Jerry Nixon @Work: Mango Sample: Advertising

Jerry Nixon on Windows

Monday, December 12, 2011

Mango Sample: Advertising

imageThe Microsoft Advertising Pub Center will allow you to create two types of Advertisements. 1) 480x80 XX-Large banner ads, and 2) 300x50 X-Large banner ad.

1. PUBCENTER > APPLICATION(S)

First, register your Application at the Microsoft Advertising Pub Center web site – the Ad Control requires the Application Id.

Any web page, Windows Phone 7 application, Windows 8 application, or other published medium in the pubCenter system where advertisements can appear.

2. PUBCENTER > APPLICATION > AD UNIT(S)

Second, decide if you want more than one advertisement in your application. Register each advertisement location as an Ad Unit – the Ad Control also requires the Ad Unit Id.

An ad unit is the space in an application window where ads appear. Ad units can contain one or more ads.

During this process, you will be asked to choose a few IAB (International Advertising Bureau) categories that you think best represent the user base of your application.

You can also impact the format. Remember, you get paid for impressions and clicks, so choose wisely.

3. Use the AD CONTROL

Finally, put the Ad Control in your XAML (just drag it from the Tool Box). Then, put the Application Id into the Control, and the Ad Unit Id into the Control.

Note: the IsAutoRefreshEnabled property in the Ad Control enables automatic rotation of advertisements. This allows multiple ads during a single impression.

image

Be patient after pasting your ad code
You will not see ads (or changes you've made to existing code that you're re-publishing) for at least 5 minutes, and sometimes as long as 48 hours. Make sure to wait long enough to give the ads a full chance to appear.

Some More Details

  • Microsoft Advertising for Windows Phone 7 is only available in the U.S.
  • Only U.S.-based developers (or legal U.S. business entity) are supported
  • Developers using Microsoft Advertising are paid per impression.
  • No more than one advertisement may be displayed at any time.
  • You may not edit, resize, obscure, hide or reorder any advertising

Conclusion

In-application advertising gives developers opportunity to gain revenue from applications without having to sell the application. Create an account, an application, and an ad unit – then the ad control makes it easy to include advertising anywhere in your application.

Best of luck!