December 23, 2024 Updates to AdMob’s app setup process
Starting January 2025, all new AdMob apps must comply with updated setup guidelines, including implementing app-ads.txt to prevent ad disruptions. In order to maintain the integrity of our publisher ecosystem, we will require AdMob publishers to verify ownership of any new apps added to your AdMob account.
If you already have a property formatted app-ads.txt file at the time you add a new app to AdMob, your app-ads.txt status will be verified automatically if you list the same developer URL in the app store.
What happens if I don’t verify ownership of my app(s)?
Apps that are not verified will face limited ad serving, which may negatively impact your revenue. Please be prepared to complete this process for any new apps created beginning January 2025.
Are there any other benefits to app ownership verification?
You’ll begin to receive relevant communications such as Policy center notifications for all authorized apps listed in your app-ads.txt file, even if they’re linked to different AdMob accounts.
Does this requirement also apply to existing apps?
Eventually, we will require all AdMob apps (existing and new) to pass ownership verification. Before we expand the process to existing apps created before January 2025, we will inform you and provide a grace period to reach compliance. We encourage you to get ahead of this change by implementing app-ads.txt for all of your AdMob apps today.
October 21, 2024 US tax form resubmission for publishers who provided a W-8 tax form in 2021
Every few years, publishers that provided a W-8 tax form may need to resubmit their US tax forms in AdMob to make sure their tax information is correct. Refreshing your tax information will allow Google to apply the correct withholding rate to your earnings (where applicable) and ensure timely payments are made.
W-8 tax forms submitted in 2021 will expire on December 31, 2024 (note that W-9 tax forms do not expire).
To figure out if this applies to you, you can reference your current active tax form by following these steps:
- Sign in to your AdMob account at https://admob.google.com.
- Click Payments in the sidebar.
- In the "Settings" section, click Manage settings.
- Scroll to "Payments profile" and click edit
next to "United States tax info".
- Click Manage tax info.
- Check the United States tax card.
- PDF versions will be listed under "Tax forms and withholding (WHT) rates".
next to "United States tax info".Learn more about submitting your US tax info to Google.
September 30, 2024 Download the TCF error report to troubleshoot your certified CMP coverage
We’ve introduced two new error types to the TCF error report to help you troubleshoot your certified CMP coverage:
- Error 9.1: A TCF CMP is present on the request, but it is not certified by Google.
- Error 10.1: We received a request from the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, but it lacks TCF signals.
To resolve either of these errors if they appear in your TCF error report, review the CMP with whom you're working to ensure it is certified by Google.
September 9, 2024 Update to Google’s approach to transatlantic data flows
As of 16 September 2024, when our clients and partners use Google’s Ads Services, Google, in certain circumstances, will rely on the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework for the transfer of personal information from Switzerland and the UK, respectively, to the U.S. Google has relied, in certain circumstances, on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework for the transfer of personal information to the U.S since 1 September 2023. No action is required from you in order to rely on these new frameworks.
August 13, 2024 [Important notice] Russia-based AdMob accounts will be deactivated
At this time, we are deactivating all Russia-based AdMob accounts. This means you will not be able to monetize with any AdMob accounts based in Russia. This follows several measures we've taken since 2022, including the suspension of ad serving in Russia.
Your July earnings will be disbursed around 21–26 of August, assuming you have no active payment holds and meet the minimum payment thresholds.
Within 60 days, we will attempt to disburse any remaining balance in your account, if you have met the cancellation threshold and have no payment holds.
Please contact Support if you need further assistance.
August 12, 2024 Metric naming updates in your User Activity Report
We’ve updated the names and tooltips for metrics calculated from Daily active users (DAU) and Daily ad viewers (DAV) to improve brevity and clarity when interpreting these metrics in contexts where data is not aggregated by date.
Moving forward, Daily active users (DAU) and Daily ad viewers (DAV) will be called Active users (AU) and Ad viewers (AV). Metrics calculated from DAU and DAV will also have updated names and tooltips. Learn more about using your user activity report.
Impacted metrics:
| Old metric name | New metric name | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Active Users | Active users (AU) | The number of unique users who have opened the app. Active users is sometimes known as DAU (daily active users) when aggregated by date. |
| Daily Ad Viewers | Ad viewers (AV) | The number of unique users who have viewed ads. Ad viewers is sometimes known as DAV (daily ad viewers) when aggregated by date. |
| DAV % | Ad viewer rate |
The percent of active users who have viewed ads. It’s calculated by:
|
| Ad Earnings / DAV | Ads ARPV |
The average revenue per viewer (ARPV) from ad revenue. It’s calculated by:
|
| Overall Earnings / DAU | Overall ARPU |
The average revenue per user (ARPU) from ads and in-app purchases (IAP), subscriptions (including renewals), and e-commerce purchases. It’s calculated by:
ARPU is sometimes known as ARPDAU (average revenue per daily active user) when aggregated by date. Note: To view IAP data for your Android apps, you must:
|
| Impressions / DAU | Imps / AU |
The average number of ads seen by an active user. It’s calculated by:
This is sometimes known as ad density or ad load. |
| Impressions / DAV | Imps / AV |
The average number of ads seen by an ad viewer. It’s calculated by:
|
| Impressions / Sessions | Imps / Sessions |
The average number of impressions shown during each session. It’s calculated by:
|
| Sessions / DAU | Sessions / AU |
The average number of sessions per active user. It’s calculated by:
A session is counted when the app is in the foreground of the device. The session ends when the app is moved to the background or after 30 minutes of user inactivity. |