Learn how a mobile game studio increased ad revenue 1.75X using Easy Monetization by Yandex Ads — no IAPs, no mediation, just fast results.
Anton Karlov Games, an indie developer behind Zombotron Re-Boot, originally planned to monetize their latest title through in-app purchases. But the timing couldn’t have been worse. Due to geopolitical restrictions, the developers lost access to key in-app payment options. Here’s how Easy Monetization helped them turn things around.
What was your original monetization plan for Zombotron Re-Boot?
We were aiming to monetize the game through in-app purchases, but our timing was unfortunate. When we released Zombotron Re-Boot, developers were hit with geopolitical restrictions that made it nearly impossible to integrate payment systems. We had to scrap our original plan and launch the game completely free on Google Play and the App Store.
What made you turn to ad monetization?
Since we couldn’t monetize at all, we figured it was worth experimenting with ads, just to see if the game could earn anything without extra investment. We started with the Yandex Advertising Network. It worked reasonably well, but we quickly noticed that some regions with lots of players had no available ads at all.
How did Easy Monetization change things?
Easy Monetization gave us access to 16 additional ad networks that had been unavailable to us before. It simplified everything, because there was no extra mediation setup, no fiddling with networks.
Suddenly, we were able to serve ads in more countries, and revenue started to climb. It really helped us cover new geos and improve fill rates. Plus, the service managers were constantly in touch with us, updating on the changes and monetization progress (which they managed!).
What kind of results did you see?
We were hoping to increase revenue by about 1.5X — but Easy Monetization actually helped us grow daily earnings by 1.75X.
Here’s what changed:
- Revenue increased 1.75X
- Rewarded eCPM jumped 6X
- Interstitial eCPM grew 3X
The game wasn’t originally designed with ad monetization in mind, so there’s still room to optimize. But for now, Easy Monetization gave us a fast, low-effort path to real results — even in challenging market conditions.
