Scrollbars appear in text ads and fade out (Android)

[Kotan]

I've successfully integrated AdMob banners in our Android app. It displays display and text banners in a list view.

When text banners appear, scrollbars are shown at the bottom and to the right and then immediately fade out. How can I prevent them?

I guess they originate from the embedded web view. The horizontal scrollbar covers approximately 90% of the width, indicating that there's more space on the right that could be scrolled into view. However, you cannot scroll it and the ad looks complete; nothing is cut off.

At first, I thought that the layout hadn't given sufficient space to the AdView. But I've verified with the Monitor app that it's 320 by 50 (or 640 by 100 in the native resolution of my device). There is even extra space to the left and the right that would be available to the AdView.

[Eric Leichtenschlag]

Hmm that's a good question. I'm not sure you can do anything about it. Is your device exactly 320dp wide? I couldn't reproduce this behavior with an ad in a ListView on my Nexus 5 but that has more than 320dp width.

Thanks,
Eric

[Kotan]

No, the device is 360dp wide (720 pixels). The banner is 320dp wide and automatically centered within the ListView item, which has the full width. I've seen the problem both on a Nexus Galaxy and and a Samsung Galaxy S2.

In the mean time, I've discovered that it affects display ads as well.

[Eric Leichtenschlag]

Could you share an apk? I still couldn't reproduce on a Galaxy S2 running the ListView example in our AdCatalog example.

Thanks,
Eric

[Kotan]

Ok, so here is:

• the apk for a minimal example that shows a banner at the very top and bottom of the list view
• the source code needed to build the apk (additionally, you'll need the Mobile Ads SDK and the Support Library)
• a screenshot of the problem (from a Galaxy S3)
  

The problem affects text ads (from AdSense if I'm not mistaken). If I switch from AdView to PublisherAdView, it affects display ads (uploaded as a PNG to DfP) as well.

The scrollbar is shown every time the AdView appears or reappears, either the first time or if it's scrolled into view again.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Eric Leichtenschlag]

I finally saw it when a light-background ad came up. Looks like a format issue where the ad is like 1px too big, causing the scrollbars. I'll notify the format team.

Thanks,

Eric

[Kotan]

Hi Eric

Do you have an update when it will be fixed? On Android, the scrollbars still appear (in combination with DfP and a simple creative based on a 320x50 image).

Regards

Manuel

[Eric Leichtenschlag]

The folks working on it have trouble reproducing, so it hasn't been fixed yet. Could you share an ad unit targeted to the simple creative you're using? I'm also in the process of customizing the text ads background color to white to see if I can reproduce with a house text ad.

Thanks,
Eric

[Eric Leichtenschlag]

Changing the background color of a house txt ad didn't work for me. If you have that DFP ad with 100% rate of showing the scrollbars, being able to serve that up in an example would be helpful.

Thanks,
Eric

[Kotan]

Hi Eric

I've setup a separate ad unit for the tests: /4078916/android_bug_analysis

The ad unit uses several creatives that have been directly set up in DfP (using the type "Image"). All creatives trigger the scrollbars when displayed. It easier to see on ads with a white or black background but it affects all of them.

BTW: It affects interstitials as well (see attached screenshot).

As a minimal test case, you can use the attached Android project. For testing, I'm currently using a LG Nexus 5.

Regards

Manuel

[Eric Leichtenschlag]

That is 100% reproducible with your example. We'll see what we can do about this.

Thanks,
Eric

[Canh Le My]

Hello, I got exactly the same problem, any update about this? The scrollbar always appear in TEXT BANNER.
Here is my layout:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true" >

    <RelativeLayout
        android:id="@id/main_content"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent" >
    </RelativeLayout>

    <com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView
        xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        xmlns:ads="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
        android:id="@id/admod"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
        ads:adSize="BANNER"
        ads:adUnitId="@string/admob_id_banner"
        android:background="@android:color/transparent" />

</RelativeLayout>

And attachment is  the screenshot

[Andrew Brogdon (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

The issue from July has been fixed, but it's possible you're seeing the same scrollbars for a different reason.  I'd like to get some more information from you about your specific set-up, so I'm going to email you directly.  

-Andrew

[Kotan]

It hasn't been fixed for us either. It currently affects AdMob ads served via DfP.

It it so hard to fix? It's a pure Google environment after all (Android, DfP, AdMob, Google Play Services). Ironically, the problem doesn't exist in a mixed environment (iOS instead of Android).

Please put these scrollbars on Android to rest, once and for all.