Bug: fixed-sized ads aren't fixed sized at all, sometimes getting me much smaller size sometimes

[Liran Barsisa]

I have an app that should show a bit large ads in some scenarios, of height 250dp, and a height that's the device's height.
In other cases, it's a different width&height.

I want to know how I can use Admob with mediation, so that if I use banner ads, they will fill this space I provide to it, or tell me if it can't.

So, for the case of 250dp in height, I chose to use MEDIUM_RECTANGLE:
https://developers.google.com/android/reference/com/google/android/gms/ads/AdSize#public-static-final-adsize-medium_rectangle

> Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) medium rectangle ad size (300x250 density-independent pixels).


For other cases, I've checked if their sizes fit enough by looping over them all, and if not, I switch to other kinds of ads.
The reason I do this is because trying to use inline adaptive banners, they got me a small banner when using AdSize.getInlineAdaptiveBannerAdSize , and it made sense because it says "maxHeight" for its second parameter. I just didn't expect it to get me much smaller height sometimes.
https://developers.google.com/admob/android/banner/inline-adaptive

Sadly, even using MEDIUM_RECTANGLE, I still sometimes get much smaller banner ads, so I have empty space because of it.
I don't know why this occurs, but maybe it's related to the fact I use mediation too (I couldn't identify the ad network that showed such ads, as there was no icon on any of its corners), and not just Admob, and some ad-sources provide the small banner ads and not large ones, and Admob mediation doesn't handle it properly.

The docs of mediation just say "banner", without telling us which sizes and types of banner ads are supported:
https://developers.google.com/admob/android/choose-networks

I also tried to use AdSize.FLUID, but even when using the device as a test device, I've seen that IronSource shows it as a small banner ad instead.

Trying to test other ad-sources didn't work, as they keep failing getting any ad (3 No fill): Applovin, Chartboost, InMobi, Unity.
However, others do seem to give me a proper ad with this size, at least according to the few times I've tried: IronSource, LiftOff, Mintegral.
I don't know though if they are test ads or real ads when adding current device as test device using Admob's API. I had to use ad-inspector after all, to force showing them, but then I don't know what happens to the ads.
It's also impossible to test with ad-inspector to check if one of the ad-networks that don't require an SDK - work fine, as it shows only those that have SDK, and offers to choose only from them. Not to mention it shows some ad-networks multiple times, even though they weren't set to have waterfall, for example.

This issue exists only when using real ad-unit-ids of a real app-id, of course.
Using test ad-unit-ids, it's using very few sizes of ads, and always the good ones...

So, please fix this issue:
1. Update mediation docs about which ad-networks support which banner ad-sizes and banner types, including those that don't require an SDK.
2. For each ad-network, also mention how to use each banner size/type.
3. Don't allow fixed sized banner ads to get us the wrong size, ever, including when using mediation. When an ad network returns you such a thing, fix it by communicating with them and update the docs&SDK accordingly.
4. Please offer an API that will have banner ads more flexible in size. I provide the available space I need, and the SDK will offer me which sizes it can provide for it, giving me the choice if I want to use it or not (but also when I choose one, really use it and return this size of an ad).

For reference, this issue was found on Pixel 6 with Android 15, and these are the dependencies:

```
implementation("com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:23.6.0")
implementation("com.google.ads.mediation:inmobi:10.8.0.0")
implementation("com.google.ads.mediation:vungle:7.4.3.0")
implementation("com.google.ads.mediation:mintegral:16.8.61.0")
implementation("com.google.ads.mediation:chartboost:9.8.2.0")
implementation("com.google.ads.mediation:applovin:13.1.0.0")
implementation("com.google.ads.mediation:ironsource:8.6.1.0")
implementation("com.unity3d.ads:unity-ads:4.13.1")
implementation("com.google.ads.mediation:unity:4.13.1.0")
```

This was reported here too:
https://github.com/googleads/googleads-mobile-android-mediation/issues/559

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi,

Thank you for contacting the Mobile Ads SDK Support team.

Could you please provide the following information for further investigation:

• App ID
• Ad Unit ID
• Mobile Ads SDK version
• Sample project
• Charles logs
• Screen recording

Please share these details by using Reply privately to author option.
 

This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02vH0nW:ref" (ADR-00287580)

Thanks,
 

Mobile Ads SDK Team

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[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Liran Barsisa,

Thank you for getting back to us.

Could you kindly provide the sample project privately for further investigation:

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 via reply to author option or by performing the following steps:

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

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

[Liran Barsisa]

OK I've sent you, but you need to reproduce it by having these steps:
1. Use a new app profile on Admob, and fill the keys accordingly in code, including the app key and banner ad unit ID.

2. Check the mediation I use for the banner ad, and do the same for your app as well. Attached screenshot of my mediation.

3. Change the app's code so that it won't call "setTestDeviceIds", so that you will reach real ads, as only there it can be reproduced. This is very important, to reach only real ads.

4. Run the app multiple times, because as I wrote, it doesn't always occur, and I think it occurs on ad networks that are not Admob. I suspect it's Unity.

[Liran Barsisa]

It's also recommended to use the same device as I have: Pixel 6 with Android 15.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Liran,

As mentioned earlier, kindly reach out to the Product support team as they are better equipped to address your concern effectively. 

[Liran Barsisa]

I already sent them, but nobody answers. 
I also contacted Applovin as I've noticed this case at least for their ad-network.

I think they said that MREC banner ads aren't supported by mediation, but they pointed to this quote from the docs, which doesn't seem like proper English at all:
"Banner ads (excluding MREC banners) are supported only in mediation"

https://developers.google.com/admob/android/mediation/applovin

It should have been something like this instead:
"In mediation, all kinds of banner ads are supported, except for MREC banners"...

But it still doesn't explain why the framework of the SDK works the way I've shown.
I request various sizes of the ad. It doesn't mean that if some ad-network doesn't support one, it should return to me a much smaller one instead, including with the claim that it's the size that I wanted...

Now because of this weird behavior, I need to create 2 ad-units for banner ads if I want to still use Applovin. One for small ones, and one for larger ones (MREC) ...

[Liran Barsisa]

I got recently an email from Applovin, showing that the docs aren't precise at all:

In the AdMob integration guide, it says " Banner ads(excluding MREC banners) are  supoprted only in mediation. Bidding does not support any type of banner ads." This means only Banner(320 x 50, Tablets 728 x 90) ads are supported in the waterfall. If you wish to use MREC, please  consider to migrate to MAX mediation.

This means that it's not just about MREC. They support only 2 ad-sizes out of the table that Admob mentions in its docs: BANNER, LEADERBOARD.

https://developers.google.com/admob/android/banner/fixed-size

So, there are multiple things here that Admob should fix related to the above topic:

1. Update the docs of Applovin and all other ad-networks , to mention exactly which banner ads are supported: ad-sizes and types. Just saying "banner" isn't enough. There are multiple sizes of banners (as I've shown here), and there are even multiple types of banners (Inline adaptive banners,Collapsible banner ads, Fixed size banner ads).

2. Update the SDK so that it won't return ads of wrong sizes, and that if for some reason that's what it gets, return the correct ad-size that was fetched, and automatically report to Admob and the ad-network that something is wrong with it as it got the wrong size. 

[Sipho Shongwe]

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