Traffic app open ads

You can traffic ads that appear when the user opens or switches back to an app. App open ads appear on the loading or splash screen.

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Jump to: Get started | Rendering | Third-party mediation | Guidelines | Examples

Get started with app open ads

Before setting up app open ads, review the policies section and app open guidelines. Apps that are in Google Play's Designed for Families program are not eligible to use app open ads.

1. Create a line item for app open, with the following selections:
   • Sizes:
     These are the only sizes supported for display or video line items on App Open ads. Video will be skippable after 1.5 seconds, regardless of the video type or duration.
     • For phones, line items need to be 320x480 (Mobile Portrait Full Screen) and/or 480x320 (Mobile Landscape Full Screen).

     • For tablets, line items need to be 1024x768 (Tablet Landscape Full Screen) and/or 768x1024 (Tablet Portrait Full Screen).

   • Targeting (optional):
     • In the "Add targeting" section, you can select Show more Inventory format App open to have the line item specifically target app open ads.
     • Other formats will automatically be excluded.
2. Add creatives using the same sizes listed above.
3. Follow the developer documentation (Android | iOS) to implement app open ads.

4. To see how your app open ads are performing, create a report with Inventory Inventory format as a dimension. App open impressions have a value of App Open in the "Inventory format" column of the report.

How app open ads render

Google manages the full rendering of the app open ad. An app open ad consists of two parts:

1. The top of the screen displays the publisher branding section, which contains the app icon, name, and a button that allows users to dismiss the ad and view the app content.
2. The rest of the screen displays the actual ad, which can be served through programmatic or traditional transactions.

Third-party mediation and Open Bidding

App open ads is in Beta. Third-party buyers that don't require a third-party SDK for rendering can buy via Open Bidding as follows:

1. Create a yield group.
2. Select App open as the "Ad format."
3. Select Mobile app as the "Inventory type."
4. Enter the remaining settings and click Save.

Open Bidding partners that require a third-party SDK for creative rendering won't receive callouts. Open Bidders or Authorized Buyers that use the Google Mobile Ads SDK for rendering will receive callouts.

App open ad guidance

App open ads help monetize your mobile app loading experience. They're served when a user opens or switches back to your app.

Why use app open ads? App open ads are specially designed to seamlessly integrate into the app open or app switch context. The unique app open ad layout offers the best user experience for this placement.

The following guidelines help you implement app open ads without violating existing policies. Review the Google Publisher policies and restrictions for more information.

Apps that are in Google Play's Designed for Families program are not eligible to use app open ads.

Ad placement

Your app open ads must comply with Ad Manager's ad placement policies. In addition, review the following before placing app open ad units:

• App open ad units only appear when the user opens or switches back to an app.
• Place app open ads on an app's splash or loading screen. Review the example app open implementations for how to best implement app open ads on these screens.

You may need to adjust your app open ads based on loading experiences. For example, if you have two types of loading experiences (first open experience vs. switching back to the opened app), you may implement app open ads differently for each experience.

If you don't have a splash screen as part of your app open or switch experience, you may show an app open ad immediately upon app open or switch.

Other guidelines

• Don't implement ads immediately before or after app open ads.
• Don't implement app open ads on top of other ads. For example, the app open ad should not be placed on top of content that includes a banner ad.
• Review your app's performance and adjust the app open ad frequency caps accordingly.
• App open ads perform best with apps that have a high frequency of opens per daily user. Apps that are opened more than once every 4 hours see the highest performance from app open ads. If you have an app that doesn't meet this criteria, consider using another format.
• For Android devices, the back button is disabled for a 30 second duration. During this time, the Continue to app button allows users to continue to the app.

Example app open implementations

Use the following examples to implement your app open ads.

Recommended implementation example

In the recommended example, the app open ad is placed on the app's loading screen. The loading screen is seen underneath the ad.

Discouraged implementation example

In the discouraged example below, the ad is placed after the loading screen, and there is no content visible under the ad.

While some of the discouraged implementations may not specifically be against our policies, not following these guidelines may lead to invalid activity and/or may result in Google disabling ad serving to your app.

Discouraged implementation example

In the discouraged example below, the ad is placed after the app content is shown. The app open ad should appear before the user can interact with the app's content.

While some of the discouraged implementations may not specifically be against our policies, not following these guidelines may lead to invalid activity and/or may result in Google disabling ad serving to your app.