Native ads

Native ads let you monetize your app in a way that’s consistent with its existing design. The AppLovin MAX SDK gives you access to an ad’s individual assets. This way, you can design the ad layout to be consistent with the look and feel of your app. The SDK automatically handles image caching and metrics tracking. You can focus on how, when, and where to display ads.

AppLovin deprecated templates integration. If you integrate native ads into your app via templates, those ads will start no-filling at . AppLovin will remove support for templates integration in an upcoming SDK release.

Manual

Use this API if you have custom views and you want to manually load native ad assets into those views. This integration method involves three high-level steps:

  1. Bind UI components.
  2. Load the native ad.
  3. Destroy the native ad.

To use the manual API, select Manual in the Create New Ad Unit screen:

Template: ☐ Small, ☐ Medium, ☒ Manual

Bind UI components

You can bind custom UI components to the MAX SDK and render native ad assets into those components. This example demonstrates this with custom views created using xibs and unique tag IDs. You can also use this method if you create your views programmatically or with the Storyboard.

Per AppLovin’s policy, your ad must contain the Privacy Information icon. This icon links to an important privacy notice. You can bind to it via -[MANativeAdViewBinderBuilder setOptionsContentViewTag:]. Your custom view containing the UI components to bind must subclass from MANativeAdView.

Custom Class. Class: MANativeAdView. Module: None. ☐ Inherit Module From Target.

Assign unique tag IDs to the subviews of your custom views. You use these IDs in the next integration step. The example image below sets the ID to 1234 for the title label.

NativeCustomAdView. View. Tag: 1234

Next, bind the subviews using unique tag IDs with an instance of MANativeAdViewBinder. AppLovin does not guarantee a network will return certain assets.

#import "ExampleViewController.h"
#import <AppLovinSDK/AppLovinSDK.h>

⋮

@implementation ExampleViewController

⋮

- (MANativeAdView *)createNativeAdView
{
  UINib *nativeAdViewNib = [UINib nibWithNibName: @"NativeCustomAdView" bundle: NSBundle.mainBundle];
  MANativeAdView *nativeAdView = [nativeAdViewNib instantiateWithOwner: nil options: nil].firstObject;
  MANativeAdViewBinder *binder = [[MANativeAdViewBinder alloc] initWithBuilderBlock:^(MANativeAdViewBinderBuilder *builder) {
    builder.titleLabelTag = «title-label-tag»;
    builder.bodyLabelTag = «body-lable-tag»;
    builder.callToActionButtonTag = «call-to-action-label-tag»;
    builder.iconImageViewTag = «icon-image-view-taG»;
    builder.mediaContentViewTag = «media-view-content-view-tag»;
    builder.starRatingContentViewTag = «star-rating-content-view-tag»;
    builder.advertiserLabelTag = «advertiser-label-tag»;
    builder.optionsContentViewTag = «options-content-view-tag»;
  }];
  [nativeAdView bindViewsWithAdViewBinder: binder];
  return nativeAdView;
}

⋮

@end

Follow each network’s guidance and bind their required ad assets. Otherwise, they may invalidate your impressions.

Additional Google bidding and Google AdMob/Google Ad Manager integration steps

As of Google bidding and Google AdMob adapter version 9.11.0.6 and Google Ad Manager adapter version 9.11.0.5, take these steps to bind UI components. This ensures that any unassociated views in your custom native ad view are still clickable for those networks:

  1. Add a wrapper view inside of MANativeAdView that contains all the ad assets. Set its Custom Class to GADNativeAdView.

    NativeCustomAdView. Native Ad View. GAD Native Ad View. Custom Class: Class: GADNativeAdView. Module: None.

  2. Give this wrapper view a unique Tag that is not used by other views.

    NativeCustomAdView. Native Ad View. GAD Native Ad View. View: Content Mode: Scale To Fill. Semantic: Unspecified. Tag: 1008. Interaction: ✅ User Interaction Enabled.

  3. Set a local extra parameter for the native ad loader that contains this tag value, with the corresponding key google_native_ad_view_tag. For example, if the view’s tag is 1008:

   -[setLocalExtraParameterForKey: "google_native_ad_view_tag" value: 1008]

Load the native ad

Load a pre-rendered ad

To load a pre-rendered native ad, instantiate a MANativeAdLoader corresponding to your Ad Unit ID and call its loadAdIntoAdView method. Implement and set the MANativeAdDelegate so that you are notified when your native ad’s load state changes.

