Google Ads Developer Blog

Getting AdMob ads to work with cocos2D

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

cocos2d for iPhone is a popular framework for building 2D games for iOS. Integrating AdMob ads into cocos2d apps has gotten significantly easier with the latest version of the framework; This blog post will show you three things to keep in mind using v0.99.5b3 or higher of the cocos2d framework. It is assumed that you already have some familiarity with cocos2d.InitializationCreate and initialize a GADBannerView in the RootViewController class. You can put this code into a new method knowing that it will be called from the AppDelegate after the view hierarchy has been set up. This code adds to the standard banner view example in the docs.- (void)initGADBanner { // NOTE: // Add your publisher ID here and fill in the GADAdSize constant for // the ad you would like to request. bannerView_ = [[GADBannerView alloc] initWithAdSize:kGADAdSizeBanner]; bannerView_.adUnitID = @"PUBLISHER_ID_HERE"; bannerView_.delegate = self; [bannerView_ setRootViewController:self]; [self.view addSubview:bannerView_]; [bannerView_ loadRequest:[self createRequest]]; // Use the status bar orientation since we haven't signed up for // orientation change notifications for this class. [self resizeViews]; } Performance ConsiderationsNotice the addSubview: in initGADBanner:. Why did we add the GADBannerView directly to the RootViewController’s hierarchy instead of the cocos2d scene’s hierarchy? cocos2d scenes are OpenGL views, whereas our GADBannerView is a UIWebView wrapped in a native UIView. OpenGL views will usually be refreshed often, whereas our GADBannerView will be mostly static. Placing our GADBannerView on top of the OpenGL view therefore can lead to a performance decrease as the device will have more drawing to do.You can test if this performance decrease is significant for your specific project by logging the frame rate when you place the ad within the OpenGL view and outside of it. The performance cost is usually only significant when you are dealing with very complex hierarchies.View LayoutSince we’ve decided to place our GADBannerView into the RootViewController’s view hierarchy, we also need to now make sure to resize our cocos2d view to make space for our GADBannerView. The resizeViews: in initGADBanner: is called for this purpose. The implementation for resizeViews: is below. The main OpenGL view which encompasses all of the cocos2d scenes can be grabbed using the +sharedDirector object. The code below assumes you’re going to display the ad at the top of your screen, and have a device that’s in landscape.- (void)resizeViews: { // If the banner hasn't been created yet, no need for resizing views. if (!bannerView_) { return; } // If ad is not showing, no need to resize views. BOOL adIsShowing = [self.view.subviews containsObject:bannerView_]; if (!adIsShowing) { return; } // Frame of the main RootViewController which we call the root view. CGRect rootViewFrame = self.view.frame; // Frame of the main RootViewController view that holds the cocos2d view. CGRect glViewFrame = [[CCDirector sharedDirector] openGLView].frame; CGRect bannerViewFrame = bannerView_.frame; CGRect frame = bannerViewFrame; // The updated x and y coordinates for the origin of the banner. CGFloat yLocation = 0.0; CGFloat xLocation = 0.0; // Move the root view underneath the ad banner. glViewFrame.origin.y = bannerViewFrame.size.height; // The superView has not had its width and height updated yet so use those // values for the x and y of the new origin respectively. The game is in // landscape. xLocation = (rootViewFrame.size.height - bannerViewFrame.size.width) / 2.0; frame.origin = CGPointMake(xLocation, yLocation); bannerView_.frame = frame; // The super view's frame hasn't been updated so use its width // as the height. Assume device is in landscape. glViewFrame.size.height = rootViewFrame.size.width - bannerViewFrame.size.height; glViewFrame.size.width = rootViewFrame.size.height; [[CCDirector sharedDirector] openGLView].frame = glViewFrame; } With that, you should now see AdMob ads show up in your cocos2d application. Look out for a follow-up to this blog post where we will discuss how to handle autorotation. As always, feel free to direct any questions you have to our forum or join us for our upcoming hangout.

