Integrate AdColony with Mediation

This guide shows you how to use the Google Mobile Ads SDK to load and display ads from AdColony using mediation, covering both bidding and waterfall integrations. It covers how to add AdColony to an ad unit's mediation configuration, and how to integrate the AdColony SDK and adapter into an Android app.

Supported integrations and ad formats

The AdMob mediation adapter for AdColony has the following capabilities:

Requirements

• Android API level 19 or higher
• [For bidding]: AdColony adapter 3.3.10.1 or higher (latest version recommended)

• Latest Google Mobile Ads SDK

• Complete the mediation Get started guide

Step 1: Set up configurations in AdColony UI

Sign up and log in to your AdColony account. Add your app to the AdColony publisher dashboard by clicking the Setup New App button.

Fill out the form and click Create at the bottom of the page to add your app to AdColony.

Once your app is created you can obtain your App ID by navigating to Monetization > Apps under your app's Basic App Information section.

Next, create a new Ad Zone by clicking the Setup New Ad Zone button in the Ad Zones section of your App's page. We recommend creating a new Ad Zone for mediation with AdMob even if you already have one.

For additional instructions on creating an ad placement, select the tab corresponding to your preferred ad format.

Click the Create button when finished to create the Ad Zone.

Once the Ad Zone is created, you can locate your Zone ID under the Integration section of the Ad Zone. The Zone ID will be used in the next step.

Locate your AdColony API Key

Turn on test mode

To enable test ads on AdColony, go to your AdColony dashboard and navigate to Monetization > Apps. Select your Zone for which you would like to enable test ads under the Ad Zones section of your app. Test ads can be enabled by checking Yes to Show test ads only? under the Development section.

Step 2: Set up AdColony demand in AdMob UI

Configure mediation settings for your ad unit

You need to add AdColony to the mediation configuration for your ad unit. First sign in to your AdMob account.

Next, navigate to the Mediation tab. If you have an existing mediation group you'd like to modify, click the name of that mediation group to edit it, and skip ahead to Add AdColony as an ad source.

To create a new mediation group, select Create Mediation Group.

Enter your ad format and platform, then click Continue.

Give your mediation group a name, and select locations to target. Next, set the mediation group status to Enabled. Then click Add Ad Units, which will open up the ad unit selection overlay.

Associate this mediation group with your existing AdMob ad unit. Then click Done.

You should now see the ad units card populated with the ad units you selected.

Add AdColony as an ad source

Add AdColony to GDPR and US state regulations ad partners list

Follow the steps in GDPR settings and US state regulations settings to add AdColony to the GDPR and US state regulations ad partners list in the AdMob UI.

Step 3: Import the AdColony SDK and adapter

Android Studio integration (recommended)

Add the following maven repository and the implementation dependency with the latest version of the AdColony SDK and adapter in the app-level build.gradle file:

repositories {
    google()
    mavenCentral()
}

// ...
dependencies {
    implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:22.5.0'
    implementation 'com.google.ads.mediation:adcolony:4.8.0.2'
}
// ...

Migrate project to AndroidX

The AdColony SDK depends on Android support libraries but the latest Google Mobile Ads SDK uses Jetpack libraries.

To ensure the AdColony SDK and the Google Mobile Ads SDK are compatible, create a gradle.properties file in the top-level of your project, and add the following code:

android.useAndroidX=true
android.enableJetifier=true

This will rewrite the AdColony SDK binary to use use Jetpack libraries. See AndroidX migration guide for more information about these settings.

Manual integration

• Download the AdColony Android SDK and extract the adcolony.jar under the Library folder and add it to your project.
• The AdColony SDK depends on the Annotations Support Library. See Improve Code Inspection with Annotations for details on how to add the Annotations Support Library to your project.
• Navigate to the AdColony adapter artifacts on Google's Maven Repository. Select the latest version, download the AdColony adapter's .aar file, and add it to your project.

Step 4: Implement privacy settings on AdColony SDK

EU Consent and GDPR

Under the Google EU User Consent Policy, you must ensure that certain disclosures are given to, and consents obtained from, users in the European Economic Area (EEA) regarding the use of device identifiers and personal data. This policy reflects the requirements of the EU ePrivacy Directive and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). When seeking consent, you must identify each ad network in your mediation chain that may collect, receive, or use personal data and provide information about each network's use. Google currently is unable to pass the user's consent choice to such networks automatically.

The AdColony adapter provides the AdColonyMediationAdapter.getAppOptions() method to customize parameters to be sent to AdColony's SDK. Two methods relevant to GDPR on these options are setPrivacyFrameworkRequired() and setPrivacyConsentString(). The following sample code demonstrates how to pass consent information to the AdColony adapter, which are then used in AdColony's initialization method. These options must be set before you initialize the Google Mobile Ads SDK to ensure they get forwarded properly to AdColony's SDK.

import com.google.ads.mediation.adcolony.AdColonyMediationAdapter;
//...