Load and render ad separately

To load a native ad, instantiate a MANativeAdLoader corresponding to your Ad Unit ID and call its loadAd method. Implement and set the MANativeAdDelegate so that you are notified when your native ad’s load state changes. Then use the MAAd returned in didLoadNativeAd:forAd: to render the ad view. You can do this by calling MANativeAdLoader’s renderNativeAdView:withAd: method.

Show native ads in the ad expiration window of four hours. Impressions associated with ads shown outside this window are invalidated.

Destroy the native ad

If you are no longer using a native ad, destroy its resources. Do so by calling the destroy() method. If you do not do this, the performance of your app degrades.

Below is an example of how you load and destroy a native ad, after you have bound the UI components from the previous step:

#import "ExampleViewController.h"
#import <AppLovinSDK/AppLovinSDK.h>

@interface ExampleViewController()<MANativeAdDelegate, MAAdRevenueDelegate>
@property (nonatomic, strong) UIView *nativeAdContainerView;
@property (nonatomic, strong) MANativeAdLoader *nativeAdLoader;
@property (nonatomic, strong) MAAd *loadedNativeAd;
@end

@implementation ExampleViewController

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- (void)createNativeAdLoader
{
  self.nativeAdLoader = [[MANativeAdLoader alloc] initWithAdUnitIdentifier: @"«ad-unit-ID»"];
  self.nativeAdLoader.nativeAdDelegate = self;
  self.nativeAdLoader.revenueDelegate = self;
}

- (void)loadNativeAd
{
  [self.nativeAdLoader loadAdIntoAdView: [self createNativeAdView]];
}

- (void)didLoadNativeAd:(MANativeAdView *)nativeAdView forAd:(MAAd *)ad
{
  // Cleanup any pre-existing native ad to prevent memory leaks.
  if ( self.loadedNativeAd )
  {
    [self.nativeAdLoader destroyAd: self.loadedNativeAd];
  }

  // Save ad for cleanup.
  self.loadedNativeAd = ad;

  // Set to false if modifying constraints after adding the ad view to your layout
  self.nativeAdContainerView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;

  // Add the native ad view to your layout
  [self.nativeAdContainerView addSubview: nativeAdView];

  // Set ad view to span width and height of container and center the ad
  [self.nativeAdContainerView addConstraint: [NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem: nativeAdView attribute: NSLayoutAttributeWidth r elatedBy: NSLayoutRelationEqual toItem: self.nativeAdContainerView attribute: NSLayoutAttributeWidth multiplier: 1 constant: 0]];
  [self.nativeAdContainerView addConstraint: [NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem: nativeAdView attribute: NSLayoutAttributeHeight relatedBy: NSLayoutRelationEqual toItem: self.nativeAdContainerView attribute: NSLayoutAttributeHeight multiplier: 1 constant: 0]];
  [self.nativeAdContainerView addConstraint: [NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem: nativeAdView attribute: NSLayoutAttributeCenterX relatedBy: NSLayoutRelationEqual toItem: self.nativeAdContainerView attribute: NSLayoutAttributeCenterX multiplier: 1 constant: 0]];
  [self.nativeAdContainerView addConstraint: [NSLayoutConstraint constraintWithItem: nativeAdView attribute: NSLayoutAttributeCenterY relatedBy: NSLayoutRelationEqual toItem: self.nativeAdContainerView attribute: NSLayoutAttributeCenterY multiplier: 1 constant: 0]];
}

- (void)didFailToLoadNativeAdForAdUnitIdentifier:(NSString *)adUnitIdentifier withError:(MAError *)error
{
  // Native ad load failed
  // AppLovin recommends that you retry with exponentially higher delays up to a maximum delay
}

- (void)didClickNativeAd:(MAAd *)ad { }

- (void)didPayRevenueForAd:(MAAd *)ad { }

@end

Asset sizes

For AppLovin Exchange demand, the maximum numbers of characters allowed for Title, Description, and CTA are as follows:

AssetMaximum character count
Title50 characters
Description150 characters. You can add an ellipsis (…) after 149 characters, as the 150th character.
CTA15 characters

For SDK-mediated networks, the network sets the maximum character counts.

How to get the media content aspect ratio

The following code snippet shows how you get the media content aspect ratio of your native ad:

- (void)didLoadNativeAd:(MANativeAdView *)nativeAdView forAd:(MAAd *)ad
{
  CGFloat aspectRatio = ad.nativeAd.mediaContentAspectRatio;
}

Some networks do not provide media content aspect ratios, in which case the value is zero.

