Bug: sometimes NativeAd.mediaContent.aspectRatio doesn't match the one of the media, and the icon might be white

[Liran Barsisa]

This has existed before and still wasn't fixed, and became worse:
https://groups.google.com/g/google-admob-ads-sdk/c/MzacP0b0H08

I've noticed recently that for some ad (of "Wolt" in Israel) has both issues:

1. For NativeAd.mediaContent.aspectRatio, it returned 1, even though it's really not the real aspect ratio of the image. So if I use it to set the width accordingly, it gets shown wrong.

2. For the icon, it shows a completely white icon, so on a white background nobody can see it.

I couldn't find any instructions of how to deal with both of these issues, not for developers and not for advertisers, and the fact that they exist means that there is also no protection against such cases.

I tried to contact Admob in various ways and still no answer what can be done, and if Admob will fix it.

To this day, even the samples&tutorials of Admob show a white background, so same issue will exist there.

Please fix both issues. 

See the native ad on dark theme vs normal, to understand what I mean.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Liran,

Thank you for letting us know that the issue still exists. Is the issue reliably reproducible on your end? If so, could you please provide the following?

• Charles Log (https://www.charlesproxy.com/documentation/getting-started/) - Instructions (https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/6206401?hl=en)
• Sample App
• App ID

Kindly share the requested information via the steps below.

1. Navigate to

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfkAiXMeYP-fw1W3Z-tT9uwmATEKO5X6S-th0gR2ezdKaaqfg/viewform?usp=pp_url&entry.400550049=Mobile+Ads+SDK&entry.460850823=5004Q00002mWMKrQAO&entry.80707362=00185476

2. Fill out all fields, and attach your file(s).

3. Please reply back on this thread when you have uploaded your file(s). Please do not share this link.

 

This message is in relation to case "ref:_00D1U1174p._5004Q2mWMKr:ref"

Thanks,
 

Mobile Ads SDK Team

[Liran Barsisa]

Can't provide any of these. The ad was shown once. Admob doesn't have an API to re-show an ad or show an a specific ad that was shown in the past.

There isn't even an API to always show an ad. Many times I get "no fill" error, which slows down developement. It even happens for test ads...

This is the company that the ad was about :
https://wolt.com/en/isr

You will need to find the ad of it. Maybe set the device's location to Israel, to encourage its ads being shown.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Liran,

Thank you for responding back. Allow me to circle this back to the team for further checking. I'll let you know the soonest I hear back from them.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Liran,

Thank you for patiently waiting.

Our team mentioned that we cannot do further debugging without steps to reproduce the issue or the Charles session. With that, if you can captured this behavior in your end using the Charles log, it will be a big help for us to further investigate your concern as this is more on the creative side of issue.

If the file(s) you are looking to share are less than 25mb in total you can attach them to this case on your next reply. If you are having trouble attaching your file to this case or if your file(s) are larger than 25mb, you can share your files with me by performing the following steps:

[Liran Barsisa]

What do you mean without steps?
I've explained the steps. It's just to show ads.

And I've provided you the ad you need to show. 

There is no API and no website of Admob that lets me choose a specific ad or choose from some history of ads what to show again.

If you know of such a thing, please tell me. It could be very useful.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hello Liran,

Kindly note that the SDK just requests an ad to the ad server and I'm afraid that it doesn't have any control on which ad will be served to an app at any given moment. Thus, a Charles Log is necessary to proceed with the investigation. This is to capture the specific creative being served so we will be able to replicate this issue in our environment and troubleshoot. Kindly provide us a Charles Log when this specific ad is being served.

• Charles Log (https://www.charlesproxy.com/documentation/getting-started/) - Instructions (https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/6206401?hl=en)

If the file(s) you are looking to share are less than 25mb in total you can attach them to this case on your next reply. If you are having trouble attaching your file to this case or if your file(s) are larger than 25mb, you can share your files with me by performing the following steps:

[Liran Barsisa]

How could any tool that inspects the Internet connection help, if you don't provide me a way to reach the same ad that has caused it?

I can show a 1000 ads and still not seeing the problematic ad.

It's like having a debugger but no steps to reproduce except "run the app till you see the bug".

Please provide a better way. Otherwise you are asking for the impossible (or more precisely : the impractical) .

I've provided you an explanation of which ad it is. You are the only ones that have a DB that can reach the ads and inspect them. Then when you find the ad, you can mimic the environment and force an app to show this ad and check whatever you wish with whatever tool you wish.