Integrating MoPub with Mediation

This guide is for publishers who want to use the Google Mobile Ads SDK to load and display ads from MoPub via mediation. It covers how to add MoPub to an ad unit's mediation configuration, how to set up Automatic data collection, and how to integrate the MoPub SDK and adapter into an Android app.

Supported ad formats and features

The Ad Manager mediation adapter for MoPub has the following capabilities:

Formats
Banners
Interstitials
Rewarded Video
Rewarded Video (new APIs)
Native Ad - Custom Rendering
Features
Smart banners
Automatic data collection
Native Video

Requirements

• Android SDK 4.4 (API level 19) or higher

• Latest Google Mobile Ads SDK

Step 1: Set up MoPub

First, sign up and log in to your MoPub UI. Navigate to the Apps page and click the Add a New App button.

Select Android as the Platform for your app, enter the App name and Package name of your app. Then select a primary and secondary category of your app from the provided list.

MoPub requires you to create your first ad unit before you can finish adding your app.

Note: To add an ad unit to an existing app, navigate to the Apps page in the MoPub UI and select the app for which you want to add the ad unit. On your app's details page, click the Add an Ad Unit button.

For additional instructions on creating an ad unit, select the tab corresponding to your preferred ad format.

Banner

Choose Tablet as the Device type. Choose a banner format that matches the ad size you're requesting in your app. Enter a Name for your ad unit.

The refresh rate is handled by the Google Mobile Ads SDK according to your refresh rate setting in the Ad Manager UI. So, we recommend using a high value for the Refresh Interval here (e.g. 1000 seconds).

Note: The Banner size chosen here should match the request size in your app. The adapter ignores the size passed during the banner ad request.

Interstitial

Choose Tablet as the Device type. Choose Tablet Full Screen as the Format. Enter a Name for your ad unit. Choose the type of Layout to present the ad in.

Native

Choose Tablet as the Device type. Choose Native (Custom layout) as the Format. Enter a Name for your ad unit.

Note: Your app is responsible for placing the ad when integrating native ads with the Google Mobile Ads SDK. The MoPub adapter is not responsible for ad positioning, only for passing back the native ad assets. It does not use the AdPlacer code. Therefore, the Ad positions setting is ignored.

Click Save and View Code Integration to get your Ad Unit ID.

Note: To find your Ad Unit ID for an already existing ad unit, navigate to the Apps page in the MoPub UI, select your ad unit under the Ad Units section and click the Code Integration button.

In addition to the Ad Unit ID, you'll also need to obtain your MoPub API Key and Inventory Report ID to set up your Ad Manager ad unit ID. To find your API Key and Inventory Report ID, navigate to the Reports page and click View API Access Details.

MoPub Marketplace

To get ads from MoPub, your account must be approved for MoPub Marketplace. During your initial account setup, you will be prompted to go through the process for Marketplace approval. Part of this process includes entering your payment information.

See the Marketplace setup guide for more details.

Step 2: Configure mediation settings for your Ad Manager ad unit

Sign in to your Ad Manager account. Navigate to Delivery > Yield groups and click the New yield group button.

Enter a unique Name for your yield group, set the Status to Active, select your Ad Format, and set the Inventory type to Mobile App. Under the Targeting > Inventory section, select the Ad Unit ID to which you want to add mediation.

Next, click the Add yield partner button.

If you already have a Yield partner for MoPub, you can simply select it. Otherwise, select Create a new yield partner.

Select MoPub as the Ad network and enter a unique Name. Enable Mediation and turn on Automatic data collection, and enter the API Key and Inventory Report ID obtained in the previous section. You don't need to enter a Username and Password. Click Save when finished.

Once the Yield partner is selected, choose Mobile SDK mediation as the Integration type, Android as the Platform, and Active as the Status. Enter the Ad Unit ID obtained in the previous section and a Default CPM value.

Click Save at the bottom of the page when done.

Note: Automatic data collection takes a few days to gather data before it can accurately calculate a Dynamic CPM value for a mediation network. Once the eCPM can be calculated, it will be automatically updated on your behalf.

Using rewarded video ads

In the settings for your rewarded video ad unit, provide values for the reward amount and reward type. Then, to ensure you provide the same reward to the user no matter which ad network is served, check the Override reward settings from third-party ad networks when using mediation box.

If you don't apply this setting, the MoPub adapter passes back the reward specified in the MoPub dashboard.

