Native advanced

Displaying a system-defined native ad format

When a native ad loads, your app will receive a native ad object via one of the GADAdLoaderDelegate protocol messages. Your app is then responsible for displaying the ad (though it doesn't necessarily have to do so immediately). To make displaying system-defined ad formats easier, the SDK offers some useful resources.

GADNativeAdView

For the GADNativeAd, there is a corresponding "ad view" class: GADNativeAdView. This ad view class is a UIView that publishers should use to display the ad. A single GADNativeAdView, for example, can display a single instance of a GADNativeAd. Each of the UIView objects used to display that ad's assets should be subviews of that GADNativeAdView object.

If you were displaying an ad in a UITableView, for example, the view hierarchy for one of the cells might look like this:

The GADNativeAdView class also provides IBOutlets used to register the view used for each individual asset, and a method to register the GADNativeAd object itself. Registering the views in this way allows the SDK to automatically handle tasks such as:

Recording clicks.
Recording impressions (when the first pixel is visible on the screen).
Displaying the AdChoices overlay.

AdChoices overlay

For indirect native ads (delivered through Ad Manager backfill or through Ad Exchange or AdSense), an AdChoices overlay is added by the SDK. Leave space in your preferred corner of your native ad view for the automatically inserted AdChoices logo. Also, make sure the AdChoices overlay is placed on content that allows the icon to be easily seen. For more information on the overlay's appearance and function, see the programmatic native ads implementation guidelines.

Ad attribution for programmatic native ads

When displaying programmatic native ads, you must display an ad attribution to denote that the view is an advertisement. Learn more in our policy guidelines.

Code example

Let's take a look at how to display native ads using views loaded dynamically from xib files. This can be a very useful approach when using GADAdLoaders configured to request multiple formats.

Lay out the UIViews

The first step is to lay out the UIViews that will display native ad assets. You can do this in the Interface Builder as you would when creating any other xib file. Here's how the layout for a native ad might look:

Note the Custom Class value in the top right of the image. It's set to

GADNativeAdView. This is the ad view class that is used to display a GADNativeAd.

You'll also need to set the custom class for the GADMediaView, which is used to display the video or image for the ad.

Link outlets to views

Once the views are in place and you've assigned the correct ad view class to the layout, link the ad view's asset outlets to the UIViews you've created. Here's how you might link the ad view's asset outlets to the UIViews created for an ad:

In the outlet panel, the outlets in GADNativeAdView have been linked to the UIViews laid out in the Interface Builder. This lets the SDK know which UIView displays which asset. It's also important to remember that these outlets represent the views that are clickable in the ad.

Display the ad

After the layout is complete and the outlets are linked, add the following code to your app that displays an ad once it has loaded:

Swift

// Mark: - GADNativeAdLoaderDelegate
func adLoader(_ adLoader: GADAdLoader, didReceive nativeAd: GADNativeAd) {
  print("Received native ad: \(nativeAd)")
  refreshAdButton.isEnabled = true
  // Create and place ad in view hierarchy.
  let nibView = Bundle.main.loadNibNamed("NativeAdView", owner: nil, options: nil)?.first
  guard let nativeAdView = nibView as? GADNativeAdView else {
    return
  }
  setAdView(nativeAdView)

  // Set ourselves as the native ad delegate to be notified of native ad events.
  nativeAd.delegate = self

  // Populate the native ad view with the native ad assets.
  // The headline and mediaContent are guaranteed to be present in every native ad.
  (nativeAdView.headlineView as? UILabel)?.text = nativeAd.headline
  nativeAdView.mediaView?.mediaContent = nativeAd.mediaContent

  // This app uses a fixed width for the GADMediaView and changes its height to match the aspect
  // ratio of the media it displays.
  if let mediaView = nativeAdView.mediaView, nativeAd.mediaContent.aspectRatio > 0 {
    let heightConstraint = NSLayoutConstraint(
      item: mediaView,
      attribute: .height,
      relatedBy: .equal,
      toItem: mediaView,
      attribute: .width,
      multiplier: CGFloat(1 / nativeAd.mediaContent.aspectRatio),
      constant: 0)
    heightConstraint.isActive = true
  }

  // These assets are not guaranteed to be present. Check that they are before
  // showing or hiding them.
  (nativeAdView.bodyView as? UILabel)?.text = nativeAd.body
  nativeAdView.bodyView?.isHidden = nativeAd.body == nil

  (nativeAdView.callToActionView as? UIButton)?.setTitle(nativeAd.callToAction, for: .normal)
  nativeAdView.callToActionView?.isHidden = nativeAd.callToAction == nil

