An offerwall is a list of tasks shown inside an app or website where users earn rewards for completing them: install a game and reach level 5, finish a survey, start a trial. The user gets coins or points, the app owner gets paid by the advertiser. For affiliates it is the main source of incentive traffic.
An offerwall is a monetisation unit that displays a menu of advertiser offers inside a host app or site and rewards users with the host’s currency for completing them. A mobile game might show it when a player runs low on coins; a rewards or survey app is built around it. Each listed task names the action and the reward (“Reach level 10 in this game: 1,200 coins”), the user chooses one, completes it in the advertiser’s app or site, and the reward is credited once the advertiser confirms the event through a postback.
The economics run in three directions. The advertiser pays per completed event, usually a CPA on a deep action rather than a bare install. The offerwall provider (Tapjoy, now part of Unity after ironSource acquired it in January 2022, plus AdGem, adjoe and others) takes a margin and passes the rest to the host app. The host converts part of that revenue into the virtual reward it shows the user. Industry glossaries describe offerwalls as earning more per engaged user than rewarded video, largely because they monetise players who never buy anything in the app.
Because every user on an offerwall is rewarded for completing the action, offerwall traffic is by definition incentive traffic. Offers that accept it are designed around that: they pay on events that require real engagement, they set conversion windows, and they often run multi-step rewards (one payout at install plus tutorial, another at day-3 activity). Offers tagged non-incentive must never be placed on an offerwall, and networks that run their own offerwalls separate those offers in the catalogue.
Quality is where offerwalls succeed or fail. Users complete the minimum required, so the advertiser’s KPI has to be the event that actually signals value, not an early proxy. Fraud also concentrates where rewards are paid: device farms and emulators that fake completions. Offerwall providers counter it with device checks and delayed reward crediting, and advertisers counter it with retention monitoring by source. An affiliate operating an offerwall, or sending offerwall traffic through a network, is judged on both.
A mobile game pays an incentive CPA of 3.00 USD when a new user reaches level 10. The offerwall shows the task with a reward worth 1.20 USD in the host app’s coins and keeps the difference to cover its margin and fraud losses.
| Step | Users | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Offer viewed on the wall | 20,000 | — |
| Task started (store click) | 1,600 | 8% |
| Installed and opened | 1,120 | 70% |
| Reached level 10 (paid event) | 392 | 35% of installs |
| Still active on day 7 (advertiser KPI) | 98 | 25% of payers |
The wall earns 392 × 3.00 = 1,176 USD and pays users 392 × 1.20 = 470 USD in coins. The advertiser judges the source on the last row: 98 active players for 1,176 USD is 12 USD per retained user. If that is within its target, the offer stays open and may get a bump; if not, the payout drops or the paid event moves deeper, to level 20 or a first purchase. Numbers are illustrative; the structure is how incentive game offers are priced.
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A list of advertiser tasks shown inside an app or site, where users earn the host’s currency or points for completing them. The advertiser pays per completed event, and the host shares part of that revenue with the user as a reward.
Yes, always, because every user is rewarded for completing the action. Only offers that accept incentive traffic may be listed on an offerwall.
Through a postback from the advertiser or its measurement partner when the paid event happens. Good offerwalls credit the reward only after that confirmation.
Offers with incentive allowed and a paid event that requires real engagement: game levels, app registrations with activity, surveys, trials that convert, and cash-back retail offers.
References are listed as plain text on purpose; look them up by title and publisher. Updated: 2026-10-06.
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