Case studies › Apps & Utilities

A rewards app tests three ad formats to find its best sign-up channel

A rewards app promoted app sign-ups with display and native ads on PPCmate, reaching 130–140K impressions over 2 months, at 0.30–0.35% click-through rate.

DisplayNativePop-underSign-upsGlobalApp developer

130–140Kimpressions

400+clicks

0.30–0.35%click-through rate

28tracked conversions

At a glance

IndustryApps & Utilities

GoalSign-ups

Ad formatsDisplay, Native, Pop-under

RegionGlobal

AdvertiserApp developer

The challenge

A rewards app wanted more people to see app sign-ups, in United States, India, Philippines, without a big media budget or a marketing team running it every day.

What they did

Ran 8 campaigns on Display, Native and Pop-under.
Used a fixed price, so every impression cost the same and the budget was fully predictable.
Capped frequency on all campaigns so the same person didn't see the ad too often.

Growth over time

Impressions per month

ImpressionsClick-through rate per month (best month in green)

Where the audience came from

Impressions by country

United States42%

India33%

Philippines12%

Pakistan5%

United Kingdom3%

Nigeria2%

Canada1%

Devices

Impressions by device

Mobile · 94%

Desktop · 1%

Tablet · 4%

Best time of day

Hour by hour (UTC)

Darker = higher click-through rate. Strongest hours (UTC): 0:00, 4:00, 12:00, 21:00.

Ad formats

How the impressions split

~65%of impressions from display · CTR 0.27%

~31%of impressions from native · CTR 0.38%

~4%of impressions from pop-under · paid per view

Vs. the platform

Click-through rate: above typical

This case 0.32%

LowTypical display 0.02–0.11%High

Typical = middle half of 46 display campaigns on PPCmate since February 2026.

Inside PPCmate X

Top campaigns after optimisation

Campaign	Pricing	Daily budget	Freq. cap	Top country	Device	Impressions	Clicks	CTR	Conversions	Ran
Campaign 1Display	Fixed CPM	$3/day	1/day	United States	Mobile	80–90K	400+	0.47%	24	Jul
Campaign 2Native	Max bid CPM	$5/day	1/day	United States	Mobile	30–40K	100+	0.45%	10	Jun
Campaign 3Pop-under	Fixed CPM	$3/day	1/day	United States	Mobile	5K+	—	—	23	Jul

Example campaign set-up after optimisation. Names and figures are illustrative.

Timeline

2 months on PPCmate, month by month

Jun~61KCTR 0.22%First month

Jul~69KCTR 0.41%Peak

Illustrative results showing what advertisers can achieve with PPCmate optimisation. Names and figures are examples. Your results depend on your offer, targeting and budget.