Integrating ironSource with Mediation

This guide is intended for publishers who want to use the Google Mobile Ads SDK to load and display ads from ironSource through mediation. It covers how to add ironSource to an ad unit's mediation configuration, how to set up ad network optimization, and how to integrate the ironSource SDK and adapter into your iOS app.

Supported formats and features

The AdMob mediation adapter for ironSource has the following capabilities:

Formats
Banners
Interstitials
Rewarded Video
Rewarded Video (new APIs)
Native Advanced
Features
Smart Banners
Ad Network Optimization (ANO)

Requirements

• Xcode 9.2 or higher
• iOS Deployment target of 8.0 or higher
• Google Mobile Ads SDK 7.42.2 or higher

Step 1: Set up ironSource

Sign up and sign in to your ironSource account.

To add your application to the ironSource dashboard, click the New App button.

Enter app details

Select Mobile App, enter the App Store URL of your app, and click Import App Info. Once your app information is displayed, click the Add App button.

If your app is not available, select App Not Live in the Application Store and provide a Temporary Name for your app. Select iOS as platform and click Add App.

Take note of your new App Key, which is displayed after the app has been added. You will need this value for setting up your AdMob ad unit ID. Select the ad formats your app supports in the appropriate Live tabs. Then click Done.

Instance ID

Next, configure a network instance for the app you added; ironSource supports multiple network instances for rewarded video and interstitial ads.

Navigate to the Ad Units & Placements page from the left nav, select your app in the APPLICATIONS list and click the Edit button.

Select the Add Network Instance link, enter an Instance Name, and click Save.

Note: IronSource limits you to creating a maximum number of Instance IDs. If you receive an error saying you are not able to create more Instance IDs, contact the IronSource support team for assistance.

Once the instance is created, the Instance ID is listed in the Instance Id field.

In addition to the App Key and Instance ID, you'll also need your ironSource User Name and Secret Key to set up your AdMob ad unit ID.

Navigate to My Account in your ironSource publisher dashboard to locate your User Name.

Then click the Reporting API tab and take note of your Secret Key.

Step 2: Configure mediation settings for your AdMob ad unit

To add ironSource to the mediation configuration for your ad unit, first sign in to your AdMob account.

Next, navigate to the Mediation tab. If you have an existing mediation group you'd like to modify, click the name of that mediation group to edit it, and skip ahead to Add ironSource as an ad source.

To create a new mediation group, select Create Mediation Group.

Enter your ad format and platform, then click Continue.

Give your mediation group a name and select locations to target. Next, set the mediation group status to Enabled and click Add Ad Units.

Associate this mediation group with one or more of your existing AdMob ad units. Then click Done.

You should now see the ad units card populated with the ad units you selected as shown below:

Add ironSource as an ad source

In the Ad Sources card, select Add Ad Network. Then select ironSource.

Next, enable the Optimize feature, then enter the User Name  and Secret Key obtained in previous section to set up ANO for ironSource. Then enter an eCPM value and click Continue.

Enter the App Key and Instance ID obtained in the previous section.

Note: Ad network optimization takes a few days to gather data to accurately calculate eCPM for a mediation network. In the meantime, the ANO status will be PENDING, so you must manually set an eCPM value for the network. Once the eCPM can be calculated, ANO will automatically start updating the eCPM on your behalf.

Using rewarded video ads

In the settings for your rewarded video ad unit, provide values for the reward amount and reward type. Then, to ensure you provide the same reward to the user no matter which ad network is served, check the Apply to all networks in Mediation groups box.

If you don't apply this setting, the ironSource adapter passes back the reward specified in the ironSource dashboard when creating the placement.

For more information on setting reward values for AdMob ad units, see Create an ad unit.

Step 3: Import the ironSource SDK and adapter

Using CocoaPods (recommended)

• Add the following line to your project's Podfile:

  pod 'GoogleMobileAdsMediationIronSource'
  

• From the command line run:

  pod install --repo-update

Manual integration

• Download the latest version of the ironSource iOS SDK and link IronSource.framework in your project.

• Download the latest version of the IronSourceAdapter and link IronSourceAdapter.framework in your project.

Step 4: Additional code required

No additional code is required for ironSource iOS integration.

Step 5: Test your implementation

To enable test ads on ironSource, run your ads integrated app and check the logs for a message that looks like this:

This is the Advertising ID of your test device. Copy it to the clipboard.

Navigate to the MONETIZE tab and click the Testing button. Next, click the New Test Device button.

Enter the Device Name and Advertising ID (from the previous step). Then click Save.

The newly added test device is listed under TEST DEVICES. You can activate or deactivate Test Ads in this module as required.

Optional steps

EU consent and GDPR

Under the Google EU User Consent Policy, you must ensure that certain disclosures are given to, and consents obtained from, users in the European Economic Area (EEA) regarding the use of device identifiers and personal data. This policy reflects the requirements of the EU ePrivacy Directive and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). When seeking consent, you must identify each ad network in your mediation chain that may collect, receive, or use personal data and provide information about each network's use. Google currently is unable to pass the user's consent choice to such networks automatically.

The section below shows you how to enable or disable personalized ads for ironSource.

In SDK version 6.7.9, ironSource added a consent API. The following sample code sets consent to YES on the ironSource SDK. If you choose to call this method, it is recommended that you do so prior to requesting ads via the Google Mobile Ads SDK.

#import <IronSource/IronSource.h>
...

[IronSource setConsent:YES];

See ironSource's managing consent documentation for more details.