Star rating

With the AppLovin MAX SDK you can access and render the star rating for the advertised app. The value, if available, is a floating point number in the range of [0.0, 5.0].

The MAX SDK automatically renders the stars in the container view that you designate as the star rating container. If the network does not provide the star rating, or the star rating is < 3, the SDK does not fill the star rating container view. You are responsible for adjusting your layout accordingly.

To retrieve the star rating for the current ad:

- (void)didLoadNativeAd:(MANativeAdView *)nativeAdView forAd:(MAAd *)ad
{
  if ( ad.nativeAd.starRating < 3 )
  {
    // Star rating not available, or < 3 - hide star rating container view
    return;
  }

  // Star rating available and >= 3 - show star rating container view
}

Ad placer

Ad Placer automatically inserts native ads into your existing content stream using UITableView or UICollectionView. To integrate this API, take the following high-level steps:

  1. Configure native ad layout.
  2. Create ad placer settings.
  3. Configure ad placer.
  4. Configure ad rendering settings.
  5. Optionally, receive delegate callbacks.

Per AppLovin’s policy, your ad must contain the Privacy Information icon. This icon links to an important privacy notice. You can bind to it via -[MANativeAdViewBinderBuilder setOptionsContentViewTag:]. Your custom view containing the UI components to bind must subclass from MANativeAdView.

1. Configure native ad layout

Ad placer supports manual native ad layouts. See the “Manual” section above to learn how to configure your ad units. See Configure ad rendering settings below to learn how to configure the ad placer to support your layout.

Follow each network’s guidance and bind their required ad assets. Otherwise they may invalidate your impressions.

2. Create ad placer settings

Create a MAAdPlacerSettings object with your ad unit identifier. This object configures your ad placer and provides positioning information for ads in your feed.

MAAdPlacerSettings *settings = [MAAdPlacerSettings settingsWithAdUnitIdentifier: @"«ad-unit-ID»"];

Configure ad positions

Ad placer positions ads in your feed. It does this based on at least one of the following:

  1. a list of fixed index paths that indicate where to place ads
  2. a repeating interval at which to insert ads
    • Your ad placer inserts repeating ads after the last fixed position. If you do not set any fixed positions, your ad placer adds repeating ads after the first position in the stream. This interval value must be greater than or equal to 2. An interval value less than 2 disables the ad placer.

Configure ad positions by modifying MAAdPlacerSettings:

  1. To add a new fixed ad position, for example at row 1:
   [settings addFixedPositions: [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow: 1 inSection: 0]];
  1. To remove existing fixed positions:
   [settings resetFixedPositions];
  1. To change the repeating interval; for example, to insert ads at every fifth position in the feed:
   settings.repeatingInterval = 5;

Additional settings

You can configure your ad placer by adjusting settings in MAAdPlacerSettings:

maximumAdCount
Set this to the maximum number of ads in a stream (default=256). If a stream contains multiple sections, this determines the maximum number of ads per ad section.
maximumPreloadedAdCount
Set this to the maximum number of ads to preload for placement in a stream (default=4).

3. Configure ad placer

Choose one of these two options when you configure your ad placer:

  1. If your feed is based on a UITableView, MATableViewAdPlacer. If it is based on a UICollectionView, use MACollectionViewAdPlacer. The helper class wraps the original adapter to automatically render and insert ads into the feed.

You must replace uses of the UITableView/UICollectionView properties and methods in your code with AppLovin’s category equivalents. These exist in UITableView+MATableViewAdPlacer.h or UICollectionView+MACollectionViewAdPlacer.h. These methods adjust index paths to account for the inserted ads. They also inform the ad placer of changes to the content.

  1. If your feed uses some other custom UI component, you may prefer to subclass or to directly use MAAdPlacer in your implementation.

