Getting started
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This guide shows you how to start monetizing your mobile app with MAX, in seven easy steps. It incorporates best practices that help you automate daily tasks and maximize revenue.
To get started with MAX, you need an AppLovin account. After AppLovin creates your account, complete the authentication process so you can access MAX features.
AppLovin may need to approve your account before you can complete the account setup.
AppLovin pays you directly for impressions served from the AppLovin Exchange or Axon’s Ads Manager. Establish your payment information in the Account > Payments > Info section of the AppLovin dashboard.
If you have questions about establishing payment or tax forms, review the AppLovin monetization payment FAQ.
Add your website domain to the Domain section in Account > General > Basic Info.
Include only the root domain (for example mywebsite.com) in this field.
This domain is the same one that you use in your app store listing and is where you host your app-ads.txt file.
This allows advertisers to find and validate your app-ads.txt file.
Learn more at the app-ads.txt information page in this documentation.
To create an ad unit, select MAX > Mediation > Manage > Ad Units in the AppLovin dashboard.
To add your app, first choose the platform (Android, Fire OS, or iOS).
Next, enter your app’s name and app store ID in the input box. If your app is live in an app store, its information appears in the dropdown. This allows you to select it.
If your app is not yet live, you can manually add it to MAX. To do this, click Manually Add Your Package Name, then type in your app’s package name. Use the same capitalization that you use in your app code.
After you add your app, add your ad unit. Do this by selecting a format and giving your ad unit a name. AppLovin strongly recommends that you use a single ad unit ID for each format in an app. This ensures an ad is always cached and avoids unnecessary app/user bandwidth usage.
After you add your ad unit, you see the networks available for your waterfall. If you are establishing your account for the first time, bypass this for now; you can build the waterfall later. If you already monetize with MAX, skip to Step 6 to learn how to configure the waterfall.
You need your ad unit ID for the integration process. You can find it on the Ad Units page.
MAX supports many networks across bidding and traditional connections. Custom options allow you to work with unsupported networks also. Before you integrate a network, you must create an account with that network and register your app and ad unit, and the network must approve you to serve ads.
Read the specific Integration instructions for your platform (SDK integration guides > Platform > Overview > Integration). These platform-specific instructions show you how to do the following:
[COMPONENT: SDKKey]
To mediate supported ad networks through MAX, download the networks’ SDKs directly from the networks and follow their integration instructions. You can find network adapters, supported SDK versions, and further instructions for each platform on the Preparing Mediated Networks page for your platform.
You can mediate unsupported networks by means of a custom SDK connection. Because such networks are not officially supported, AppLovin cannot troubleshoot issues you have with them. Work directly with the network to build network adapters by following the instructions at the Integrating custom SDK networks page. Test them thoroughly to ensure they work as expected.
After you integrate the AppLovin SDK and your networks, you can validate your integration. Do this before you release your app. MAX has developer-friendly testing tools to help you test and launch.
The demo app shows you how to integrate MAX into your mobile apps. You can use the demo app code as a blueprint for your integration.
You also can integrate network SDKs into the demo app. Then you can monitor the callbacks that MAX makes to the app. These notify you of events for each ad format. This monitoring helps you verify that you completed the integration.
Use Test Mode along with the demo app when you load and show ads during your testing process.
Learn more at the MAX Demo App documentation page for your platform (SDK integration guides > Platform > Testing networks > MAX demo app).
Mediation Debugger is an AppLovin SDK feature. It validates and displays the status of all ad networks that MAX mediates. Use it with test ads or with live ads to check if your network is integrated. Do this to test your integrations before you release your app.
You can incorporate this feature into your debug builds or into live apps. This helps your QA team to confirm integration or to identify issues.
Learn more on the Mediation Debugger documentation page for your platform (SDK integration guides > Platform > Testing networks > Mediation Debugger).
You can use Test Mode to verify that specific ad networks are integrated. Test Mode increases the likelihood that you receive ad fill during testing.
For more information, see the Test Mode section in the SDK Integration Guide for your platform (SDK integration guides > Platform > Testing networks > Test mode).