Step 3: Import the MoPub SDK and adapter

Android Studio integration (recommended)

Add the following Maven repository and the implementation dependencies with the latest versions of the MoPub SDK and adapter to your app-level build.gradle file:

repositories {
    jcenter()

    maven {
        url 'https://s3.amazonaws.com/moat-sdk-builds'
    }
}

...
dependencies {
    implementation fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    implementation 'androidx.appcompat:appcompat:1.0.2'
    implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:19.2.0'
    implementation 'com.google.ads.mediation:mopub:5.13.0.0'
}
...

Migrate project to AndroidX

The MoPub SDK depends on Android support libraries but the latest Google Mobile Ads SDK uses Jetpack libraries.

To ensure the MoPub SDK and the Google Mobile Ads SDK are compatible, create a gradle.properties file in the top-level of your project, and add the following code:

android.useAndroidX=true
android.enableJetifier=true

This will rewrite the MoPub SDK binary to use use Jetpack libraries. See AndroidX migration guide for more information about these settings.

Manual integration

Download the latest version of the MoPub SDK's source from their GitHub repo and add it to your project.

Download the latest .aar file of the MoPub adapter from Bintray, located under the Files tab, and add it to your project.

Step 4: Additional code required

Initialize the MoPub SDK

Before loading ads, have your app initialize the MoPub SDK by calling MoPub.initializeSdk() with any valid MoPub Ad Unit ID that you created in Step 1. This needs to be done only once, ideally at app launch.

package ...
import ...
import com.mopub.common.MoPub;
import com.mopub.common.SdkConfiguration;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    ...
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        SdkConfiguration sdkConfiguration =
          new SdkConfiguration.Builder("YOUR_MOPUB_AD_UNIT_ID").build();

        MoPub.initializeSdk(context, sdkConfiguration, null);
    }
    ...
}

Step 5: Test your implementation

To get test ads from MoPub, you need a guaranteed or backfill line item. MoPub recommends adding the Demo line item to your ad unit to get test ads. The Demo line item is added to your MoPub account by default.

The Demo Line Item contains test creatives for native and banner ad units by default, but does not have a test creative for interstitial ad units. To add your own test creative for interstitial ads, you need to upload a simple image to the MoPub UI by navigating to the Demo Line Item and clicking the Add a New Creative button. Choose Tablet Full Screen format. Fill the form with the necessary details and click Save to add your test creative to the Demo Line Item.

That's it! You now have a working mediation integration with MoPub.

Optional steps

EU Consent and GDPR

Under the Google EU User Consent Policy, you must ensure that certain disclosures are given to, and consents obtained from, users in the European Economic Area (EEA) regarding the use of device identifiers and personal data. This policy reflects the requirements of the EU ePrivacy Directive and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). When seeking consent, you must identify each ad network in your mediation chain that may collect, receive, or use personal data and provide information about each network's use. Google currently is unable to pass the user's consent choice to such networks automatically.

To collect consent for MoPub, MoPub asks that you use its consent mechanism. See the MoPub GDPR Publisher Integration Guide for more information.

Permissions

If the user's location needs to be used for the targeting, MoPub recommends adding the following optional permission into your app's AndroidManifest.xml file:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />

MoPub recommends adding the following optional permission for MRAID 2.0:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

Using native ads

Network-specific parameters

The MoPub adapter supports an additional request parameter which can be passed to the adapter using the MoPubAdapter.BundleBuilder class. This class includes the following method:

• setPrivacyIconSizeDp(int)
  • Sets the privacy icon size in dp. Values can range from 10 to 30 inclusive. The default size for the privacy icon is 20 x 20 dp.

Here's a code example of how to set this ad request parameter:

JAVA

Bundle bundle = new MoPubAdapter.BundleBuilder()
   .setPrivacyIconSizeDp(15)
   .build();
PublisherAdRequest adRequest = new PublisherAdRequest.Builder()
   .addNetworkExtrasBundle(MoPubAdapter.class, bundle)
   .build();

KOTLIN

val bundle = MoPubAdapter.BundleBuilder()
   .setPrivacyIconSizeDp(15)
   .build()
val adRequest = PublisherAdRequest.Builder()
   .addNetworkExtrasBundle(MoPubAdapter::class.java, bundle)
   .build()

Ad Rendering

The MoPub adapter returns its native ads as UnifiedNativeAd objects. It populates the following fields for a UnifiedNativeAd.

