Banner Ads

Banner ads occupy a spot within an app's layout, either at the top or bottom of the device screen. They stay on screen while users are interacting with the app, and can refresh automatically after a certain period of time. If you're new to mobile advertising, they're a great place to start. Case study.

This guide shows you how to integrate banner ads from AdMob into an Android app. In addition to code snippets and instructions, it also includes information about sizing banners properly and links to additional resources.

Prerequisites

• Import the Google Mobile Ads SDK, either by itself or as part of Firebase.

Add AdView to the layout

The first step toward displaying a banner is to place AdView in the layout for the Activity or Fragment in which you'd like to display it. The easiest way to do this is to add one to the corresponding XML layout file. Here's an example that shows an activity's AdView:

# main_activity.xml
...
  <com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView
      xmlns:ads="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
      android:id="@+id/adView"
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
      android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
      ads:adSize="BANNER"
      ads:adUnitId="ca-app-pub-3940256099942544/6300978111">
  </com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView>
...

Note the following required attributes:

• ads:adSize - Set this to the ad size you'd like to use. If you don't want to use the standard size defined by the constant, you can set a custom size instead. See the banner size section below for details.
• ads:adUnitId - Set this to the unique identifier given to the ad unit in your app where ads are to be displayed. If you show banner ads in different activities, each would require an ad unit.

You can alternatively create AdView programmatically:

Java

AdView adView = new AdView(this);

adView.setAdSize(AdSize.BANNER);

adView.setAdUnitId("ca-app-pub-3940256099942544/6300978111");
// TODO: Add adView to your view hierarchy.

Kotlin

val adView = AdView(this)

adView.adSize = AdSize.BANNER

adView.adUnitId = "ca-app-pub-3940256099942544/6300978111"
// TODO: Add adView to your view hierarchy.

Warning: Make sure you set the ad size and ad unit ID in the same manner (i.e. set both in XML or both programmatically).

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 banners:

ca-app-pub-3940256099942544/6300978111

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 the Mobile Ads SDK's test ads work, see Test Ads.

Load an ad

Note: Make all calls to the Mobile Ads SDK on the main thread.

Once the AdView is in place, the next step is to load an ad. That's done with the loadAd() method in the AdView class. It takes an AdRequest parameter, which holds runtime information (such as targeting info) about a single ad request.

Here's an example that shows how to load an ad in the onCreate() method of an Activity:

MainActivity (excerpt)

Java

package ...

import ...
import com.google.android.gms.ads.AdRequest;
import com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    private AdView mAdView;

    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        MobileAds.initialize(this, new OnInitializationCompleteListener() {
            @Override
            public void onInitializationComplete(InitializationStatus initializationStatus) {
            }
        });

        mAdView = findViewById(R.id.adView);
        AdRequest adRequest = new AdRequest.Builder().build();
        mAdView.loadAd(adRequest);
    }
}

Kotlin

package ...

import ...
import com.google.android.gms.ads.AdRequest
import com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    lateinit var mAdView : AdView

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        MobileAds.initialize(this) {}

        mAdView = findViewById(R.id.adView)
        val adRequest = AdRequest.Builder().build()
        mAdView.loadAd(adRequest)
    }
}

Note: If your ad fails to load, you don't need to explicitly request another one as long as you've configured your ad unit to refresh; the Google Mobile Ads SDK respects any refresh rate you specified in the AdMob UI. If you haven't enabled refresh, you will need to issue a new request.

That's it! Your app is now ready to display banner ads.

Ad events

To further customize the behavior of your ad, you can hook onto a number of events in the ad's lifecycle: loading, opening, closing, and so on. You can listen for these events through the AdListener class.