AdColonyAppOptions appOptions = AdColonyMediationAdapter.getAppOptions();
appOptions.setPrivacyFrameworkRequired(AdColonyAppOptions.GDPR, true);
appOptions.setPrivacyConsentString(AdColonyAppOptions.GDPR, "1");

import com.google.ads.mediation.adcolony.AdColonyMediationAdapter
//...

val appOptions = AdColonyMediationAdapter.getAppOptions()
appOptions.setPrivacyFrameworkRequired(AdColonyAppOptions.GDPR, true)
appOptions.setPrivacyConsentString(AdColonyAppOptions.GDPR, "1")

See AdColony's GDPR implementation details for more details about what values may be provided in these methods.

US states privacy laws

U.S. states privacy laws require giving users the right to opt out of the "sale" of their "personal information" (as the law defines those terms), with the opt-out offered via a prominent "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" link on the "selling" party's homepage. The U.S. states privacy laws compliance guide offers the ability to enable restricted data processing for Google ad serving, but Google is unable to apply this setting to each ad network in your mediation chain. Therefore, you must identify each ad network in your mediation chain that may participate in the sale of personal information and follow guidance from each of those networks to ensure compliance.

The AdColony adapter provides the AdColonyMediationAdapter.getAppOptions() method to customize parameters to be sent to AdColony's SDK. Two methods relevant to CCPA on these options are setPrivacyFrameworkRequired() and setPrivacyConsentString(). The following sample code demonstrates how to pass consent information to the AdColony adapter, which are then used in AdColony's initialization method. These options must be set before you initialize the Google Mobile Ads SDK to ensure they get forwarded properly to AdColony's SDK.

import com.google.ads.mediation.adcolony.AdColonyMediationAdapter;
//...

AdColonyAppOptions appOptions = AdColonyMediationAdapter.getAppOptions();
appOptions.setPrivacyFrameworkRequired(AdColonyAppOptions.CCPA, true);
appOptions.setPrivacyConsentString(AdColonyAppOptions.CCPA, "1");

import com.google.ads.mediation.adcolony.AdColonyMediationAdapter
//...

val appOptions = AdColonyMediationAdapter.getAppOptions()
appOptions.setPrivacyFrameworkRequired(AdColonyAppOptions.CCPA, true)
appOptions.setPrivacyConsentString(AdColonyAppOptions.CCPA, "1")

See AdColony's CCPA implementation details for more details about what values may be provided in these methods.

Step 5: Add required code

No additional code is required for AdColony integration.

Step 6: Test your implementation

Enable test ads

Make sure you register your test device for AdMob and enable test mode in AdColony UI.

Verify test ads

To verify that you are receiving test ads from AdColony, enable single ad source testing in ad inspector using the AdColony (Bidding) and AdColony (Waterfall) ad source(s).

Optional steps

Permissions

For optimal performance, AdColony recommends adding the following optional permissions to your app's AndroidManifest.xml file:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.VIBRATE" />

Using interstitial and rewarded ads

Network-specific parameters

The AdColony adapter supports additional request parameters which can be passed to the adapter using the AdColonyBundleBuilder class. The AdColonyBundleBuilder includes the following methods:

• setShowPrePopup(boolean): Sets whether or not to show a popup before showing an ad. Set to false for no popup before ad shows.
• setShowPostPopup(boolean): Sets whether or not to show a popup after showing an ad. Set to false for no popups after ad shows.

Here's a code example of how to set these ad request parameters:

AdColonyBundleBuilder.setShowPrePopup(true);
AdColonyBundleBuilder.setShowPostPopup(true);
AdRequest request = new AdRequest.Builder()
  .addNetworkExtrasBundle(AdColonyAdapter.class, AdColonyBundleBuilder.build())
  .build();
rewardedInterstitialAd.loadAd(request);

AdColonyBundleBuilder.setShowPrePopup(true)
AdColonyBundleBuilder.setShowPostPopup(true)
val request = AdRequest.Builder()
  .addNetworkExtrasBundle(AdColonyAdapter::class.java, AdColonyBundleBuilder.build())
  .build()
rewardedInterstitialAd.loadAd(request)

Verify your adapter and SDK versions

To log the adapter and SDK versions, use the following code snippet:

AdColonyMediationAdapter adapter = new AdColonyMediationAdapter();
VersionInfo adapterVersion = adapter.getVersionInfo();
VersionInfo sdkVersion = adapter.getSDKVersionInfo();
// Log the adapter patch version to 3 digits to represent the x.x.x.x versioning
// used by adapters.
Log.d("TAG", String.format(
    "Adapter version: %d.%d.%03d",
    adapterVersion.getMajorVersion(),
    adapterVersion.getMinorVersion(),
    adapterVersion.getMicroVersion()));
Log.d("TAG", String.format(
    "SDK version: %d.%d.%d",
    sdkVersion.getMajorVersion(),
    sdkVersion.getMinorVersion(),
    sdkVersion.getMicroVersion()));

Error codes

If the adapter fails to receive an ad from AdColony, publishers can check the underlying error from the ad response using ResponseInfo.getAdapterResponse() under the following classes:

com.jirbo.adcolony.AdColonyAdapter
com.google.ads.mediation.adcolony.AdColonyMediationAdapter

Here are the codes and accompanying messages thrown by the AdColony adapter when an ad fails to load:

AdColony Android Mediation Adapter Changelog

Next Version

• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 22.4.0.