  (nativeAdView.iconView as? UIImageView)?.image = nativeAd.icon?.image
  nativeAdView.iconView?.isHidden = nativeAd.icon == nil

  (nativeAdView.starRatingView as? UIImageView)?.image = imageOfStars(
    fromStarRating: nativeAd.starRating)
  nativeAdView.starRatingView?.isHidden = nativeAd.starRating == nil

  (nativeAdView.storeView as? UILabel)?.text = nativeAd.store
  nativeAdView.storeView?.isHidden = nativeAd.store == nil

  (nativeAdView.priceView as? UILabel)?.text = nativeAd.price
  nativeAdView.priceView?.isHidden = nativeAd.price == nil

  (nativeAdView.advertiserView as? UILabel)?.text = nativeAd.advertiser
  nativeAdView.advertiserView?.isHidden = nativeAd.advertiser == nil

  // For the SDK to process touch events properly, user interaction should be disabled.
  nativeAdView.callToActionView?.isUserInteractionEnabled = false

  // Associate the native ad view with the native ad object. This is
  // required to make the ad clickable.
  // Note: this should always be done after populating the ad views.
  nativeAdView.nativeAd = nativeAd
}

SwiftUI

Create a view model

Create a view model that loads a native ad, and publishes native ad data changes:

import GoogleMobileAds

class NativeAdViewModel: NSObject, ObservableObject, GADNativeAdLoaderDelegate {
  @Published var nativeAd: GADNativeAd?
  private var adLoader: GADAdLoader!

  func refreshAd() {
    adLoader = GADAdLoader(
      adUnitID: "ca-app-pub-3940256099942544/3986624511",
      // The UIViewController parameter is optional.
      rootViewController: nil,
      adTypes: [.native], options: nil)
    adLoader.delegate = self
    adLoader.load(GADRequest())
  }

  func adLoader(_ adLoader: GADAdLoader, didReceive nativeAd: GADNativeAd) {
    // Native ad data changes are published to its subscribers.
    self.nativeAd = nativeAd
    nativeAd.delegate = self
  }

  func adLoader(_ adLoader: GADAdLoader, didFailToReceiveAdWithError error: Error) {
    print("\(adLoader) failed with error: \(error.localizedDescription)")
  }
}NativeAdViewModel.swift

Create a UIViewRepresentable

Create a UIViewRepresentable for GADNativeView, and subscribe to the data changes in the ViewModel class:

private struct NativeAdView: UIViewRepresentable {
  typealias UIViewType = GADNativeAdView

  // Observer to update the UIView when the native ad value changes.
  @ObservedObject var nativeViewModel: NativeAdViewModel

  func makeUIView(context: Context) -> GADNativeAdView {
    return
      Bundle.main.loadNibNamed(
        "NativeAdView",
        owner: nil,
        options: nil)?.first as! GADNativeAdView
  }

  func updateUIView(_ nativeAdView: GADNativeAdView, context: Context) {
    guard let nativeAd = nativeViewModel.nativeAd else { return }

    // Each UI property is configurable using your native ad.
    (nativeAdView.headlineView as? UILabel)?.text = nativeAd.headline

    nativeAdView.mediaView?.mediaContent = nativeAd.mediaContent

    (nativeAdView.bodyView as? UILabel)?.text = nativeAd.body

    (nativeAdView.iconView as? UIImageView)?.image = nativeAd.icon?.image

    (nativeAdView.starRatingView as? UIImageView)?.image = imageOfStars(from: nativeAd.starRating)

    (nativeAdView.storeView as? UILabel)?.text = nativeAd.store

    (nativeAdView.priceView as? UILabel)?.text = nativeAd.price

    (nativeAdView.advertiserView as? UILabel)?.text = nativeAd.advertiser

    (nativeAdView.callToActionView as? UIButton)?.setTitle(nativeAd.callToAction, for: .normal)

    // For the SDK to process touch events properly, user interaction should be disabled.
    nativeAdView.callToActionView?.isUserInteractionEnabled = false

    // Associate the native ad view with the native ad object. This is required to make the ad
    // clickable.
    // Note: this should always be done after populating the ad views.
    nativeAdView.nativeAd = nativeAd
  }NativeContentView.swift

Add the view to the view hierarchy

The following code demonstrates adding the UIViewRepresentable to the view hierarchy:

struct NativeContentView: View {
  // Single source of truth for the native ad data.
  @StateObject private var nativeViewModel = NativeAdViewModel()

  var body: some View {
    ScrollView {
      VStack(spacing: 20) {
        NativeAdView(nativeViewModel: nativeViewModel)  // Updates when the native ad data changes.
          .frame(minHeight: 300)  // minHeight determined from xib.NativeContentView.swift

