Interstitial ads

Interstitial ads are full-screen ads that cover the interface of their host app. They're typically displayed at natural transition points in the flow of an app, such as between activities or during the pause between levels in a game. When an app shows an interstitial ad, the user has the choice to either tap on the ad and continue to its destination or close it and return to the app.

This guide explains how to integrate interstitial ads into an Android app.

Prerequisites

Complete the Get started guide.

Always test with test ads

When building and testing your apps, make sure you use test ads rather than live, production ads. Failure to do so can lead to suspension of your account.

The easiest way to load test ads is to use our dedicated test ad unit ID for Android interstitials:

/21775744923/example/interstitial

It's been specially configured to return test ads for every request, and you're free to use it in your own apps while coding, testing, and debugging. Just make sure you replace it with your own ad unit ID before publishing your app.

For more information about how Next Gen Mobile Ads SDK test ads work, see Test Ads.

Load an ad

To load an interstitial ad, call the InterstitialAd static load() method and pass in an AdLoadCallback<InterstitialAd> to receive the loaded ad or any possible errors.

Warning: Before loading ads, you must initialize Next Gen Mobile Ads SDK.

Kotlin

import com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.common.AdLoadCallback
import com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.common.AdRequest
import com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.common.FullScreenContentError
import com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.common.LoadAdError
import com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.interstitial.InterstitialAd
import com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.interstitial.InterstitialAdEventCallback
import com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.MobileAds

class InterstitialActivity : Activity() {
  private var interstitialAd: InterstitialAd? = null

  override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)

    // Load ads after you initialize Next Gen Mobile Ads SDK.
    InterstitialAd.load(
      AdRequest.Builder(AD_UNIT_ID).build(),
      object : AdLoadCallback<InterstitialAd> {
        override fun onAdLoaded(ad: InterstitialAd) {
          // Interstitial ad loaded.
          interstitialAd = ad
        }

        override fun onAdFailedToLoad(adError: LoadAdError) {
          // Interstitial ad failed to load.
          interstitialAd = null
        }
      },
    )
  }

  companion object {
    // Sample interstitial ad unit ID.
    const val AD_UNIT_ID = "/21775744923/example/interstitial"
  }
}

Java

import com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.common.AdLoadCallback;
import com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.common.AdRequest;
import com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.common.FullScreenContentError;
import com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.common.LoadAdError;
import com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.interstitial.InterstitialAd;
import com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.interstitial.InterstitialAdEventCallback;
import com.google.android.libraries.ads.mobile.sdk.MobileAds;

class InterstitialActivity extends Activity {
  // Sample interstitial ad unit ID.
  private static final String AD_UNIT_ID = "/21775744923/example/interstitial";
  private InterstitialAd interstitialAd;

  @Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    // Load ads after you initialize Next Gen Mobile Ads SDK.
    InterstitialAd.load(
        new AdRequest.Builder(AD_UNIT_ID).build(),
        new AdLoadCallback<InterstitialAd>() {
          @Override
          public void onAdLoaded(@NonNull InterstitialAd interstitialAd) {
            // Interstitial ad loaded.
            AdLoadCallback.super.onAdLoaded(interstitialAd);
            InterstitialActivity.this.interstitialAd = interstitialAd;
          }

          @Override
          public void onAdFailedToLoad(@NonNull LoadAdError adError) {
            // Interstitial ad failed to load.
            AdLoadCallback.super.onAdFailedToLoad(adError);
            interstitialAd = null;
          }
        }
    );
  }
}

Set the InterstitialAdEventCallback

The InterstitialAdEventCallback handles events related to displaying your InterstitialAd. Before showing the interstitial ad, make sure to set the callback:

Kotlin

// Listen for ad events.
interstitialAd?.adEventCallback =
  object : InterstitialAdEventCallback {
    override fun onAdShowedFullScreenContent() {
      // Interstitial ad did show.
    }

    override fun onAdDismissedFullScreenContent() {
      // Interstitial ad did dismiss.
      interstitialAd = null
    }

    override fun onAdFailedToShowFullScreenContent(
      fullScreenContentError: FullScreenContentError
    ) {
      // Interstitial ad failed to show.
      interstitialAd = null
    }

    override fun onAdImpression() {
      // Interstitial ad did record an impression.
    }

    override fun onAdClicked() {
      // Interstitial ad did record a click.
    }
  }

Java

// Listen for ad events.
interstitialAd.setAdEventCallback(
    new InterstitialAdEventCallback() {
      @Override
      public void onAdShowedFullScreenContent() {
        // Interstitial ad did show.
        InterstitialAdEventCallback.super.onAdShowedFullScreenContent();
      }

      @Override
      public void onAdDismissedFullScreenContent() {
        // Interstitial ad did dismiss.
        InterstitialAdEventCallback.super.onAdDismissedFullScreenContent();
        interstitialAd = null;
      }

      @Override
      public void onAdFailedToShowFullScreenContent(
          @NonNull FullScreenContentError fullScreenContentError) {
        // Interstitial ad failed to show.
        InterstitialAdEventCallback.super.onAdFailedToShowFullScreenContent(
            fullScreenContentError);
        initerstitialAd = null;
      }

      @Override
      public void onAdImpression() {
        // Interstitial ad did record an impression.
        InterstitialAdEventCallback.super.onAdImpression();
      }

      @Override
      public void onAdClicked() {
        // Interstitial ad did record a click.
        InterstitialAdEventCallback.super.onAdClicked();
      }
    }
);

Show the ad

To show an interstitial ad, use the show() method.

Kotlin

// Show the ad.
interstitialAd?.show(this@InterstitialActivity)

Java

// Show the ad.
interstitialAd.show(InterstitialActivity.this);

Some best practices

Consider whether interstitial ads are the right type of ad for your app.

Interstitial ads work best in apps with natural transition points. The conclusion of a task within an app, like sharing an image or completing a game level, creates such a point. Make sure you consider at which points in your app's workflow you'll display interstitial ads and how the user is likely to respond.

Remember to pause the action when displaying an interstitial ad.

There are a number of different types of interstitial ads: text, image, video, and more. It's important to make sure that when your app displays an interstitial ad, it also suspends its use of some resources to allow the ad to take advantage of them. For example, when you make the call to display an interstitial ad, be sure to pause any audio output being produced by your app.

Allow for adequate loading time.

Just as it's important to make sure you display interstitial ads at an appropriate time, it's also important to make sure the user doesn't have to wait for them to load. Loading the ad in advance by calling load() before you intend to call show() can ensure that your app has a fully loaded interstitial ad at the ready when the time comes to display one.

Don't flood the user with ads.

While increasing the frequency of interstitial ads in your app might seem like a great way to increase revenue, it can also degrade the user experience and lower clickthrough rates. Make sure that users aren't so frequently interrupted that they're no longer able to enjoy the use of your app.

Example

Download and run the example app that demonstrates the use of the Next Gen Mobile Ads SDK.