Rewarded ads

Rewarded ads are a popular fullscreen ad format where users receive incentives for viewing ads.

The display of this ad type is activated by the user, for instance, to receive a bonus or additional life in a game.

High user motivation makes this ad format the most popular and profitable in free apps.

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

Prerequisite

1. Follow the SDK integration steps described under Quick start.
2. First, you need to initialize the advertising SDK.
3. 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 rewarded ads:

• Create and configure a RewardedAdLoader.
• Register the listener for ad load callback methods: RewardedAdLoadListener.
• Load the ad.
• Register a RewardedAdEventListener to listen for ad event callbacks.
• Display the RewardedAd object.
• Reward the user for viewing the ad.

Features of rewarded ad integration

1. All calls to Yandex Mobile Ads SDK methods must be made from the main thread.

2. 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.

3. We recommend maintaining a strong reference to the loader and ad throughout the lifecycle of the screen that hosts interactions with the ad.

4. We recommend using a single instance of RewardedAdLoader for all ad loads to improve performance.

Loading ads

To load rewarded ads, create and set up the RewardedAdLoader object.

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

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

To load an ad, you need the ad placement ID obtained in the Yandex Advertising Network 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(rewardedAd: RewardedAd) method), save the link to the loaded RewardedAd before its display is completed.

The following example shows how to load a rewarded ad from Activity:

class RewardedAdActivity : AppCompatActivity(R.layout.activity_rewarded_ad) {
    private var rewardedAd: RewardedAd? = null
    private var rewardedAdLoader: RewardedAdLoader? = null
    private lateinit var binding: ActivityRewardedAdBinding

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

        // Rewarded ads loading should occur after initialization of the SDK.
        // Initialize SDK as early as possible, for example in Application.onCreate or Activity.onCreate
        rewardedAdLoader = RewardedAdLoader(this).apply{
            setAdLoadListener(object : RewardedAdLoadListener{
                override fun onAdLoaded(ad: RewardedAd){
                    rewardedAd = 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.
                }
            })
        }
        loadRewardedAd()
    }

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

public class RewardedAdActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    @Nullable
    private RewardedAd mRewardedAd = null;
    @Nullable
    private RewardedAdLoader mRewardedAdLoader = null;
    private ActivityRewardedAdBinding mBinding;

    public RewardedAdActivity(){
        super(R.layout.activity_rewarded_ad);
    }

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

        // Ads loading should occur after initialization of the SDK.
        // Initialize SDK as early as possible, for example in Application.onCreate or Activity.onCreate
        mRewardedAdLoader = new RewardedAdLoader(this);
        mRewardedAdLoader.setAdLoadListener(new RewardedAdLoadListener(){
            @Override
            public void onAdLoaded(@NonNull final RewardedAd rewardedAd){
                mRewardedAd = rewardedAd;
                // 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.
            }
        });
        loadRewardedAd();
    }

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

Displaying ads

Rewarded advertising is an incentive-based ad format that allows the user to receive a reward for viewing the ad. These rewards may include extra lives or the ability to advance to the next level in a game. The reward format is determined by the app itself.

To track the rewarded ad lifecycle and issue rewards, set the RewardedAdEventListener callback method listener for the RewardedAd object.

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

private fun showAd() {
   rewardedAd?.apply{
       setAdEventListener(object : RewardedAdEventListener{
           override fun onAdShown(){
               // Called when ad is shown.
           }

           override fun onAdFailedToShow(adError: AdError){
           // Called when an RewardedAd failed to show

           // Clean resources after Ad failed to show
               rewardedAd?.setAdEventListener(null)
               rewardedAd = null

           // Now you can preload the next rewarded ad.
               loadRewardedAd()
           }

           override fun onAdDismissed(){
               // Called when ad is dismissed.
               // Clean resources after Ad dismissed
               rewardedAd?.setAdEventListener(null)
               rewardedAd = null

               // Now you can preload the next rewarded ad.
               loadRewardedAd()
           }

           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.
           }

           override fun onRewarded(reward: Reward){
               // Called when the user can be rewarded.
           }
       })
       show(this@Activity)
   }
}

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

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

                // Clean resources after Ad failed to show
              if (mRewardedAd != null){
                  mRewardedAd.setAdEventListener(null);
                  mRewardedAd = null;
              }

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

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

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

            @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.
            }

            @Override
            public void onRewarded(@NonNull final Reward reward){
                // Called when the user can be rewarded.
            }
        });
        mRewardedAd.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.

override fun onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy()
    rewardedAdLoader?.setAdLoadListener(null)
    rewardedAdLoader = null
    destroyRewardedAd()
}

private fun destroyRewardedAd(){
    rewardedAd?.setAdEventListener(null)
    rewardedAd = null
}

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

private void destroyRewardedAd(){
    if (mRewardedAd != null){
        mRewardedAd.setAdEventListener(null);
        mRewardedAd = null;
    }
}

Testing rewarded ad integration

Using demo ad units for ad testing

We recommend using test ads to test your rewarded 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-rewarded-yandex.

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

Testing ad integration

You can test your rewarded ad integration using the SDK's built-in analyzer.

The tool checks makes sure your rewarded 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 rewarded was integrated successfully

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

Additional resources

• Link to GitHub.