Objective-C

#pragma mark GADNativeAdLoaderDelegate implementation

- (void)adLoader:(GADAdLoader *)adLoader didReceiveNativeAd:(GADNativeAd *)nativeAd {
  NSLog(@"Received native ad: %@", nativeAd);
  self.refreshButton.enabled = YES;

  // Create and place ad in view hierarchy.
  GADNativeAdView *nativeAdView =
      [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:@"NativeAdView" owner:nil options:nil].firstObject;
  [self setAdView:nativeAdView];

  // Set the mediaContent on the GADMediaView to populate it with available
  // video/image asset.
  nativeAdView.mediaView.mediaContent = nativeAd.mediaContent;

  // Populate the native ad view with the native ad assets.
  // The headline is present in every native ad.
  ((UILabel *)nativeAdView.headlineView).text = nativeAd.headline;

  // These assets are not guaranteed to be present. Check that they are before
  // showing or hiding them.
  ((UILabel *)nativeAdView.bodyView).text = nativeAd.body;
  nativeAdView.bodyView.hidden = nativeAd.body ? NO : YES;

  [((UIButton *)nativeAdView.callToActionView)setTitle:nativeAd.callToAction
                                              forState:UIControlStateNormal];
  nativeAdView.callToActionView.hidden = nativeAd.callToAction ? NO : YES;

    ((UIImageView *)nativeAdView.iconView).image = nativeAd.icon.image;
  nativeAdView.iconView.hidden = nativeAd.icon ? NO : YES;

  ((UIImageView *)nativeAdView.starRatingView).image = [self imageForStars:nativeAd.starRating];
  nativeAdView.starRatingView.hidden = nativeAd.starRating ? NO : YES;

  ((UILabel *)nativeAdView.storeView).text = nativeAd.store;
  nativeAdView.storeView.hidden = nativeAd.store ? NO : YES;

  ((UILabel *)nativeAdView.priceView).text = nativeAd.price;
  nativeAdView.priceView.hidden = nativeAd.price ? NO : YES;

  ((UILabel *)nativeAdView.advertiserView).text = nativeAd.advertiser;
  nativeAdView.advertiserView.hidden = nativeAd.advertiser ? NO : YES;

  // In order for the SDK to process touch events properly, user interaction
  // should be disabled.
  nativeAdView.callToActionView.userInteractionEnabled = NO;

  // Associate the native ad view with the native ad object. This is
  // required to make the ad clickable.
  nativeAdView.nativeAd = nativeAd;
}

Complete example on GitHub

View the complete example of integrating native ads in Swift, SwiftUI and Objective-C by following the respective GitHub link.

Swift Custom Rendering Example SwiftUI Native Ads Example Objective-C Custom Rendering Example

GADMediaView

Image and video assets are displayed to users via GADMediaView. This is a UIView that can be defined in a xib file or constructed dynamically. It should be placed within the view hierarchy of a GADNativeAdView, as with any other asset view.

As with all asset views, the media view needs to have its content populated. This is set using the mediaContent property on GADMediaView. The mediaContent property of GADNativeAd contains media content that can be passed to a GADMediaView.

Here's a snippet from the Custom Rendering example (Swift | Objective-C) that shows how to populate the GADMediaView with the native ad assets using GADMediaContent from GADNativeAd:

Swift

nativeAdView.mediaView?.mediaContent = nativeAd.mediaContent

Objective-C

nativeAdView.mediaView.mediaContent = nativeAd.mediaContent;

Ensure that in your interface builder file for your native ad view that you have the views custom class set to GADMediaView and you have connected it to the mediaView outlet.

Changing Image Content Mode

The GADMediaView class respects the UIView contentMode property when displaying images. If you want to change how an image is scaled in the GADMediaView, set the corresponding UIViewContentMode on the contentMode property of the GADMediaView to achieve this.

For example, to fill the GADMediaView when an image is displayed (ad has no video):

Swift

nativeAdView.mediaView?.contentMode = .aspectFill

Objective-C

nativeAdView.mediaView.contentMode = UIViewContentModeAspectFill;

GADMediaContent

The GADMediaContent class holds the data related to the media content of the native ad, which is displayed using the GADMediaView class. When set on the GADMediaView mediaContent property:

If a video asset is available, it's buffered and starts playing inside the GADMediaView. You can tell if a video asset is available by checking hasVideoContent.
If the ad does not contain a video asset, the mainImage asset is downloaded and placed inside the GADMediaView instead.

Next steps

Learn more about user privacy.