Version 4.8.0.2

• Updated adapter to use new VersionInfo class.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 22.0.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 22.0.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.8.0.

Version 4.8.0.1

• Added support for forwarding COPPA information to the AdColony SDK.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 21.5.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 21.5.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.8.0.

Version 4.8.0.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.8.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 21.0.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.8.0.

Version 4.7.1.1

• Updated compileSdkVersion and targetSdkVersion to API 31.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 21.0.0.
• Updated the minimum required Android API level to 19.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 21.0.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.7.1.

Version 4.7.1.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.7.1.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 20.6.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.7.1.

Version 4.7.0.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.7.0.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 20.6.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 20.6.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.7.0.

Version 4.6.5.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.6.5.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 20.4.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.6.5.

Version 4.6.4.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.6.4.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 20.4.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.6.4.

Version 4.6.3.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.6.3.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 20.4.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 20.4.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.6.3.

Version 4.6.2.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.6.2.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 20.3.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.6.2.

Version 4.6.0.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.6.0.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 20.3.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 20.3.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.6.0.

Version 4.5.0.0

• Added support for banners advanced bidding.
• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.5.0.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 20.0.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 20.0.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.5.0.

Version 4.4.1.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.4.1.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 19.7.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.4.1.

Version 4.4.0.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.4.0.
• Added support of AdColony's collectSignals() method for bidding.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 19.7.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 19.7.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.4.0.

Version 4.3.0.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.3.0.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 19.5.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 19.5.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.3.0.

Version 4.2.4.0

• Fixed a bug where onUserEarnedReward() was not forwarded for rewarded ads.
• Added additional error codes for AdColony SDK initialization errors.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 19.4.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 19.4.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.2.4.

Version 4.2.0.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.2.0.
• Updated the adapter to support inline adaptive banner requests.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 19.2.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 19.2.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.2.0.

Version 4.1.4.1

• Added descriptive error codes and reasons for adapter load/show failures.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 19.0.1.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 19.0.1.
• AdColony SDK version 4.1.4.

Version 4.1.4.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.1.4.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 18.3.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.1.4.

Version 4.1.3.1

• Fixed an issue where the onRewardedAdLoaded() callback is not being forwarded by the adapter.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 18.3.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.1.3.

Version 4.1.3.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.1.3.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 18.3.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.1.3.

Version 4.1.2.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.1.2.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 18.3.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 18.3.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.1.2.

Version 4.1.0.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 4.1.0.
• Added support for banner ads.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 18.2.0.

Built and tested with:

• Google Mobile Ads SDK version 18.2.0.
• AdColony SDK version 4.1.0.

Version 3.3.11.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.3.11.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 18.1.1.

Version 3.3.10.1

• Added bidding capability to the adapter for interstitial and rewarded ads.

Version 3.3.10.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.3.10.

Version 3.3.9.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.3.9.
• Removed setGdprRequired() and setGdprConsentString() methods on AdColonyBundleBuilder.
• Added the AdColonyMediationAdapter.getAppOptions() method. Publishers must now pass GDPR information to AdColony's SDK through these options. See the developer documentation for more details.

Version 3.3.8.1

• Updated adapter to support new open-beta Rewarded API.
• Updated the minimum required Google Mobile Ads SDK version to 17.2.0.

Version 3.3.8.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.3.8.

Version 3.3.7.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.3.7.

Version 3.3.6.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.3.6.

Version 3.3.5.1

• Updated the adapter to invoke the onRewardedVideoComplete() ad event.

Version 3.3.5.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.3.5.

Version 3.3.4.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.3.4.
• Updated the adapter with GDPR.

Version 3.3.3.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.3.3.
• Removed the setTestModeEnabled method from the Bundle builder class. Publishers can now request test ads from AdColony by specifying a test device via addTestDevice() method from the AdRequest builder class.

Version 3.3.2.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.3.2.

Version 3.3.0.1

• Fixed an issue where the adapter fails to fill when the adapter is reinitialized.
• Fixed an issue where reward callback is sent incorrectly.

Version 3.3.0.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.3.0.
• Updated the Adapter project for Android Studio 3.0.

Version 3.2.1.1

• Added setTestModeEnabled method to the Bundle builder class. Publishers can use this method to mark AdColony requests as test requests.

Version 3.2.1.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.2.1.

Version 3.2.0.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.2.0.

Version 3.1.2.0

• Fixed possible NullPointerExceptions.
• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.1.2.

Version 3.1.1.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.1.1.

Version 3.1.0.0

• Verified compatibility with AdColony SDK version 3.1.0.

Version 3.0.6.0

• Changed the version naming system to [AdColony SDK version].[adapter patch version].
• Updated the minimum required AdColony SDK to v3.0.6.

Earlier Versions

• Supports rewarded video and interstitial ads.