Interstitial ads

Interstitial advertising is a full-screen ad format embedded within the app content during natural pauses, such as transitioning between game levels or completing a target action.

When an app displays an interstitial ad, the user can either click through to the advertiser's site or close the ad and return to the app.

During interstitial ad impressions, the user's attention is fully focused on the ad, which results in a higher cost for such impressions.

Appearance

This guide will show how to integrate interstitial ads into Android apps. Besides code samples and instructions, it contains format-specific recommendations and links to additional resources.

Prerequisite

Follow the SDK integration steps described under Quick start.
First, you need to initialize the advertising SDK.
Make sure you're using the latest version of the Yandex Mobile Ads SDK, and if you're using mediation, update to the most recent version of the unified build.

Implementation

Key steps for integrating interstitial ads:

Create and configure the InterstitialAdLoader ad loader.
Register the listener for ad load callback methods: InterstitialAdLoadListener.
Load the ad.
Pass additional settings if you're using Adfox.
Register an InterstitialAdEventListener to listen for ad event callbacks.
Display the InterstitialAd object.

Features of interstitial ad integration

All calls to Yandex Mobile Ads SDK methods must be made from the main thread.
If the onAdFailedToLoad() callback returns an error, don't try to load a new ad again. If there's no other option, limit the number of ad load retries. This will help avoid constant unsuccessful requests and connection issues if there are limitations.
We recommend maintaining a strong reference to the loader and ad throughout the lifecycle of the screen that hosts interactions with the ad to avoid cleanup by the garbage cleaner.
We recommend using a single instance of InterstitialAdLoader for all ad loads to improve performance.

Loading ads

To upload interstitial ads, create and set up the InterstitialAdLoader object.

For that, you'll need Activity or Application context.

To notify when ads load or fail to load, set the InterstitialAdLoadListener callback method listener for the InterstitialAdLoader object.

To load an ad, you need the ad placement ID obtained in the Boost interface (adUnitId).

You can expand ad request parameters through AdRequestConfiguration.Builder(), by passing user interests, contextual page data, location, or other additional info. Adding extra context to ad requests can greatly improve ad relevance. To learn more, see Ad targeting.

Once the ad is loaded (by calling the onAdLoaded(interstitialAd: InterstitialAd) method), save the link to the loaded InterstitialAd before its display is completed.

The following example shows how to load an interstitial ad from Activity:

Kotlin

Java

class InterstitialAdActivity : AppCompatActivity(R.layout.activity_interstitial_ad) {
    private var interstitialAd: InterstitialAd? = null
    private var interstitialAdLoader: InterstitialAdLoader? = null
    private lateinit var binding: ActivityInterstitialAdBinding

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?){
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        binding = ActivityInterstitialAdBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
        setContentView(binding.root)

        // Interstitial ads loading should occur after initialization of the SDK.
        // Initialize SDK as early as possible, for example in Application.onCreate or Activity.onCreate
        interstitialAdLoader = InterstitialAdLoader(this).apply{
            setAdLoadListener(object : InterstitialAdLoadListener{
                override fun onAdLoaded(ad: InterstitialAd){
                   interstitialAd = ad
                    // The ad was loaded successfully. Now you can show loaded ad.
                }

                override fun onAdFailedToLoad(adRequestError: AdRequestError){
                    // Ad failed to load with AdRequestError.
                    // Attempting to load a new ad from the onAdFailedToLoad() method is strongly discouraged.
                }
            })
        }
        loadInterstitialAd()
    }

    private fun loadInterstitialAd(){
        val adRequestConfiguration = AdRequestConfiguration.Builder("your-ad-unit-id").build()
        interstitialAdLoader?.loadAd(adRequestConfiguration)
    }
}

public class InterstitialAdActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    @Nullable
    private InterstitialAd mInterstitialAd = null;
    @Nullable
    private InterstitialAdLoader mInterstitialAdLoader = null;
    private ActivityInterstitialAdBinding mBinding;

    public InterstitialAdActivity(){
        super(R.layout.activity_interstitial_ad);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState){
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        mBinding = ActivityInterstitialAdBinding.inflate(getLayoutInflater());
        setContentView(mBinding.getRoot());

        // Interstitial ads loading should occur after initialization of the SDK.
        // Initialize SDK as early as possible, for example in Application.onCreate or Activity.onCreate
        mInterstitialAdLoader = new InterstitialAdLoader(this);
        mInterstitialAdLoader.setAdLoadListener(new InterstitialAdLoadListener(){
            @Override
            public void onAdLoaded(@NonNull final InterstitialAd interstitialAd){
                mInterstitialAd = interstitialAd;
                // The ad was loaded successfully. Now you can show loaded ad.
            }

            @Override
            public void onAdFailedToLoad(@NonNull final AdRequestError adRequestError){
                // Ad failed to load with AdRequestError.
                // Attempting to load a new ad from the onAdFailedToLoad() method is strongly discouraged.
            }
        });
        loadInterstitialAd();
    }

    private void loadInterstitialAd(){
        if (mInterstitialAdLoader != null ){
            final AdRequestConfiguration adRequestConfiguration =
                new AdRequestConfiguration.Builder("your-ad-unit-id").build();
            mInterstitialAdLoader.loadAd(adRequestConfiguration);
        }
    }
}

If you serve ads through Adfox, then after the banner ad response, the campaignId, bannerId, and placeId data can be accessed from the interstitialAdLoader objects using the adAttributes property of the AdAttributes type.

