Implementing admobs in Unity

Hi

I've almost finished developing my first game, and I've been considering which advertising platform to use for a few days. My initial thought was to go with unity ads, but after reading a few posts on this forum and on Reddit, I've reconsidered.

So how do I implement admobs in Unity the correct way? Any helpful reference to tutorials/guides is greatly appreciated.

 

Found exactly what I was looking for on firebase.google.com.

(hoping someone can convince me to use unity ads though)

 

Why not use both UnityAds and AdMob and several other ad networks?
AdMob has mediation so you can set AdMob to use both AdMob and UnityAds and many other ad networks.
Or use other ad mediation service (MoPub, HeyZap etc.)

 

I'm not sure what that means. So it will switch between ads? My use case is that I only want to display reward videos. In example, watch a video to get 3 new ninja stars.

 

Mediation is typically the standard these days. Diversify across several networks. However this does mean you will ovcasionally get very low quality ads.

I'm curious why you don't like UnityAds. I've only heard good things about the network.

 

Do not use mediation at all, if you dont have enough players to play your game. You have to have at least 10k daily active players to get something out of mediation. Every ads platform have minimum payment, for admob its 100$ for wire transfer if im not mistaken (the rest more or less)...
Imagine the situation - if you dont have enough user base you will never meet the minimum threshold to get the payment, better stick with one or two at max (Admob is good for interstitial and banner) , UnityAds is good for rewarded video ads.

There are free official Admob Plugin or you can use assets from the assetstore, which has more option and the integration is much easier.

Just fyi - Admob doesn't have rewarded video ads - this function will be activated through mediation, by using other third party networks and one of them is UntyAds, Charboost and etc.. Better just stick with UnityAds, if you dont want Interstitial or Banner ads in your game

 

Fixed that for you.

 

Nice joke.... However what I said is true.. I talked about mediation, but not the ads. Dont merge them pls.

 

Its not really a joke.

Your point about mediation is correct, if you are not going to hit payment thresholds then its a waste of time. The same principle is true for implementing ads in general. If you can't guarantee enough users to get past the minimum threshold for the ad network you are using, there is no point of implementing ads.

Its an important consideration with any monetisation strategy. Monetisation takes away from the game experience. So it should only be implemented if the game experience is good enough to support it.

 

Yes, as a generalisation the same is true, but that's not the problem I think @DalerHakimov is referring to. The issue is that even if your game does really well, if it's spread over too many ad networks you may never receive the money from any of them. Is getting 50% extra revenue worth it if you can only access half of what you've made?

 

I dont agree at all.. Monetisation is monetisation. If its implemented incorrectly then it takes away the game experience, if its integrated correctly then it even improves the game experience.

There are one golden rule, which most of developers forget once they are implementing ads. Every player must have a chance to play and finish the game, without forcing them to interact with ads. That's it.

There are always possibility to use ads, but it depends on developer's skills to implement it correctly.

@angrypenguin, got my previous point.

 

Sure. But we are still talking about the same basic problem. Ads don't work if you don't have the user base to support them.

Its a very narrow revenue range that the specific problem of mediation and payment thresholds occurs. If your game is big enough to support ads, you will be above the numbers where payment threshold matter. If your money is locked behind payment thresholds, your game has failed anyway.

Or course I'm talking outside of my experience again. There may be other perfectly valid other reasons to go with one network and avoid mediation. But the math on payment thresholds just doesn't work out as a reason to avoid mediation.

Not sure I agree on this one, I've yet to play a game with ads that I don't think would have been better without ads. I understand my tastes aren't universal. I would be interested in a concrete example of a game where ads improve the game experience.

The same is true of premium or and other monetisation model. In many cases I'm happy to pay. But I would be even happier to get the game without paying.

Again I'm going to disagree with you there. Many successful mobile games force players to interact with ads.

 

@BoredMormon,

We are out of topic, but I'll give you one example on how you can improve the game experience without "paying" for it. Example: There are a puzzle game, and someone can solve it and someone else will struggle to solve it. In this scenario we can sell "hints", if they will watch an ad (rewarded video ads). The game doesn't have any other ads, the game doesn't force them to watch an ad every 3 rounds and etc etc. The game does give them a chance to finish the game without watching ads at all, if they can pass all levels..

