White Paper Ad SDK Integration for Mobile Game Publishers Media and Entertainment (M&E) Table of Contents 01 Executive Summary 01 Introduction 03 Solution Overview Executive Summary This paper discusses integration of Ad SDK in mobile advertising. It highlights integration and monetization of mobile game apps; which are built using Unity, ANE, Marmalade and Corona; through third-party Ad SDK. Introduction The mobile gaming industry is on the rise for ad networks manage the demand from their both gamers and publishers. The market share advertiser partners and some of them also source of mobile gaming stands at 16% of the total such demand from third-party ad networks. gaming revenue worldwide, which is estimated at €10.68 billion. In US, mobile gaming revenue The publisher partners need to integrate Ad is estimated at $3 billion. Game engines such SDK into their mobile app for enabling such ad as Unity and Unreal, rule the cross-platform and networks or exchanges to serve and place ads on mobile gaming and power some of the most the publishers’ app. popular games around the globe. The publishers also include game publishers With growing acceptance or mobile gaming, or developers who generally build their mobile more and more ad networks and ad exchanges gaming app on top of game engine platforms partner with various mobile app and game such as Unity, ANE, Corona, and Marmalade. publishers to offer them ad inventory. Many such 01 against online competitors due to deficiency in engaging the customers, not positioning business for digital acceptance, lesser adoption of technology, minimal innovative efforts towards building convergent (offline or online) client model, or overcoming the shortfall of legacy pain points by introducing new solutions. sure that customers can view what they are looking for conveniently Although there are many dimension of user experience, it can be broadly classified into the following aspects: • Usability aspect o Easy navigation on the website This whitepaper intends to overcome common on Ad SDK integration for the games developed challenges and understand changes that such using engines such as Unity, ANE, Marmalade, o Easy adaption to the website and game publishers will need to make in their SDK and Corona. quicker product search for seamless integration with any Ad SDK. This o Search relevance whitepaper also captures the details around Challenges that game publishers and developers implementation and integration of wrappers or face: o Placing and arrangement of products plug-ins that can be used by the game publishers o Product categorization to integrate with mobile Ad SDKs. • Game publishers build their game app using any of the previously listed game engines. o Value addition and usefulness of the What is a game engine? content • In order to monetize their ad inventory, o Consistency and visual clarity A game engine is a software framework designed developers need to integrate mobile ad for creating and developing games. Game network and ad exchange SDK or plug-ins • Sales aspect developers or publishers use them to create that are compatible to such game engines. o Customer assistance with product games for consoles, mobile devices, and personal • Game engines have partnership only selection process computers. Game engine technology is maturing with leading mobile ad networks and ad and becoming more user-friendly. Game exchanges leaving game publishers with very o Personalization Developers and Publishers are now being used limited options to monetize. for serious game experiences targeted towards o Recommendation—up-sale/cross sale multiple platforms including mobile devices and • Game publishers prefer integrating with their o Promotion/discount web browsers. existing partner ad network or ad exchange, but such partners may not offer Ad SDKs • Ability to purchase seamlessly While there are many other game engines which are compatible to the game engines. popular among mobile game developers and o Upfront cost breakup publishers, this whitepaper highlights solution o No hidden cost Global game engine market share 45% 17% 38% Unity Closest competitor Others Source: Unreleased McKinsey report 02 Unity: Solution Overview Unity is a flexible and powerful game development platform for creating multiplatform Technology as an enabler: 3D and 2D games and interactive experiences. Unity offers a complete ecosystem for anyone Technological evolution in mobility defines the who aims to build a business on creating high- best practices for integrating mobile ad networks end content and connecting to their most loyal or ad exchanges supporting varied ad formats and enthusiastic game players. Game publishers such as banner, interstitial, rich media, and video. and developers need to have Native plug-ins This section details the solution approach for included into their code to enable integration game developers and publishers on how they with partner Ad SDK. can update their SDK for ensuring monetization through ad integration and seamless integration Marmalade: of partner ad network with leading game engines such as Unity, Marmalade, Corona, and ANE. With Marmalade is a cross-platform game some customization and workarounds, the same development engine built around the belief that solution helps integration with generic OpenGL- developers should be free to innovate, create, based Android and iOS game engines as well. and craft fantastic content for any audience on any device without compromising on Unity: performance or creative vision. Game publishers and developers need to implement Marmalade In Unity, game publishers and developers EDK (Extensions Development Kit) into their code, normally use scripts to create functionality but which allows integration with partner Ad SDK. they can also include code created outside Unity in the form of a plug-in. Corona: There are two kinds of plug-ins available for use Corona’s extensive API library enables everything in Unity—Managed plug-ins and Native plug-ins. from animation to networking with just a few lines of code. Managed plug-ins are managed .NET assemblies created with tools such as Visual Studio or Whether you’re building games or business apps, MonoDevelop. They contain only .NET code, you can see changes instantly in the Corona which means that they can’t access any features Simulator and can iterate extremely quickly. that are not supported by the .NET libraries. Game publishers and developers need to develop However, managed code is accessible to the and integrate Native plug-in using library or standard .NET tools that Unity uses to compile service provider to enable integration with scripts. There is, thus, a little difference in usage Solution Overview partner Ad SDK. between managed plug-in code and Unity script code, except for the fact that the plug-ins are ANE: compiled outside Unity and so the source may not be available. Adobe AIR is by design cross-platform and device-independent, but AIR applications can Native plug-ins is platform-specific native code still access the capabilities and APIs of native libraries. They can access features such as OS platforms through AIR native extensions. A calls and third-party code libraries that would native extension enables you to use platform- otherwise not be available to Unity. However, specific features, reuse existing native libraries, these libraries are not accessible to Unity’s and achieve native-level speed for performance- tools in the way that managed libraries are. For sensitive code. Game publishers and developers example, if you forget to add a managed plug-in need to develop and integrate AIR Native file to the project, you will get standard compiler Extension (ANE) file to allow integration with partner Ad SDK. 03 error messages. If you do the same with a native plug-in, you will only see an error report when you try to run the project. Implement Compile and Package Generate unique User Unity 4.5 wrapper/plugin the Plugin Publisher ID (Managed/Native) (SDK Plugin.unitypackage) Navigate to Assets- Deploy on Android Select SDK Plugin. Open SDK in Unity Import Package- or iOS unity package Editor Custom Package • Prerequisite: Game publisher and developer o Import all of the files for the plug-ins by will need to have Native plug-ins included selecting Import. Make sure to check for into their code that is required to allow any conflicts with files integration with partner Ad SDK.o Easy navigation on the website o To deploy on Android: Android 3.2 or higher • Implementation Approach: o To deploy on iOS: Xcode 5.1 or above o Use Unity 4.5o Search relevance o Generate unique publisher ID or partner Marmalade: Ad SDK’s ad unit ID Marmalade lets publishers use familiar tools and o Implement a wrapper or plug-in a straightforward workflow to take their games (Managed plug-in or Native plug-in) and apps cross-platform. The Marmalade Hub is compatible wifth Unity intuitive and user-friendly GUI tool that acts as an interface to the functionality the SDK provides. o Compile and package the plug-in in SDKPlugin.unitypackage file Platform-specific APIs and extensions: • integration Approach: Marmalade provides support for platform- specific features such as in-app purchasing or o Open your SDK project in the Unity editor online gaming by using extra APIs that wrap o Navigate to Assets -> Import Package -> the native SDK functionality on each platform. Custom Package These APIs provide a simpler way of accessing such features and as a bonus will take care of the o Select the SDKPlugin.unitypackage