Displaying ads

Interstitial ads should be displayed during natural pauses in the app's usage. A good example of this would be impressions between game levels or when a user completes an action, such as downloading a file.

Before displaying ads, set an InterstitialAdEventListener to listen for ad event callbacks.

To render an ad, you'll need to pass the Activity to the show method of the loaded ad:

Kotlin

Java

private fun showAd() {
    interstitialAd?.apply{
        setAdEventListener(object : InterstitialAdEventListener{
            override fun onAdShown(){
                // Called when ad is shown.
            }
            override fun onAdFailedToShow(adError: AdError){
       	     // Called when an InterstitialAd failed to show.
                // Clean resources after Ad dismissed
                interstitialAd?.setAdEventListener(null)
                interstitialAd = null

                // Now you can preload the next interstitial ad.
                loadInterstitialAd()
            }
            override fun onAdDismissed(){
                // Called when ad is dismissed.
                // Clean resources after Ad dismissed
                interstitialAd?.setAdEventListener(null)
                interstitialAd = null

                // Now you can preload the next interstitial ad.
                loadInterstitialAd()
           }
            override fun onAdClicked(){
                // Called when a click is recorded for an ad.
            }
            override fun onAdImpression(impressionData: ImpressionData?){
                // Called when an impression is recorded for an ad.
            }
        })
        show(this@Activity)
    }
}

private void showAd() {
    if (mInterstitialAd != null){
        mInterstitialAd.setAdEventListener(new InterstitialAdEventListener(){
            @Override
            public void onAdShown(){
                // Called when ad is shown.
            }

            @Override
            public void onAdFailedToShow(@NonNull final AdError adError){
                // Called when an InterstitialAd failed to show.
            }

            @Override
            public void onAdDismissed(){
                // Called when ad is dismissed.
                // Clean resources after Ad dismissed
                if (mInterstitialAd != null){
                    mInterstitialAd.setAdEventListener(null);
                    mInterstitialAd = null;
                }

                // Now you can preload the next interstitial ad.
                loadInterstitialAd();
            }

            @Override
            public void onAdClicked(){
                // Called when a click is recorded for an ad.
            }

            @Override
            public void onAdImpression(@Nullable final ImpressionData impressionData){
                // Called when an impression is recorded for an ad.
            }
        });
        mInterstitialAd.show(this);
    }
}

Releasing resources

Don't store links to previously rendered ads. Call setAdEventListener(null) for previously rendered ads. Call setAdLoadListener(null) for the loader if it's no longer used. That releases the resources and prevents memory leaks.

Kotlin

Java

override fun onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy()
    interstitialAdLoader?.setAdLoadListener(null)
    interstitialAdLoader = null
    destroyInterstitialAd()
}

private fun destroyInterstitialAd(){
    interstitialAd?.setAdEventListener(null)
    interstitialAd = null
}

@Override
protected void onDestroy(){
    super.onDestroy();
    if (mInterstitialAdLoader != null){
        mInterstitialAdLoader.setAdLoadListener(null);
        mInterstitialAdLoader = null;
    }
    destroyInterstitialAd();
}

private void destroyInterstitialAd(){
    if (mInterstitialAd != null){
        mInterstitialAd.setAdEventListener(null);
        mInterstitialAd = null;
    }
}

Testing interstitial ad integration

Using demo ad units for ad testing

We recommend using test ads to test your interstitial ad integration and your app itself.

To make sure that test ads are returned for each ad request, we created a special demo ad placement ID designed to help you test your ad integration.

Demo adUnitId: demo-interstitial-yandex.

Warning

Before publishing your app in the store, make sure to replace the demo placement ID with the real ID you obtained in the interface Boost.

For the list of all available demo ad placement IDs, see Demo ad units for testing.

Testing ad integration

You can check your interstitial ad integration using the SDK's built-in analyzer.

The tool makes sure your interstitial ads are integrated properly and outputs a detailed report to the log. To view the report, search the keyword “YandexAds” in Logcat, a tool for debugging Android apps.

adb logcat -v brief '*:S YandexAds'

If the integration is successful, the following message is returned:

adb logcat -v brief '*:S YandexAds'
mobileads$ adb logcat -v brief '*:S YandexAds'
I/YandexAds(13719): [Integration] Ad type interstitial was integrated successfully

If you're having problems integrating interstitial ads, you'll get a detailed report on the issues and recommendations for how to fix them.

Additional resources

Link to GitHub.

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