Getting Started with AdMob + Unity

by Carlos Zepeda Quintanar

Hi folks! We’ve been quiet for some time, things were a bit hectic the last few weeks. Our latest game was disabled from the Google Play Store, and it took us some time to figure out what was going on. Pafu is now up and running again, and we’d like to share the steps we took to fix it and how you can avoid these issues.

How to set-up Ad Mob in your Unity project?

Let’s start by downloading Google Mobile Ads Unity Plugin v5.4.0 (or the latest) unity package. Now, let’s add the package into the Unity project: Assets > Import Package > Custom Package…

Select all libraries and click import.

You’ll need to create a new Google AdMob account (it can be the same as your Google Play Console account). Then, add a new App: Apps > Add App. This step will be required per each App Store where your game is available (or will be available).

Browse available Apps in App stores.

Under the newly created App in AdMob, let’s add a new Ad Unit. For this example we are going to use the Interstitial ad format.

Specify a unique name for each Ad Unit.

In Unity, let’s include the App IDs you created into Assets > Google Mobile Ads > Settings.

AdMob App IDs for iOS and Android.

Now, it’s time to do some coding. We’ll be adding a script to provide access to the Google AdMob libraries.

You’ll need to copy into the script (via the Editor) the App and Ad Unit IDs that you created earlier.

Select “Test Mode” flag to use Test Ad Units.

Now, you can reference your script from anywhere in your game lifecycle to display an Ad. Usually, the best places are between transitions (as a level complete or game over).

Use the ShowVideo() functionality to display an Interstitial Ad. If everything is working as expected, you should be seeing something like this:

Remember to use Test Ads while testing your code.

And, voilà, Ads are now available. Hopefully, by this point everything is running fine and you did not face any major issues.

Now, let’s talk about some of the challenges we faced and how we were able to overcome them.

Account Payment Information

You will need Payment information set-up before AdMob starts serving Live Ads. You can add your own personal account or business account. Be sure this is ready before releasing your game or enabling Ads, otherwise ads will not be served.

E-mail received from AdMob team.

Account Verification

Your Google AdMob account needs to be verified. It is important to follow these steps before game is released to avoid ending-up scratching your head while trying to understand why your game is not displaying any Ads.

Account verification to enable Ads to be served.

Test Devices

Make sure to enlist your test/development devices into Google AdMob. Even if your game is already released, setting up a test device will let you test production ads and verify your implementation code without violating AdMob’s invalid traffic policy.

You will need to add your Advertising ID/IDFA: Settings > Test Devices and include a new entry for each of your Test Devices.

Include Advertising ID/IDFA to prevent any traffic violations.

Family Policies Requirement

This policy was the reason our game was disabled.

We’d like to start by saying that if your target audience is or includes children, you should reconsider this classification. Unless, this is critical for your business model or target audience, we suggest avoiding the headache that comes along with it. Review carefully the Family Policies.

Mail received from Google Play.

It was challenging to understand exactly which policies we were infringing; there are no pre-submission tools (that we know of) to verify that requirements are met. And, usually the e-mails received from the Google Play Store seemed to be listing issues that were not applicable to our game.

We recommend contacting the Policy Support Team to better understand the rejection of the App. They would usually reply with a concrete screenshot of the game where the policies were not met and a description of the issue.

Example attachment from Policy Support Team.

• Ads or offers for in-app purchases that are not clearly distinguishable from your app content.
• App contains an ad that is not clearly labeled.

With this context we were able to better understand the issue. We re-designed our Ad Banner (Game Over) and also included the “Ads” term in the text presented to customers. Unfortunately, not only the App was rejected again, but it was also disabled.

At this point, we found that Google recently released a new Ad Format: Rewarded Interstitial.

Google’s example of Rewarded Interstitial.

We replaced our Ad Banner and Rewarded Ad format with this new type of Ad. And, finally, the app was approved and available again.

The overall experience with Google Ad Mob platform was positive for us. There were times we felt frustrated with the platform due to the lack of understanding of their policies and also not having good support/tooling to troubleshoot the issues impacting us.

Let us know if you have any questions or if you are facing any issues, we are more than happy to help. Talk to you soon!