Creative Debugger captures ad creative details for AppLovin and your other ad networks. It allows you to report problematic ads to MAX. AppLovin recommends that you incorporate Creative Debugger into your test environments, QA processes, and support ticket systems. This lets you identify and report problematic ads.
Learn more at the Creative Debugger documentation page for your platform (SDK integration guides > Platform > Testing networks > Creative Debugger).
Use this quick checklist to validate your MAX integration before you launch your app:
Set relevant privacy flags before you start requesting ads.
To learn more about privacy flags, see SDK integration guides > Platform > Overview > Privacy.
Establish a listener for the AppLovin SDK “initialized” event before you initialize the SDK. Set the SDK key and initialize the MAX SDK as soon as your app launches.
To learn more about the initialization process, see SDK integration guides > Platform > Overview > Integration.
After you initialize the AppLovin SDK, start loading ads for interstitial and rewarded ad formats. This gives you time to catch the winning bid before you show an ad.
To learn more about interstitial and rewarded ads, see SDK integration guides > Platform > Ad formats > Interstitial ads and SDK integration guides > Platform > Ad formats > Rewarded ads.
When an interstitial or rewarded ad fails to load or fails to display, retry with exponentially higher delays up to a maximum delay. If you fail to implement this retry logic, you may miss impression opportunities and may lower revenue.
To see sample code with this retry logic, see SDK integration guides > Platform > Ad formats > Interstitial ads and SDK integration guides > Platform > Ad formats > Rewarded ads.
When a user dismisses an interstitial or rewarded ad, load the next ad immediately. If you fail to implement this step, you may miss impression opportunities and may lower revenue.
To see sample code with this loading logic, see SDK integration guides > Platform > Ad formats > Interstitial ads and SDK integration guides > Platform > Ad formats > Rewarded ads.
To optimize performance, always keep the banner unit on screen. This results in higher CPMs and better user experience. MAX controls the refresh rate to give you optimal results. If you hide the banner behind content, networks will invalidate impressions because of their viewability rules.
To learn more about banners and MRECs, see SDK integration guides > Platform > Ad formats > Banner & MREC ads.
If you do not use MAX Unity Integration Manager, review SDK integration guides > Platform > Preparing mediated networks and use the Mediation Debugger feature to verify that you have all the necessary configurations for each network.
If you cannot get ads from the AppLovin SDK, review these common causes and troubleshooting options:
After you validate your integration, return to the MAX Dashboard and connect your networks. This allows you to pull in network data for real-time bidding for supported bidding networks, and CPM updating for most supported traditional networks.
Select MAX > Mediation > Manage > Networks in the AppLovin dashboard. Connect all the networks that you want to mediate. Then click Connect, enter the requested network credentials or API key, and click Save.
The status icon is a green checkmark when you successfully connect the network. The icon is red or yellow if you must take further action.
AppLovin demand is enabled by default.
To integrate a custom SDK network, scroll to the bottom of the Networks page and click Click here to add a Custom Network. Then add your network tag or adapter class name. Custom networks are not eligible for in-app bidding or auto-CPM.
You still must activate your networks in your ad unit waterfall. The next section explains that process.
Learn more at the Enable networks documentation page.
Configure a waterfall for each ad unit. Both bidding and traditional networks compete by the highest CPM to serve an impression. This competition maximizes your revenue; it ensures you are paid the most money for each ad opportunity.
[COMPONENT: DefaultWaterfall]
To configure your default waterfall, select MAX > Mediation > Manage > Ad Units in the AppLovin dashboard, select an ad unit, then scroll down to the Default Waterfall. The default waterfall includes all supported networks, categorized either as Bidder Networks or Other (traditionally-mediated) Networks. Enable a network only if you integrated its SDK and connected it to MAX.
Advanced MAX users can also establish custom waterfalls. These allow you to use advanced targeting and waterfall segmentation to filter ads to specific audiences. For example, you can use custom waterfalls to tailor monetization for users who have Limit Ad Tracking (LAT) enabled or for high-value users with strong ad engagement. Traffic that is ineligible for your custom waterfalls continues to use the default waterfall configuration.
