Mediated ads (live and test ones) stopped being delivered by AdMob: "Request Error: No ad to show."

[LVeecode]

Hello. 

We are mediating MoPub and AppLovin ads with AdMob. Today at 7AM UTC mediated ads for all our apps stopped being delivered. The ads were being delivered fine when we were testing them, and when the apps were published.

After testing this in a different (unpublished) app that has all the ads set to test mode and has "guaranteed delivery" items for testing, those are also not being delivered.

The error is "Request Error: No ad to show." with no details.

Please note, that ads are set to test mode, and there is a "guaranteed delivery" item set up for MoPub, so this isn't an ad fill issue.

Here is the screenshot from the MoPub dashboard with a guaranteed delivery line item, showing that AdMob hasn't even made a request to it:

AppLovin dashboard screenshot showing the timeframe when the issue started:

So in short:

1. There are no "no fill" issues, test ads and "guaranteed delivery" items aren't being delivered

2. There are no integration issues (the apps are published on the AppStore and were receiving ads)

3. SDK keys and other settings were not touched at all on the AdMob console for those ads

4. Despite all that, starting today AdMob fails to deliver mediated ads with "Request Error: No ad to show."

Is this a temporary issue that you are aware of and fixing?

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor Prod]

Hello there,

This sounds like an Ad serving issue. Can you please share the app link that you have published? And, may I know why you have tested these on an other unpublished app again when you have already published your app and when you have seen ads getting displayed? Please correct me if I have misunderstood your explanation. Can you also test your mediation Ad unit Ids locally again and see if you are able to load ads? We haven't seen any anything reported to us with the similar ad serving issues. 

Regards,
Deepika Uragayala
Mobile Ads SDK Team

 

ref:_00D1U1174p._5001UJantA:ref

[Lesya Verbina]

> And, may I know why you have tested these on an other unpublished app 

Looks like you are assuming there is only one app, which is the source of your confusion.

There is more than one app. The published apps, all of them, are not being served ads, according to the dashboards.

The unpublished app, that is (obviously) a different one from the published ones, (different unit ids, etc) is also not getting ads, even though it has every network set to testing and has a “guaranteed delivery” line set up. 

Here is the link to one of the published apps, the AdMob mediated native ad goes into the place under all of the weekdays, as you scroll to the bottom: 

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/work-hours-pay-calculator/id1468530190

(The rewarded ad for switching the theme is not mediated by AdMob, please disregard it)

Another published app: 

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dark-mode-wallpapers-themes/id1482174597

Please note that this is not an ad serving issue, otherwise test ads and guaranteed delivery item would be loading, and the AdMob dashboard itself would be reporting “requests but no match rate”.  AdMob dashboard claims that match rate is at 87% and there were “497” impressions for AppLovin - this number has not changed since the issue has started.

[LVeecode]

Update: it has been more than 24 hours since the issue started, and the dashboards are all reporting that there are "0" requests.

Despite the fact that there are definitely more than "0" requests, as even Firebase Analytics is showing that there is the usual amount of users using the apps.

MoPub & AppLovin dashboards, please note the 0 *requests*, not "impressions", meaning that there are no requests getting through.

(Please disregard the 20 requests for the rewarded ads, those are not mediated by AdMob)

AdMob dashboard, please note the 0 *requests* for mediated ads again. AdMob's own ads are also not getting any requests, but that is beside the point, the main issue is with the mediated ads (as we have no intention of using AdMob ads in any case, seeing that Google apparently can't afford to send more than 4 envelop-less pieces of paper to our address, and there is no other way to verify PIN and receive the hundreds of dollars it owes us already)

I've given you an approximate timeframe on when this problem started, and it is clear that the problem is somewhere on the backend on Google's side, because apps that are already on the AppStore and have received no updates during that timeframe ("last update 3d ago") as well as older versions of the apps, are all not being delivered ads, and even the requests themselves are not being acknowledged by AdMob. 

Ads in test mode are also not being delivered, for those apps as well as for a different unpublished app, with a generic "Request Error: No ad to show." with no other errors or warnings anywhere.

As you can imagine, this is sort of urgent.

On Friday, November 15, 2019 at 1:27:12 AM UTC+2, LVeecode wrote:

> And, may I know why you have tested these on an other unpublished app 

Looks like you are assuming there is only one app, which is the source of your confusion.

