Unity LevelPlay and ironSource Ads, Explained

The name causes confusion. Many developers still say "ironSource" when they mean a mediation platform, an ad network, or both. Since Unity and ironSource merged, the mediation platform has been branded Unity LevelPlay, while ironSource Ads continues as a demand source inside it, next to Unity Ads and other networks.

Keeping the two apart matters. LevelPlay decides which network gets each impression. ironSource Ads is one of the networks competing for it. You can use the platform without relying heavily on that network, and the way you judge each one is different.

This guide covers what each product does, who tends to use them, how bidding works in LevelPlay, what our tables say about the ironSource network, a setup outline, reporting and payouts. All dollar figures are estimates from our benchmark tables, the same ones behind the revenue calculator. Unity has been reorganising its products, so names in the dashboard may not match older tutorials. Check Unity's monetisation pages for the current line-up.

Two products under one roof

Unity LevelPlay is a mediation platform. You add one SDK to your app, connect the ad networks you want, and LevelPlay runs an auction for each ad opportunity. It also provides reporting, A/B testing and tools for managing ad units across apps.

ironSource Ads is an ad network. It brings its own advertisers, many of them other mobile games buying installs, and bids for your impressions like any other network in the stack.

Unity Ads is a separate network from the same company, with its own demand. Both can sit inside LevelPlay, and both can also appear inside rival mediation platforms. If Unity changes how these networks are packaged, the principle stays the same: judge the platform on how well it runs the auction, and judge each network on what it pays when it wins.

Who tends to use it

LevelPlay has a long history with mobile game studios, especially in hypercasual and casual games. Those genres live on high volumes of rewarded and interstitial impressions, and ironSource built much of its business around them.

That does not make it a games-only tool. Utility and entertainment apps use mediation for the same reasons games do. But most of the demand on ironSource Ads comes from game advertisers, so a game audience is where it tends to be most competitive.

How bidding works in LevelPlay

LevelPlay supports bidding, where each connected network submits a real-time price for each impression and the highest bid wins. It can also run traditional waterfall instances, where you set a fixed eCPM order for networks that do not bid. A single stack can mix the two.

Each bidding network you add raises the competition for every impression. Each waterfall instance needs a sensible floor and regular review, or it either blocks fill or sells too cheaply. Bidding vs waterfall explains the mechanics, and choosing floor prices covers how to set floors for the instances that remain.

What ironSource Ads pays in our tables

Here is the ironSource network at Tier 1 against three others, using our Android baselines for a typical app.

ironSource Ads sits in the middle of the pack: a little above AdMob on rewarded and interstitial, a little below Unity Ads and AppLovin MAX. In Tier 3 its figures fall to $1.40 for rewarded and $0.90 for interstitial. App open ads are not in our data for ironSource, so the calculator counts them as zero. 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 table.

A worked example

Take a hypothetical hypercasual game on Android with 100,000 daily users, all in Tier 3. Each player sees three rewarded videos and four interstitials a day. Our hypercasual multiplier is 0.8.

• Rewarded: 300,000 impressions at $1.40 x 0.8 = $1.12 each thousand, so $336 a day.
• Interstitial: 400,000 impressions at $0.90 x 0.8 = $0.72 each thousand, so $288 a day.
• Together that is $624 a day before fill, or about $537 a day at our 86% fill estimate.

That is what the ironSource network alone would pay if it won every impression at its baseline. In a real LevelPlay stack, other bidders win some impressions at higher prices, which is the point of mediation. Change the frequencies and see what happens to retention before you raise them: rewarded or interstitial ads explains the trade-off.

Setting up LevelPlay

The outline below has stayed steady, though the screens change. Follow the current steps in the Unity documentation.

1. Create a LevelPlay account and add your app for each platform. You receive an app key.
2. Install the SDK. Unity projects use a Unity package, Android projects add it through Gradle and iOS projects through CocoaPods or a manual framework.
3. Initialise the SDK with your app key at launch, after your consent flow has run.
4. Create ad units for each format and load them in code.
5. Add the networks you want, installing each adapter at a version that matches your SDK, and enter their IDs.
6. Run LevelPlay's integration test tools to confirm each network loads, then test on real devices.
7. Publish app-ads.txt lines for LevelPlay and every connected network. The Google Play guide shows where the file goes.

Reports and testing

LevelPlay reports revenue, impressions, eCPM and fill by network, country and ad unit. Focus on revenue per daily user rather than eCPM alone, because a higher eCPM on fewer impressions can still earn less. ARPDAU and LTV for apps explains how to read those figures together.

Use the A/B testing tool for one change at a time, such as adding a bidder or changing an interstitial cooldown. Give each test long enough to measure retention, not just same-day revenue.

Getting paid

ironSource's payout threshold is around $100, depending on your account. It pays monthly, with net terms that vary by contract, by wire or PayPal. If Unity Ads also pays you, expect it to follow its own schedule, and each third-party network in your stack pays you directly on its own terms. These are typical terms, so confirm them in your own account. Developers outside the US should read receiving ad payouts abroad.

Choosing between mediation platforms

LevelPlay, AppLovin MAX and AdMob mediation all do the same basic job, and you can connect most of the same networks to each. What differs is the in-house demand, the tools, the reporting and how well each runs bidding for your audience. Switching platforms is real work, so compare before you commit.

Start with mediation or a single network if you have not picked a setup yet. Then run your numbers in the LevelPlay calculator, the Unity Ads calculator, the AppLovin MAX calculator and the AdMob calculator. For Unity's own network, see the Unity Ads product page.