- Raj Parameswaran, AdMob Team

AdMob SDK 6.1 Released

Monday, July 23, 2012

Last week, we released AdMob SDK v6.1 for both Android and iOS. This SDK contains a number of important bug fixes and exciting new features including:Additional DoubleClick supportDoubleClick publishers will be happy to know that AdMob now provides support for app events, giving them the ability to execute custom code in their application when a creative dispatches an app event. Additionally, the new SDK provides support for multiple ad sizes using the same banner.Easy access to Google AnalyticsYou’ll notice we’ve included the latest Google Analytics package in the “Add-Ons” directory. The new mobile app analytics provides the same best-in-class Google Analytics reporting, but for mobile apps.If you have any questions about the AdMob SDK, please let us know on the forum or hang out during our upcoming AdMob/DFP office hours. For more information about this new SDK, take a look at our release notes.

- Raj Parameswaran, AdMob Team

AdWords Location Targets will start PHASING_OUT

Friday, June 29, 2012

Location criteria, first introduced in v201109, are undergoing some changes for the v201206 release. This blog post explains these changes and what they mean for your software.

PHASING_OUT obsolete Location criteria

The Location criteria object has a new field, targetingStatus, which can be one of ACTIVE, OBSOLETE and PHASING_OUT.

ACTIVE Locations can be targeted as normal.
OBSOLETE Location targets have been retired and cannot be targeted.
PHASING_OUT Locations will shortly become obsolete and should not be targeted.

Locations can be phased out for a number of reasons: the location may be re-structured into smaller (or larger areas), geo-political changes, etc. The AdWords UI reflects these changes and now the AdWords API will make these changes visible to developers. We will publish a blog post 4 weeks in advance of a location moving to PHASING_OUT.

What this means for your software

As of the launch of v201206, Location criteria that are PHASING_OUT will still be accepted. Starting 4 weeks later (week of 7/23), adding these targets will cause a CriterionError.Reason.CANNOT_TARGET_CRITERION error message. Please make sure before adding a Location target that it is ACTIVE. Choose a different target if it is labeled OBSOLETE or PHASING_OUT.

Soon to PHASE_OUT

Check out this help center article to learn which specific locations will be removed after July 23rd. The article also provides more detail about the phasing-out process in general.

In addition, we will introduce two new separate targets, one for Serbia and one for Montenegro in the coming weeks. These new targets will replace the current single Serbia Montenegro target, and the targeting status of Serbia Montenegro will change to PHASING_OUT sometime after July 27th.

We have documented this new status field in our downloadable documentation. The LocationCriterionService and CampaignCriterionService will also populate this field. Please update your code to check this field or your application may break.

If you have any questions, please post on the forum or attend one of the AdWords API Office Hours Hangouts.

- Kevin Winter, AdWords API Team

AdWords API v201206 launch - including new Flexible reach targeting settings on the Google Display Network

Friday, June 29, 2012

We’re pleased to announce the launch of AdWords API v201206, which includes new ad group level Flexible reach targeting settings on the Google Display Network, a new query language to retrieve items more flexibly, new report types, and changes to ad scheduling and other services. Below we’ve highlighted some of the new features available to all users. A complete list of changes is available in the release notes.

v201206 highlights:

CampaignService and AdGroupService changes for the adgroup override/restrict targeting setting migration - The new Flexible reach setting in AdWords enables advertisers to fine-tune where ads show by choosing settings at the ad group level instead of the campaign level. Once you choose Flexible reach for the campaign, you cannot revert back to your previous setting, and will manage targets and bids at the individual ad group level.
New services for obtaining customer information - we’re introducing the new ManagedCustomerService and CustomerService in v201206, v201109_1 and v201109. These services will be replacing ServicedAccountService and CreateAccountService, starting with v201206.
New reports - We’re introducing a new CLICK_PERFORMANCE_REPORT which provides information on each click, as well as REACH_FREQUENCY reports at the Account, AdGroup and Campaign levels.
AWQL - The AdWords Query Language providing SQL-like syntax queries is now available on some services including Ad Hoc Reporting.
Other changes - AdSchedule targeting has been moved to CampaignCriterionService. The CampaignTargetService is now sunset.

