Technical Specifications

Open source SDK

MoPub’s client code is hosted on GitHub in the mopub-client project. As app developers, we were frustrated with the fact that most ad networks required a separate SDK binary integration and constant updates to get the latest features. That’s why we came up with the “low footprint”, source level approach. Integrate a single set of source files directly into your app and easily stay up-to-date using Git.

Footprint

The MoPub SDK allows you to selectively include support for third-party ad network libraries, ensuring that your app’s binary is no larger than it needs to be. Many popular ad networks are supported without any external SDK integration whatsoever.

Transparency

Because our source is readily available, you can see exactly what information is sent to MoPub on every ad request — no need for Wireshark. If you experience any issues, you can file and track them directly on our GitHub page. Contributions and pull requests are always welcome!

Customization

If you want to customize the visual presentation of your ads, the MoPub source can be a great starting point. Feel free to extend and enhance the way that MoPub loads ads, displays them to the user, or caches creatives for performance.

Dive in!

Head on over to the MoPub GitHub to get started. The client wiki has up-to-date instructions on how to integrate our iOS and Android SDKs into your application.

 

Conversion tracking

Performance advertisers are by definition interested in ads that perform well by driving conversions. On the web, performance advertising has flourished thanks to sophisticated tracking tools called cookies that allow advertisers to measure exactly how much revenue they are generating from each ad dollar they spend. On mobile, cookies don’t function the same way. As a result, performance advertisers have had a hard time measuring the effectiveness of their ad spend on mobile platforms.

MoPub’s flexible conversion tracking features allow the advertisers  you work with to accurately measure their results and work with you to optimize their campaigns.

How it works

Conversions can be measured and tracked at the creative level. Each creative rolls up to an associated ad group and campaign, incrementing the conversion counts on each of these objects.

At this time, we only support one type of conversion for a given campaign and do not differentiate between multiple conversion types. Installations of apps are the only types of conversions that we currently recognize, although we intend to extend this concept to account for in app purchases and other transactional activities.

For each conversion event that is reported, we search for clicks from the given device ID. The conversion is matched to a potential generating click by matching the conversion’s application ID or conversion event ID to that of the creative that generated the click.

Metrics that matter

The following campaign metrics will be displayed for campaigns that have conversions:

  • Conversions
  • Conversion % (Conversions divided by Clicks)
  • Cost / Conversion

These two columns will be shown for campaigns, ad groups and creatives.

How to integrate with your application

The MoPub SDK contains methods to report conversions back to MoPub.  It needs to be integrated in apps that will be running cost-per-install or cross-promotional campaigns before those campaigns are run.

MoPub also needs to handle the serving, display and click-through of the ad. This is so that the conversion can be referenced back to the originating click.