Glossary

Active users (metric)

The number of active users over the selected date range. Appears in the User metrics card of your app overview dashboard.

Ad exposure (metric)

A calculation of the amount of time users are shown or "exposed" to ads in your app. Appears in the User metrics card of your app overview dashboard. 

Calculated as the total ad exposure time over the selected date range divided by the total engagement over the selected date range.

Ad

An ad is an advertisement served from an ad network or other ad source and shown in the ad units you've created in your apps.

The ad formats you select when creating your ad units determine which ad types may appear in your apps. You can block certain categories of ads from being shown to your app's users and review the ads they've seen.

Ad request

When your app requests ads to be displayed. An ad request is counted each time a request is sent, even if no ads are returned and/or when house ads are shown.

Ad type

When you select the ad types for an ad unit, you're selecting the kinds of ads you want to allow it to show users. When the ad unit requests an ad from AdMob, it can only receive an ad that matches one of its assigned ad types.

• Text, image & rich media: Text, image, HTML5 / rich media ads. Could be text only, static images, animated images (.GIF), or rich media (such as interactive ads).
• Video: Ads with video and audio content.Video ads that appear in banner ad units always start muted. Users can unmute the ad if desired using the mute button provided by Google.
  • Ad pods: Use ad pods for rewarded video ads. Ad pods serve 2 back-to-back videos during a single impression.
• Interactive: Ads with an interactive element, such as a playable ad or a survey.

The ad types available to an ad unit depend on the ad format you selected when creating it.

Select the available ad types for your ad units

1. Click Apps in the sidebar.
2. Select the name of the app associated with the ad unit you want to edit. Note: If you can't find it in the list of recent apps, you can click All apps, then click the name of the app.
3. Click Ad units in the sidebar.
4. Click the name of the ad unit.
5. Check all of the Ad type checkboxes.

   Ad type	Text
   	Image
   	Video

6. Click Save, and repeat these steps for your other apps.

Ad review center

AdMob feature that lets you review individual ads and choose whether to let them show on your apps. Learn more

Ad unit

A set of ads displayed as a result of one piece of the AdMob ad code. You can create and customize an ad unit in your AdMob account. You can name your ad units and manage their settings in your account.

Ad units are containers you place in your apps to show ads to users. Ad units send ad requests to AdMob, then display the ads they receive to fill the request. When you create an ad unit, you assign it an ad format and ad.

Learn more about ad units, ad formats, & ad types.

Ad unit ID

The unique identifier for an ad unit. When you implement a new ad unit in your app, you'll reference the ad unit ID to tell ad networks where to send ads when they're requested. You can find the ad unit ID of an app in the app's ad units table.

Ad format

A label assigned to an ad unit when it's created to determine the types of ads it can show and how they display in your app.

AdMob supports the following ad formats: banner, interstitial, rewarded, native and app open.

Learn more about ad formats and ad types

Ad network

An advertising network that you can use to serve ads to your app when you set up mediation. These may include third-party ad networks and the AdMob Network. Some ad networks can be optimized to automatically make adjust their eCPM based on historical data.

Review the list of ad networks available for mediation

Review the list of ad networks that support optimization

AdSense

AdSense is a Google product that provides a way for website owners to earn money from their online content. AdSense works by matching text and display ads to sites based on their content and visitors. The ads are created and paid for by advertisers who want to promote their products.

Because AdMob relies on AdSense to support some of its functionality, an AdSense account is required to use AdMob.

• If you don't have an AdSense account, we'll help you create one when you sign up for AdMob.
• If you already have an AdSense account, sign up for AdMob using the Google Account associated with your existing AdSense account.

AdSense customer ID

The "AdSense customer ID" is a unique numerical ID that's assigned to every AdSense account. To find your AdSense customer ID in your AdMob account, click Settings in the sidebar, then click the Account tab.

Google Ads

Google Ads is Google's online advertising program. Using Google Ads, users can create online ads to promote their business, help sell products or services, raise awareness, and increase traffic to their website.

Ads created in Google Ads may also be served by the AdMob Network and appear in mobile apps. 

Linking an existing or new Google Ads account allows you to create campaigns in AdMob. You can create house ad campaigns to cross-promote your apps or set up direct sold campaigns to sell ad inventory to an advertiser.

