How do i change what kind of ads will be displayed on my banner. I want game ads to show?

[Shaun Kelly]

I'm simply wanting game advertisements to be shown on my ad banner but not sure how to?. Anybody know any resources or step by step guides on how to do this ? 

[Andrew Brogdon (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

This isn't really something that AdMob supports. While you could, in theory, go into the ad category blocker and block everything *except* game ads, there's still no guarantee it would filter out everything.

The AdMob server does a great deal of work to determine the correct ad to show at a given moment for a given user. Adding large restrictions to what types of ads it can show will shrink the available pool of ads, which will cause a drop in revenue for you, the publisher.

-Andrew

[Shaun Kelly]

How do i find this ad category blocker ? is this within the admob website or do i have to do this in code?. And another question... Could i connect admob with a third party ad network to display game ads ? if so, how ?. thanks 

[Andrew Brogdon (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

You can find more information on blocking categories of ads here:

https://support.google.com/admob/answer/3150174

Out of curiosity, why do you want to limit the ads displayed in your application to games?

-Andrew

[Shaun Kelly]

The only thing thats been displayed on my live ads is Trading 212. I just want game ads on my ad banner because my app is a game. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/blockdrag/id980972472?mt=8  I'm trying to include another ad network but there isn't any step by step guides on how it works and how to integrate that within Admob properly? 

[Andrew Brogdon (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Ah, I understand.  I'd say you have three options here:

1) Use the category blocker to restrict categories you'd prefer not to see (this could negatively impact your revenue, bear in mind).

2) Use AdMob mediation to serve ads from another network, which you would either choose or configure to serve game-specific ads

3) Wait, and see what AdMob's optimization tech does

The last choice is probably what I'd do, given that you can always go back and do #1 or #2 in a month or so if you still want to.  AdMob's serving technology is designed to optimize which ads are served when and where, so if your users are more likely to click on a particular type of ad, they'll see more of those and fewer of the ads they aren't interested in. Over time, this may well bring the mix into line with what you'd like to see.

-Andrew

[Shaun Kelly]

I would choose option 2 but i'm having trouble configuring a 3rd party ad network with admob. It's asking for an API key within the Admob mediation part where you add another ad network. I don't know what an API key is or where to get it. I have chosen the ad network called AdRally but when i go on the site, it looks like you have to ask permission or something and i haven't got any reply.This is the webstie...  https://www.adrally.com/admob/  And plus i have checked out the documentation on how to add another add network but it doesn't go that far on how to configure it with admob? 

[Andrew Brogdon (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Mediation is an advanced feature, so we don't have as much documentation on it.  You will need to create an account with another ad network that will purchase your ad impressions, then put that network into the mediation settings for your ad units, with the appropriate API Keys, IDs, or whatever the network requires.  The details of the process vary from network to network, so you'll need to figure out which one you'd prefer, and then begin a relationship with them, and then enter the information that identifies you to that network in your mediation settings.

It's not as simple a process as the other two options, which is part of the reason why I suggested them.

-Andrew

[Shaun Kelly]

I see thanks, that makes a lot more sense. So how do i get all this information such as API key etc?. Will it tell me on the site on my account. Or do i have to contact the ad network themselves to make a deal between me and the ad network ? 

[Andrew Brogdon (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

I honestly don't know.  Each ad network has its own setup for what parameters and identifiers they use, and how they get them to their publishers.  We just accept the value in our setup page, and pass it on with each request.

-Andrew

[Shaun Kelly]

Thanks for the help. Okay so i found out where the API key is but it's wanting me to set the default eCPM value. I have done a bit of research but i don't fully understand how it works. When i set the default eCPM value, do i have to pay that much ? 

[Andrew Brogdon (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

eCPM is what *you* are paid, not what you owe anyone.  AdMob tries to help publishers order their mediation stacks in such a way as to maximize their revenue (if you had five items in the list, you'd want to try the highest-paying first, for example). For some networks, we're able to retrieve the actual rate at which your impressions are bought. For others, you will actually need to plug that number in yourself.

Since you're new to mediation, I'd recommend reading our documentation for it:

https://support.google.com/admob/answer/3063564

There are also some google-produced videos on YouTube that do a great job of explaining the whole thing.

-Andrew

[Shaun Kelly]

Okay i'm starting to understand i have 3 questions now...

1. Since i can't enable ad network optimisation for the network i'm using which is Adrally because it's not supported for that ad network. Where will i get the historical reports from the ad network to get the best eCPM value ?

2. Do i need special permission or a license from the 3rd party ad network since i'm displaying their content on my app? if so, how will i go about doing this?

3. Can i set the eCPM value to whatever i want and decide how much i want to get paid? 

[Andrew Brogdon (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

1. You'd have to get them from AdRally.  They are the ones who would have that data.

2. I would assume that if you register a moblie advertising account with them, that's what they expect you to do.  Bear in mind I have no idea what other networks include in their terms of service, so you shouldn't take anything I say as advice on licensing or account stuff.

3. The eCPM is meant to help AdMob order the networks appropriately in your mediation stack. It should be set to whatever AdRally is currently paying you, so AdMob will know that if it can beat that amount, it should serve its own ad first.  If, on the other hand, you want AdRally to always serve first, just set it to something like ten dollars, and it will always get priority.

-Andrew

[Shaun Kelly]

Thanks and a few other questions...

1. I'm using a 2d game engine called Sprite kit within Xcode and i want to hide my ad banner in specific areas such as the game scene and then show it once it's game over for the player. But i'm having trouble trying to access the hidden property of the banner within other scenes/classes.

GameViewController.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

#import <SpriteKit/SpriteKit.h>

#import <GoogleMobileAds/GoogleMobileAds.h>

#import <AVFoundation/AVFoundation.h>

@interface GameViewController : UIViewController

-(void) hideBanner;

@end

GameViewController.m

@implementation GameViewController

-(void) hideBanner {

    self.bannerView.hidden = YES;   

}

- (void)viewDidLoad {

    [super viewDidLoad];

    // Create a banner ad and add it to the view hierarchy.

    self.bannerView = [[GADBannerView alloc] initWithAdSize:kGADAdSizeSmartBannerPortrait];

    

    

    //TEST UNIT ID

    self.bannerView.adUnitID = @"ca-app-pub-3940256099942544/2934735716";

    self.bannerView.rootViewController = self;

    [self.view addSubview:self.bannerView];

 

    GADRequest *request = [GADRequest request];

    request.testDevices = @[ @"*log id*" ];

    [self.bannerView loadRequest:request];

}

GameScene.h

@class GameViewController;

@interface GameScene : SKScene <SKPhysicsContactDelegate>

@property (strong, nonatomic) GameViewController *gameViewController;

@end

GameScene.m

//This line of code will be executed in the "performGameOver" method but it does not work and the banner is still shown? 

    [self.gameViewController hideBanner];

 

[Andrew Brogdon (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Hiding a banner is one of the things that's been in the SDK forever, so it should be reliable.  I would recommend setting some breakpoints to make sure you're hitting that code, and using the view inspector to see what exactly is going on in your view hierarchy.

-Andrew