Issue with msid parameter in Android SDK - Getting HTTP 403 forbidden response

[sac...@houseofgod.co]

platform : Android

Issue: Google responds http 403 forbidden response when our jw player tries to hit the google ad server

Initial findings: apparently the issue is with 'msid' parameter in the request ( which is our package name). using any other text than our package name, it works perfectly fine.  We think our package name is blocked by google somehow.

Please note we are using JW player in our Android app and we do not have control over this 'msid' param. 

how can we solve this?

[Chris Feldman (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Sachin,

The team that provides support on this forum only deals with client-side SDK issues. For this, you'll have to reach out to your ad provider's support team.

Regards,

Chris Feldman
IMA SDK Team

[shi...@houseofgod.co]

Hi Chris,

I posted the same issue which sac...@houseofgod.co has mentioned in Mobile Ads SDK forum (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/google-admob-ads-sdk/gP9g2p2VWrU/h01uu597AAAJ). From their perspective, it's an IMA SDK issue.

Below is the detail description of the problem that we are facing in our app which sac...@houseofgod.co has mentioned in the above post.

Subject : msid=<android_package_name> is throwing 403 error while requesting ads(ima + jw player) in Android 

In Android, while requesting the ad, there is a parameter getting added automatically. 

The parameter is msid (which is equal to package name. msid=<android_package_name>) 

In our iOS app, ads are coming & this msid parameter is 0 (we found this using Charles proxy software). For iOS, the return code is 200 & for Android, we were getting 403 forbidden error. (according to Charles tool)

So, I just rename the package name of my android app and now I think ads will be displayed. (actually now I am NOT getting the same error, the error string now is 'the VAST document is empty' which means(to the best of my knowledge) as the number of app downloads increases and when more & more people start watching the video then VAST document will not be empty as ads will be served when number of views increases).

My question is: 

1) How do I explicitly set this msid parameter = 0 in AD_URL?

I tried appending my AD_URL (like...&msid=0) but while requesting it is automatically getting override by msid=<actual_android_package_name>.

2)Why are ads not coming with my old android package name? 

The original package name is "com.tf.eros.faythTv". With this package name, the response code was 403 forbidden (according to Charles tool). When I changed this package name to something else then I am no longer getting the old Ad Error: Unable to request ads from the server due to network error. 

Is this package name is blocked on Google AdSense Server for some reason to request the ad? I don't want to change the package name of our app as it means that while uploading/updating the app on PlayStore it will be a different app with same 'app-name' (every android app has a package name which is unique across PlayStore even if 2 or more apps have the same app-name). 

Thanks

Shikhar Deep

Android Developer

[Chris Feldman (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Shikhar,

The Mobile Ads team sent you to our forum because you're using the IMA SDK. However, the issue that you're having is still serving related, which we are not able to deal with on this forum. It is not possible to set your own value for the 'msid' parameter. If you're not able to get ads when msid=<your_package_name> you will have to reach out to your ad provider for a resolution. You mentioned that you were using AdSense, which means you'll want to use the AdSense Help Center. There is a CONTACT US button the page that I linked.

Regards,

Chris Feldman

IMA SDK Team