Introduction

Note

As of February 14, 2024 Card Games (including real money gambling) categories use the IAB9-7 bcat value. All DSPs are expected to honor this publisher-specific category block.

AppLovin RTB supports the OpenRTB 2.5 API on ad requests from apps that MAX mediates. This document describes the OpenRTB integration with AppLovin for SDK bidders and DSPs. It also details feature differences between the OpenRTB 2.5 spec and the AppLovin RTB spec.

Note

Non-consent and do-not-sell flags passed by publishers to AppLovin in applicable regions are honored, and related user data will not be sent in the bid stream.

Protocol Details

Bid Requests

AppLovin RTB buyers receive bid requests in HTTP POST format. AppLovin recommends that you use HTTP so as to avoid latency.

HTTP Keep-Alive

AppLovin RTB buyers should enable persistent connection handling. Set max keep-alive to at least five minutes.

Compressed/gzip oRTB

AppLovin RTB requires compression for efficiency. Adhere to OpenRTB API Specification version 2.5, section 2.4: Data Encoding.

Bid Regions

The AppLovin RTB servers cover four geographical regions:

• ASIA-PACIFIC: Hong Kong, Tokyo
• EUROPE: Amsterdam
• US-EAST: New York, Washington
• US-WEST: San Francisco, San Jose

Endpoints

DSP buyers and SDK bidders can specify up to one endpoint per region. All requests from the respective region are routed to that endpoint.

Supported Ad Formats

AppLovin RTB supports mobile in-app ads only. It does not support desktop or web ad serving. The ad formats AppLovin RTB supports are banners, medium rectangles (MRECs), native ads, interstitials, and rewarded ads.

Acceptable MIME types include:

Ad Format	MIME Type
MRAID, HTML, MREC	text/html
Native ads	image/png, image/jpeg, image/gif
VAST	video/mp4

Acceptable MRAID and VAST versions include those in the following list. However, there are limitations. For example, AppLovin RTB does not support calendar API events from MRAID.

• MRAID 1.0
• MRAID 2.0
• MRAID 3.0
• VAST 2.0
• VAST 3.0
• VAST 4.0
• VAST 4.1
• VAST 4.2

There is additional information further down on this page concerning MRAID, native ads, and VAST support.

Supported Ad Sizes

AppLovin RTB supports the following ad sizes:

Object	Sizes
Banner object (HTML, MRAID)	320×50 728×90 (Leader) 300×250 (MREC)
Fullscreen object (HTML, MRAID)	320×480 480×320 768×1024 (Portrait) 1024×768 (Landscape)
Native object	specific instructions below
Video object (VAST)	320×480 480×320 768×1024 1024×768 1920×1080 (Connected TV)

Exchange Currency

AppLovin RTB Exchange supports only USD. It ignores the currency attribute cur.

Auction Type

MAX auction runs on a first-price basis. AppLovin expects bidders to pay the CPM amount they bid in full.

Blocked Creative Types

AppLovin RTB blocks the following creative types:

• Adobe Flash
• Audio Ad (Auto-Play)
• Audio Ad (User Initiated)
• Expandable (User Initiated—Rollover)
• Pop (e.g. Over, Under, or Upon Exit)
• Provocative or Suggestive Imagery
• Windows Dialog or Alert Style

If the publisher does not support playable ads, then AppLovin RTB also blocks the following creative types:

• Expandable (Automatic) [only for non-banner/MREC]
• Expandable (User Initiated—Click) [only for non-banner/MREC]
• User Interactive (e.g. Embedded Games)

Blocked Categories

AppLovin RTB blocks the following IAB categories:

• IAB8-5 (Cocktails/Beer)
• IAB8-18 (Wine)
• IAB11-4 (Politics)
• IAB25 (Non-Standard Content)
• IAB26 (Illegal Content)

Blocked Ad Types

AppLovin RTB blocks the following ad types:

• flash
• iframe
• XHTML Text Ad