Learn more about how to use advanced targeting and waterfall segmentation at the Waterfall management and cloning documentation page.
To create a custom waterfall, click Create New Waterfall at the top of the Default Waterfall. Name your custom waterfall and select its device targeting (if applicable).
MAX copies your network configurations from the default waterfall as the basis for your custom waterfall. You can then customize them.
app-ads.txt file.
To learn more about how to configure app-ads.txt, see the IAB supply chain validation documentation.Several tools and reports are available in the Analyze section of MAX. These help you analyze performance. You can download reports directly from the MAX dashboard, or you can schedule MAX to email them to you on a regular basis.
AppLovin also offers reporting APIs for MAX revenue and user-level data. You can integrate these with your MMP of choice. To learn more, read the revenue reporting API documentation.
All MAX dashboard reports allow you to save reporting views so you can retrieve them later. A best practice when you save reports is to use preset time periods instead of using a custom date range to populate most recent data.
With the reports’ Compare Mode you can compare current performance against historical data and can visualize trends.
Use Performance Reporting to understand revenue performance at a glance. These charts help you visualize revenue trends and to identify areas that help or hinder growth. For deeper analysis, try using Advanced Reporting or User Activity Reporting.
Advanced reporting gives you deeper insights into your app inventory. You might use this report to analyze the performance of your waterfall and find opportunities such as new or optimized pricing in a certain country. Or you might use it to see which networks are under-performing and which you could remove. You can save this report. You can also schedule MAX to email it to you and others on a regular basis.
You can add columns to the reports by clicking the checkmark next to a report filter or by adding a value in the filter field. Depending on the combination of filters you include in the report, you see different metrics populate.
Here are ways you can look at Advanced Reporting:
Ad inventory performance : Add Application, Ad Unit Name, and Ad Type to view ad inventory performance. This includes total impressions, revenue, and display rate (the percentage of times a cached ad displays).
Network performance : Add Network to the report to view network performance by ad unit. In addition to top-level metrics like impressions and CPM, you see two new metrics: fill rate and win rate. Fill rate shows how often a network can fill an ad. Win rate is how often a bidding network wins an auction against other bidding networks.
Waterfall performance : Add Waterfall to your report and filter to one ad unit name to view the performance of any active waterfalls for an ad unit. Add Country to the report for a more granular view. Use this view to analyze waterfall performance and identify opportunities to improve yield.
Use the User activity report to understand ad engagement for each ad format. You can track the number of daily active users, ARPDAU, and impressions users see. This tool is ideal for anyone who doesn’t have a MMP to connect to the MAX user revenue reporting API.
The Default Waterfall is your primary waterfall for monetization. After you establish your ad partners, MAX automates waterfall management through a combination of in-app bidding and CPM updating.
You can find your SDK key in the Account > General > Keys section of the AppLovin dashboard.
Review AppLovin’s account best practices. This way you can ensure your account setup complies with AppLovin’s policies. This reduces the risk of disruption to your ad serving.
AppLovin is not part of the Families Self Certified Ads SDK Program. According to Google if you design your app for children or it includes children:
You can find more information on the Privacy page for your platform.
If you need help to create a network account, review the mediated network guides.
If you encounter issues with your integration that MAX testing tools don’t address, contact your account team or submit a ticket to the AppLovin Support Team. Please include the demo app implementation, the MAX SDK’s verbose logs, and your Mediation Debugger screenshot.
AppLovin does not track impressions, clicks, or revenue for test ads. Use test ads only to test your app integration.
If you mediate a network SDK that you previously used for mediation (for example, if you transition from Google bidding and Google AdMob Mediation to MAX-mediated Google bidding and Google AdMob), create a new application ID or delete active Mediation Groups. If you reuse a mediator’s app ID this will cause crashes and discrepancies.
If you want to manage your waterfall programmatically, review the ad unit management API documentation.