In this article we will explain to you the reasons for ads not displaying in mobile apps. My team was developing a mobile app and admob ads were not showing up in production.
When we tested the mobile app in the test, ads were showing up. But not sure why all of a sudden ads were not appearing in production.
Well, we debugged the code and identified the solution in our case. We did not initialize the admob code properly.
We discussed this issue with our known adsense publishers. Apart from Admob code initialization there could be other reasons also.
Let us discuss all the reasons one by one.
Basically, there are 3 areas which you need to validate if admob ads are not showing up for you.
Set up issues may cause Admob ads not to display
If you have signed up recently for Admobs, you need to wait for at least 24 hours. Similar to normal Adsense accounts, Admob also takes at least 24 hours to start showing ads.
In some cases it may take up to 2 weeks also. So do not panic if ads are not showing up.
Actually, Admob needs some time to analyze your mobile application.
Admob ads not showing in case of newly created mobile app
In case your app is newly created and published, it will take some time.
Newly created app needs to pass multiple checks for both android and ios platform.
For Android apps it takes an hour to start showing Admob ads. Moreover as stated earlier, in some cases it may take 2 weeks.
In the case of iOS apps, Admob ads start showing once they appear in the iOS app store.
So to become confident about your app, please run test ads in your app. Once test ads worked then publish your app after placing live ads.
Here is a good guide to enable Admob test ads.
Technical Errors
You need to initialize the Admob ad serving object properly. There are chances your developer makes mistakes.
In this case please read the Admob setup guide properly. Here is a well documented guide for Admob setup.
Here you can find some well explained examples on github.
Integration example for Android application.
Integration example for iOS application.
In case your ads are working properly, Admob will serve ads. In case ads are not showing up or not able to display, you will receive an error code.
These error codes contain a lot of information to debug your issue. You can solve it by analysing the codes.
In case you need more help when your Admob ads are not showing up. Please feel free to ask questions in the Admob community.
Mediation issues for ads not showing up
App developers may try multiple ad companies. You can use Admob or any other third party ads.
In both cases you need to set up mediation properly. Because mediation set up helps you to fill ads in the app.
Here is a well documented guide to set up mediation in your app.
Policy Issues
This is the last but very important point. You must follow all the Google ads policies properly.
Similar to Adsense, Admob policies need to be completed. Similarly your app should have pages for privacy policy, terms and conditions and disclaimer.
You can see our website sitenol.com pages for more knowledge. We also recommend reading the Google privacy policy guide explicitly.
Failing to maintain privacy policies may stop showing your ads in mobile apps. You must address Google’s GDPR & COPPA policies.
Google is very strict about these policies.
Apart from that you must fill in the APK submission file. This will help to comply with the policies.
Moreover, last but not the least you should create an ads.txt file for your app. It helps advertisers to understand the publisher account who is hosting their ads.
Payment Details may cause not display Admob ads
Once you got approval from Admob. First thing you should do to complete your payment and additional tax details.
Failing to do so may cause your ads not working. Please read our guide for Google Additional tax information.
Conclusion
Finally you know the reasons for not showing Admob ads. Please follow the above guide and check your mobile app.
In case you are still looking for any help, please drop a message to us. Our team will reply to you.
Thanks!
