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In mobile ad monetization, your mediation platform is the foundation of your revenue. Choosing the wrong one means leaving a lot of money on the table. Yet many studios feel trapped by their initial choice, fearing that the operational pain of switching outweighs any potential benefits. While the mediation switch is a daunting task, the difficulty is often overstated. When done right, mediation change can frequently deliver a +20% improvement in ad revenue.
We'll demystify the process, providing a clear, step-by-step framework to help you migrate your mediation in a structured and reliable way.
1. Preparation Comes First
A successful migration begins with detailed preparation. Before any code changes are made, make sure that these key points are covered:
Separate Your Data for Clean Reporting
To avoid reporting issues, create a clear separation between the two mediation stacks. For each ad network, create a new set of placements that are only going to be used on the new mediation platform.
Use a clear naming convention, for example:
- Game_iOS_RV_Bid (old mediation)
- Game_iOS_RV_Bid_NewMed (new mediation)
The separation allows you to directly compare performance and detect discrepancies without mixing data between different platforms.
Validate Privacy and Consent Compliance
A mediation change can disrupt consent flows. Double-check that signals for GDPR and other regional requirements propagate correctly to the new mediation and all connected ad networks.
If you have a CMP implemented, make sure that it still initializes correctly and displays your consent pop-up post-migration.
Any misconfigurations will lead to non-compliant ad requests, which will hurt your revenue. Test user consent flows to confirm that these signals are passed consistently across both platforms.
Thoroughly Check Coding Documentation
Review the new mediation’s integration documentation in detail. While similar in principle, each SDK has unique requirements, and small differences in logic can cause issues.
Make sure that your developers have a clear understanding of transition requirements, especially if you are using a non-standard game engine.
Each major mediation (MAX, LevelPlay, AdMob) has an integration testing tool through which you can verify your setup. Use them extensively; they help catch mistakes before they reach your users.
Actively Communicate with Your Mediation Provider
An obvious option, but I feel that a lot of people in the ad space got burned by poor support from the ad tech side, and no longer see value in reaching out. However, most mediation providers are highly motivated to help onboard new apps to their ecosystem.
This means that you can get a much better level of support in those crucial early stages. Active comms with support will save you a lot of time when technical documentation is missing key details or a weird bug is blocking the whole transfer.
2. Testing the Switch
Once the preparation is complete, you can move to the transfer itself. Ideally, this is done through an A/B test. Here’s how to execute it properly:
The Dual SDK Integration
Integrate the new mediation provider's SDK alongside your existing one. The goal is to have both mediation solutions coexist within the same app build, allowing you to route different users to one or the other remotely.
Segment Users with Remote Config
Use a remote configuration tool (like Firebase Remote Config) to split users into two groups:
- Variant A (Control): no change, continues with your existing mediation.
- Variant B (Test): receives ads exclusively on the new mediation.
We recommend starting with a 90/10 split (90% Control, 10% Test) to mitigate risk. After you confirm the performance and stability of the new setup, you can move to a 50/50 split.
Ensure a True "Apples to Apples" Comparison
For your test results to be valid, the setup for both variants must be as similar as possible.
- Ad Sources: Use the same set of ad networks for both Variant A and Variant B.
- Ad Placements: Configure the exact same ad placements (e.g., Rewarded Video after level, Banners in the main menu) with identical triggers, frequency caps, and floors in both platforms.
- User Cohort: Run the test on the same user segment. This could be all users in a specific country with a high ad volume, or all new users globally. The key is to ensure that the user base is large enough to provide statistically significant results.
Measure What Matters
Run the test long enough to allow performance normalization. A 30-day window is a good baseline, though large apps with high impression volumes may reach stabilization sooner. Why so long?
When you introduce traffic to ad networks through a new mediation platform, their algorithms often treat it as highly valuable, "fresh" inventory. You need to run the test long enough for the algorithms to normalize and for you to see the true baseline performance.
Key Metrics to Track When Switching Mediation Platforms
3. No A/B Test Variant
Unfortunately, ideal conditions aren’t always available. Implementing dual SDKs can come with its own issues (increased APK size, compatibility issues, additional complexity). It’s also more work than just replacing the old setup. That’s why many teams prefer not to run an A/B test.
