AR ads for Android developers

Overview

This guide covers implementation for AR ads in your Android game.

  • If you are a Unity developer using C#, click here.
  • If you are an iOS developer using Objective-C, click here.
  • Click here for the Java UnityAds API reference.

Guide contents

Implementation consists of four major steps:

  1. Configure your Project for Unity Ads.
  2. Configure your Project to access the device's camera permission settings.
  3. Create a Placement and associated script to receive and display AR content.
  4. Contact the Unity Ads team to enable AR ads for your Project.

Configuring your Project for Unity Ads

To implement AR ads, you must integrate Unity Ads in your game. To do so, follow the steps in the basic ads integration guide that detail the following:

Once your game is configured for Unity Ads, proceed to configuring the camera permission settings.

Setting camera permissions

AR ads require access to the device’s camera. You can configure the Unity Ads SDK to handle this permission query.

  1. Add the following to your game’s Android Manifest (see the AndroidManifest.xml file included in UnityAdsARConfigManifest.zip for reference):
// Manifest level
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
// Application level
<meta-data android:name="com.google.ar.core" android:value="optional" />
  1. Add the ARCore library as a dependency in your game’s build configuration file (build.gradle):
dependencies {
    ...
    implementation 'com.google.ar:core:1.4.0'
}

If you get an error when trying to build, ensure that your Project's build configuration file references Google's Maven repository:

allprojects {
    repositories {
        google ()
        …
    }
}

Implementation

Creating a dedicated AR Placement

Placements are triggered events within your game that display monetization content. Manage Placements from the Operate tab of the Developer Dashboard by selecting your Project, then selecting Monetization > Placements from the left navigation bar. The dashboard does not currently support enabling AR content. Instead, configure a Placement that you will not use for other content, using an easily identifiable Placement ID (for example, ‘arPlacement’). In the final setup step, you will contact Unity to enable AR content for that Placement.

Click the ADD PLACEMENT button to bring up the Placement creation prompt. Name your Placement and select the desired type.

Modifying your Placement script

Follow the steps in the basic integration guide for initializing the SDK. You must intialize Unity Ads before displaying a banner ad.

In the script for the dedicated AR Placement, implement the following logic:

  • Check for available AR content to fill your dedicated AR Placement.
    • If yes, show content from the AR Placement.
    • If no, show ad or Promo content from another Placement.

Script examples

The following example uses the UnityAds API (recommended) to show an AR ad:

String arPlacementId = "arPlacement";
String interstitialPlacementId = "video";

if (UnityAds.isReady (arPlacementId)) {
    UnityAds.show (self, arPlacementId);
} else if (UnityAds.isReady (interstitialPlacementId)) { 
    UnityAds.show (self, interstitialPlacementId);
}

Alternatively, the following example uses the UnityMonetization API to retrieve a PlacementContent object and show an AR ad:

protected void showAdIfReady() {
    PlacementContent arPlacement = UnityMonetization.getPlacementContent ("arPlacement");

    if (arPlacement instanceof ShowAdPlacementContent && arPlacement.isReady ()) {
        ((ShowAdPlacementContent) arPlacement).show (thisActivity, new ShowAdListenerAdapter () {
            @Override
            public void onAdStarted (String placementId) {
                Log.d ("UnityAds", "Starting AR ad!");
            }

            @Override
            public void onAdFinished (String placementId, UnityAds.FinishState withState) {
                Log.d ("UnityAds", "Finished an AR ad with state - " + withState);
            }
        });
    } else {
        PlacementContent interstitialPlacement = UnityMonetization.getPlacementContent ("video");


        if (interstitialPlacement instanceof ShowAdPlacementContent && interstitialPlacement.isReady ()) {
            ((ShowAdPlacementContent) interstitialPlacement).show (thisActivity, new ShowAdListenerAdapter () {
                @Override
                public void onAdStarted (String placementId) {
                    Log.d ("UnityAds", "Starting an interstitial ad!");
                }

                @Override
                public void onAdFinished (String placementId, UnityAds.FinishState withState) {
                    Log.d ("UnityAds", "Finished an interstitial ad with state - " + withState);
                }
            });
        }
    }
}

Unity recommends reviewing the complete documentation for basic ads integration to better understand the methods used in these examples, including callback handlers.

Note: If your script already decides between multiple Placements, ensure that the dedicated AR Placement handling executes first.

(Optional) Adjust surface tracking

Depending on the user's behavior while engaged with AR ad content, your game's surface tracking may be off. This can result in objects floating in mid-air or inside surfaces. As such, we recommend adding a custom handler for AR ads.

Rebuild your game

Your game should now be ready to receive AR content upon enabling it (see below).

Enabling AR content through Unity

Contact Unity to enable AR content, providing the following information:

  • Your Project ID
  • The Placement ID for your dedicated AR Placement

Testing

Please note that because AR content is loaded directly from our servers, AR ads only work in production mode, not test mode. The AR campaigns for integration testing may not reflect the final quality of the AR content.

For testing purposes, use the following Game ID and Placement ID combinations:

Platform Game ID Placement ID
iOS 1234567 arPlacement
Android 7654321 arPlacement

Remember to revert the test Game ID and Placement IDs to real production IDs before publishing your game.

What's next?

View documentation for Personalized Placements to let machine learning power your monetization strategy.