Monetisation guide
How streaming apps make money. Six revenue models, and what EasyCine supports today.
Ads, subscriptions, rentals, sponsorships, affiliate links and business deals. What each model needs, and which parts EasyCine handles out of the box.
- Six revenue models
- Four ad networks
- VAST pre-roll
- Members-only access
Short answer
Streaming apps earn from ads, subscriptions, rentals, sponsorships, affiliate links and business deals. Most start with ads, which need no checkout. EasyCine supports ads out of the box (AdMob, AppLovin MAX, Unity Ads, Start.io and VAST pre-roll) and mandatory sign-in for members-only access; billing is not included.
The models
Six ways streaming apps earn.
Ads (AVOD)
Free to watch, paid by advertisers. Earnings per ad vary widely by country, format and audience.
Subscriptions (SVOD)
A recurring fee for access. Needs a billing system and steady new titles to keep viewers paying.
Rentals and purchases (TVOD)
Pay per title. Suits premieres, events and niche films that viewers seek out by name.
Sponsorships
A brand sponsors a row, a season or the whole app. Works best with a clear niche audience.
Affiliate links
A fee when viewers sign up for a partner's service. Usually a side income, not the main one.
Business licensing (B2B)
A flat fee from a business, such as a telecom, hotel or school, to offer your service.
Choosing a model
Start simple, then add layers.
Ads need no checkout, so they are the easiest way to start: viewers watch free and you earn from the first session. The trade-off is that ad income follows traffic, so it grows slowly at first.
Paid access earns more per viewer but needs billing, support and a reason to pay. Many apps add it later as a premium tier. On Google Play, read the Payments policy before you sell anything inside the app.
In EasyCine
What works out of the box.
EasyCine covers ads and access control. Payments are not built in.
Four ad networks
AdMob with Google's consent form, AppLovin MAX, Unity Ads and Start.io, set up in the admin panel.
Banners and full-screen ads
On the phone app, with caps for time between ads, screens between ads and ads per session.
VAST pre-roll video
A video ad before playback on phone and Android TV, from your ad network's VAST tag.
Members-only access
Turn on mandatory sign-in so only viewer accounts from your panel can watch.
No built-in billing
No payments, subscriptions or rentals. If you sell access, you add the payment system yourself.
Getting started
Start earning with ads.
- 1Open ad network accountsApply to AdMob, AppLovin MAX, Unity Ads or Start.io and create ad units for your app.
- 2Add your ad IDsEnter ad unit IDs in the admin panel. Add a VAST tag in the Builder for pre-roll.
- 3Set caps, then adjustStart with light frequency caps, then tune them using your ad network's reports and app analytics.
Ad networks check your content.
Networks review your app and can close accounts that earn from content without rights. Stream only what you're licensed to offer, and expect earnings to vary by country, format and season.
At a glance.
- Revenue models
- Ads, subscriptions, rentals, sponsorships, affiliate, B2B
- Ad networks
- AdMob, AppLovin MAX, Unity Ads, Start.io
- Ad formats
- Banners, full-screen ads and VAST pre-roll
- On Android TV
- VAST pre-roll video only
- Paid access
- Mandatory sign-in; billing not included
Monetisation questions.
Which model should a new streaming app start with?
Usually ads. They need no checkout and earn from the first viewer. Subscriptions or rentals can come later, once you have content people will pay for and a billing system.
Does EasyCine support subscriptions or payments?
Not out of the box. There's no payment or subscription billing. You can turn on mandatory sign-in so only viewer accounts from your panel can watch, and add a payment provider yourself.
Which ad formats does EasyCine show?
Banners and full-screen ads on the phone app through AdMob, AppLovin MAX, Unity Ads or Start.io, plus VAST pre-roll video on phone and TV. There are no rewarded, native or app-open ads.
How much does an ad pay?
It varies widely by country, format, season and audience, so we don't publish a figure. Your ad network's reports show your real eCPM once the app has traffic.
Can I sell subscriptions on Google Play?
You can, but you'd build the billing yourself, and Google Play generally requires its own billing for digital content sold inside an app. Read Google's Payments policy before you start.
Do I need rights to the content?
Yes. Ad networks and Google Play expect you to hold the rights to what you stream. EasyCine ships with no content and no sources; what you add is yours to license.