Learn more about Google Ads:

• Link your Google Ads account
• About AdMob campaigns

Google Ads customer ID

Your Google Ads customer ID is a unique number that's assigned to each Google Ads account.

To find your Google Ads customer ID:

1. Sign in to your AdMob account at https://admob.google.com.
2. Click Settings in the sidebar.
3. Click the Account tab.

App ID

The unique ID assigned to your app. You'll need to integrate the app ID into your app's source code to use certain features in AdMob.

Learn more about finding your app ID 

Integration instructions:

• Integrate an Android app ID
• Integrate an iOS app ID

ARPPU (metric)

Average revenue per paying user (ARPPU). Revenue is the sum of estimated ecommerce_purchase and in_app_purchase event values from Google Analytics for Firebase. Appears in the User metrics card of your app overview dashboard.

ARPU (metric)

Average revenue per user (ARPU). Revenue is the sum of estimated AdMob Network earnings, ecommerce_purchase, and in_app_purchase event values from Google Analytics for Firebase. Appears in the User metrics card of your app overview dashboard.

Automatic refresh rate

Determines how often a new ad impression is generated. Learn more about automatic refresh rate.

Average session duration (metric)

Total engagement over the selected date range divided by the number of sessions. Appears in the User metrics card of your app overview dashboard.

Campaign

A group of ads with the same budget, location targeting, and other settings. Your AdMob account can have one or many campaigns running.

Card

A visual element used to separate the information on dashboards into smaller related groups. Many cards contain drop-down filters and links to extended reports and help center content.

Example cards:

Click

The total number of times users click or tap on ads shown on your app.

Why it matters: Clicks can help you understand how well an ad appeals to people who see it. If you know how many people are clicking or tapping an ad relative to how many impressions were served, you can gauge the success of the ad.

Click-through rate (CTR)

The number of times users click on ads shown on your app divided by the number of times ads are shown on your app.

Conversion Optimizer

AdMob feature that predicts which clicks are likely to be valuable, then changes your bids to help you get as many profitable clicks as possible. Learn more

Cost-per-click (CPC)

The cost-per-click (CPC) is the amount an advertiser pays for each click on their ads for performance-based campaigns set up with a goal of number of clicks. Advertisers set CPC bids to tell AdMob how much they're willing to pay for each click.

Cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM)

Advertisers running CPM ads set their desired price per 1000 ads served and pay each time their ad appears.

As a publisher, you'll earn revenue each time a CPM ad is served to your app and viewed by a user. CPM ads compete against cost-per-click (CPC) ads in our ad auction. We'll display whichever ad is expected to earn more revenue for you.

Custom event

A feature that allows you to serve ads from a network or ad server that isn't supported by AdMob Mediation. Learn more.

Destination URL

The URL that AdMob will direct users to when they click this ad. This URL needs to point to an app store or to a third-party tracking URL that will redirect users to an app store.

Supported app stores include:

• android.myapp.com
• apk.hiapk.com
• apps.microsoft.com
• itunes.apple.com
• play.google.com
• amazon.com
• anzhi.com
• appchina.com
• wandoujia.com
• windowsphone.com
• zhushou.360.cn

Dimension

The categories or groups that you're reporting across. They define how you group your data and how you organize your reports. For example, you might want to track your account performance over time, across countries, or across mobile platforms.

Display URL

The page address that appears with your ad, typically shown in green text.

eCPM

Effective cost per thousand impressions. eCPM is an estimate of the revenue you receive for every thousand ad impressions. eCPM is calculated as (Total Earnings / Impressions) x 1000.

Estimated earnings

Your account balance for the time period selected. This amount is an estimate that is subject to change when your earnings are verified for accuracy at the end of every month.

How custom events are factored into estimated earnings

Estimated earnings include earnings from custom events using the manual eCPM value entered during setup.

AdMob will estimate custom event earnings using the following formula:

Custom event 1 est. earnings = (Manual eCPM for custom event 1  * Number of impressions for custom event 1) / 1000

Show rate

The percentage of returned ads that were displayed in the app to the user. It's calculated by dividing impressions by matched requests:

Impressions / Matched requests

For example, if the total number of Matched requests is 80, but your app only shows 60 of these, then the app’s Show rate will be 75%.

To view the show rate for each ad network, select Ad source in the Dimensions field at the top of your AdMob Network report.

