Today we're pleased to announce the release of the Unified Native Ads API, an easier way to implement AdMob Native Ads Advanced. This feature is now available in Google Mobile Ads for iOS, as of version 7.28.0. The Android version will be made available in an upcoming release.
With this feature, the existing native ad formats in Native Ads Advanced — GADNativeAppInstallAd and GADNativeContentAd — are replaced by a single format, GADUnifiedNativeAd. The corresponding views, GADNativeAppInstallAdView and GADNativeContentAdView, are replaced by a single corresponding view, GADUnifiedNativeAdView.
GADNativeAppInstallAd
GADNativeContentAd
GADUnifiedNativeAd
GADNativeAppInstallAdView
GADNativeContentAdView
GADUnifiedNativeAdView
Using the Unified Native Ads API, you no longer need to create UIs for ad content and app install ad formats separately. Instead you will create one UI for unified native ads, saving you time from developing and maintaining two separate UIs and associated code for the two previous ad formats, while still getting the same ad demand.
Here's a short code example showing how your implementation might change when migrating from the separate formats to the new unified format:
@implementation ViewController - (void)viewDidLoad { [super viewDidLoad]; // Note here we request only `kGADAdLoaderAdTypeUnifiedNative` and no // longer request both `kGADAdLoaderAdTypeAppInstall` and // `kGADAdLoaderAdTypeContentAd` self.adLoader = [[GADAdLoader alloc] initWithAdUnitID:YOUR_AD_UNIT_ID rootViewController:self adTypes:@[ kGADAdLoaderAdTypeUnifiedNative ] options:nil]; self.adLoader.delegate = self; [self.adLoader loadRequest:[GADRequest request]]; } } #pragma mark - GADUnifiedNativeAdLoaderDelegate - (void)adLoader:(GADAdLoader *)adLoader didReceiveUnifiedNativeAd:(GADUnifiedNativeAd *)nativeAd { // A unified native ad has loaded, and can be displayed. } // Note that the two separate ad type delegate callbacks are no longer needed. #pragma mark - GADNativeAppInstallAdLoaderDelegate - (void)adLoader:(GADAdLoader *)adLoader didReceiveNativeAppInstallAd:(GADNativeAppInstallAd *)nativeAppInstallAd { // An app install ad has loaded, and can be displayed. } #pragma mark - GADNativeContentAdLoaderDelegate - (void)adLoader:(GADAdLoader *)adLoader didReceiveNativeContentAd:(GADNativeContentAd *)nativeContentAd { // A content ad has loaded, and can be displayed. }
With the Unified Native Ads format, you still need to respect the required and recommended assets for display, and check the availability of certain assets when displaying the Unified Native Ad.
For detailed documentation on how to implement Unified Native Ads, refer to the developer documentation and the updated sample code.
If you have any questions about this feature in the Google Mobile Ads SDK, please drop us a line at the developer forum.
- Samuel Stow, Mobile Ads Developer Relations
In the Google Mobile Ads SDK Android version 11.2.0 and iOS version 7.21.0, we added multiple native ads, a new feature for AdMob Native Ads Advanced. This feature lets you load up to five unique native ads with a single request. If you're showing native ads in a scrolling feed, this will allow you to get a batch of ads different from one another. It also means fewer network calls, which improves latency.
If you're displaying multiple native ads in a feed and loading ads one by one, converting to the new API should be fairly straightforward.
First, make a decision about how many ads you wish to fetch in one request. This is a function of how frequently you display ads in your feed. If you request five ads, AdMob will return the top five ads, ordered by eCPM value. If only three ads are available for the ad unit, only three ads will be returned.
iOS Implementation
Before initializing your ad loader, you need to create an instance of GADMultipleAdsAdLoaderOptions and set the numberOfAds property. Then include this object in the array of options when calling GADAdLoader's initializer:
GADMultipleAdsAdLoaderOptions
numberOfAds
GADAdLoader
override func viewDidLoad() { super.viewDidLoad() let multipleAdsOptions = GADMultipleAdsAdLoaderOptions() multipleAdsOptions.numberOfAds = 5 adLoader = GADAdLoader(adUnitID: YOUR_AD_UNIT_ID, rootViewController: self, adTypes: [GADAdLoaderAdType.nativeContent, GADAdLoaderAdType.nativeAppInstall], options: [multipleAdsOptions]) adLoader.delegate = self adLoader.load(GADRequest()) }
When requesting multiple native ads, you will still get individual callbacks when each ad is loaded. For example, for an app install ad you will have a callback to -adLoader:didReceiveNativeAppInstallAd:, and for a content ad -adLoader:didReceiveNativeContentAd:. This way you don't need to change the way the ads are received and shown.
