2019 saw the rise of some fantastic free apps for both iOS and Android marketplaces. The technical powerhouses fueling monetization for the publishers are the Monetization SDKs installed in their tech stack. 

What developers control the most substantial portion of the monetization SDK market share? What apps are seeing success with these SDKs installed? Before we answer that question, let's first take a look at what's happened in this market over the last six months. 

Trends of in-app monetization

Monetization SDKs are perhaps the most popular category of SDKs in the mobile market. Their primary purpose is to help app publishers earn money on their free apps, usually through displaying ads. Monetization SDKs are provided by startups as well as the largest technology companies in the world. The most popular Monetization SDKs include Google AdMob, Facebook Audience Network, Unity, and Chartboost.

Monetization SDK market share trends  

Monetization SDKs top leaderboards as the most popular category of SDKs for the mobile market. With a firm grasp of in-app monetization and the marketplace of apps-as-businesses, we’re ready to examine the trends in the SDK field more closely. 

As of this week, we are seeing growth 3% over the last six months for the Android marketplace while the iOS market has remained relatively flat. There are  708,372 iOS apps with a monetization SDK installed. Compare this number to the stats on the last reading of 06-01-2019. On that date, there were 705,752 apps with iOS monetization integrations. For Android, there were 1,044,050 apps with a monetization SDK installed compared to 1,011,207 as of 06-01-2019. 

Top iOS monetization SDKs

So who are the top developers in the mobile Monetization SDK iOS market? What can they offer you that nobody else can?

Google Admob SDK

Quick peek:

• Installed in 37,373 apps
• Owns 62% of the Monetization SDK market
• 121 apps in the top 200 apps
• Top Apps - Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Indeed Job Search, LinkedIn, Sam's Club, Southwest Airlines, Youtube

AdMob helps a user monetize a mobile app through in-app advertising. Ads can be displayed as banner, interstitial, video, or native ads—which are seamlessly added to platform native UI components. AdMob uses the Google Mobile Ads SDK, which helps app developers gain insights about their users and maximize ad revenue.

Unity Ads SDK

Quick peek:

• Installed in 8,587 apps
• Owns 14% of the Monetization SDK market
• 27 apps in the top 200 apps
• Top Apps - Trivia Crack, 8 Ball Pool, Madden NFL Mobile Football, Duolingo, Sniper 3D Assassin, Fruit Ninja, Solitaire, Wordscapes

Unity Ads is a comprehensive monetization platform for Unity, iOS, and Android developers. Use it to monetize an existing player base easily. The Unity Ads provides a comprehensive monetization framework for the game.

FB Audience Network SDK

Quick peek:

• Installed in 8,138 apps
• Owns 14% of the Monetization SDK market
• 46 apps in the top 200 apps
• Top Apps - Trivia Crack, 8 Ball Pool, Microsoft Outlook, Duolingo, Instagram, Candy Crush, OfferUp, Pandora

Facebook Audience Network is designed to maximize revenue with diverse demand from global advertisers. Facebook Audience Network helps you monetize your app by showing highly targeted ads that match the interests of your users.

Top Android Monetization SDKs

So who are the top developers in the mobile Monetization SDK Android market? What can they offer you that nobody else can?

Google Admob SDK

Quick peek:

• Installed in 1,001,019 apps
• 139 apps in the top 200 apps
• Top Apps - Weather Maps and News, Weather Channel, Tinder, Extreme Car Driving Simulator, Amazon Shopping, Temple Run

AdMob helps a user monetize a mobile app through in-app advertising. Ads can be displayed as banner, interstitial, video, or native ads—which are seamlessly added to platform native UI components. AdMob uses the Google Mobile Ads SDK, which helps app developers gain insights about their users and maximize ad revenue.

Applovin SDK

Quick peek:

• Installed in 58,041 apps
• 87 apps in the top 200 apps
• Top Apps - Temple Run, Extreme Car Driving Simulator, Zedge, Picsart Photo Editor, Plants vs Zombies, Geometry Dash Lite, My Talking Angela

AppLovin builds technology that fuels many of the world's most popular mobile games. Since 2012, the company's technologies have been instrumental in driving the explosive growth of games from its studio partners and its own studio. AppLovin makes those same technologies available to all game developers, resulting in a richer mobile game ecosystem and better games for people everywhere. 

Chartboost SDK

Quick peek:

• Installed in 52,892 apps
• 43 apps in the top 200 apps
• Top Apps - Temple Run 2, Subway Surfers, Sniper 2D Gun Shooter, Township, Smule, Coin Master, My Talking Angela

Chartboost is a San Francisco-based mobile game in-app programmatic advertising and monetization platform. Chartboost SDK enables developers to monetize on their mobile apps and connect advertisers to global in-app inventory.

Are you interested in seeing more SDK market share data? MightySignal has market share data for numerous other SDK categories as well as a break down between iOS and Android. Are you interested in learning more about MightySignal's core service? Contact us and schedule a meeting to find out how MightySignal can help your companies sales process.