The 4 Generations of Rewarded Ads: Personalization + LiveOps = The Future of Offerwalls

2025-09-10

In this special Two and a Half Gamers episode, Matej and Felix sit down with Zino Rost van Tonningen (TyrAds) to deep dive into the history, present, and future of rewarded monetization & offerwalls.Key insights:History of rewarded ads:Early “incent installs” → rank-boosting campaigns (TapJoy, FreeMyApps).Multi-reward systems (TapJoy, IronSource, Fyber).Misplay breakthrough: timer-based playtime rewards + personalization.AdJoe & others scaled Misplay’s model into SDK solutio...

In this special Two and a Half Gamers episode, Matej and Felix sit down with Zino Rost van Tonningen (TyrAds) to deep dive into the history, present, and future of rewarded monetization & offerwalls.

Key insights:

History of rewarded ads:

Early “incent installs” → rank-boosting campaigns (TapJoy, FreeMyApps).

Multi-reward systems (TapJoy, IronSource, Fyber).

Misplay breakthrough: timer-based playtime rewards + personalization.

AdJoe & others scaled Misplay’s model into SDK solutions.

The shift to personalization:

Old offerwalls = one-size-fits-all.

New generation = hyper-personalized rewards per user.

Use of media source data (Google, Unity, AppLovin, etc.) to adapt rewards based on traffic quality.

Publisher perspective:

Offerwalls can contribute 5–30% of game revenue depending on genre.

Biggest impact: retaining non-payers & dolphins by giving them an alternative to IAP.

Integration fights today echo old mediation wars (bonuses, rev guarantees, exclusivity deals).

Best practices for choosing an offerwall partner:

LiveOps environment — events, hot deals, timed offers.

Transparency — explain revenue spikes/drops & media source impact.

Personalization — reward scaling, segmentation by user type & UA source.

UI/UX — aesthetics matter; no more “Windows 95” offerwalls.

Zino’s TyrAds SDK v3.0:

One-time integration, no updates needed.

Customizable design to match game branding.

Hyper-personalized rewards, dynamic leveling systems.

LiveOps events triggered per user (push, in-app messages).

Takeaway: Rewarded monetization has entered its 4th generation: hyper-personalized, data-driven, and LiveOps-powered.

https://tyrads.com/

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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠

Special guest: Zino Rost van Tonningen

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rovato/

zino@tyrads.com

Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipg

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Rewarded User Acquisition

04:30 The Evolution of Rewarded Monetization

07:10 The Shift from Incentivized Installs to Quality KPIs

09:51 Innovations in Rewarded Advertising: Multi-Reward and Playtime Solutions

12:33 The Role of Personalization in Rewarded Monetization

14:56 Challenges in Current Rewarded Solutions