There is more than one app. The published apps, all of them, are not being served ads, according to the dashboards.

The unpublished app, that is (obviously) a different one from the published ones, (different unit ids, etc) is also not getting ads, even though it has every network set to testing and has a “guaranteed delivery” line set up. 

Here is the link to one of the published apps, the AdMob mediated native ad goes into the place under all of the weekdays, as you scroll to the bottom: 

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/work-hours-pay-calculator/id1468530190

(The rewarded ad for switching the theme is not mediated by AdMob, please disregard it)

Another published app: 

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dark-mode-wallpapers-themes/id1482174597

Please note that this is not an ad serving issue, otherwise test ads and guaranteed delivery item would be loading, and the AdMob dashboard itself would be reporting “requests but no match rate”.  AdMob dashboard claims that match rate is at 87% and there were “497” impressions for AppLovin - this number has not changed since the issue has started.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor Prod]

Hello there,

Thanks for sharing the issue details. Can you please share the Ad unit Ids from the published app and unpublished app? I don't see any ads on the apps that you have shared. We would like to take a look and test your Ad unit Ids to investigate this further.  Please share your complete device logs as well and check your policy center on AdMob account and see if any ad serving restrictions are posted on your account related to the app on which you are seeing the issue. You can use "Reply privately to Author" option to share the details privately. 

[LVeecode]

I don't see any ads on the apps that you have shared

Please refer to my message to see where the ad is displayed when it has been loaded: "the AdMob mediated native ad goes into the place under all of the weekdays, as you scroll to the bottom"
Yes, you indeed can't see an ad there, which is the problem.
I have also shared the second app with you, and the "Ad is loading" blocks are visible when you open a category (every 13 cells in each category is an ad)

I have shared the ad unit ids from the published & unpublished app with you privately, but I do not see how they will be helpful for testing, as you do not have the SDK keys and other private info required to activate MoPub and AppLovin SDKs, which is a non-optional step in testing mediated ads.

Please share your complete device logs

This is the complete device log. There is nothing of relevance there except for "Request Error: No ad to show."

2019-11-15 14:11:21.738521+0200 AppName[30812:3193062]  - <AppMeasurement>[I-ACS036002] Analytics screen reporting is enabled. Call +[FIRAnalytics setScreenName:setScreenClass:] to set the screen name or override the default screen class name. To disable screen reporting, set the flag FirebaseScreenReportingEnabled to NO (boolean) in the Info.plist

2019-11-15 14:11:21.861504+0200 AppName[30812:3192599] [Crashlytics] Version 3.14.0 (144)

2019-11-15 14:11:21.900872+0200 AppName[30812:3193080] [AppLovinSdk] DEBUG [ALCCommunicator] Attaching SDK instance: [ALSdk: key=[key], enabled=0, isFirstSession=0]...

2019-11-15 14:11:21.901010+0200 AppName[30812:3193080] [AppLovinSdk] DEBUG [ALCCommunicator] Subscribing <ALCommunicatorService: 0x6000039f1d40> to topic: send_http_request

2019-11-15 14:11:21.901181+0200 AppName[30812:3193080] [AppLovinSdk] DEBUG [ALCCommunicator] Subscribed <ALCommunicatorService: 0x6000039f1d40> to topic: send_http_request

2019-11-15 14:11:22.116711+0200 AppName[30812:3193071] [plugin] AddInstanceForFactory: No factory registered for id <CFUUID 0x600003905f40> F8BB1C28-BAE8-11D6-9C31-00039315CD46

2019-11-15 14:11:22.518554+0200 AppName[30812:3192599] <Google> To get test ads on this device, set: GADMobileAds.sharedInstance.requestConfiguration.testDeviceIdentifiers = @[ kGADSimulatorID ];

2019-11-15 14:11:22.610176+0200 AppName[30812:3193092] [AppLovinSdk] WARN [ALSdk] Current SDK version (6.9.5) is outdated. Please integrate the latest version of the AppLovin SDK (6.10.0). Doing so will improve your CPMs and ensure you have access to the latest revenue earning features.

2019-11-15 14:11:22.811577+0200 AppName[30812:3193095] AppLovinAdapter: Found 1 SDK keys. Please remove any SDK keys you are not using from the AdMob UI.