If you decide to go down this route, everything covered above still stands. There’s no A/B test, so to make your before/after comparison as fair as possible, you need to keep important variables consistent:
- Pause new feature releases and major UA changes.
- Avoid testing during high seasonality periods (e.g., Q4 Holidays).
- Compare identical user cohorts.
Without these controls, it becomes impossible to tell what’s really driving the results, and you risk drawing the wrong conclusions about the actual impact of the mediation change.
If you manage to keep everything stable, often the impact of the mediation switch will be visible enough that you won’t have a problem deciding if it was worth it.
4. Common Issues That You Need to Pay Attention To
Even with careful preparation, there are a lot of issues that manage to slip through.
Data Discrepancies between Different Platforms
Never assume that your new mediation’s reporting is fully accurate at launch.
Always make sure that the internal data (such as DAU, engagement rate, etc.) and the network's data (such as revenue, impressions, eCPMs) match the ones you see on your new mediation platform.
Early in the transfer, the recommendation is to check it daily for at least 2 weeks before you start treating the new platform as reliable.
Technical Issues
We already covered good "hygiene" practices above. However, app development is
quite complex, so we want to underline some things that often go wrong:
- SDKs and engine dependencies. If your engine doesn’t support the latest SDKs, it’s better to delay the mediation transfer until you’re able to work with the latest versions. Working with old versions can be tricky or downright impossible, especially if you’re using a lot of different tools or custom solutions.
- Different mediations can have completely different logic in how ads are handled (callbacks, caching, etc.). Make sure to follow all the best practices as recommended by the mediation; otherwise, expect messy problems.
- Caps and rewards need to be tested in detail. In terms of revenue impact, the biggest mistakes happen here. Test them thrice.
Adoption Rate Issues
Closely tracking the adoption rate is very important if you aren’t doing an A/B test
switch.
We’ve seen cases where a significant share of users never migrated,
skewing performance data and prolonging the transition. In one situation, not even a
forced update could help. Many users hadn’t updated in such a long time that even the
ability to force an update was lost.
Age Data Handling
Important if you’re switching to MAX by Applovin and collecting age data of your users. For each user legally classified as a child under the laws of their region, you won’t be able to initialize Applovin’s SDK since they don’t serve any COPPA-compliant traffic. If this cohort of users is significant for you, reconsider the switch to MAX or make sure you have an alternative way to monetize those users.
Not Securing Ad Network Account Access
This administrative step is crucial if a third-party (like some publishers) previously controlled the monetization of your apps. Before the test begins, confirm that you can link each app to your own ad network accounts. Each network has distinct rules for ownership transfer, so follow their specific procedures, which might include admin invites, property transfers, or app re-verification. Secure full admin access to all relevant dashboards before the switch to make sure you have full control over the new setup:
- AdMob - remove app links from the old account
- Meta - the previous owner needs to remove apps from their Business
- Unity Ads and Pangle - archive/pause projects on the old account
- Liftoff Monetize - transfer via support request
- For most other networks, such as ironSource, Applovin, Moloco, DT Exchange, InMobi, Yandex - you should be able to add the app links without issues
Keep in mind that this process can be quite slow, which can significantly delay the transfer if you don’t initiate it in advance.
Final Thoughts
This article is a long list of potential problems, so you might be wondering: why even bother?
Because the revenue gains are worth it. On average, successfully changing mediations led to around a 20% increase in ad revenue across many publishers whom we helped make the switch. We've even seen cases where a mediation change led to a studio doubling its ad revenue.
Of course, a mediation switch isn’t always the right call. Some setups are already close to optimal, and for those teams the cost and effort might outweigh the upside.
This also means that, while the vast majority of mediation transfers bring improvements, not every one will be successful. The mobile ad space is complex enough that nobody can guarantee what will be the best choice for your app in advance.
However, not even considering the switch means missing the chance to roll a die that is heavily weighted in your favor. In today’s highly competitive market, not using every lever at your disposal is a major missed opportunity.
If you’re on the fence about a mediation switch and want to make sure that every detail is covered, we’d be happy to review your setup and help you do it right.
