Zedge removed banners from an app with 721 million installs — half as a joke, to be consistent in a refresh-rate test. Impressions fell 38%. Revenue went up 1%. Their North Star metric rose 1.77%. Then they ran it in reverse to make sure, and got the same result. Banners might genuinely be dead.

Felix Braberg goes solo for an ad-monetization interview with Ignas Danielius, Head of Ad Monetization at Zedge (the personalization company behind the 721M-install, 4.7-rated wallpaper and ringtone app, plus Emojipedia, GuruShots, and the new Dataseats AI-training-data business).

They cover how ad-mon has evolved (from painful waterfalls to bidding and, ironically, back to user-value-segmented waterfalls), why banners went from Zedge's main revenue driver to a stale unit (the format is functionally unchanged since the late '90s while interstitials and rewarded have been through a conversion arms race; 5-second refresh rates kill advertiser value; misclicks and unfixable redirects), and the experiment itself: a refresh-rate test (15/20/30 seconds) with a "for a laugh" variant that removed banners entirely — run from December 8 through January, spanning the best and worst ad-ops months, with the no-banner group outperforming control for the entire duration. Ignas explains the mechanism (advertisers bid on the user, and a fast-refreshing banner is the cheapest impression to "buy" them on — remove it and later-session interstitials, numbers four through six, see fill rates explode), why the first interstitial didn't change, why Google likely drove the biggest effect, the conditions under which other publishers can reproduce it (top networks, up to 15 bidders on interstitials, low latency, a full format mix — and frequency of use matters)

The takeaway: "the banner always contributes" was a status quo nobody tested. Zedge tested it. It didn't hold.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Meet Ignas — ad monetization at Zedge

05:15 How ad-mon evolved — and why waterfalls are back

06:05 The banner's slow decline: a unit that never innovated

09:55 5-second refreshes, misclicks & redirects — how banners kill themselves

11:40 The experiment — refresh rates, and "for a laugh, remove it"

14:50 The result — 38% fewer impressions, +1% revenue, +1.77% North Star

17:10 Why it works — advertisers buy your user cheap on the banner

21:40 Should you turn off banners? The checklist

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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA

🎙️ HOST

Felix Braberg — Ad Monetization consultant

🎤 GUEST

Ignas Danielius — Head of Ad Monetization, Zedge (full study and contact in the show notes)

This episode is brought to you by Potensus — a premium ad network built by people who've been on both sides of the industry, with direct (non-programmatic) deals with Amazon, Apple, Coca-Cola, and Vodafone landing in your game at premium CPMs, plus a PlayableMaker partnership that turns brand videos and statics into native gaming playables and rewarded formats. Head to potensus.com to get started.

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🪦 Are Banners Dead? Zedge Removed Them, Cut 38% of Impressions, and Made MORE Money

two &amp; a half gamers

🪦 Are Banners Dead? Zedge Removed Them, Cut 38% of Impressions, and Made MORE Money

two & a half gamers