But what to do with those who got stuck at some level? We will not charge them real money, but instead they can watch a short 30 sec video and get the hints to pass the particular level. I think its perfect example of how an ad can improve the game experience, right?

I dont know any of successful mobile game, which does force players to interact with ads.. Any example?

 

That's a pretty dodgy comparison. There's four possible combinations there and you're only stating three. There's one you're missing or ignoring: you help the player get un-stuck without getting them to watch ads.

 

LOL.. then the whole point of integrating the ads will be lost.. We are talking about integrating the ads with less hassle to the players, which at the same time doesn't force them to watch the ads and also gives them a chance to watch it but get something in return. There are no limits within the game play, they can try as many times as they want. The ads is there to make the game easier...

There are even games with ads, that doesnt matter if u passed the level or not they show the ads.. I usually uninstall them right away..

 

There is another option. I provide a hint button. The player gets a hint. No ads. If you want to gamify it a bit then you give the player an extra star or an achievement for completing the game without hints.

So the exact same game experience can be made better by removing the ads.

Sure. Lately I've been playing Shooty Skies and Train Conductor World. Both games have forced interstitial ads.

 

@BoredMormon,

As I answered before the point of ads will be lost then.. The ads should fit within the game play. The examples which you provided are not popular games.. Just some casual thing. Bring an example from top developers. Look at Dead Target: Zombie for example.. how they've integrated the ads.. They did it the same way as I said over and over lol.. You should not force players to watch an ads.. this is not right way of doing it. We as developers, should not be greedy.. As you said at the beginning, it will ruin all game experience.

 

Which comes right back to:

Your example isn't better because there are ads in it. Your example is better because there is a help system in it. You're treating the help system and the ads as if they are the same thing, but they are not. There's two separate decisions here:
1. Should the game have a hint system?
2. Should the game have ads?

Both of those decisions are going to have flow on effects. Assuming that we go with your design - yes to a help system, yes to ads, and tie them together - then how is that going to effect other aspects of the game's design? It will definitely have some influence on game balancing and difficulty curve, as you've now tied this directly to your income stream - easy levels make no money.

 

In your proposed design how do your ads "fit within the gameplay"? My interpretation is "if you get stuck, then stop playing for 30 seconds and we'll help you afterwards".

Compare this to The Talos Principle, where if you get stuck in one type of puzzle you can go and do different types of puzzle to get hints. It's in theme, in character, in world, fits with the game concept, adds to immersion rather than breaking it...

 

Hate to break it to you. But mobile games are dominated by casual things. Casual is where most of the players and money are made in mobile.

I'm not arguing that reward ads only is a bad thing. Plenty of games do well off of that model, Crossy Road comes to mind. But it's not the only viable model. It might not even be the best model for something like your puzzle game.

Even with reward ads the experience of an ad is still jarring. Plus there are subtle changes to things like the difficulty curve to encourage players to take the reward. In either case, it's 30 seconds of players not doing what they actually want to do, which is play your game.

Anyway, I'm not sure I have much more to add to the conversation, you seem pretty set in your ways.

 

I did my best to show you an example of how the ads can be added to the game with less hassle to the players. But I believe you didn't get me. You talking about not having the ads, and I'm talking about how to have the ads but with less game play interruption. What would you feel if I would show the ads every 3 rounds anyway? Or when you open the game, to welcome the players with interstitial?

I agree with @BoredMormon, this conversion is pretty much over and nothing else can convince us to agree, but at some point the ugly integrated ads is worse anyway.. So, we have to try to minimize the game play effect from the ads as much as we can.. this is what I was talking about.

 

I think we just broke down in our communication. These two statements are functionally equivalent. I'm pretty sure we are simply using different vocabulary to describe the same concepts.

 

Thanks a lot.
I'll stick with UnityAds for this game

I'm so excited to get off work, so I can get home and do some serious development