Banner ads

Select platform: Android (beta) New-selected Android iOS Unity Flutter

Banner ads are rectangular ads that occupy a portion of an app's layout. Anchored adaptive banners are fixed aspect ratio ads that stay on screen while users are interacting with the app, either anchored at the top or bottom of the screen.

This guide covers loading an anchored adaptive banner ad into an Android app.

Prerequisites

Always test with test ads

When building and testing your apps, make sure you use test ads rather than live, production ads. Failure to do so can lead to suspension of your account.

The easiest way to load test ads is to use our dedicated test ad unit ID for Android banners:

/21775744923/example/adaptive-banner

It's been specially configured to return test ads for every request, and you can use it in your own apps while coding, testing, and debugging. Just make sure you replace it with your own ad unit ID before publishing your app.

For more information about how GMA Next-Gen SDK test ads work, see Enable test ads.

Create an AdView object

To display banners, do the following:

Kotlin

  1. Create an AdView object.
  2. Add the AdView object to your app's layout.

The following example creates and adds the AdView object to an app layout:

private fun createAdView(adViewContainer: FrameLayout, activity: Activity) {
  val adView = AdView(activity)
  adViewContainer.addView(adView)
}

Java

  1. Create an AdView object.
  2. Add the AdView object to your app's layout.

The following example creates and adds the AdView object to an app layout:

private void createAdView(FrameLayout adViewContainer, Activity activity) {
  AdView adView = new AdView(activity);
  adViewContainer.addView(adView);
}

XML Layout

Add an AdView element to your layout XML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

  <com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.banner.AdView
      android:id="@+id/adView"
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
      app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
      app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent" />
</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Jetpack Compose

  1. Include an AndroidView element in the Compose UI.
  2. Define a mutableStateOf<BannerAd?> variable for holding the banner ad:
// Initialize required variables.
val context = LocalContext.current
var bannerAdState by remember { mutableStateOf<BannerAd?>(null) }

// The AdView is placed at the bottom of the screen.
Column(modifier = modifier.fillMaxSize(), verticalArrangement = Arrangement.Bottom) {
  bannerAdState?.let { bannerAd ->
    Box(modifier = Modifier.fillMaxWidth()) {
      // Display the ad within an AndroidView.
      AndroidView(
        modifier = modifier.wrapContentSize(),
        factory = { bannerAd.getView(requireActivity()) },
      )
    }
  }
}

Load an ad

The following example loads a 360-width anchored adaptive banner ad into an AdView object:

Kotlin

private fun loadBannerAd(adView: AdView, activity: Activity) {
  // Get a BannerAdRequest for a 360 wide anchored adaptive banner ad.
  val adSize = AdSize.getCurrentOrientationAnchoredAdaptiveBannerAdSize(activity, 360)
  val adRequest = BannerAdRequest.Builder(AD_UNIT_ID, adSize).build()

  adView.loadAd(
    adRequest,
    object : AdLoadCallback<BannerAd> {
      override fun onAdLoaded(ad: BannerAd) {
        ad.adEventCallback =
          object : BannerAdEventCallback {
            override fun onAdImpression() {
              Log.d(TAG, "Banner ad recorded an impression.")
            }

            override fun onAdClicked() {
              Log.d(TAG, "Banner ad clicked.")
            }
          }
      }

      override fun onAdFailedToLoad(adError: LoadAdError) {
        Log.e(TAG, "Banner ad failed to load: $adError")
      }
    },
  )
}

Java

private void loadBannerAd(AdView adView, Activity activity) {
  // Get a BannerAdRequest for a 360 wide anchored adaptive banner ad.
  AdSize adSize = AdSize.getCurrentOrientationAnchoredAdaptiveBannerAdSize(activity, 360);
  BannerAdRequest adRequest = new BannerAdRequest.Builder(AD_UNIT_ID, adSize).build();

  adView.loadAd(
      adRequest,
      new AdLoadCallback<BannerAd>() {
        @Override
        public void onAdLoaded(@NonNull BannerAd bannerAd) {
          bannerAd.setAdEventCallback(
              new BannerAdEventCallback() {
                @Override
                public void onAdImpression() {
                  Log.d(TAG, "Banner ad recorded an impression.");
                }

                @Override
                public void onAdClicked() {
                  Log.d(TAG, "Banner ad clicked.");
                }
              });
        }

        @Override
        public void onAdFailedToLoad(@NonNull LoadAdError adError) {
          Log.e(TAG, "Banner ad failed to load: " + adError);
        }
      });
}

Jetpack Compose

// Request an anchored adaptive banner with a width of 360.
val adSize = AdSize.getCurrentOrientationAnchoredAdaptiveBannerAdSize(requireContext(), 360)

// Load the ad when the screen is active.
val coroutineScope = rememberCoroutineScope()
val isPreviewMode = LocalInspectionMode.current
LaunchedEffect(context) {
  bannerAdState?.destroy()
  if (!isPreviewMode) {
    coroutineScope.launch {
      when (val result = BannerAd.load(BannerAdRequest.Builder(AD_UNIT_ID, adSize).build())) {
        is AdLoadResult.Success -> {
          bannerAdState = result.ad
        }
        is AdLoadResult.Failure -> {
          showToast("Banner failed to load.")
          Log.w(Constant.TAG, "Banner ad failed to load: $result.error")
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Refresh an ad

If you configured your ad unit to refresh, you don't need to request another ad when the ad fails to load. GMA Next-Gen SDK respects any refresh rate you specified in the Ad Manager UI. If you haven't enabled refresh, issue a new request. For more details on ad unit refresh, such as setting a refresh rate, see Refresh rate for ads in mobile apps.

