Play-Services-Ads is setting "excl_cat" by default, even if the user doesn't add Exclusion Categorie

[John Breen]

• Google Play Services SDK Version: 8.4.0
• Google Play Services APK Version: 8.7.03 (2645110-440)
• Model and OS: LG G4 (VS896), Android 6.0

Prior to play-services-ads 7.0.0, the cust_params field in our Ad Requests was empty. However, now, it has a value of "&cust_params=excl_cat"

This is the integration code that creates the ad request:

PublisherAdRequest request = new PublisherAdRequest.Builder().addNetworkExtrasBundle(
    AdMobAdapter.class, extrasBundle ).build()

In this case, the "extrasBundle" Bundle is empty. My understanding is that AdRequest.Builder() added an addCategoryExclusion method, in which case we could specify values for the "excl_cat" field. 

However, my expectation would be that the "excl_cat" parameter should not be present unless it actually has values defined (as is the case in the iOS SDK). Is this expectation accurate? 

We are not using the "addCategoryExclusion" method at all, so I would not expect that field to be present in our request.

[Veer Arjun Busani(Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Hi John,

While I would not be able to comment on how the AdRequest makes the actual request and what parameters are included in those URLs, I can confirm you that until you specify any custom targets, the SDK would not include any by default. Currently we do have a first class method to specify any Category Exclusions. My only question is, do you see any issue here apart from the URL request parameters? I would suggest you to exclude couple of categories to debug the issue. You can also go through our custom targeting guidelines over this.

Thanks,
Veer Busani

Mobile Ads SDK Team