Most developers who search for “Unity rewarded ads” build in Unity. They assume the engine vendor’s ad network will cover every platform they export to. For Android and iOS, that assumption holds. For WebGL, it fails. Learning that after you wire up reward callbacks is an expensive lesson. This page explains what each major mobile network serves and what it doesn’t. It also covers what changes when you target a browser. Finally, it shows how to set up rewarded video on a web game.

Do Unity Ads or AdMob work for WebGL and browser games?

No. Unity Ads, Google AdMob, AppLovin and ironSource all deliver rewarded video through native mobile SDKs compiled into an Android or iOS application binary. A Unity WebGL build has no binary and no native layer — it is JavaScript, WebAssembly and a canvas element inside a browser tab. There is no supported path for those SDKs to initialize, request an ad, render it, or fire a reward callback in that environment. This is not a gap any of those networks are hiding. Their documentation scopes integration to Android and iOS, and their demand is bought against mobile app inventory with mobile attribution and install tracking behind it. The advertiser buying a Unity Ads rewarded placement is usually buying an app install, measured with an app-level device identifier that a browser session does not expose. Web inventory is a different supply type sold against different demand. The practical consequence for a studio: if you ship to mobile app stores and to the web, you need two monetization integrations, not one. That is the whole story, and it is worth planning around before you pick your reward economy.

What are Unity rewarded ads, and where do they actually run?

Unity rewarded ads are opt-in video placements inside iOS and Android games. Unity serves them through the Unity Ads SDK or Unity LevelPlay mediation. A player chooses to watch a video, typically 15 to 30 seconds long, and earns an in-game reward on completion. In that context, Unity has a genuine edge. The SDK lives inside the engine’s own package ecosystem. You set up placements in the Unity dashboard. Other mobile game studios make up much of the advertiser pool, so creatives fit a gaming audience well. However, the Unity Ads integration doesn’t follow your project to a WebGL build target. Switching platforms in Build Settings leaves the ad layer behind. Your Unity monetization plan may assume one network across every export. If so, the web build will return no fill and no revenue. The game never makes a valid ad request in the first place.

AdMob rewarded ads: built for the Google Mobile Ads SDK

The Google Mobile Ads SDK serves AdMob rewarded ads, and it targets native Android and iOS apps. AdMob is a strong, popular choice for mobile app monetization. It offers deep advertiser demand and mature policy enforcement. None of that reaches a game running at a URL in Chrome, Safari or Edge. The SDK behind it simply isn’t a browser library. Some developers try to bridge the gap with a native shell. They wrap a web game in an app purely to reach mobile SDK demand. That works technically, but it changes your distribution model and adds store review. It also gives up what made a browser game attractive: instant play with no install. If your traffic lives on the web, monetize it as web traffic.

Ad network comparison: mobile SDK networks vs web rewarded video

The table below compares the major rewarded video options by the only question that decides your integration: what platform the SDK actually runs on. Nothing here is a knock on the mobile networks — they are excellent at the job they were built for, which is monetizing installed applications.

Network	Android / iOS apps	Unity WebGL & HTML5 in browser	Integration layer	Best fit
Unity Ads / Unity LevelPlay	Yes	No	Native mobile SDK, Unity package	Unity games shipped to app stores
Google AdMob	Yes	No	Google Mobile Ads SDK	Native mobile apps of any engine
AppLovin MAX	Yes	No	Native mobile SDK mediation	Mobile app publishers running a waterfall or bidding stack
ironSource LevelPlay	Yes	No	Native mobile SDK mediation	Mobile app publishers aggregating multiple mobile networks
AppLixir	No	Yes	Browser JavaScript SDK / Unity WebGL integration	Web games, HTML5 games, content sites on their own domain

Read the table as a routing decision rather than a ranking. A studio with a mobile app and a web build will run one of the mobile networks on the app and AppLixir on the web. They do not overlap, so they do not compete for the same impression.

What is the best rewarded video ad network for browser games?

The best rewarded video ad network for browser games is a browser-native one. Look for a JavaScript SDK, web-native demand, and consent handling that meets web privacy frameworks. AppLixir offers programmatic rewarded video for web games and content publishers. It serves 100M+ impressions per month across HTML5 games, Unity WebGL builds, IO games and content sites. The revenue case for web rewarded video is straightforward. AppLixir delivers $4+ CPM on rewarded video inventory, against roughly $0.50–$2 CPM for typical web display. Rewarded video earns more per impression because the player chose to watch it, watched it to completion, and got something for it — advertisers pay for completed attention rather than a viewport that technically contained a banner. If you want the mechanics of how that rate is computed and what moves it, see the guide to CPM and eCPM and the deeper walkthrough on eCPM optimization for web games. Two qualifying details matter before you spend an afternoon on integration. AppLixir’s minimum publisher threshold is 5,000 daily active users, because programmatic demand needs volume to bid competitively. And the format is rewarded video specifically — not display, not pre-roll, not a full ad stack replacement. It is an addition to whatever you already run.

How to add rewarded video ads to a Unity WebGL game

To add rewarded video to a Unity WebGL game, you call a browser-side ad SDK from your build. Then you handle the result back in C#. The pattern matches what you know from mobile: request, show, and reward on completion. Only the transport differs, since JavaScript interop replaces a native plugin.