-adLoader:didReceiveNativeAppInstallAd:
-adLoader:didReceiveNativeContentAd:
To determine when ads have finished loading, there are two new APIs available:
loading
true
false
GADAdLoaderDelegate
adLoaderDidFinishLoading:
Android Implementation
The Android implementation is similar to iOS. There's a new method on AdLoader, loadAds() which accepts the number of ads to load. There's also a new isLoading() method that indicates whether a request is currently in progress.
AdLoader
loadAds()
isLoading()
For a detailed walkthrough of the implementations, see the AdMob Native Ads Advanced implementation guides (iOS | Android). If you have any questions about this feature in the Google Mobile Ads SDK, please drop us a line at the developer forum.
If you've created a Native Express ad unit recently, you may have noticed a new template format alongside App Install and Content: Video App Install. In the past few weeks, AdMob has rolled out support for video assets in Native Ads Express, giving publishers a new way to create more engaging presentations for their users.
Enabling video demand for a Native Express ad unit is easy. Just open the ad unit's settings in the AdMob console, and look for the Ad type checkboxes at the top of the editor:
Check the checkbox marked "Video app install," and save the change. In a short while, your ad unit will start serving video creatives alongside the other two formats, with no code changes to your app required. That means you can update your existing apps to display this new format without redeploying to the Play Store or App Store.
An important thing to note is that video creatives are only available for ad units using the Large template size. The video player needs a certain amount of space, and the Large template ensures that it's available.
While there's no mobile code required to take advantage of Native Express Video, AdMob has introduced some new features to the API that allow publishers to customize the user experience. In particular, a new video options class (VideoOptions on Android, and GADVideoOptions on iOS) gives publishers a way to influence how the ads behave.
For example, the following code will cause video ads appearing in an Android NativeExpressAdView to begin playing with their audio on:
mAdView = (NativeExpressAdView) findViewById(R.id.adView); mAdView.setVideoOptions(new VideoOptions.Builder() .setStartMuted(false) .build());
App publishers can retrieve information about the video assets in their ads through the use of a video controller object (VideoController on Android, GADVideoController on iOS). The ad view classes for native express have been updated to include video controller properties that apps can grab and query for info like whether a video is present in the ad, and what its aspect ratio is. Even if the ad doesn't contain an video asset (or no ad has been loaded at all), you'll always get a valid reference to the ad view's video controller.
For example, here's a Swift snippet that shows how to check if an ad that just loaded contains a video asset:
func nativeExpressAdViewDidReceiveAd(_ nativeExpressAdView: GADNativeExpressAdView) { if nativeExpressAdView.videoController.hasVideoContent() { print("Received an ad with a video asset.") } else { print("Received an ad without a video asset.") } }
Native Express is designed to make implementing native ads easy, but if you have questions about how to get up and running or how you can best put it to use in your apps, stop by our support forum. The Mobile Ads Garage recently released an episode covering Native Express Video as well, with feature details and screencasts for iOS and Android:
Episode 11 of The Mobile Ads Garage is live on YouTube! If you haven't seen it before, The Mobile Ads Garage is a video tutorial series that covers how to use the Mobile Ads SDK to display ads from AdMob and Doubleclick for Publishers. Each episode covers one aspect of the SDK, breaks down the feature, and shows screencasts of real implementations on both Android and iOS – all in a friendly format.
In a break with tradition, this video is a deep technical dive on one subject: Native Ads Express in an Android RecyclerView. You'll learn how to modify an existing RecyclerView implementation to include Native Express ads, all the way from updating the adapter to loading the ads. In addition, you'll get a clever trick that makes sure your ads are always sized to match the UI, so they fit right in with your content.
If you haven't used Native Ads Express before, you can see them in action in Episode 7. Andrew and Gary cover all the basics: loading ads, placing them in layouts and storyboards, and using CSS to style the ads to match your app.
If you like the video, save the Mobile Ads Garage playlist to your YouTube Playlist collection and you'll never miss an episode.
We'd love to hear which AdMob features you'd like to learn more about. The comment sections for the videos are open, and you're welcome to toss out ideas for new episodes and examples you'd like to see. If you have a technical question relating to something discussed in one of the episodes, you can bring it to our support forum.
Until next time, be sure to stay connected on all things AdMob by following our Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ pages.
A new episode of The Mobile Ads Garage has hit YouTube! If you haven't seen it before, The Mobile Ads Garage is a video tutorial series that covers how to use the Mobile Ads SDK to display ads from AdMob and Doubleclick For Publishers. Each episode covers one aspect of the SDK, breaks down the feature, and shows screencasts of real implementations on both Android and iOS – all in a friendly format.
