[RECAP] The greatest secret never told: Monetizing Unity WEBGL

Unity Services
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Hi guys, this is a recap post: after active searching for around 3 days about unity WEBGL monetization here is what I have found:

  • Unity Ads: WEBGL isn’t supported. (Not enough traffic) And doesn’t seems to change in the future.
  • Admob (google) is only supported for mobiles.
  • AdSense (google) is used for mobile web apps (only with a mobile).

What are the alternatives?
Well, it turns out that there are webpages where you can upload your WEBGL game and they will pay you depending on the traffic.

It seems that the most well known is (or was) https://www.kongregate.com/, but after signing up, it turns out they doesn’t accept more game publishers.

Following the list, there is https://www.crazygames.com/, where, you can upload you game and they would pay you by your “game success”. A great part of the share they get depends on whether your game have been published only on crazygames or on other platforms. They include an SDK for implementing ADS (which I didn’t have the privilege to add to my projects, so don’t know if it’s difficult to implement). One of the catches is, textually: “Your games need a combined 50k gameplay before you can integrate SDK advertisements. Note that you’ll also earn revenue without SDK advertisements”. Another catch: I don’t know anyone that uses this platform for gaming nor publishing.

https://www.y8.com/, 50% of revenue for in-game ads + 10%, and they offer an sdk that can be integrated with unity. (Not info around an average CPM). Similarweb.com reveals a 20M traffic, half of them coming from Vietnam / Philippines and Thailand. Couldn’t find the connection with https://www.id.net/ , mentioned by the unity forum member @sokki . Seems legit to me, but I feel the shares they get are somewhat high. Do you have any experience with this publisher?

I also stopped on https://www.pacogames.com/, the “Youtube for games”. Their ads implementation have to be done with https://www.gamearter.com/ (linked to the unity forum member @GameArter ) an ad publishing company that supports cross-platform ads (mobile + web), and the shares seems pretty fair: the maximum they get is 30% (40% if multiplayer) and they get a less % if your game cross the $50/$100/$200 daily revenue. They offers an interesting post about monetizing web games: ://www.gamearter.com/blog/paid-game-distribution-for-web-games.
The catches: 1) I couldn’t find the average CPM though, (Yeah, surely it depends on DAU and country, but at least an average estimation would be nice) 2) couldn’t find any developer experience about publishing with them 3) The two webpages are founded by the same person, which doubles the intrinsically risk.

Going through the world of ad-publishers (If I Recall Correctly, companies that let you integrate some kind of library to show ads):

The forementioned UnityAds, admob, adsense are discarted.
The forementioned https://www.gamearter.com/.

https://admixplay.com/: this is an interesting new proposal of publisher. They offer banner ads that are IN-GAME (ok, all game ads are inside a game ^^’ ) but they make them in form of “real” addressables, in ad-jargon “out of home ads” (for example, those that you see around the soccer fields).
If you want to use their services, you have to get in contact with them. Catches: couldn’t find average CPM, nor anyone that uses it. The shares are around 30-20%. (UPDATE: only for Android and IOS )

Cited in Unity forums that matches “Webgl ads” string search:

I cannot forgot to mention itch.io and simmer.io, both accepts WEBGL games, and the users can make tips if they want.

Comment with other companies / website / publishers that you know, and the most important, feel free to share your experience.

7 Likes
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Thanks for mentioning me and the site i represent :slight_smile:
Sad to say, the untold truth of WebGL and Unity is that there isn’t enough interest (cough $$ /cough exit) for it’s continual support, little less for advertising support. Eventually Google could try to explore and expand their ads presence in webgl games, according their newest found on H5 (html5 games) monetization where they invented to… start supporting reward ads.
On topic, at Y8 we’ve started strong with WebGL even since Unity 4. Back in those days you needed to make a hack in order to have a sound in-game. Compared to 2D small html5 level, the WebGL was able to show 3D gameplay, without any lag or plugin! Normally on supported browsers :slight_smile:

Anyway, we have ads setup partnership on Y8 and it can be with/without our API which normally affects the revenue share and ads impressions. Normally cpm aren’t public features as competitors will find a way to counter that and bring a better deal. I like your analyze which more or less will serve it’s purpose. What I didn’t liked, tho, is that you’ve mentioned many others work (sites) but not your own work (game). Could be helpful to share your game also, because the quality of the game is important.

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Thanks for your reply! I didn’t thought about the cpm in that way, really interesting (UnityAds cpm is around 6$-12$).
About my games, take a look at https://awsapps.itch.io/beeeharth as an example :slight_smile:

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that’s for reward ads? It’s a bit high for free web gaming, although not impossible for specific games, T1 traffic and clicked ads.
Thanks for sharing your link, I must say the games you have are somehow much simpler than current fast paced 3D trends or multiplayer games, giving them a hard chance to generate decent income for you.

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Unity lets you insert Javascript. I dont know why you couldn’t just insert google adsence Javascript.
Or write it into your web gl wrapper.
Web gl game is just a website

2 of my web gl games below

https://systemlords.26horses.com/
https://astrowars.26horses.com/

Thanks for this research. Sucks im needing monetization on windows build too

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Hey there, hope I’m not necromancing here but what about a service like https://www.applixir.com/ ?

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is there a clearer guide for unity implementation? i’d also want banner ads

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Adding to this thread, in case @awsapps wants to update the first post to be “updated for 2024”.

I found this (no experience with it yet though):

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not sure if this helps Unity WebGL Monetization in 3 Easy Steps - A Complete Guide to Ad Monetization and Rewarded Video Ad