Educational only. eCPM figures aggregate AppLovin, ironSource, Unity, and AdMob public benchmark reports for 2025–2026. Actual rates depend on app vertical, geo mix, OS, and waterfall configuration.
Key takeaways
- Rewarded video is the highest-paying format in every market, and the least damaging to retention.
- Geo mix outweighs everything else: tier-3 users monetize at 5–20% of a US user.
- Missing consent (ATT / TCF v2.2) silently cuts eCPM by 60–80% — check this before optimizing placements.
- Single-network AdMob leaves 15–25% of revenue unfilled; bidding-based mediation recovers most of it.
- Track ARPDAU, not eCPM. A higher eCPM with lower fill or fewer impressions per user is a worse business.
Run your own numbers in the AdMob Revenue Calculator.
eCPM by format and geo tier
| Format | US / Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | Typical impressions per DAU/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rewarded video | $14–$22 | $8–$10 | $2.00–$3.00 | 1–3 |
| Interstitial | $9–$14 | $5–$7 | $1.00–$2.00 | 3–6 |
| App-open | $4–$8 | $2.50–$4.00 | $0.60–$1.20 | 1–2 |
| Native | $3.00–$5.00 | $1.50–$2.50 | $0.40–$0.80 | 2–5 |
| Medium rectangle (300×250) | $1.60–$3.00 | $0.80–$1.40 | $0.25–$0.50 | 3–8 |
| Adaptive banner (anchored) | $0.40–$0.80 | $0.22–$0.35 | $0.08–$0.14 | 15–40 |
| Fixed 320×50 banner | $0.30–$0.65 | $0.18–$0.25 | $0.06–$0.10 | 15–40 |
The ordering is stable across every market: users opting in beats users interrupted, and full-screen beats a strip of pixels. What changes by market is the absolute level, not the ranking.
eCPM by app vertical
| App vertical | US rewarded eCPM | US interstitial eCPM | Typical ARPDAU (US) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casino / social casino | $28–$45 | $18–$28 | $0.35–$0.90 |
| Finance / budgeting | $20–$30 | $14–$20 | $0.12–$0.30 |
| Puzzle / casual games | $15–$22 | $10–$15 | $0.07–$0.16 |
| Hyper-casual games | $11–$16 | $8–$12 | $0.03–$0.08 |
| Health & fitness | $13–$19 | $9–$13 | $0.05–$0.12 |
| Photo & video utilities | $10–$15 | $7–$11 | $0.04–$0.09 |
| Education / kids | $6–$11 | $4–$8 | $0.02–$0.05 |
Vertical matters because it changes who is bidding. Casino and finance advertisers have high lifetime value per install and bid accordingly; kids and education apps face both thin demand and regulatory limits on targeting.
Geography is the biggest single lever
| Geo tier | Example markets | eCPM index vs US | Share of global installs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | US, CA, UK, AU, DE, JP | 0.75–1.00× | ~20% |
| Tier 2 | FR, IT, ES, KR, PL, SA, AE | 0.35–0.60× | ~25% |
| Tier 3 | IN, ID, BR, PH, NG, PK, VN | 0.05–0.18× | ~55% |
This is why install-volume growth and revenue growth so often diverge. Cheap tier-3 installs can triple DAU while barely moving revenue — a real outcome for hyper-casual studios buying on CPI alone.