With the release of v201206, the following versions and services will be deprecated:

v13 AccountService - We will sunset this version and service on August 20, 2012
v201109 and v201109_1 - We will sunset these versions on October 26, 2012

As with every new version of the AdWords API, we encourage you to review the resources in the release notes. If you have any questions please post on the forum or attend one of the AdWords API Office Hours Hangouts.

- The AdWords API Team

Keeping A Smart Banner Docked To The Bottom Of The Screen on iOS

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Smart Banner advertisements, introduced in AdMob SDK v6.0, help developers utilize the full width of the iPhone and iPad screen for displaying ads. You still have to be smart about using Smart Banners! We are noticing that some of you are having a hard time resetting your ad’s origin when a re-orientation of the device occurs. More specifically, not resetting the ad’s origin correctly causes ads to disappear offscreen after orientation changes. In this blog post, we’ll show you how to keep a Smart Banner docked to the bottom of the screen on iOS. The first thing to do is to initialize a Smart Banner at the bottom of the device’s screen. You can do this by giving the ad an origin corresponding to the screen bottom. // Initialize the banner docked to the bottom of the screen. // We start in a portrait orientation so use kGADAdSizeSmartBannerPortrait. CGPoint origin = CGPointMake(0.0, self.view.frame.size.height - CGSizeFromGADAdSize( kGADAdSizeSmartBannerPortrait).height); self.adBanner = [[[GADBannerView alloc] initWithAdSize:kGADAdSizeSmartBannerPortrait origin:origin] autorelease]; //Continue rest of initialization here Every time an orientation change occurs, you have to reset the ad’s orientation so it continues to stay docked to the bottom. The best place to implement the above logic is in the willAnimateRotationToInterfaceOrientation:duration: method since the view’s frame has been updated to the new orientation Update the origin by utilizing the Smart Banner constant that is applicable to your current orientation. The only value that should change is your y-origin, since your x-origin should remain at 0. -(void)willAnimateRotationToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)toInt duration:(NSTimeInterval)duration { // The updated y value for the origin. CGFloat yLocation; // Set a new frame to update the origin on orientation change. Remember to set // adSize first before you update the frame. if (UIInterfaceOrientationIsLandscape(toInt)) { self.adBanner.adSize = kGADAdSizeSmartBannerLandscape; yLocation = self.view.frame.size.width - CGSizeFromGADAdSize(kGADAdSizeSmartBannerLandscape).height } else { self.adBanner.adSize = kGADAdSizeSmartBannerPortrait; yLocation = self.view.frame.size.height - CGSizeFromGADAdSize(kGADAdSizeSmartBannerPortrait).height); } CGRect frame = self.adBanner.frame; frame.origin = CGPointMake(0.0, yLocation); self.adBanner.frame = frame; } If you’re not using mediation, changing the adSize after your first request will cause another request to be made. Make sure that you set the frame after you modify the adSize. This ensures that the ad transition looks smooth across orientation changes. Your Smart Banner ads are now even smarter. As the orientation of the device changes, your ads should stay docked to the bottom of the screen. If you have any questions about Smart Banners or about the AdMob SDK, feel free to post them in our forum or keep on the lookout for upcoming Hangout office hours.

- Raj Parameswaran, AdMob Team

Announcing v201206 of the DFP API

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Today we’ve released the newest version of the DFP API, v201206, which adds a significant number of reporting improvements. The new release also fully supports OAuth 2.0 as the authentication mechanism of choice and we encourage you to switch to OAuth 2.0 from ClientLogin or OAuth 1.0a. A full list of improvements from today’s release can be found on our release notes page.

Reporting improvements

In a few of our recent hangouts, we received the feedback that while our reports were great for generating important performance metrics, the CSV files that you downloaded were not always easily machine readable. To make it easier for you to consume reports, we’ve created a new ExportFormat - CSV_DUMP. Below is a list of the features of this new format:

Columns are now shown as Dimension.ENUM_VALUE or Column.ENUM_VALUE
All money values are now displayed in micro format in the currency of the network
All dates are now displayed as YYYY-MM-DD
All date-times are now displayed as YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss±hh:mm
There is no "pretty printing" of values (i.e. commas) and there is no total row

You may also notice that the v201204 CSV export format has been replaced by CSV_EXCEL, which can be imported into Excel-like products.