Field	Populated by MoPub adapter
Headline
Image
Body
App icon
Call to action
Star rating
Store
Price

Impression and Click Tracking

MoPub and Google Mobile Ads SDKs track impressions and clicks in their own way, so there may be discrepancies.

Additional Resources

For more details on how to set up test ad units, consult MoPub's Testing pages.

MoPub Android Mediation Adapter Changelog

Version 5.13.1.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.13.1.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 19.2.0.
• Added a new extra to the MoPubAdapter.BundleBuilder class:
  • setCustomRewardData() - custom reward data for MoPub rewarded ads.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 19.2.0.
• MoPub SDK version 5.13.1.

Version 5.13.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.13.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 19.1.0.
• MoPub SDK version 5.13.0.

Version 5.12.0.1

• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 19.1.0.
• Further added descriptive error codes and reasons for adapter load failures.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 19.1.0.
• MoPub SDK version 5.12.0.

Version 5.12.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.12.0.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 19.0.1.
• Adjusted support for flexible banner ad sizes.
• Added new extras to the MoPubAdapter.BundleBuilder class:
  • setMinimumBannerWidth() - minimum ad width allowed for MoPub banner ads.
  • setMinimumBannerHeight() - minimum ad height allowed for MoPub banner ads.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 19.0.1.
• MoPub SDK version 5.12.0.

Version 5.11.1.1

• Added descriptive error codes and reasons for adapter load/show failures.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 18.3.0.
• MoPub SDK version 5.11.1.

Version 5.11.1.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.11.1.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 18.3.0.
• MoPub SDK version 5.11.1.

Version 5.11.0.0

• Updated minimum Android SDK version to API 19.
• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.11.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 18.3.0.
• MoPub SDK version 5.11.0.

Version 5.10.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.10.0.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 18.3.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 18.3.0.
• MoPub SDK version 5.10.0.

Version 5.9.1.1

• Native ads now leverage the unified native ads mediation API.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 18.2.0.
• MoPub SDK version 5.9.1.

Version 5.9.1.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.9.1.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 18.2.0.

Version 5.8.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.8.0.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 18.1.1.

Version 5.7.1.1

• Fixed an issue with loading ads using an Application Context.
• Migrated the adapter to AndroidX.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 18.0.0.

Version 5.7.1.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.7.1.
• Fixed a bug where adapter would not invoke rewarded ad events when the MoPub SDK was initialized before sending an Ad Request.

Version 5.7.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.7.0.

Version 5.4.1.2

• Added support for flexible banner ad sizes.
• Updated adapter to support new open-beta Rewarded API.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 17.2.0.

Version 5.4.1.1

• Added support for MoPub Rewarded Video Ads.

Version 5.4.1.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.4.1.

Version 5.4.0.0

• Fixed a native ad crash for publishers importing MoPub's non-native modules.
• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.4.0.

Version 5.3.0.2

• Remove the check that prevents ad requests for native content ad.

Version 5.3.0.1

• Initialize MoPub and reattempt ad requests manually in the adapters for use cases that do not do so in the app.

Version 5.3.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.3.0.

Version 5.2.0.1

• Updated the adapter to invoke 'onAdLeftApplication()' ad event.

Version 5.2.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.2.0.

Version 5.1.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.1.0.

Version 5.0.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 5.0.0.

Version 4.20.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 4.20.0.

Version 4.19.0.1

• Fixed an NPE issue when a null image URL is returned by MoPub.

Version 4.19.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 4.19.0.

Version 4.18.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 4.18.0.
• Updated the Adapter project for Android Studio 3.0 and Android API 26.

Version 4.17.0.0

• Using MoPub's impression and click reporting for native ads (AdMob and MoPub impression and click statistics will match up).
• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 4.17.0.

Version 4.16.1.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 4.16.1.

Version 4.16.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 4.16.0.

Version 4.15.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 4.15.0.

Version 4.14.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 4.14.0.
• Adapter shows a warning when the requested banner ad size does not match the ad size set in MoPub UI.

Version 4.13.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 4.13.0.

Version 4.12.0.0

• Verified compatibility with MoPub SDK 4.12.0.
• Added support for MoPub native ads.
• Updated interstitial and banner ads per Google's latest mediation APIs.

Previous

• Support for MoPub banner and interstitial ads.