2019-11-15 14:11:22.812792+0200 AppName[30812:3193095] AppLovinAdapter: Initializing SDK for SDK key [key]

2019-11-15 14:11:22.812991+0200 AppName[30812:3193095] [AppLovinSdk] DEBUG [ALSdk] Setting plugin version: 6.9.5.0

2019-11-15 14:11:22.813358+0200 AppName[30812:3193095] AppLovinAdapter: Initialization completed for SDK key [key]

2019-11-15 14:11:22.813452+0200 AppName[30812:3193095] AppLovinAdapter: All SDK(s) completed initialization

2019-11-15 14:11:22.957217+0200 AppName[30812:3193144] Version 4.1.0 of Realm is now available: https://github.com/realm/realm-cocoa/blob/v4.1.0/CHANGELOG.md

<GADAdLoader: 0x600002c452c0> failed with error: Request Error: No ad to show.

and check your policy center on AdMob account and see if any ad serving restrictions are posted on your account related to the app on which you are seeing the issue

Are you saying that if there were ad serving restrictions posed on the app by AdMob, the app would stop loading mediated ads from other networks?

There are no policy violations for any of the apps, and no policy violations for the account, according to "My AdMob page"

But there is a "your ad serving is limited" warning that was issued on the 5th of October, 

The warning is incomplete and doesn't specify which app's traffic caused concern, and has no call to action. Despite this the AdMob ads were loading; up until they stopped due to PIN verification, (which will never go away because Google can't afford to send another envelope-less piece of paper to us, and other verification methods were discontinued on the 25th of September)

None of this changed yesterday at 7AM UTC, and ad serving problems caused by account status issues like pin verification look like this in our limited experience: requests being registered, but match rate being 0, not "requests not being registered at all".
But your question is a major cause for concern, could you please answer this for us: can AdMob's own misgivings be the cause of errors like the one we are experiencing? (AdMob SDK failing to get mediated ads from other networks)

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor Prod]

Hello there,

Thanks for sharing the other details. From the screenshot, it looks like there is an issue with the invalid traffic concerns for which you would have to contact our AdMob Product Support Team so that they can help you out in clearing the issue with your account. That said, I would also suggest that you go through our AppLovin and Mopub mediation documentation to cross verify the integration steps again. As this is an Ad serving issue with your account and as your are seeing a No ad to show which means a no fill, you may visit the AdMob Help Center, or consult our AdMob team with our troubleshooter, for further assistance.

[LVeecode]

Please refer to my previous messages, the answers to your questions have been provided already.

1. This is not an issue with the "invalid traffic concerns", because the requests sent by the SDK are not being registered or acknowledged in any way by AdMob, the dashboard is at "0" requests. If this were an issue with "invalid traffic concerns", the requests would be registering, but the match rate would be low, as the warning states clearly.

2. This is not an issue with "integration steps" with other networks, because the requests sent by the SDK are not being registered or acknowledged in any way by AdMob, the dashboard is at "0" requests. The requests don't even reach AdMob itself, and they don't reach MoPub and AppLovin, both of the networks have also abruptly dropped to "0" requests at 7AM on Nov 14th.

3. This is not an "ad serving issue" or a "no fill issue", because the requests themselves stopped going through. It is not the issue of "request went through, but there was no fill".
It is the issue of "the request did not go through".

Of course, this was never a question of AdMob's fill in the first place. The problem that needs solving is that mediated ads stopped getting requested. AdMob being unwilling to serve ads because the traffic was from the bad region, or the PIN verification wasn't completed, etc, is of no consequence to other networks, whose mediated ads stopped getting requested. 

Please read my previous messages in this thread, the boilerplate response you have provided is not relevant to this situation: the requests sent by the SDK are not being registered, as opposed to them being registered, but not having an ad to fill that request.

However, even though it is not a "no fill" issue, please answer the question in my previous message:

>could you please answer this for us: can AdMob's own misgivings be the cause of errors like the one we are experiencing? (AdMob SDK failing to get mediated ads from other networks)

[ASMR Sleep Bingo]

我的也挂了，同样不返回广告了......   

在 2019年11月15日星期五 UTC+8上午1:42:35，LVeecode写道：

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor Prod]

Hello there,

In your first post, you have mentioned to us that - The ads were being delivered fine when we were testing them, and when the apps were published.( This means that there is no issue with your integration as everything is working fine when tested. Sudden drop in impressions or interruption in Ad serving is seen only when the Ad serving is limited on the account. No Ads to Show is seen when Ad sources have no available ads for your Ad Requests.

