Mediation

This guide shows you how to integrate a mediation adapter with your current Android app and set up additional request parameters.

Prerequisites

Choosing your mediation networks

Ad Manager mediation supports several ad sources, with a mix of waterfall and Open Bidding integrations. Select an ad source below for integration instructions specific to that ad source.

Ad Source Banner Interstitial Rewarded Native Automatic data
collection support
Open source and versioned - 3rd party SDKs required
AdColony Country-specific
AppLovin Country-specific
Chartboost Country-specific
Facebook Country-specific
Fyber Marketplace Country-specific
i-mobile Country-specific
InMobi Country-specific
ironSource Country-specific
maio Global
MoPub Country-specific
myTarget Country-specific
nend Global
Tapjoy Country-specific
Unity Ads Country-specific
Verizon Media Country-specific
Vungle Country-specific
Non-open source - 3rd party SDKs required
AdFalcon Country-specific
Flurry Country-specific
Leadbolt Country-specific
LG U+AD None
Tencent GDT None
Vpon None
Zucks Country-specific

Open source and versioned adapters

If an adapter is labeled "Open source and versioned" in the above table, it means the adapter source code is open-sourced in Google's GitHub repository, enabling you to debug issues yourself should you choose to do so.

It also means that there are versioned adapter builds in Google's bintray repository, built against a specific version of the third-party ad network SDK. You can also integrate these adapters into your app with a single line change to your app's build.gradle file. Click on a specific ad network's guide for more details.

Adapter versioning

The adapter versioning scheme for versioned adapters is <third-party SDK version>.<adapter patch version>. For example, if an ad network releases a new SDK version 1.2.3, a new adapter version 1.2.3.0 will be released to Bintray after being tested against that new SDK.

If an adapter needs updating outside the lifecycle of a third-party SDK release, the patch version will increase. A bug fix for adapter version 1.2.3.0 will be released in version 1.2.3.1.

Automatic data collection support

When you configure multiple ad networks for mediation, you have to specify what order to request these networks by setting their respective CPM. This can be difficult to manage, since ad network performance changes over time.

Automatic data collection is a feature that enables you to generate the highest CPM from the ad networks in your mediation chain by automating the process of ordering the mediation chain to maximize revenue.

The mediation networks table above uses the following values for Automatic data collection support:

Automatic data collection support What it means
Country-specific eCPM values are automatically updated on your behalf on a per-country basis. This is the optimal type of optimization.
Global A single global eCPM value is automatically updated on your behalf.
None You must manually configure an eCPM value for that ad network.

Click on a specific ad network's guide for details on how to configure Automatic data collection for that network.

Custom events

If you're looking for an ad network and don't see it on the list above, you can use custom events to write your own integration with that ad network. See Custom Events for more details on how to create a custom event.

Check which ad network adapter class loaded the ad

Here is some sample code that logs the ad network class name for a banner ad:

Java

public void onAdLoaded() {
  Log.d("Banner adapter class name: " + ad.getResponseInfo().getMediationAdapterClassName());
}

Kotlin

override fun onAdLoaded() {
  Log.d("Banner adapter class name:" + ad.responseInfo.mediationAdapterClassName)
}

Refer to the ResponseInfo documentation on getMediationAdapterClassName() for details about this method.

Initialize your ad object with an Activity instance

In the constructor for a new ad object (for example, PublisherAdView), you must pass in an object of type Context. This Context is passed on to other ad networks when using mediation. Some ad networks require a more restrictive Context that is of type Activity and may not be able to serve ads without an Activity instance. Therefore, we recommend passing in an Activity instance when initializing ad objects to ensure a consistent experience with your mediated ad networks.

Make sure to disable refresh in all third-party ad networks UI for banner ad units used in Ad Manager mediation. This will prevent a double refresh since Ad Manager also triggers a refresh based on your banner ad unit's refresh rate.

Rewarded ads mediation

We recommend that you override all default reward values by setting reward values in the Ad Manager UI. To do this, select the Override reward settings from third-party ad networks when using mediation box so that the reward is consistent across all networks. Some ad networks don't provide a reward value or type at all. By overriding the reward value, the reward is consistent no matter which ad network served the ad.

Refer to set up and traffic rewarded ads for apps for more information.

Native ads mediation

The following are some best practices to consider when implementing native mediation.

Native ad presentation policy
Each ad network has its own policies. When using mediation, it's important to remember that your app still needs to abide by the policies of the mediated network that provided the ad.
Use loadAd() instead of loadAds()
The loadAds() method currently serves only Google ads. For mediated ads, use loadAd() instead.