Using MATableViewAdPlacer

To configure your ad placer with MATableViewAdPlacer follow these instructions:

  1. Initialize MATableViewAdPlacer with your table view and settings:
   self.adPlacer = [MATableViewAdPlacer placerWithTableView: self.tableView settings: settings];
  1. Replace the following UITableView properties and methods with the AppLovin category equivalents (prefixed with al_):
    • dataSource
    • delegate
    • deleteRowsAtIndexPaths:withRowAnimation:
    • deleteSections:withRowAnimation:
    • dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:forIndexPath:
    • deselectRowAtIndexPath:animated:
    • endUpdates
    • indexPathForCell:
    • indexPathForRowAtPoint:
    • indexPathForSelectedRow
    • indexPathsForRowsInRect:
    • indexPathsForSelectedRows
    • indexPathsForVisibleRows
    • insertRowsAtIndexPaths:withRowAnimation:
    • insertSections:withRowAnimation:
    • moveRowsAtIndexPaths:withRowAnimation:
    • moveSections:withRowAnimation:
    • performBatchUpdates:completion:
    • rectForRowAtIndexPath:
    • reloadData
    • reloadRowsAtIndexPaths:withRowAnimation:
    • reloadSections:withRowAnimation:
    • scrollToRowAtIndexPath:atScrollPosition:animated:
    • selectRowAtIndexPath:animated:scrollPosition:
    • visibleCells
  2. Call loadAds to start loading ads.

The following code shows how you load ads into a table view by using MATableViewAdPlacer:

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
  [super viewDidLoad];

  // Configure table view
  self.tableView.al_delegate = self;
  self.tableView.al_dataSource = self;

  // Configure ad placer and load ads
  MAAdPlacerSettings *settings = [MAAdPlacerSettings settingsWithAdUnitIdentifier: @"«ad-unit-ID»"];
  self.adPlacer = [MATableViewAdPlacer placerWithTableView: self.tableView settings: settings];
  self.adPlacer.delegate = self;
  [self.adPlacer loadAds];
}

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
  return self.data.count;
}

- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
  UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView al_dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier: @"YourCell" forIndexPath: indexPath];
  cell.textLabel.text = self.data[indexPath.row];
  return cell;
}

Using MACollectionViewAdPlacer

To configure your ad placer with MACollectionViewAdPlacer follow these instructions:

  1. Initialize MACollectionViewAdPlacer with your table view and settings:
   self.adPlacer = [MACollectionViewAdPlacer placerWithCollectionView: self.collectionView settings: settings];
  1. Replace the following UITableView properties and methods with the AppLovin category equivalents (prefixed with al_):
    • cellForItemAtIndexPath:
    • dataSource
    • delegate
    • deleteItemsAtIndexPaths:
    • deleteSections:
    • dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:forIndexPath:
    • deselectItemAtIndexPath:animated:
    • indexPathForCell:
    • indexPathForItemAtPoint:
    • indexPathsForSelectedItems
    • indexPathsForVisibleItems
    • insertItemsAtIndexPaths:
    • insertSections:
    • layoutAttributesForItemAtIndexPath:
    • moveItemsAtIndexPaths:
    • moveSections:
    • performBatchUpdates:completion:
    • reloadData
    • reloadItemsAtIndexPaths:
    • reloadSections:
    • scrollToItemAtIndexPath:atScrollPosition:animated:
    • selectedItemAtIndexPath:animated:scrollPosition:
    • visibleCells
  2. If you use a storyboard for your collection view, set the collection view’s “Estimate Size” property to “None”.
  3. Call loadAds to start loading ads.

The following code shows how you load ads into a table view by using MACollectionViewAdPlacer:

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
  [super viewDidLoad];

  // Configure collection view
  self.collectionView.al_delegate = self;
  self.collectionView.al_dataSource = self;

  // Configure ad placer and load ads
  MAAdPlacerSettings *settings = [MAAdPlacerSettings settingsWithAdUnitIdentifier: @"«ad-unit-ID»"];
  self.adPlacer = [MACollectionViewAdPlacer placerWithCollectionView: self.collectionView settings: settings];
  self.adPlacer.delegate = self;
  [self.adPlacer loadAds];
}

- (NSInteger)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView numberOfItemsInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
  return self.data.count;
}

- (UICollectionViewCell *)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)collectionView cellForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
{
  MyCollectionViewCell *cell = (MyCollectionViewCell *)[collectionView al_dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier: @"YourCell" forIndexPath: indexPath];
  cell.textLabel.text = self.data[indexPath.row];
  return cell;
}

4. Configure ad rendering settings

Set the nativeAdViewNib and nativeAdViewBinder properties on the ad placer before you load ads. AppLovin recommends that you also set the adSize property. This optimizes rendering.

5. Optionally receive delegate callbacks

All ad placers include optional delegate callbacks that can notify you events:

  • didLoadAdAtIndexPath:
  • didRemoveAdsAtIndexPaths:
  • didClickAd:
  • didPayRevenueForAd:
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