As an important note to some of our developers, after upgrading to v201206, you will most likely need to update your code; many column names have changed to reflect a more accurate description of what metrics they are indeed pulling. For example, the column TOTAL_IMPRESSIONS has been changed to TOTAL_INVENTORY_LEVEL_IMPRESSIONS because the v201204 column could only be used with dimensions like AD_UNIT_NAME on the inventory level, i.e. it could not be used with line items, orders, companies or creatives. Alternatively, TOTAL_LINE_ITEM_LEVEL_IMPRESSIONS in v201206 should now be used with dimensions like LINE_ITEM_NAME and ORDER_NAME for instances where you need to include dynamic allocation impressions from AdSense or Ad Exchange line items. To determine how each column should be updated, visit the old column’s reference page and look for the phrase that begins with “Replaced with …”, e.g.

Replaced with TOTAL_INVENTORY_LEVEL_IMPRESSIONS beginning in v201206.

Lastly, we’ve improved formatting for inventory reports that don’t use top level ad unit views. Most importantly, the duplicate columns clicks and impressions issue for hierarchical views has been fixed and the flat view report will now match how the report is downloaded from the UI.

OAuth 2.0

If you are an eagle-eyed developer, you may have noticed that we recently added OAuth 2.0 information to our authentication page. OAuth 2.0 is now fully supported in the DFP API and we are progressively adding support in our client libraries; Java, Python, .Net , and Ruby currently have full support, while PHP will very soon. In fact, our DFP test playground already uses OAuth 2.0 with the Java library. Please stay tuned to the project sites or the forum for announcements regarding future support.

Our next hangout is July 18th and we’ll be taking your report questions or anything else you might have on your mind. As always, let us know if you have any questions on our forum.

- Adam Rogal, DFP API Team

Speeding up the ad experience: updating ad click referral

Thursday, June 28, 2012

If you analyze your own traffic logs, or develop web analytics software, we have some news for you: we’re making a change to how some clicks coming from Google appear in your logs. We're writing this mostly as an industry FYI, because Google Analytics reports will not be affected by this change.

Up to now, referrers for clicks on ads for the term "flowers", for example, would be one of the following:

http://www.google.com/search?...&q=flowers&...
http://www.google.com/aclk?...&q=flowers&...

We’re adding a third possible referrer:

http://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?...&q=flowers&...&ohost=www.google.com&...

This new referrer is on a different domain named ‘www.googleadservices.com’, and has a new path of ‘/pagead/aclk’. The query is still there as the GET parameter ‘q’ and the originating host for the click is there as the GET parameter ‘ohost’. For example, if the click came from google.ca, the new referrer format would be http://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?...&q=flowers&...&ohost=www.google.ca&...

We’re making this change because we’re trying to improve the experience of clicking on an ad for our users. For historical reasons, Google currently uses two redirects on two different domains for many of the ads on our site. We are streamlining our infrastructure to remove one of these redirects, which brings users to ad landing pages faster, leading to a better user experience for our users and a better return on ad clicks for our advertisers.

The new referrer format ensures that advertisers will still get the relevant bits of information about a search that drove traffic to their site, but without the extra redirect.

In order to give everyone enough time to change any referrer log parsing software, we’ll be keeping the number of affected searches at a low percentage through July. In August, we’ll be increasing the number of affected queries to 100%. When we’re done, you should expect to see all three forms of the URLs.

Ali Mohammad, Ads Latency Team

Ads Developer Blog

Getting AdMob ads to work with cocos2D

AdMob SDK 6.1 Released

AdWords Location Targets will start PHASING_OUT

AdWords API v201206 launch - including new Flexible reach targeting settings on the Google Display Network

Keeping A Smart Banner Docked To The Bottom Of The Screen on iOS

Announcing v201206 of the DFP API

Speeding up the ad experience: updating ad click referral

Labels

Archive