iOS New developer, first application, huge launch - almost zero eCPM. What do I do?

[GFLPraxis]

Sorry, I wouldn't normally post something like this because it's not directly programming and I don't want to be that SEO guy begging for tips on making more money, but I don't know where else to turn except to other developers.

I've been working on my first indie app for a long time and generated a lot of followers prior to launch - I hired a graphics designer to work with me and a video editor to prepare trailers, and I feel I did everything right. On launch day, the response was fairly big. I hit trending on the app store, and had tens of thousands of users in the first day.



However, in the first 12 hours, my ad payout was almost zero.


AdMob says I have a "Request RPM" of $0.19, and iAd says I have an eCPM of only $0.02. (iAd is giving me a 20% fill rate, and AdMob is my fallback for the other 80%.)

As a result, I've only made a couple dollars overall from AdMob by day two, and iAd has made cents. At these rates, I'd rather not even bother having ads! It likely won't cover my hosting at these rates.

I've never worked with ad networks before and am learning this as I go. These numbers are dramatically below the expectations I'd had from my research, which was between $1-3 eCPM.

How do I resolve this?

Thank you so much for your help.

 

[dejo]

Tens of thousands of users or tens of thousands of downloads? Because if people only download the app but never run it, it won't generate any requests. Are you running any analytics? What amount of requests and impressions are you seeing, both for iAd and AdMob? (If you don't want to be specific, that's fine.)

 

[GFLPraxis]

Tens of thousands of users or tens of thousands of downloads? Because if people only download the app but never run it, it won't generate any requests. Are you running any analytics? What amount of requests and impressions are you seeing, both for iAd and AdMob? (If you don't want to be specific, that's fine.)

I don't have as many analytics running as I probably should on that, I'll have to rectify in future releases. But, I got about 30,000 ad impressions between the two in the first twelve hours.

Admob's average CTR during this time was 0.12%, which is pretty low. Is that what's leading to low bidder advertisers? I dislike the quality of ads I've been seeing.

I'm guessing I'd do better with more targetted ads, but I'm not sure how to do that with AdMob or iAd.

 

[grandM]

Wasn't apple going to move away from iAd?

 

[GFLPraxis]

Wasn't apple going to move away from iAd?

I'm using mediation, so if I don't get an iAd I get an adMob.