Ads in MailDroid

[jl]

I have noted a lot of questions via email and on the Play store about new ad formats, so I wanted to write an explanation here and feel free to respond.

MailDroid has always been an ad supported app. From the start of working on MD 4+ years ago, this was the main source of revenue. After the first year, so many requests came in for an ad free version, that one was finally released. Though it was added, we put it up as a high price due to the fact that Google takes such a large cut that ads were doing better in general. Fast forward to 3 years later and things have changed. Mobile advertising is huge, but the advertisers now realize that users don't really interact with ads as much as they liked. Two years ago they came out and started to push out a new format called interstitial ads. These are basically "pop-up ads". They work well for games as they pop up between levels, but I have been adamant against using them in MD as they would not fit the app type and who in their right mind would like a popup ad to come up in the middle of scrolling through an inbox! When they first came out, it did not affect banners as much and banner revenue was basically the same. Last year they started to push it more and banner revenue just about halved. This started to become a major problem, but we felt things would balance each other out and we started to throw in some MD Pro sales. A year later and now banner ads basically are not being able to cover our costs the same way.

We spent time analyzing solutions and ideas and wanted to go with a new ad format called native ads. Are they bad? Well, it depends who you ask. Before, you saw a flashing banner at the bottom of the screen and now you see an ad in just about the same spot as where the banner would normally have shown, but it's an ad that is "native" look meaning it should match the app and they look like an email. Yes, there is an icon and it says 'advertisement' on it, but they look like an email. If you use yahoo webmail, gmail, or even Facebook they show in the same way (like an email or on the facebook wall). We rolled this out and the reaction was negative from users. We turned them off and looked at what the possible problem could be. We saw that the native ad was much higher up on the email list than a banner ad was. We re-implemented to make it show lower down on the screen and closer to where a banner ad would be. We also changed the % of time where we show these banner ads to be less than 5% of the time (for now). So, most of the time you are going to continue to get a banner ad anyway!

Where we stand now is that the revenue from 2 days of showing this only part of the time is where we would expect it to be. We really feel this is a much better approach than pop-up ads or ad walls that open when you close or start the app. 

We are hopeful that people understand that we have dedicated much of the last 4 years to this app and our support is second to none for any of the people who have emailed us and they know that. We need to be able to continue making a living with banner income to continue to upkeep the app. If we stay with banners 100%, we just don't think that will be possible anymore. 

Give the native ads a try, you are only going to see them part of the time and hey are closer to the bottom of the screen. Consider supporting the developers that work very hard on this app for you by purchasing an ad-free version if you don't like ads. 

Thank you all for understanding.

[Brian Gooch]

Thanks for the explanation.  I had an issue with the native ad appearing over the top of an email, rather than in-line with them, but I guess this might have been linked to the positioning issue referred to above and am just installing the update now.

[jl]

It may be the case. If you see it again, please email us directly and if possible with a screenshot. Thank you for understanding.

[DavidW]

Maildroid is the best mail app out there in my opinion and when I first got a smartphone I tried them all.  The Dev is the best at giving support !!!  Whenever I have emailed a question he has always gotten back to me with a helpful response, usually the same day.  I don't blame them one bit for trying to do what they can to get as much revenue as they can.  I have not installed the latest update yet but based on past experience he will do everything he can to make the masses as happy as possible.  MAILDROID ROCKS !!!!  And no, I have no affiliation at all to them.

[Meredith Barnes-Cook]

I couldn't  agree more with DavidW!

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[Steve Anderson]

Agree with Dave also.

[markdoc]

When you find an app that you use a lot AND it has excellent support, I feel you should return the favor and support the authors. Buy the add free version. You have to realize how much time and effort goes into writting and supporting an app. For whatever reason, I tend to find glitches in apps. You would be surprised how many authors never respond to questions and problems. Read the evaluations on the Go Launcher apps. They are notorious for lousy support. On the other side if the spectrum is Maildroid. The support they supply is second to none. In order to spend so much time on support, they must have an income. Compare how much they charge for Maildroid to how much Windows software costs. Most Android apps are very reasonable when charging. If you cannot afford to pay, I certainly understand, and there are the free versions. However, there are very few apps that charge prices that are out of reach to most.

Markdoc

[GW Hicks]

I have used MD for many years. MD has never let me down. I'm now using another device (Samsung Book 4) and MD works GREAT. As a Software Evaluation Engineer for 30+ years, I easily recognized just how good MD is. I hope to find out how to send Maildroid Dev some X-mas $$$. Personally, I think the way MD has implemented ads is fine and I am looking forward to using Maildroid for many years.

[jl]

We have started to show these ad formats again and in some cases you may see them a bit higher up as we continue to experiment with them more this year.

[DavidW]

I must post a follow up to my reply in support of ads.  Recently over the last few weeks the ads have become larger and more intrusive.  I am really disliking the new ad formats being larger and taking up more space.  It is really a pain.  So much so that it would have me thinking of searching out other mail apps.