Frequency capping

Frequency capping lets you limit the number of times ads appear to the same person. When you set a frequency cap, you specify a limit to the number of impressions you'll allow in a specified time period for an individual user. You can set a frequency cap for campaigns, apps, and ad units.

Google Account

A Google-wide username and password that can be used to access various products, including AdMob. Your Google Account also contains information that applies across products, such as your preferred language and some privacy settings.

If you created an AdMob account or have signed in to access any Google product, then you've created a Google Account. You can view and change the information in your Google Account at any time by signing in at google.com/accounts.

Learn more about creating a Google Account.

House ad

An ad that promotes one of your own apps. House ads can only be shown in the ad units you've created in your own apps.

Learn more about AdMob campaigns

Image ad

Graphical ads offered in several ad formats.

Impression goal

The target number of impressions that a campaign will serve. Learn more about AdMob campaigns

Impression goal campaign

A house ad campaign that will serve a target number of impressions for free using your own inventory. Learn more about AdMob campaigns.

Impressions

An impression is counted when one or more pixels of the ad creative is visible on a device's screen.

Interstitial ad

A full page ad experience at natural transition points such as a page change, an app launch, or a game level load.

Interstitials use a close button that removes the ad from the user's experience. Ads are displayed in an iFrame that floats over the web page or app.

Learn more about interstitial ad guidance.

Mediation

AdMob feature that lets you serve ads to your apps from multiple sources, including the AdMob Network, third-party ad networks, house ad campaigns, and custom events. Mediation helps maximize your fill rate and increase your monetization by sending ad requests to multiple networks to ensure you find the best available ad network to serve ads.

Learn more

Mediation stack

The list or ranking of ad networks in AdMob Mediation. The eCPM value determines the order of the ad network to serve ads. The ad network with the highest eCPM value is served first.

Personal identification number (PIN)

To verify the accuracy of your account information, we will mail a personal identification number (PIN) to your payment address. You'll then be required to enter this PIN in your account before you can get paid.

Learn more about address verification.

Publisher ID

The unique identifier for your AdMob account. You can find the publisher ID by clicking Settings in the sidebar. Then, click the Account tab. Learn more

Requests

RPM

Revenue per 1,000 impressions (RPM). RPM represents the estimated earnings you'd accrue for every 1,000 impressions you receive. RPM doesn't represent how much you have actually earned; rather, it's calculated by dividing your estimated earnings by the number of impressions you received, then multiplying by 1,000.

Self-hold

A setting that lets you temporarily prevent payments from being sent to you. When you set a self-hold, your ads will continue to appear and your earnings will continue to accrue as normal. You can remove a self-hold on your payments at any time to reinitiate payments. Learn more

Text ad

An ad that typically includes a title that's a clickable link and one or two lines of text.

Limited ad serving

Limited ad serving means Google has placed a limit on the number of ads your AdMob account can show. Learn more about ad serving limits.

Match rate

The percentage of ad requests that received a response from an ad source. It’s calculated by: 

Matched requests / Requests

Ad response ID

The Ad Response ID is the value in the responseIdentifier field, which is the unique identifier of an ad response. The responseIdentifier field is available for an ad or a mediation response.

The Ad Response ID can be used to identify and block an ad in the Ad review center in Ad Manager and AdMob.

Ad Response IDs are available to review in the Ad review center for 30 days.

Learn more about how to retrieve the Ad Response ID on the Google Developers site for Android and iOS. 

Package name (for Android apps)

The package name of an Android app uniquely identifies your app on a device.

When you set up an app in AdMob, your AdMob app will use the same package name as your Google Play Store app if you link the app to the Play Store. If your app shares the same package name in other third-party stores, make sure you also select those stores when setting up your app in AdMob. If you use a different package name for the app on other Android stores, we recommend you create a separate AdMob app for each.

Find an app's package name

Google Play Store

You can find an app's package name in the URL of your app's Google Play Store listing. For example, the URL of an app page is play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.example.app123. The app's package name is com.example.app123.

Other supported Android stores

For these stores, the package name can be found in the AndroidManifest.xml file of the Android app APK. For some stores, such as Amazon, the app ID is not the same as the package name.

For additional help finding your app's package name, refer to your third-party app store's documentation.

Learn more about package names.

