How Much Can You Really Make with Rewarded Video Ads in 2025?

Since 2020, AppLixir has made it a yearly tradition to provide a transparent, data-driven outlook on the true earning potential of rewarded video ads. Each year, we analyze trends, CPM benchmarks, fill-rates, and user engagement data to help developers and publishers make informed decisions. Our goal has always been to cut through industry hype and offer realistic revenue expectations, based on actual performance insights from our platform and across the wider web monetization ecosystem. Whether you’re a first-time publisher or an experienced developer, these annual reports are designed to give you the clarity and confidence to monetize smarter.

So why are we still talking about Rewarded Video Ads?

As user acquisition costs rise and in-app purchases plateau, developers and publishers need a monetization strategy that keeps users engaged without driving them away. Rewarded video ads offer a user-friendly, opt-in experience that respects player choice while delivering consistent revenue. With growing concerns around data privacy, ad fatigue, and banner blindness, rewarded ads stand out by offering value in exchange for attention. They don’t interrupt the experience—they enhance it. In a world where both users and advertisers demand relevance, transparency, and performance, rewarded video ads hit the sweet spot.

This post “How Much Can You Make with Rewarded Video Ads in 2025,” is designed to explore the specifics of this monetization method. We will cover valuable insights into how rewarded video ads work, their benefits, and most importantly, the potential earnings one can expect from implementing them in 2024. Previous year posts include 2024, 2023 and 2022.

Understanding Rewarded Video Ads

Let’s break down these key terms into simpler, more elegant explanations:

• What Are Rewarded Video Ads?

Rewarded video ads offer users a clear value exchange. A user watches a short video ad, and in return, receives something valuable—like in-game currency, power-ups, or extra lives. This opt-in ad format has grown in popularity due to its non-intrusive nature, high engagement, and proven monetization power. Everyone wins—the player gets value, and the publisher gets paid.

• Rewarded Video Ad Fill Rate

Fill rate measures how often an ad request results in a video actually being shown. High-performing regions like North America and Western Europe typically see better fill rates due to strong advertiser demand. However, factors like user privacy preferences, ID availability, and ad relevance can lower fill rates by up to 20%. Platforms that prioritize consent and data compliance often maintain higher fill efficiency.

• Rewarded Video Ad CPM

CPM (Cost Per Mille) reflects how much advertisers pay—and how much publishers earn—per 1,000 video ad impressions. In rewarded video ads, higher engagement rates and full ad completion drive stronger CPMs. In 2025, this metric remains the core indicator of ad revenue potential, especially in Tier 1 geographies where demand is highest.

• Monetization

Monetization is the process of turning user engagement into real revenue. For digital platforms—games, web apps, or content sites—it means using tools like rewarded video ads, subscriptions, or virtual goods to generate income. A strong monetization strategy aligns with user behavior, respects the user experience, and maximizes value from traffic and attention without disrupting core functionality.

Why Rewarded Video Ads Dominate Game Monetization?

Here are a few 2025 statistics that show how rewarded video ads are leading the monetization game:

• ✅ 97% of top mobile games now integrate rewarded video ads.
• ✅ 68% of mobile gamers say they prefer rewarded ads to in-app purchases.
• ✅ 59% of developers report increased retention and session time post-rewarded ad integration.
• ✅ Rewarded video ads produce 2.4X higher engagement than standard interstitial ads.
• ✅ Publishers report 30–60% of total ad revenue now comes from rewarded video ads.

These numbers point to one thing: Rewarded Ads = high performance and high revenue.

Factors Affecting Rewarded Video Ad Performance in 2025

Several key factors continue to shape how rewarded video ads perform in 2025. Understanding these will help publishers better manage expectations and optimize for higher ad revenue:

• Budget Stabilization and Shift Toward Performance Marketing

After two years of volatility, advertiser budgets have stabilized. However, spending is shifting heavily toward performance-based campaigns, favoring high-conversion ad formats like rewarded video ads. This trend benefits publishers with high engagement and retentive audiences.

• AI-Driven Targeting & Real-Time Optimization

Advancements in AI are enabling dynamic creative optimization, real-time bidding, and hyper-personalized ad delivery. These tools increase viewer relevance, boosting completion rates and CPMs—especially in mobile and web gaming environments.

• Post-Cookie Monetization & First-Party Data

With third-party cookies nearly phased out, platforms that have built strong first-party data frameworks are seeing better ad delivery and pricing. Rewarded video ads are thriving in consent-based ecosystems where trust and data quality remain high.

• Enhanced Consent Frameworks

2025 brings stricter enforcement of data laws like GDPR, CCPA, and now DPDP in India. Apps that implement transparent consent flows and user-first privacy UX are experiencing stronger fill rates and lower bounce rates, as users opt-in with confidence.

• Platform & OS-Level Restrictions

Changes from platforms like Apple (App Tracking Transparency) and Google’s Privacy Sandbox continue to influence how ads are served. These shifts make contextual targeting and on-device optimization critical for maintaining ad performance in both mobile and web environments.

So How Much Can You Make with Rewarded Video Ads in the 3^rd & 4^th Quarter of 2025?

In 2025, game developers, web app owners, and content creators continue to lean heavily on rewarded video ads as their primary monetization method. With the digital advertising landscape maturing post-cookie and post-ATT (App Tracking Transparency), publishers now ask the crucial question:

“What kind of CPMs and fill rates should I expect in 2025?” What We’ve Seen So Far in 2025

Based on Q1–Q2 2025 performance trends and historical benchmarks from 2024, we’ve put together a realistic forecast of what web and mobile publishers can expect in terms of ad revenue from rewarded video ads.

Of course, results vary. Your video ad revenue depends on several key variables:

• Geography of your user base
• Traffic volume and daily active users (DAU)
• Ad engagement (view-through and click-through rates)
• User consent and data quality
• Seasonal trends and advertiser budgets
• Device type and video player implementation

AppLixir Revenue Illustration – 2025 

To help you better understand how CPM and fill rate work together to drive revenue, let’s walk through a real-world scenario using AppLixir’s Rewarded Video Ad platform.

Assuming you have 80,000 daily active users in the US, you will receive a video ad 90% of the time. This is due to the high level of demand from advertisers to first teir markets. By contrast, in South America, you will only get a video ad for 45% of your requests.

By combining the two factors (CPM and fill-rate), you can get a pretty good idea of your revenue with AppLixir. Note that results may vary depending on various factors so make sure to read our other articles regarding ad revenue. To illustrate, let’s assume you have a web game that has 80,000 daily active users (see user geo composition).

If you are thinking of monetizing your Web-App with Rewarded Video Ads, feel free to contact us at info@applixir.com. AppLixir is a Reward Video Ad Platform for Web and Mobile Games… Learn more about our platform at www.applixir.com