App Monetization
Chartboost
Chartboost is a mobile advertising and monetization platform with a long-standing focus on games and app developers. Publishers can access Chartboost demand directly or through mediation partners, use rewarded video, video and static interstitial, banner, and related formats, and manage placements, CPM controls, reporting, app review, and authorized-seller verification; Chartboost also offers its own bidding-based mediation product. It fits game studios seeking another specialized demand source or mediation option alongside broader app advertising networks.
What it does
Chartboost is a mobile game advertising and monetization platform, now part of the Digital Turbine group, focused on the gaming ecosystem. On the monetization side it offers an ad network and mediation with rewarded, interstitial, and banner formats plus in-app bidding; on the user-acquisition side it provides a self-serve DSP for buying installs across its supply. Because it grew up inside mobile gaming, its demand and supply skew heavily toward games, which can mean strong eCPMs and relevant ads for that vertical. Developers integrate the SDK to both earn from ad placements and run cross-promotion or paid UA campaigns from a single account.
Where it fits
Chartboost spans both the monetization and UA stages for game developers, often used alongside a primary mediator rather than as the sole stack.
Core features
- Game-focused ad network with rewarded and interstitial demand
- Mediation and in-app bidding support
- Self-serve DSP for buying mobile game installs
- Cross-promotion tools across owned apps
- Reporting across monetization and acquisition in one account
Best for
- Mobile game studios monetizing and acquiring users
- Developers wanting gaming-specific ad demand
- Teams running cross-promotion across a portfolio of games
Beginner notes
- Use cross-promotion to recycle your own traffic before spending on paid UA; it is effectively free installs from engaged players.
- Keep Chartboost as one bidding source inside a broader mediation setup so it competes rather than running it in isolation.
- Match creative and reward design to genre norms, since gaming audiences respond very differently to rewarded versus interstitial placements.