The hardest problems weren’t technical. They were behavioural.
TL;DR
- In 2025, I didn’t see integration problems. I saw belief problems.
- Publishers move fast once they decide to act. But hesitation before pilots, caution during peak traffic, and attention to visible revenue metrics delay true optimisation.
- Before optimising monetisation systems, publishers often need to optimise how they think.
Over the past year, I’ve spent a lot of time close to publisher SDK integrations, watching teams evaluate, question, test, hesitate, and eventually move forward.
If you look at monetisation from the outside, it often feels like a technical story. SDKs. Integrations. Demand partners. Metrics. Dashboards. But 2025 revealed something much simpler, and much more human.
Most monetisation challenges aren’t technical. They’re behavioural.
Integration is Rarely The Real Problem
When engineering teams finally get involved, integration usually moves quickly. Questions get answered. Code gets implemented. Testing begins.
The real delay almost always happens before engineering even touches the problem, in internal discussions, uncertainty, and the need for conviction.
“The hardest part of integration isn’t code. It’s getting to the point where someone says yes.”
This is easy to miss if you only look at timelines. But from inside the process, it’s clear: Monetisation friction starts as an organisational hesitation, not a technical limitation.
Experience Changes Everything
Publishers who’ve worked with ad SDKs before usually move fast. The patterns feel familiar. Decisions are clearer. Execution is straightforward.
The real complexity appears with teams new to monetisation, where the questions are more fundamental:
- Where should ads live inside the product?
- Which formats make sense for users?
- What trade-offs affect experience vs. revenue?
None of this is technical difficulty. It’s strategic clarity forming for the first time.
“What looks like technical complexity is often just uncertainty about decisions.”
Once those decisions are made, progress accelerates quickly.
Pilots Don’t Usually Fail, Belief Just Arrives Late
Something interesting I’ve noticed: Publishers rarely abandon pilots once they begin. But reaching the pilot stage itself can take time.
Teams want to know:
- How much inventory should we test?
- How long until results appear?
- What if the numbers fluctuate early?
These are reasonable questions. But they also delay momentum.
“Proof creates confidence. But confidence is often required before proof begins.”
So the real challenge isn’t failed experiments. It’s slow starts.
It’s Not Seasonality. It’s Tentpole Psychology.
We often talk about “seasonality” in advertising. But what I’ve actually seen is slightly different.
Revenue may fluctuate, that’s normal in advertising. But the bigger impact comes from how publishers behave around tentpole traffic moments:
- Major sports tournaments, like the IPL in India
- Festive spikes
- High-revenue windows
During these periods, teams become cautious about making any backend changes. Not because technology can’t handle it. But because risk feels higher when visibility is highest.
“It’s not revenue seasonality. It’s decision-making caution around peak moments.”
This subtle difference shapes far more timelines than we realise.
Why eCPM Gets All The Attention
Another pattern from 2025 is psychological, not mathematical. Structurally, ad revenue is influenced by multiple signals:
- Fill rate
- Render rate
- Impressions
- Demand dynamics
These quietly shape outcomes like eCPM and total revenue. But human attention naturally goes somewhere else.
Teams react most strongly to:
- Dollar values
- Visible revenue movement
- Immediate financial signals
Because that’s what feels real.
“Signals improve quietly. Revenue speaks loudly. Humans follow the loudest voice.”
So even when underlying efficiency improves, excitement often waits until eCPM or revenue visibly moves. That isn’t misunderstanding. It’s human psychology.
Growth Doesn’t Always Look Like Higher eCPM
One of the more misunderstood realities in monetisation is this: Revenue can grow even when eCPM stays flat. And revenue can fall even when other metrics improve.
Why?
Because monetisation is a system outcome, not a single-metric story.
Efficiency gains in:
- Rendering
- Delivery
- Fill
- Coverage
can lift total revenue without dramatic eCPM movement.
“eCPM is a number you see. Revenue is a system you build.”
Understanding this shift, from metric watching to system thinking, is where meaningful optimisation begins.
Monetisation is Human Before it is Technical
Looking back at 2025, the most surprising lesson wasn’t about SDKs, demand, or tooling. It was about behaviour.
- Hesitation before integration
- Caution around tentpole traffic
- Emotional focus on visible revenue metrics
All of these shape monetisation outcomes just as much as technology does.
“Before publishers optimize monetisation systems, they often need to optimise how they think about monetisation.”
Because in the end: Ad revenue is mathematical. But monetisation decisions are deeply human. And recognising that may be the most important optimisation of all.