To use an AdListener with AdView, call the setAdListener() method:

Java

mAdView.setAdListener(new AdListener() {
    @Override
    public void onAdLoaded() {
        // Code to be executed when an ad finishes loading.
    }

    @Override
    public void onAdFailedToLoad(LoadAdError adError) {
        // Code to be executed when an ad request fails.
    }

    @Override
    public void onAdOpened() {
        // Code to be executed when an ad opens an overlay that
        // covers the screen.
    }

    @Override
    public void onAdClicked() {
        // Code to be executed when the user clicks on an ad.
    }

    @Override
    public void onAdClosed() {
        // Code to be executed when the user is about to return
        // to the app after tapping on an ad.
    }
});

Kotlin

mAdView.adListener = object: AdListener() {
    override fun onAdLoaded() {
        // Code to be executed when an ad finishes loading.
    }

    override fun onAdFailedToLoad(adError : LoadAdError) {
        // Code to be executed when an ad request fails.
    }

    override fun onAdOpened() {
        // Code to be executed when an ad opens an overlay that
        // covers the screen.
    }

    override fun onAdClicked() {
        // Code to be executed when the user clicks on an ad.
    }

    override fun onAdClosed() {
        // Code to be executed when the user is about to return
        // to the app after tapping on an ad.
    }
}

Each of the overridable methods in AdListener corresponds to an event in the lifecycle of an ad.

Overridable methods
onAdLoaded()	The onAdLoaded() method is executed when an ad has finished loading. If you want to delay adding the AdView to your activity or fragment until you're sure an ad will be loaded, for example, you can do so here.
onAdFailedToLoad()	The onAdFailedToLoad() method is the only one that includes a parameter. The error parameter of type LoadAdError describes what error occurred. For more information, refer to the Debugging Ad Load Errors documentation.
onAdOpened()	This method is invoked when the user taps on an ad.
onAdClosed()	When a user returns to the app after viewing an ad's destination URL, this method is invoked. Your app can use it to resume suspended activities or perform any other work necessary to make itself ready for interaction. Refer to the AdMob AdListener example for an implementation of the ad listener methods in the Android API Demo app.

Banner sizes

Note: The size of the container in which you place your ad must be at least as big as the banner. If your container has padding, that effectively decreases the size of your container. In the event that the container cannot fit the banner ad, the banner will not appear, and you will get this warning in the logs:

W/Ads: Not enough space to show ad. Needs 320x50 dp, but only has 288x495 dp.

The table below lists the standard banner sizes.

Size in dp (WxH)	Description	Availability	AdSize constant
320x50	Banner	Phones and Tablets	BANNER
320x100	Large Banner	Phones and Tablets	LARGE_BANNER
300x250	IAB Medium Rectangle	Phones and Tablets	MEDIUM_RECTANGLE
468x60	IAB Full-Size Banner	Tablets	FULL_BANNER
728x90	IAB Leaderboard	Tablets	LEADERBOARD
Provided width x Adaptive height	Adaptive banner	Phones and Tablets	N/A
Screen width x 32|50|90	Smart banner	Phones and Tablets	SMART_BANNER
Learn more about Adaptive Banners, intended to replace Smart Banners.

To define a custom banner size, set your desired AdSize, as shown here:

Java

AdSize adSize = new AdSize(300, 50);

Kotlin

val adSize = AdSize(300, 50)

Hardware acceleration for video ads

In order for video ads to show successfully in your banner ad views, hardware acceleration must be enabled.

Hardware acceleration is enabled by default, but some apps may choose to disable it. If this applies to your app, we recommend enabling hardware acceleration for Activity classes that use ads.

Enabling hardware acceleration

If your app does not behave properly with hardware acceleration turned on globally, you can control it for individual activities as well. To enable or disable hardware acceleration, you can use the android:hardwareAccelerated attribute for the <application> and <activity> elements in your AndroidManifest.xml. The following example enables hardware acceleration for the entire app but disables it for one activity:

<application android:hardwareAccelerated="true">
    <!-- For activities that use ads, hardwareAcceleration should be true. -->
    <activity android:hardwareAccelerated="true" />
    <!-- For activities that don't use ads, hardwareAcceleration can be false. -->
    <activity android:hardwareAccelerated="false" />
</application>

See the HW acceleration guide for more information about options for controlling hardware acceleration. Note that individual ad views cannot be enabled for hardware acceleration if the Activity is disabled, so the Activity itself must have hardware acceleration enabled.

Additional resources

Samples on GitHub

• Minimal implementation of banner ads example: Java | Kotlin

• Advanced features demo: Java | Kotlin

• Banner RecyclerView sample app: Java

Mobile Ads Garage video tutorials

• Banner Implementation
• Banner Best Practices

Success stories

• Sample use case