Recently we had to revise our payment terms in order to strike the right balance between providing the best value to our mobile app partners and harmonizing with the different payment terms of the advertisers in our network.

We did a benchmark of the best mobile ad networks and as this required some digging, we thought it might be worth sharing with you. The mobile ad networks we analyzed, along with the reference sources, were: Adfonic, AdMob, Airpush, AppLift, Avocarrot (that’s us!), Burstly, Chartboost, Flurry AppSpot, LeadBolt, Millennial Media, MoPub Marketplace, PlayHaven, RevMob and Tapjoy.

It should be noted that all information collected was available in the public domain  and if you believe something is no longer accurate, please get in touch so that we can update it accordingly.

Benchmark Mobile Ad Network

By compiling the data from the above 15 mobile ad networks and by taking the median (to devalue outliers), the benchmark mobile ad network has the following payment terms:

Payment Schedule: Net 45 (paid on a monthly basis)

Minimum Payout: $75 USD (for Paypal)

Payment Methods: Paypal, wire transfer, check

Payment Schedule

The payment schedule in our data set has a median Net 45 (while ranging from Net 5 to Net 60), with almost all mobile ad networks paying publishers on a monthly basis. For an ad network, choosing the “Net X” is usually a compromise between paying publishers as quickly as possible and mitigating its cash flow risk, due to delays in getting paid by the advertisers.

Airpush is worth highlighting here since it can offer weekly payments on a Net 5 basis (provided you are generating more than $200 per week).

Adfonic: Net 35

AdMob: Net 30

Airpush: Net 30 (Net 5, if eligible)

AppLift: Net 60

Avocarrot: Net 30

Burstly: Net 45

Chartboost: Net 45

Flurry AppSpot: Net 45

LeadBolt: Net 15

Millennial Media: Net 60

MoPub Marketplace: Net 60

PlayHaven: Net 60

RevMob: Net 45

Tapjoy: Net 30

Minimum Payout

Every time a publisher gets paid there are certain fees charged by the payment processors and whenever flat fees are involved, it makes economic sense to make the payments less frequent (but larger).

For this reason all mobile ad networks have a minimum payout threshold which usually varies between different payment options.

Adfonic: $50

AdMob: $100

Airpush: $10 for PayPal, $50 for ACH

AppLift: $25

Avocarrot: $50 for PayPal, $250 for wire transfer

Burstly: $50

Chartboost: $300 $75 (updated on 18th Sept 2014)

Flurry AppSpot: $100

LeadBolt: $100

Millennial Media: $50 for PayPal or ACH, $500 for wire transfer, $10 for check

MoPub Marketplace: $100

PlayHaven: $300

RevMob: $50 for PayPal or Payoneer, $250 for wire transfer

Tapjoy: $250

Payment Methods

Depending on your country of residence and various tax considerations, you will be able to receive the revenue generated from your apps through a finite number of payment methods.

Almost all mobile ad networks support wire transfer and PayPal, with the noticeable exception being AdMob which apparently has discontinued support for the latter.

Adfonic: PayPal, check

AdMob: Wire transfer, check, Rapida & others (no longer supporting PayPal)

Airpush: PayPal, ACH, wire transfer

AppLift: PayPal, wire transfer

Avocarrot: PayPal, wire transfer

Burstly: PayPal, wire transfer, check

Chartboost: PayPal, ACH, wire transfer, check

Flurry AppSpot: PayPal, wire transfer, check

LeadBolt: PayPal, Payoneer, wire transfer

Millennial Media: PayPal, ACH, wire transfer, check

MoPub Marketplace: PayPal, ACH, wire transfer

PlayHaven: Wire transfer, check

RevMob: PayPal, Payoneer, wire transfer

Tapjoy: PayPal, ACH, wire transfer, check

TL;DR

The quick analysis above showed that a typical mobile ad network will pay monthly on a Net 45 basis using PayPal, provided the accumulated balance is above $75.

Consistent payments and mutually attractive terms are fundamental in a healthy partnership, and we’d love to hear your thoughts on that.

sumber Avocarrot