Playbook: Decide In-App vs Mobile Web Inventory for a New Campaign

Playbook: Decide In-App vs Mobile Web Inventory for a New Campaign

A structured decision instead of a gut call:
— Define the goal: app install / in-app action → in-app; lead form or content → mobile web
— Check measurement reality: in-app gives you SDK-level events; web gives you cookies that are mostly gone
— Map the latency budget — in-app SDK ads render faster and full-screen; web has slower, smaller formats
— Compare fraud surface: in-app SDK traffic is more verifiable; mobile web has heavy bot + made-for-arbitrage sites
— Price it: in-app rewarded/interstitial CPMs vs web banner CPMs at equal viewability
— Confirm creative fit — full-screen video belongs in-app, not in a 320x50 web slot

✓ Replaces 'in-app is always better' with a goal-driven choice
✓ Surfaces the measurement gap web buyers forget post-cookie
✗ Some verticals (finance, B2B) genuinely live on web
✗ Doesn't account for your specific supply-path deals

Verdict: Use in-app for app-goal + full-screen creative; use mobile web only when your conversion lives in a browser.
Best for: Planners allocating budget across in-app and web supply.