion and direct deals between studios, useful if you publish several titles.
• It is a common bidder in mediation stacks, adding competition for full-screen slots.

Watch-outs

• Without native or app open formats it cannot cover every placement on its own.
• Fill of around 78% in our model sits at the low end, so a backup source matters.
• Its central estimates are below the leaders in every format, so its value tends to lie in competition rather than headline price.

Best for: A mobile game with full-screen breaks that wants an extra game-specialist bidder in its mediation line-up.

Payout terms

Verdict

On our numbers Unity Ads is the stronger single choice for most categories, and particularly for Mid-core / Strategy, Education App. Chartboost 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.