Worked examples
Puzzle game, 50,000 DAU, US-heavy
- DAU
- 50,000
- Geo mix
- 60% US / 25% Tier 2 / 15% Tier 3
- Rewarded impressions/user/day
- 2.0
- Interstitial impressions/user/day
- 4.0
- Blended rewarded eCPM
- $13.00
- Blended interstitial eCPM
- $8.00
- Rewarded impressions = 50,000 × 2 = 100,000/day
- Rewarded revenue = 100,000 ÷ 1,000 × $13.00 = $1,300/day
- Interstitial impressions = 50,000 × 4 = 200,000/day
- Interstitial revenue = 200,000 ÷ 1,000 × $8.00 = $1,600/day
- Total = $2,900/day → ARPDAU = $2,900 ÷ 50,000 = $0.058
Result: ≈ $2,900/day, $87,000/month, ARPDAU $0.058
Same game, tier-3-heavy install mix
- DAU
- 50,000
- Geo mix
- 10% US / 15% Tier 2 / 75% Tier 3
- Blended rewarded eCPM
- $4.20
- Blended interstitial eCPM
- $2.60
- Rewarded revenue = 100,000 ÷ 1,000 × $4.20 = $420/day
- Interstitial revenue = 200,000 ÷ 1,000 × $2.60 = $520/day
- Total = $940/day → ARPDAU = $0.019
Result: ≈ $940/day — a 3× revenue gap on identical DAU and ad load
Banner sizes that actually pay
Google's adaptive banner (the replacement for smart banners) outperforms fixed 320×50 by 20–40% because it sizes to device width, and anchored adaptive earns more than inline. The 300×250 medium rectangle earns 4–7× a banner — use it on pause screens and content gaps, never in navigation flows.
Mediation isn't optional
Single-network AdMob fill leaves 15–25% on the table. AppLovin MAX, ironSource LevelPlay, and Google's own bidding pull competing demand (Meta Audience Network, Vungle, Pangle, Mintegral) into a unified auction. Most studios see ARPDAU lift 18–22% within 30 days of switching from waterfall-only AdMob.
GDPR, ATT, and the consent problem
Without proper consent management (TCF v2.2 in the EU, Apple ATT on iOS 14.5+), AdMob fills with non-personalized ads that pay 60–80% less. Use Google's UMP SDK on the EU side and run a plain-language pre-prompt before the ATT dialog on iOS. Consent rates above 70% are achievable with good UX copy — and worth more than any placement experiment you will run this quarter.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good AdMob eCPM in 2026?
For a US audience, $14–$22 on rewarded video, $9–$14 on interstitial, and $0.30–$0.80 on banners is a healthy range. On a global install mix weighted toward tier-3 markets, a blended eCPM of $2–$5 across all formats is normal.
Why is my AdMob eCPM so low?
The three dominant causes are geo mix (tier-3 users pay 5–20× less than US users), format mix (banners are a commodity), and missing consent — non-personalized ads pay 60–80% less than personalized ones. Low fill from running AdMob alone without mediation is the fourth.
How much does an app with 10,000 DAU earn?
At a US-heavy mix showing two rewarded videos and three interstitials per user per day, roughly $600–$1,100 a day. The same 10,000 DAU on a tier-3-heavy mix typically earns $60–$150 a day.
Does mediation actually increase revenue?
Yes, measurably. Studios moving from single-network AdMob to a bidding-based mediation stack (AppLovin MAX, ironSource LevelPlay, or Google bidding) typically see ARPDAU rise 18–22% within 30 days, driven by fill rate and competing demand rather than higher headline eCPMs.
Rewarded video vs interstitial — which should I run?
Rewarded pays 40–70% more per impression and does far less retention damage because the user opts in. Interstitials earn more per session when placed at natural breaks, but every additional forced interstitial costs day-7 retention. Most healthy apps run rewarded as the primary and cap interstitials at one per two or three sessions.
How does ATT and GDPR consent affect eCPM?
Without consent, ads serve non-personalized and pay 60–80% less. Google's UMP SDK handles TCF v2.2 in the EU, and a well-written pre-prompt before Apple's ATT dialog can lift opt-in rates past 70% — usually the single highest-ROI change in the whole monetization stack.
How we got these numbers
Format and vertical eCPMs aggregate publicly released 2025–2026 benchmark reports from AdMob, AppLovin, ironSource, and Unity, cross-checked against RevenueLab's own dataset of reported app revenue. Ranges are low-to-high across the middle of the distribution rather than absolute extremes; casino, finance, and seasonal Q4 inventory routinely clear above the stated high.
Directional estimates, not guarantees. See our methodology.