HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 9-4.
The communication between application and ad server through an SDK
In Figure
9-4
, you can see that the application content will make a request to the ad server through the SDK.
Once the ad server understands what application is making the ad request, it returns the appropriate ad content
through the SDK. So, you may be thinking that there has to be a standard way of doing this, right? Well, to answer your
question, the answer is both yes and no. Currently, there are many different publisher ad servers as well as SDKs in
the mobile in-app landscape, and in the following sections, you'll take a closer look at some of the more popular ones
that you'll deal with when developing for in-app campaigns.
Apple's iAd
One of the more popular in-application ad networks is Apple's own iAd platform (
http://advertising.apple.com
).
The Apple iAd platform allows developers to obtain revenue through banner and rich full-screen advertisements,
where Apple sells the advertising space within your application and delivers the ads via its network to fill the ad slots.
Application developers can then earn income when users view (
impressions
) or interact (
activities
) with the ads that
are displayed in the application.
Introduced to iOS developers and advertisers in version 4.0 of the OS, the Apple iAd platform used to come with
an extremely large price tag of $1 million per advertising campaign but has since come down significantly because of
the lack of initial participants. To use Apple's iAd platform, you must become an Apple developer and iAd Network
member, and only then can the application publisher or developer control the ads that get served into the apps. With
iAd, developers can use free tools from Apple such as the iAd Producer, which allows for a clean interface for building
iOS ads quickly. In addition, since the ads are built for iOS and Apple devices such as the iPhone and iPad, developers
can take advantage of some really amazing in-app features such as the following:
•
Download an app or iTunes content in the background
•
Add a reminder directly to the calendar app
•
Compose and send branded e-mails from within an ad, using their contact list
•
Experience immersive 3D graphics with WebGL support (more on WebGL in Chapter
12)
•
View in-line audio and video in a custom frame
•
Save coupons, barcodes, recipes, or branded wallpaper
•
Find nearby stores using geolocation
