Will Ads affect retention?

Ads have been the primary way to monetize online platforms throughout the history of the internet. Many internet users think of major platforms like Instagram or Google when it comes to ads, but other companies also use ads to generate revenue.

Today, a growing number of platforms are adopting ads as part of their business models without negatively impacting user retention. Here are some examples:

Category	Platforms
Retail	Walmart, Target, Amazon
Streaming	Hulu, Netflix, RedZone, Roku
Pharmacy	CVS
Ride-hailing	Uber, Lyft
Hotel Chain	Marriott

Ad revenue per user can range from 50% to 120% of revenue from paying users which means you can make the majority of your revenue from ads.

98% traffic is not monetized 😱

Both companion and assistant chatbots only convert 1-2% of their traffic to paying users, leaving over 98% users unmonetized. Ads are an excellent way to monetize this user base.

Retention impact

Growl Ad network SDK comes with tools to A/B test impact of ads on user behavior.

This includes measuring impact on time spent on page and page engagement with or without ads. These metrics are also reported for different types of ads so that developers can determine the best ad format for revenue potential and user engagement.

A/B Testing Ads

Coming soon

Growl supports A/B testing for ad slots, allowing you to control the percentage of impressions that should deliver a live ad versus an empty pixel. This lets you measure the incremental impact of showing ads on user experience and revenue.

How It Works

• In the Growl dashboard, you can set a delivery percentage for each ad unit (e.g., 70% ads, 30% control).
• When a page loads, our system randomly assigns each eligible ad impression to either:
  • Treatment (Ad Served): The ad creative is fetched and displayed inside the ad slot.
  • Control (No Ad): A transparent pixel is rendered inside the ad slot instead of the ad creative.

What to track?

We report these in our dashboard

Metric	Definition
Impression Opportunity	Any time an ad slot is requested on the page, regardless of whether an ad or a control is ultimately delivered. This gives an estimate of how many ads can be shown and therefore an estimate of revenue potential.
Served Impression	An opportunity where a real ad creative is displayed to the user.
Control Impression	An opportunity where the slot is filled with a pixel (per your A/B test configuration).