Playbook: Vet a New Rewarded Video Source in One Week

Playbook: Vet a New Rewarded Video Source in One Week

Before scaling a rewarded network, run this gauntlet:
— Day 1-2: cap spend low, isolate the source in its own campaign/segment
— Pull completion rate — under 85% on rewarded means broken reward delivery or incentive fraud
— Check time-to-reward distribution; a spike of sub-5-second 'completions' is bot or skip-fraud
— Compare post-install retention vs your blended baseline — rewarded users churn faster, but a cliff at D1 is junk traffic
— Inspect placement IDs: one placement dominating 90% of volume is a red flag for a single fraudulent app
— Run a quick incrementality check — does spend lift actually move installs, or just claim organics?

✓ Separates genuine engaged-reward traffic from incentivized junk fast
✓ Cheap — you're risking a small test budget
✗ One week isn't enough to judge true LTV
✗ Rewarded inflates early funnel metrics, masking weak users

Verdict: Use rewarded video for top-of-funnel scale and event volume; skip it if you're optimizing toward day-30 revenue.
Best for: Buyers testing new in-app supply with retention guardrails.