Friday, March 15, 2013

Working with App promotion ads

AdWords API has released a new template ad specifically meant for mobile app developers who want to run ads promoting mobile and tablet apps. This ad format, known as “click-to-download” ad or app promotion ads, makes it easier for people to download your mobile app, from Google Play Store or iTunes. Version v201302 of the AdWords API adds support for this new ad format. To use this format, you first need to upgrade your campaign to enhanced campaigns.

App promotion ads will only show on the device from which the app can be installed. This means that ads for Android apps will only show on Android devices, and not on iOS devices. Ads for apps available only for tablets won’t show on mobile devices. This ensures that your application is promoted only to the right device platforms.

App promotion ads can be created as a template ad, using template ID 353. You need to create template element fields for headline, description1, description2, appId and appStore; other element fields are optional. Check out the full list of template fields and a complete Java code example.

You can find your Android package name by looking up the app in Google Play. The package name can be determined from the URL, which is of the form https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=<package_name>. For iOS, you’ll find the App ID within the app’s URL, which appears in the following format: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/example-app-name/id#########. Appstore field can be 1 (iTunes), or 2 (Google Play Store).

If you face any issues with the above changes or have any questions about this feature, you can ask us on our developer forum, or at the upcoming GDL Office Hours with the Developer Relations team.