How Much Do Mobile Ads Actually Pay? Real eCPM Ranges by Network

It depends, but here are real numbers

“How much do mobile ads pay?” has no single answer, because eCPM swings with format, geography, network, platform, and category all at once. What it does have is a range you can anchor to. The figures below are the same blended 2024–2025 benchmarks behind the calculator, and they will get you to a realistic ballpark far faster than another vague “it varies” answer. Everything here is per 1,000 impressions (eCPM); if that term is new, start with the eCPM guide.

By ad format

Format is the biggest lever you fully control. The spread runs from the Tier-3 low (a mostly emerging-market audience) to the Tier-1 high (a mostly US/UK/CA/AU audience):

The spread is stark: a Tier-1 rewarded impression can be worth 400 times a Tier-3 banner impression. If you run only banners, you are leaving the top of this table untouched. The rewarded vs interstitial guide covers how to add the higher-paying formats without wrecking retention.

By network

At the top end, mediation platforms and premium-demand networks lead, because more competing bidders push the winning bid up. Rough Tier-1 rewarded eCPMs:

Do not read this as a pure ranking. AdMob’s lower headline rate comes with near-total fill, so on a real app it often out-earns a higher-quoted network that returns blanks half the time. The AppLovin MAX vs AdMob guide digs into why the “highest eCPM” network is not always the one that pays you most.

Geography is the biggest swing

Nothing moves your earnings like where your users live. A Tier-1 audience (US, UK, Canada, Australia) can earn five to ten times the eCPM of a Tier-3 audience (much of Asia, LatAm, Africa) for the exact same ad, in the same app, on the same day. The mechanism is simple: advertisers will pay a lot to sell to someone with high disposable income and easy payment rails, and comparatively little otherwise.

The practical consequence is that raw download numbers lie. An app with one million installs concentrated in low-eCPM regions can earn less than a 100,000-install app that is US-heavy. If most of your users sit in low-eCPM markets, volume has to do the heavy lifting, which is a perfectly valid strategy, just a different one.

iOS vs Android

iOS users are considered higher value (they spend more and convert better), so their impressions typically earn around 30% more than comparable Android impressions. The calculator applies exactly that 1.3× premium when you select iOS. Android still has far more global reach, so this is no reason to abandon it, but it does explain why two apps with identical audiences can post different eCPMs.

Category matters too

The advertisers bidding on your inventory depend on what your app is. Finance and insurance advertisers pay high CPCs, so a finance app can more than double a casual game’s eCPM. Hypercasual games sit at the other end: enormous audiences, but low intent, so bids are thin and the model only works at massive scale. Education and productivity apps tend to underperform gaming, partly because users in those contexts are more ad-averse and sessions are shorter.

A worked example

Take a casual game with 10,000 daily active users and a balanced global audience, showing roughly 3 rewarded videos and 6 interstitials per user per day on AdMob. Using mid-range blended eCPMs (~$9 rewarded, ~$5 interstitial):

• Rewarded: 10,000 × 3 = 30,000/day × $9 ÷ 1,000 = $270/day
• Interstitial: 10,000 × 6 = 60,000/day × $5 ÷ 1,000 = $300/day
• Combined: ~$570/day, or roughly $17,000/month

That is meaningful money, and it is extremely sensitive to the inputs. Swing the audience US-heavy and it can double. Swing it Tier-3 and it can more than halve. Same app, same design, wildly different outcome, which is exactly why you should model your own numbers rather than trust a single headline figure.

How the money reaches you

Every network here pays monthly, in US dollars, once your balance clears its threshold. AdMob pays around the 21st of the following month from $100. AppLovin MAX pays around the 15th, from $20 by ACH or PayPal. Unity Ads and ironSource pay within 60 days of month end. The full calendar, the PIN letter, and the tax forms are in the AdMob payments guide.

If your bank is not in dollars, where the conversion happens decides how much you keep: a USD wire into a local bank can lose 5 to 10% to intermediary fees and the bank’s rate. A Wise or Payoneer account gives you US dollar account details in your own name, so the network pays you like a US bank and you convert at a much smaller fee. The comparison shows which is cheaper for each network.

Why your numbers will differ

Every benchmark here assumes a well-run app with good placements, not the median publisher and not the top 5%. A brand-new app almost always starts below these ranges while its account builds trust and fill ramps up; a mature, optimized app at scale can exceed them, especially in Q4. Treat these as the center of a wide distribution, then validate against your own live data within the first few weeks.

Every figure above is a range, not a promise. Plug in your own platform, audience, and format mix for the number that actually applies to your app.

Get your own estimate →