Have you tried AdMob's Native Ads Express? It's a new native ads format open to all AdMob publishers that can help you slim down the monetization code in your apps, plus give you the chance to update your ad layouts without a redeploy. In this episode you'll see sample ads, implementations in Xcode and Android Studio, and details on how to create CSS templates that'll make sure the ads in your apps look the way you want. If you've been considering a move to native ads, this is a great way to get started.
We’d love to hear which AdMob features you’d like to learn more about. The comment sections for the videos are open, and you're welcome to toss out ideas for new episodes and examples you'd like to see. If you have a technical question relating to something discussed in one of the episodes, you can bring it to our support forum.
Recently, we announced the availability of native ads for apps in DFP. Here, we’re going to introduce you to creating native creatives with the DFP API using the ads Java client library. A native creative consists of a set of assets (headline, image, etc.) which are sent to mobile apps for custom rendering in their own code (see our Android and iOS developer guides for details).
Native creatives are actually just another type of template-based creative. While the DFP UI abstracts this, in the API you create a native creative using a TemplateCreative with the system-defined native template ID. The creative template IDs available in your network can be retrieved by the getCreativeTemplatesByStatement method in the CreativeTemplateService. You can also view these IDs in the UI under Delivery > Creatives > Native ad formats (see the ID below each native ad format name in the table). The native app install template ID is 10004400.
TemplateCreative nativeAppInstallCreative = new TemplateCreative(); nativeAppInstallCreative.setCreativeTemplateId(10004400L);
Because native creatives do not have a predetermined size, you need to set a placeholder size of 1x1.
Size size = new Size(); size.setWidth(1); size.setHeight(1); size.setIsAspectRatio(false); nativeAppInstallCreative.setSize(size);
Finally, specify a name and destination URL; this example is for the Pie Noon app:
nativeAppInstallCreative.setName("Pie Noon native ad"); nativeAppInstallCreative.setDestinationUrl( "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.fpl.pie_noon");
Settings specific to native creatives are set via template variables. An app install native creative requires the following unique template variable names to be set:
Note that creative template variables are case sensitive and those of type AssetCreativeTemplateVariableValue (“Image” and “Appicon”) must have a unique filename.
You can find the full Java example on how to create native creatives in our GitHub repository here. All of our other ads client libraries have similar examples.
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to drop us a line on the DFP API forums or the Ads Developer Google+ page.
- Vincent Tsao, DFP API Team
Today we’re pleased to announce two new versions of the Google Mobile Ads SDK: version 7.5 for Android, and version 7.3.1 for iOS. Included is a brand new way to monetize your apps with the Google Mobile Ads SDK: native ads!
With native ads, publishers can display ad assets directly in native views, using layouts and storyboards they design to fit their user experience. You now have the power to monetize with ads that are seamless with content!
Native ads are currently in a beta with a limited group of publishers, but the code is included in the latest releases of the Mobile Ads SDK for iOS and Android. Those of you using Android Studio can download Google Repository (Rev. 19) via the Android SDK Manager to get the latest Gradle artifacts, and developers with Eclipse projects can find it listed as Google Play services (Rev. 25). Publishers with iOS apps can snag the latest SDK for that platform by updating their Podfile to pull version 7.3.1.
For AdMob, DFP, and AdX publishers, there are two system-defined native ad formats: App Install and Content. Each provides a set of image and string assets that make up the ad. App Install ads contain assets named “price,” “star rating,” and so on, while Content ads have “body,” “logo,” and others. See the AdMob and DFP help center articles for more information about the formats.
Publishers using DFP can also take advantage of custom native ad formats. With a custom format, you can create your own set of asset definitions, and then upload creatives with a matching set of values.
Native ads are loaded using the new AdLoader and GADAdLoader classes, which can request a single format or several at the same time, helping you maximize the value of your impressions. Here’s an example showing how to request an App Install ad on Android:
AdLoader adLoader = new AdLoader.Builder(this, DFP_AD_UNIT_ID) .forAppInstallAd(new NativeAppInstallAd.OnAppInstallAdLoadedListener() { @Override public void onAppInstallAdLoaded(NativeAppInstallAd ad) { /* display the ad */ } }).build(); adLoader.loadAd(new AdRequest.Builder().build());
And here’s the iOS equivalent:
self.adLoader = [[GADAdLoader alloc] initWithAdUnitID:DFP_AD_UNIT_ID rootViewController:rootViewController adTypes:@[ kGADAdLoaderAdTypeNativeAppInstall ] options:nil]; self.adLoader.delegate = self; [self.adLoader loadRequest:[GADRequest request]];
Check out the native ads guide (Android | iOS) for more information about native ads. For a full list of Mobile Ads SDK changes, check out our release notes. For technical questions, post them on our forum.
- Andrew Brogdon, Mobile Ads Developer Relations