Release an ad resource

When you are finished using a banner ad, you can release the banner ad's resources.

To release the ad's resource, you remove the ad from the view hierarchy and drop all its references:

Kotlin 

// Remove banner from view hierarchy.
val parentView = adView?.parent
if (parentView is ViewGroup) {
  parentView.removeView(adView)
}

// Destroy the banner ad resources.
adView?.destroy()

// Drop reference to the banner ad.
adView = null

Java 

// Remove banner from view hierarchy.
if (adView.getParent() instanceof ViewGroup) {
  ((ViewGroup) adView.getParent()).removeView(adView);
}
// Destroy the banner ad resources.
adView.destroy();
// Drop reference to the banner ad.
adView = null;

Jetpack Compose 


// Destroy the ad when the screen is disposed.
DisposableEffect(Unit) { onDispose { bannerAdState?.destroy() } }

Ad events

You can listen for a number of events in the ad's lifecycle, including ad impression and click, as well as ad opening and closing. It is recommended to set the callback before showing the banner.

Kotlin

BannerAd.load(
  BannerAdRequest.Builder("/21775744923/example/adaptive-banner", adSize).build(),
  object : AdLoadCallback<BannerAd> {
    override fun onAdLoaded(ad: BannerAd) {
      ad.adEventCallback =
        object : BannerAdEventCallback {
          override fun onAdImpression() {
            // Banner ad recorded an impression.
          }

          override fun onAdClicked() {
            // Banner ad recorded a click.
          }

          override fun onAdShowedFullScreenContent() {
            // Banner ad showed.
          }

          override fun onAdDismissedFullScreenContent() {
            // Banner ad dismissed.
          }

          override fun onAdFailedToShowFullScreenContent(
            fullScreenContentError: FullScreenContentError
          ) {
            // Banner ad failed to show.
          }
        }
    }
    // ...
  }
)

Java

BannerAd.load(
    new BannerAdRequest.Builder("/21775744923/example/adaptive-banner", adSize).build(),
    new AdLoadCallback<BannerAd>() {
      @Override
      public void onAdLoaded(@NonNull BannerAd ad) {
        ad.setAdEventCallback(new BannerAdEventCallback() {
          @Override
          public void onAdImpression() {
            // Banner ad recorded an impression.
          }

          @Override
          public void onAdClicked() {
            // Banner ad recorded a click.
          }

          @Override
          public void onAdShowedFullScreenContent() {
            // Banner ad showed.
          }

          @Override
          public void onAdDismissedFullScreenContent() {
            // Banner ad dismissed.
          }

          @Override
          public void onAdFailedToShowFullScreenContent(
              @NonNull FullScreenContentError fullScreenContentError) {
            // Banner ad failed to show.
          }
        });

        // ...
      }
    });

Ad refresh callback

The BannerAdRefreshCallback handles ad refreshing events if you use automatic refresh for banner ads. Make sure to set the callback before the you add the ad view to your view hierarchy. For details on ad refreshing, see Refresh an ad.

Kotlin

BannerAd.load(
  BannerAdRequest.Builder("/21775744923/example/adaptive-banner", adSize).build(),
  object : AdLoadCallback<BannerAd> {
    override fun onAdLoaded(ad: BannerAd) {
      ad.bannerAdRefreshCallback =
        object : BannerAdRefreshCallback {
          // Set the ad refresh callbacks.
          override fun onAdRefreshed() {
            // Called when the ad refreshes.
          }

          override fun onAdFailedToRefresh(loadAdError: LoadAdError) {
            // Called when the ad fails to refresh.
          }
        }

      // ...
    }
  }
)

Java

BannerAd.load(
    new BannerAdRequest.Builder("/21775744923/example/adaptive-banner", adSize).build(),
    new AdLoadCallback<BannerAd>() {
      @Override
      public void onAdLoaded(@NonNull BannerAd ad) {
        ad.setBannerAdRefreshCallback(
            // Set the ad refresh callbacks.
            new BannerAdRefreshCallback() {
              @Override
              public void onAdRefreshed() {
                // Called when the ad refreshes.
              }

              @Override
              public void onAdFailedToRefresh(@NonNull LoadAdError adError) {
                // Called when the ad fails to refresh.
              }
            });
        // ...
      }
    });

Hardware acceleration for video ads

In order for video ads to show successfully in your banner ad views, hardware acceleration must be enabled.

Hardware acceleration is enabled by default, but some apps may choose to disable it. If this applies to your app, we recommend enabling hardware acceleration for Activity classes that use ads.

Enable hardware acceleration

If your app does not behave properly with hardware acceleration turned on globally, you can control it for individual activities as well. To enable or disable hardware acceleration, you can use the android:hardwareAccelerated attribute for the <application> and <activity> elements in your AndroidManifest.xml. The following example enables hardware acceleration for the entire app but disables it for one activity:

<application android:hardwareAccelerated="true">
    <!-- For activities that use ads, hardwareAcceleration should be true. -->
    <activity android:hardwareAccelerated="true" />
    <!-- For activities that don't use ads, hardwareAcceleration can be false. -->
    <activity android:hardwareAccelerated="false" />
</application>

See the Hardware acceleration guide for more information about options for controlling hardware acceleration. Note that individual ad views cannot be enabled for hardware acceleration if the activity is disabled, so the activity itself must have hardware acceleration enabled.

Download and run the example app that demonstrates the use of the GMA Next-Gen SDK.