RevenueCat Ads: How Ad Revenue Tracking Works Alongside Subscriptions
The name invites the wrong assumption. RevenueCat Ads (people also search for it as “revenue cat ads”) is not an ad network, and it doesn’t serve or mediate ads — your existing ad SDK still does that job. What it does is report ad impressions, clicks, and revenue into the same dashboard as your subscription data, so you can finally see both sides of a hybrid monetization strategy in one place instead of two disconnected tools.
What it is: an ad-revenue tracking layer inside RevenueCat, not an ad network. What it needs: an ad SDK or mediation platform that reports impression-level revenue (ILRD) — AdMob has a direct helper; AppLovin MAX, ironSource/LevelPlay and Unity Ads work via manual ILRD. What it costs: nothing extra — ad revenue doesn’t count toward Monthly Tracked Revenue. Why bother: blended LTV per user, and the ability to A/B test “show an ad” against “show the paywall” on one shared metric.
1. What RevenueCat Ads Actually Tracks
2. How RevenueCat Ad Tracking Flows Through Your App
3. Which Ad Networks RevenueCat Ads Supports Today
4. Setting Up RevenueCat Ads: The Short Version
The setup is smaller than most teams expect, because RevenueCat is only listening. Step one is confirming your ad stack exposes impression-level revenue — on AdMob that’s the paid-event callback; on a mediation platform it’s the ILRD option in the dashboard. Step two is wiring the callbacks into RevenueCat’s ad-tracking API (AdMob gets a helper library; everyone else forwards the ILRD payload manually). Step three is the part people skip: making sure the same app user ID you use for subscriptions is the one attached to ad events, otherwise you get two anonymous halves of the same customer and the blended LTV number is meaningless. Budget an afternoon for a single-network AdMob app, a couple of days for a mediation setup you want to verify placement by placement.
5. Why This Matters for a Hybrid Ads + Subscriptions Strategy
Most apps with a free tier aren’t purely subscription or purely ad-supported — free users see ads, some convert to paying subscribers, and the two revenue streams have always lived in separate dashboards with separate definitions of a “user.” Blending them changes two decisions in particular: customer lifetime value calculations that were previously subscription-only now include the free users who were quietly generating ad revenue the whole time, and the decision of when to show an ad versus when to show a paywall becomes something you can actually A/B test against a shared metric instead of guessing.
This is the mechanic behind Shipaton’s Catvertising Award — creative, well-executed ad monetization judged on more than just “we added an ad SDK.” Teams who track ad revenue alongside subscription revenue from day one have an actual data story to submit, not just a screenshot of an ad unit. See our Shipaton 2026 guide for the rest of the competition’s requirements and the September 30 deadline.
If you’re deciding how to instrument any of this alongside your broader subscription metrics, our piece on RevenueCat analytics covers the subscription side of the same dashboard, and the webhook architecture guide covers getting those events into your own backend without drift.
6. RevenueCat Ads FAQ
Is RevenueCat Ads an ad network?
No. It doesn’t serve, fill or mediate ads. It records the events your existing ad SDK already emits and puts the resulting revenue next to your subscription revenue.
Does RevenueCat charge for ad revenue tracking?
No. Pricing is based on Monthly Tracked Revenue from subscriptions and purchases; ad revenue is excluded from that figure, so tracking it is effectively free.
Which ad networks work with RevenueCat Ads?
Google AdMob has a direct helper integration. AppLovin MAX, ironSource/LevelPlay, Unity Ads and any custom mediation setup work as long as they expose impression-level revenue data (ILRD).
Can I use it with Flutter or React Native?
Yes — the tracking call is available wherever the RevenueCat SDK is. The work is in forwarding your ad SDK’s revenue callbacks; see our React Native integration guide for how the subscription side is set up.
Is “revenue cat ads” the same thing?
Yes — it’s the same feature, just spelled as two words. The product name is RevenueCat, one word.
Running a hybrid ads-plus-subscriptions model?
Tell us how your app monetizes today and we’ll map what a blended tracking setup would actually look like.