Android DFP Interstitial clickthrough opening in ad window

[matthew...@globant.com]

I have created an interstitial ad on Android that is using a simple image creative with a click-through url. My expectation is that when the ad is presented, if I click on it, the click-through url will be opened in an external application like chrome. However, what's happening is the click-through url is being loaded directly in the interstitial ad, essentially acting as a webview.

I've tried changing the ad unit's Target Window to "_blank", which resulted in the ad window simply dismissing when a user clicks it.

I'm using 11.0.4 of play services.

My code is pretty straightforward, but if it helps:

mPublisherInterstitialAd = new PublisherInterstitialAd(this);

String adUnit = "<my_ad_unit>";

mPublisherInterstitialAd.setAdUnitId(adUnit);

mPublisherInterstitialAd.setAdListener(new AdListener() {

    @Override

    public void onAdLoaded() {

        mPublisherInterstitialAd.show();

    }

    @Override

    public void onAdFailedToLoad(int errorCode) {

        doSomething();

    }

    @Override

    public void onAdLeftApplication() {

        doSomething();

    }

    @Override

    public void onAdClosed() {

        doSomething();

    }

});

mPublisherInterstitialAd.loadAd(new PublisherAdRequest.Builder().build());

[mobileadssdk-a...@google.com]

Hi,

I'm assuming when you said 'I've tried changing the ad unit's Target Window to "_blank"', you are referring to updating your Ad Unit Id in your DFP UI. If my assumption is correct, then as per this DFP Help Center article, if the ad unit is in a mobile app, the target window is ignored and ads will be loaded in a new browser window. However, it's best that you confirm this over to the DFP Help Forum because our team (Mobile Ads SDK Team) can only assist you with the code implementation in the Mobile Ads SDK side.

That said, looking at your code implementation, I would recommend that you follow this guide when showing ads. However, there's nothing in your code that could have resulted to the behavior you mentioned wherein the destination url is loaded directly in the interstitial ad instead of opening a new browser window in your mobile device. This is indeed an odd behavior.

For us to check on our end, could you share with us privately the Ad Unit Id/s in question using the Reply privately to author option?

Could you also confirm if this only happens on specific Ads and not all ads and if it's only reproducible in the 11.0.4 SDK version?

Regards,

Ivan Bautista, 

Mobile Ads SDK Team

[matthew...@globant.com]

You are correct, setting the Ad Unit's target window was done through the Ad Unit DFP UI. I'm a little confused by the way the expected behavior is described however. It says, "For Android and iOS apps, ads load in a new, unnamed browser window." Is this saying that the url defined as the clickthrough will open in a new unnamed browser window, or that the ad itself should open in the new window? Neither of these are the behavior, since the ad itself opens in the in-app ad window, and the clickthrough url also opens in the same window.

I will share the ad unit we created privately, but I can also reproduce the same behavior when using the sample interstitial ad with id "/6499/example/interstitial". In that ad a page with a DoubleClick link is displayed. Clicking the link loads a Google account login page in the same ad window, not in an external browser. This is also reproducible in the Interstitial Example app with the example interstitial ad id and our private one. The sample appears to be using play services 15.0.

I've tested this on a Pixel 2 on 8.1, a Galaxy S8 on 8.0 and a Nextbit Robin on 6.0.1

Thanks for the reply! If there is something fundamental that I'm misunderstanding, i.e. click through links are expected to open inside the ad window, not in an external browser please let me know.

Cheers,

Matt

[mobileadssdk-a...@google.com]

Hi Matt,

Thank you for providing to us privately your Ad Unit ID in question as well as other helpful details.

I tested your Ad Unit Id with our InterstitialExample app and I encountered a different behavior from what you've encountered. Based from the attached device logs (devicelogs.txt) captured when loading your Ad Unit Id, it seems like clicking on the Ad just closes the ad creative but not the entire Interstitial Ad screen. On the other hand, I was able to replicate the same behavior you described with the sample Interstitial Ad Unit Id wherein clicking the DoubleClick link loads a login page in the same window and not in an external browser.

However, I tested with one of our DFP Interstitial Ad Unit Ids of our test account and clicking on the Interstitial Ad loads the url to an external browser accordingly as seen in the video screening (dfpinterstitial.mp4) captured. Typically, this is the behavior of Interstitial Ad Unit Ids after clicking, however, please note that the Mobile Ads SDK has no control over the behavior of the Ad after user clicks on it or where the clickthrough url will be loaded. Additionally, this DFP Help Center article suggests it should be loaded in a new, unnamed browser window. That said, it's best that you raise this over to the DFP Help Forum as it is the appropriate channel to confirm the behavior of DFP ads after clicking them.

Regards,

Ivan Bautista

Mobile Ads SDK Team

[matthew...@globant.com]

Hi Ivan,

Thank you for the quick reply!

Your ad unit works exactly the way we want our's to work! Would it be possible for you to provide details of how it's configured? What type of creative is being used? How are the creative and line item configured? Would it be possible for you to privately send me the ad unit id so we could test in our app?

In regards to bringing up my questions on the DFP Help Forum. I submitted a question about this topic last week, but haven't received a response. For reference here is my post.

Cheers,

Matt

[mobileadssdk-a...@google.com]

Hi Matt,

I'm afraid I can't provide to you the Ad Unit Id that I used from our test account nor do I have an access to it's configuration settings.

If possible, could you try to create a new DFP Ad Unit Id and see if you are still getting the same issue? Please note that it might take some time for newly created Ad Units to start serving live ads.

However, for any concerns about configuring your DFP Ad Unit Id, it's best that you raise them over to the DFP Help Forum. As for the post you raised, I suggest that you wait for a response from there as it is the appropriate channel to assist you on this.