The integration steps

1. Load the SDK in your WebGL template. Add the AppLixir script to the HTML page that hosts your Unity canvas, not to the asset bundle. Your build size stays the same.
2. Expose a show-ad call from C#. A .jslib plugin lets Unity trigger the ad request from gameplay code. Fire it when a player taps your “watch to continue” button.
3. Handle the completion callback. The SDK returns a status for completed view, skip, error and no-fill. Grant the reward only on a confirmed completion. Treat no-fill gracefully so players never face a dead button.
4. Grant valuable rewards server-side. If a rewarded view mints hard currency or unlocks paid content, validate it on your server. Players can easily replay client-side grants in a browser.
5. Test desktop and mobile web separately. Browser autoplay policies, viewport sizing and audio unlock behave differently on iOS Safari than on desktop Chrome.

A step-by-step version with the actual calls is in Add Rewarded Ads to Unity WebGL in 3 Steps, and the broader platform context — hosting, load times, reward economy design — is covered in the Unity WebGL monetization guide. If you are building in plain HTML5 or a JS engine like Phaser or PlayCanvas, the JavaScript path is the same minus the interop layer.

Where rewarded video fits in Unity monetization — and where it does not

Rewarded video is a strong fit when your game has a natural failure state, a progression gate, or a consumable resource. A rewarded video ad is an opt-in placement the player chooses to watch in exchange for something they wanted anyway — an extra life, a doubled run reward, a skipped timer, a hint. The choice is what makes the format tolerable and what makes the CPM higher than display. It fits poorly in a few cases, and it is worth saying so plainly:

• • Games with no economy. If there is nothing a player wants badly enough to spend 30 seconds on, a rewarded placement will show low engagement and earn little. Build the reward loop first.

• • Sessions under about a minute. An ad offer that interrupts more often than it rewards trains players to ignore the button.

• • Below the DAU floor. Under 5,000 daily active users, programmatic demand thins out and your effective rate suffers. Growth is the monetization work at that stage.

• • Competitive PvP where the reward affects fairness. Selling advantage for attention is a retention problem disguised as a revenue line.

The honest comparison against forced formats is that interstitials collect more impressions from the same session while rewarded video collects better ones — the trade-off between the two is laid out in rewarded vs interstitial ads. For what the format actually pays on web traffic across geographies and formats, see how much rewarded video ads pay.

Rewarded ads for content sites, not just games

Rewarded video is not a games-only format. A content site can gate a download, an article, a tool credit or an ad-free session behind an opt-in video, and earn the same rewarded CPM rather than display rates. The design constraint is identical to games: the reward has to be worth 30 seconds to the person being offered it.

Poki, CrazyGames and your own domain: distribution and monetization are different jobs

Distribution platforms such as Poki and CrazyGames are complementary to AppLixir, not competitors. They bring players to your game and handle monetization on their own properties, under their own terms. AppLixir monetizes the traffic you control — your own site, your own game portal, your own embedded build — with rewarded video you configure yourself. Most web studios end up running both: a portal build for reach and an owned build for margin and direct player relationships. The two revenue lines add rather than cannibalize, because they run on different traffic. If the owned-traffic side of that equation is thin, the discovery mechanics are covered in how browser games get discovered and monetized.

GDPR, TCF 2.3 and rewarded ads for players in Europe

Rewarded video ads can be served to players in the EU and UK in a GDPR-compliant way, provided consent is collected and passed to demand partners through an approved framework. AppLixir has TCF 2.3 and GDPR compliance built in via Didomi, so consent signalling is handled as part of the integration rather than as a separate project you have to assemble. This matters more on web than most mobile developers expect. A browser game frequently has a more geographically mixed audience than a store-listed app, and European traffic without valid consent strings will monetize at a materially lower rate — or not at all, depending on the buyer. Getting the consent layer right is part of the eCPM, not a compliance chore sitting next to it.

FAQ

Do Unity Ads work for WebGL builds?

No. Unity Ads rewarded video is delivered through a native mobile SDK that supports Android and iOS application builds only, and a Unity WebGL export has no native layer for it to attach to. Switching your build target to WebGL does not carry the ad integration across. A WebGL game needs a browser-based rewarded video SDK loaded in the hosting page instead.

Can I use AdMob rewarded ads on a website or HTML5 game?

AdMob rewarded ad units are served by the Google Mobile Ads SDK for native Android and iOS apps, so they cannot be called from a game or page running in a browser. Wrapping a web game in a native shell to reach that demand is technically possible but changes your distribution model and adds app store review. For traffic that lives on the web, a web-native rewarded video platform is the direct route — see rewarded video ads for website monetization.

What is the best rewarded video ad network for browser games?

For browser games, the practical shortlist is limited to platforms with a JavaScript SDK and web-native demand, because the major mobile networks do not serve the browser at all. AppLixir is built specifically for this case, runs 100M+ rewarded video impressions per month, and delivers $4+ CPM against roughly $0.50–$2 for typical web display. The qualifying bar is 5,000 daily active users.

How much do rewarded video ads pay on web games?

AppLixir delivers $4+ CPM on web rewarded video, several times the $0.50–$2 range typical of web display inventory. Your effective revenue depends on how many players actually opt in, which is a function of reward design rather than of the ad network — a strong reward loop can lift engagement rate far more than any tuning on the demand side. Geography, session length and device mix all move the number as well; the breakdown is in do rewarded ads actually make money on web games.