Could you please answer this for us: can AdMob's own misgivings be the cause of errors like the one we are experiencing? (AdMob SDK failing to get mediated ads from other networks) :

You should make sure that you are on the latest version of the Adapters and SDKs. AdMob would be definitely be able to get mediated ads from the other networks when all the integration and the account setup is properly finished on both ends and when there are available ads in the ads inventory of the mediated networks as well. If you need any assistance in checking your implementation, please share a sample project/code snippets along with Charles Logs with us so that we can  take a look. Also, please get in touch with AdMob Product Support Team so that they can check the reason for the ad serving interruption. You can visit the AdMob Help Center, or consult our AdMob team with our troubleshooter.

[LVeecode]

Please refer previous messages in this thread, we went over these points many times already.
The "Sudden drop in impressions or interruption in Ad serving" did not happen. This is not what happened or what we need help with.
The "sudden drop in requests, even though there are confirmed requests" is the issue that happened. Requests do not reach AdMob and in turn do not reach mediated networks.

>No Ads to Show is seen when Ad sources have no available ads for your Ad Requests.

Please refer to previous messages in this thread. There are available sources for my Ad Requests, (as well as test ads and guaranteed delivery items), the problem is that the Ad Requests are not being registered.

The AdMob dashboard still, to this day, says "0 requests" no matter how many requests were sent.

> AdMob would be definitely be able to get mediated ads from the other networks when all the integration and the account setup is properly finished on both ends 

If AdMob SDK does not stop working as a mediation tool when there are account-level issues that impact ad serving, then the problem described in this thread is definitely not "business as expected" and someone should look into it as soon as possible.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor Prod]

Hello there,

Thanks for getting back to us with more findings. I have dowloaded your apps again to test on our end again and today, I am seeing the native ads, which are placed at the bottom on your Work Hours & Pay Calculator app(please find the screen recording and screenshot attached) and I am seeing the Ad placements on your other app(Dark Mode Wallpapers & Themes) but the ads slots are not getting filled which seems to be an implementation issue. For your ad serving issue with your first app, you would have to get in touch with our AdMob Product Support Team to resolve the issue and for your Ads not rendering issue with the other app, you can share your sample app with us so that we can debug further and can assist you further. 

[Lesya Verbina]

Those are MoPub native ads, we have updated the app yesterday after moving to MoPub while you figure out the issue in this thread. 

We will be updating the Dark Mode Wallpapers & Themes too this week, you can use this app to test: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/smereka-ukrainian-wallpapers/id1474115160?ls=1 it is our lowest demand app and we can afford to not migrate it to a working ad network.

You can actually tell that the ads on your screenshots are not displayed by the AdMob SDK by the fact that the privacy icon is not in one of the 4 corners of the ad, and is in the custom location (on the media image bottom right) instead. It is not possible to achieve this with AdMob SDK ( https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/google-admob-ads-sdk/kqkuXsR-b_4/X-CcidfkCgAJ ) , but since it is possible with MoPub SDK, we took advantage of it.

Thank you for trying to help, I should have warned you that we have migrated to MoPub and it's mediation until the issue in this thread is resolved.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor Prod]

Hello there,

I have tested your app and I am seeing "No Ads to Show" on our end as well. You need to complete the Pending PIN verification on your account to load the ads with your Ad unit Ids without any issues(this includes 3rd party mediation ads as well). If you're still having an issue loading the ads after finishing your pending verifications on your account, you can reach out to the AdMob Product Team through this forum. 

[LVeecode]

Thank you for the response. Can you please clarify so we can be sure there is no misunderstanding: if PIN verification isn't completed, AdMob SDK will stop sending requests to both AdSense and 3rd party mediated networks, and will display "0 requests" on the AdMob dashboard? Is this supposed to happen and not a bug?

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor Prod]

Hello there,

If the Ad serving is interrupted on AdMob end due to any kind of account related issues it will effect the all the Ad unit Ids created on that account including the mediation networks and you will not be able to display ads. As this is a serving issue, we would not be able to provide the detailed information. So, we would recommend that you contact our AdMob Product Support Team so that they can assist you further with more details.