WetterOnline doubles app revenue with Criteo Direct Bidder

WetterOnline provides real-time weather news to users worldwide. Since launching 20+ years ago, the website has become one of the most visited sites in Germany. Today, WetterOnline operates apps in more than 33 languages and 40 countries.

After successfully acquiring mobile users in new markets, WetterOnline wanted to boost their app’s earning potential. They sought to maximize revenue per visit to drive sustainable monetization and implemented Criteo’s Direct Bidder for app to help them achieve this goal.

Increasing Mobile Monetization

WetterOnline already used Direct Bidder on the web. They saw that a direct integration with their app would cut fees and drive incremental revenue.

“Criteo is one of the major buyers in the digital ecosystem, and it made sense to directly connect our app inventory to Criteo’s large and diverse demand pool,” says Christoph Brömling, Head of Sales for WetterOnline.

“A direct connection optimizes our supply chain and provides us more control. In just a few short months, we have already more than doubled the amount of revenue we earn from Criteo on apps.”

With a direct integration, WetterOnline leveraged the full power of Criteo’s Shopper Graph, which includes 1.5 billion cross device IDs, and reaches high-value users that appeal to premium advertisers.

WetterOnline also supplemented its own socio-demographic data with Criteo’s behavioral data collected from all stages of the customer journey. This matched more users with high-performing, personalized ads, leading to better performance and more revenue.

Preserving the User Experience

WetterOnline works hard to create apps that users love, and user retention is critical. Preserving the user experience with quality, fast loading ads is key for WetterOnline when choosing ad partners.

From its experience working with Criteo on the web, WetterOnline knew that Criteo only serves relevant ads from premium advertisers.

“In the ten years we have been working with Criteo, we have never had a complaint about any advertiser,” says Christoph. “We don’t have to worry about headaches like blocking categories or redirects.”

To test Direct Bidder’s impact on performance, WetterOnline released it to 10% of its Android user base. After confirming users didn’t have to wait for ads to load, WetterOnline rolled it out in full on both iOS and Android.

Innovating with App Bidding

WetterOnline also chose to implement its SDK for app bidding. App bidding replaces the waterfall monetization method, in which demand sources are prioritized based on historic CPMs and called sequentially.

In the waterfall model, a buyer low in the chain may not get the chance to bid despite being willing to pay more for that specific user. This results in lost revenue.

App bidding solutions address this flaw by providing real-time bids for each impression and competing at the same time as other demand sources. This enables app developers to better understand the true market value of inventory, and get a fair price for each impression.

“As users spend more and more time in app and more programmatic ad dollars flow into apps, we believe that app bidding is the future of mobile monetization,” says Christoph.

“We were excited to see Criteo launch an app bidding solution to help app developers substantially improve yield, and we appreciate Criteo’s commitment to driving transparency in the marketplace.”

Collaborating with A True Technology Partner

WetterOnline’s development team found Direct Bidder for app easy to install, with one implementation for all countries. Direct Bidder integrated into their existing tech stack with a lightweight and robust SDK.

“We have a small team focused on advertising, and we really appreciate the support from Criteo,” says Christoph. “There is very open and honest communication about both Criteo’s solutions and market trends.”