Change your app's package name in AdMob

When you set up an app in AdMob, you must add a package name. Package names are critical for ad serving. If you need to change your app's package name after you enter it, you can update it from the "App settings" page:

1. Sign in to your AdMob account at https://admob.google.com.
2. Click Apps in the sidebar.
3. Select the name of the app. 
4. Click App settings. 
5. In the App store details section, click to edit .
   1. Click Clear store details. 
   2. If your app is listed in Google Play, search for your app by app name, developer name, app ID, or app URL. Click Add next to the app you want to add. The package name will be automatically populated. Note: Select any other third-party stores your app is listed in before saving. 
   3. If your app is only listed in supported third-party stores (not in Google Play), select the third-party stores. Click Edit and enter the package name. Then, click Apply.
6. Click Save. Note that changing the store or package name may prompt an app readiness review and temporarily limit ad serving in the app.
7. Click Confirm. 

Store ID

The store ID of an iOS app uniquely identifies your app in the Apple App Store.

You can find an app's store ID in the URL of your app’s Apple App Store listing. For example, the URL of an app page is apps.apple.com/us/app/example/id000000000. The app's store ID is 000000000.

Learn more about finding your app store URL.

Changing your app’s Store ID in AdMob

When you set up an app in AdMob, you must add a Store ID. Store IDs are critical for ad serving. If you need to change your app’s Store ID after you enter it, you can update it from the App settings page: 

1. Sign in to your AdMob account at https://admob.google.com.
2. Click Apps in the sidebar.
3. Select the name of the app. 
4. Click App settings. 
5. In the App store details section, click .
   1. Click Clear store details. 
   2. Search for your app by app name, developer name, app ID, or app URL. Click Add next to the app you want to add. The Store ID will be automatically populated.
6. Click Save. Note that changing the store or package name may prompt an app readiness review and temporarily limit ad serving in the app.
7. Click Confirm. 

API

An application programming interface, or API, is an interface that a computer application or system can use to access a set of third party functions or programs. 

Learn more about the AdMob API.

Ad source page

The ad source page of your account is where you can set up an ad source or view available bidding ad sources. There are 2 tabs for each type of ad source: bidding or waterfall. To get to your ad source page, sign into your AdMob account and click Mediation in the sidebar. Then, click the Waterfall sources tab or the Bidding sources tab.

Mediation group ID

A mediation group ID is a unique ID number assigned to each of your mediation groups when they're created in AdMob.

Find a mediation group ID

1. Sign in to your AdMob account at https://admob.google.com.
2. Click Mediation in the sidebar.
3. In the mediation groups table, click the name of the mediation group to view its mediation group ID.

Matched requests

The number of ads returned by an ad source in response to ad requests. Not all matched requests result in an impression.

Bidding ad sources

For bidding ad sources, matched requests is the number of times an ad source wins the bidding auction and the waterfall (if applicable), and returns an ad to the app.

Waterfall ad sources

For waterfall ad sources, matched requests is the number of times an ad source is called in the mediation waterfall and returns an ad to the app.

Partner bidding ad units 

When using the partner bidding ready-made report, the definition of matched requests is the number of times Google wins the Google bidding auction, your third-party bidding auction, and third-party waterfall (if applicable), and returns an ad to the app.

Because matched requests are calculated differently for partner bidding ad units, you may notice a drop in match rate and an increase in show rate on your reports. This does not affect your ad revenue.

Third-party

When we use the term “third-party” in Google’s documentation, we mean any ad source or mediation platform that is external to Google.

Google demand

Google demand includes demand from Google Ads and Display & Video 360. You'll see this as "Google (Google Ads, Display & Video 360)" in your AdMob account. In other platforms, you may see this as Google bidding.

Ad unit serving type

Ad unit serving type is important to understand if you use a third-party mediation platform in addition to or instead of AdMob. There are two ad unit serving types: Standard or Partner bidding. 

• Standard: Ad units set up for waterfall mediation or bidding in an AdMob mediation group (includes demand from AdMob Network and third-party sources). Standard ad units can also be for waterfall meditation on a third-party mediation platform (AdMob Network demand only) or you can use them in AdMob without using mediation.
• Partner bidding: Ad units set up for bidding on a third-party mediation platform (Google demand only).

Learn more about ad unit serving type

Interactions

The main user action associated with an ad format, including clicks and engagements.

Engagements

The number of times a user engages with your ad.

An engagement occurs when a user engages with an ad (for example, watching a video ad for at least 10 seconds). Engagements can help you understand how well your ad is performing.