InMobi for App Developers: Reach Beyond Tier 1
Where InMobi holds its prices up, how it compares in Tier 1 and Tier 3, and how to add it to a mediation stack.
5 min read · Updated
If most of your users are in India, South-East Asia, Latin America or Africa, the networks that dominate Tier 1 advice may not be the ones that matter most to you. InMobi is one of the networks built with those markets in mind, and it is worth understanding before you decide what goes into your ad stack.
It is rarely a network you run on its own. Its value shows up as an extra bidder in a mediation stack, competing for impressions where its advertisers are strong and stepping back where they are not.
This guide covers who InMobi is, the formats it supports, how its Tier 1 and Tier 3 figures compare, how it fits into mediation, a setup outline and payouts. All dollar figures are estimates from our benchmark tables, the same ones behind the revenue calculator. Terms change, so confirm the details on InMobi's site.
Who InMobi is
InMobi is an advertising technology company founded in India, with a long history in mobile advertising across Asia. It runs an in-app ad network and exchange that app publishers can join directly or reach through mediation, and it sells to advertisers who want reach in markets where some Western networks have thinner demand.
That background is the reason to care. A network's eCPM in a given country depends on how many of its advertisers want users there. A network with deep local advertiser relationships can hold its prices up in places where others fall away.
Formats it supports
Our tables include four InMobi formats: rewarded video, interstitial, banner and native. App open ads are not in our data for InMobi, so the calculator counts them as zero for this network. If you rely on app open placements, another network in your stack will need to cover them.
Native deserves a look if your app has feeds, lists or article pages. It lets the ad match your layout, and in Tier 3 InMobi's native figure is level with the best in our tables.
The Tier 1 and Tier 3 picture
Here is how InMobi compares with two larger networks, using our Android baselines for a typical app.
| Format | InMobi Tier 1 | InMobi Tier 3 | AdMob Tier 3 | AppLovin MAX Tier 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rewarded video | $9.00 | $1.50 | $1.40 | $1.60 |
| Interstitial | $6.00 | $1.00 | $0.90 | $1.00 |
| Native | $3.00 | $0.45 | $0.40 | $0.45 |
| Banner | $0.65 | $0.11 | $0.10 | $0.12 |
In Tier 1, InMobi sits at the bottom of our mobile tables for rewarded, interstitial and banner. AdMob's Tier 1 rewarded figure is $12.00 and AppLovin's is $14.50, against InMobi's $9.00.
Tier 3 tells a different story. InMobi's rewarded figure is second only to AppLovin MAX, its interstitial figure ties for the top, and it beats AdMob on every format. Put another way, InMobi's Tier 3 rewarded price is one sixth of its Tier 1 price, while AdMob's is closer to one ninth. InMobi loses less as you move away from the richest markets. Tier 2 sits in between at $4.20 for rewarded and $2.80 for interstitial.
These are central estimates. Our range runs from 0.7x to 1.35x around each figure, and iOS adds a 1.3x multiplier. The mobile eCPM benchmarks have the full set.
What the gap is worth in dollars
Take a hypothetical Android app with 50,000 daily users, all in Tier 3, each watching three rewarded videos a day. That is 150,000 impressions a day.
- At InMobi's $1.50, those impressions earn $225 a day.
- At AdMob's $1.40, they earn $210 a day.
The $15 difference is real but small, and fill changes it (see below). The bigger point is that you do not have to pick one. In a bidding auction, InMobi only wins the impressions where it bids highest, so adding it can lift your average price without taking anything away.
Fill, and where to check it
Our tables give InMobi a blended fill of about 78%, against 88% for AdMob and 90% for AppLovin MAX. Multiply price by fill and the Tier 3 rewarded picture narrows: InMobi works out at about $1.17 per thousand requests (1.50 x 0.78) and AdMob at about $1.23 (1.40 x 0.88).
That blended fill figure covers all tiers together, so it does not tell you how InMobi fills in any one country. Your own mediation reports will. Look at InMobi's fill and win rate by country after a few weeks, and compare its eCPM on the impressions it actually wins. Fill rate explained walks through reading those numbers.
Where InMobi fits in a mediation stack
Most developers add InMobi through a mediation platform rather than as their only SDK. AdMob mediation, AppLovin MAX and Unity LevelPlay all offer InMobi adapters, with bidding support on several of them. Check your platform's documentation for which formats are available as bidding and which still run as waterfall instances.
A sensible role for InMobi:
- As a bidder alongside your main networks, if your platform supports InMobi bidding for your formats.
- As a waterfall instance with a floor set from its real results, if bidding is not available. Choosing floor prices explains how to set one without starving fill.
- As a regional specialist, where you watch its share of wins in Tier 3 countries and judge it on those.
If you are new to stacking networks, read mediation or a single network and bidding vs waterfall first.
Setting it up
The outline is much the same as for any mobile network:
- Create a publisher account on InMobi's platform and add your app with its store listing.
- Create placements for each format and note the account ID and placement IDs.
- Add InMobi's app-ads.txt line to your developer website. See the guides for Google Play and for Amazon, Samsung and Huawei stores, which matter more in some emerging markets.
- In your mediation platform, enable InMobi, install the adapter that matches your SDK version and enter the IDs.
- Test on a real device, then go live and watch the first weeks closely.
Regional privacy rules apply here too. If you have users in regions that require consent, make sure your consent message passes the right signals to every network, InMobi included. Setting up consent messages covers the basics. For the mediation side, follow your platform's own InMobi page, such as the AdMob developer guides or the Unity docs.
Payouts
InMobi's threshold is around $100, depending on your account. It pays monthly, with net terms that vary by contract, by wire or PayPal. These are typical terms, so confirm them in your own account. Developers in emerging markets should check bank fees and currency conversion before choosing a method, and receiving ad payouts abroad goes through the options.
When to add it
Add InMobi when a large share of your users are in Tier 3 or parts of Tier 2, and when your mediation platform supports it cleanly. If your audience is almost entirely Tier 1, the case is weaker, because larger networks outbid it there in our tables.
Model your own audience mix in the AdMob calculator, the AppLovin MAX calculator or the LevelPlay calculator, with the geography slider set to match your users. Then test InMobi in your live stack and let its results by country decide whether it stays.