Introduction into LunarAds

Hello everyone, I would like to first take a moment to thank Corona for the space to allow us to share with other Corona developers, what some have already found - LunarAds.

What is LunarAds?
LunarAds is a place where Corona developers can monetize their apps, cross promote their apps, and monitor traffic to their apps - all in one very easy to use SDK build specifically for Corona users.

How do I sign up?
http://lunarads.com/signup - it’s free!

How do I install the Corona SDK?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw-qmbTCH1g

Drag the lunar.lua file into your project which you can get here https://lunarads.com /downloads/Lunar_Ads_Corona.zip
Create a new channel for your app, put put your Channel ID and publisher ID into the code below to include in your Corona / lua code

[lua]require(“lunar”)
MY_LUNAR_CHANNEL = “MY_LUNAR_CHANNEL”
MY_LUNAR_PUBID = “MY_LUNAR_PUBLISHERID”
APP_VERSION = “1.5” – optional parameter (your own app build version)
– Note: if x and y supplied, Halign and Valign will be ignored
lunar.showLunar ({
–x = 0,
–y = 0,
Halign = “center”,
Valign = “bottom”,
channel = MY_LUNAR_CHANNEL,
pubid = MY_LUNAR_PUBLISHERID,
appver = APP_VERSION,
})[/lua]

Single SDK
Imagine never having to post an app update just to support features in a particular ad network, or to test the performance of an affiliate in your app? Using the Lunar Ad engine we automatically supply updates and network features into our SDK by sending your app the latest SDK for each ad network (if needed) as it’s requested. So you don’t need to be always updating to incorporate new ad networks or change your monetization strategy.

Best of all, you choose which ad networks you want to use, change them anytime, and take advantage of new networks that get added just by approving them in your channel preferences.

Cross Promote Your Apps
You can either cross promote with other developers, or just promote your own apps -it’s up to you.
You create ads to show in the cross promotion network, then inside your app channels you either select to display any ad relative to your app, or just your own.
We even support Interstitials.

Multiple Ad Formats
LunarAds support many ad formats including, banners, Interstitials, and more. No need to set parameters in your layout files either. We send everything the ad needs in order to display correctly in your app without any need for customizing layout files, etc. Just call Lunar ad code from anywhere you want the ads to appear and we take care of the rest.

Mediation by You
We are NOT your traditional ad mediation platform. We DO NOT take money from your ads, and we don’t pay you for showing ads. Lunar Ads is simply a service platform you get to use to display whichever ad network you choose from the selected networks we support. YOU collect all of the money from the networks directly, we don’t take a single penny. Your payouts are based on what you and the networks have agreed on.
Our reports let you compare the performance of ad network side by side!
[import]uid: 9046 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 325730[/import]

hi - just wondering if you have any sort of clearance from people like Google for acting as a mediator of sorts for Admob?

I only ask as Google have a history of cancelling accounts if they’re think you’re “messing” with their system in any way.

thanks!
warren [import]uid: 133156 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104627[/import]

how long will this service be free for? [import]uid: 90610 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104629[/import]

I beleive its free forever. The catch is that Lunar ads displays their ads 5% of the time. So say for instance 1000 ads display on your app 50 of those ads will be Lunar ads and they get the revenue from that. I switched my ads from deniz’s ad mediator to interactive after Admob stopped displaying. After the low revenu from inneractive and finding out about Lunar supporting adMob I switched all my apps to Lunar. I must say I’m impressed with lunar and finally being able to get reveue from admob again is very nice. Its been a couple days since I Updated to Lunar and I can definately tell the diffrence. I will be super happy when all of my user base upgrades to the new version of my apps. Implementing Lunar is very easy. [import]uid: 39088 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104632[/import]

thanks! didn’t know about that, i remember on their first website it was writen that they are going to charge the service in the future. now that is gone.

would be a fair deal! [import]uid: 90610 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104633[/import]

Your welcome :slight_smile:

They do offer a paid service. If you dont want them to display their ads there is a monthly fee I beleive. In the future hopefully I will have enough users to consider this offer. I think Its like 24 dollars a month. [import]uid: 39088 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104639[/import]

Hi everyone, thanks for chiming in. Here are the answers to the questions above,
First about Google. We approached them for an “official nod” and their response was “no response” which means they are acting like Google always acts, you get to use it until they want to change it without your knowledge. They are in the middle of changing Admob (for those who aren’t aware) into a mobile only platform so web channels are going over to their Adsense for high end devices. Instructions to follow on using it with Lunar.

All of the other networks (Ppntiflex, Leadbolt, Inneractive, Tapit, etc) we have official support from them.

Yes, the system is free and yes we offer a paid version
Free - we designate 5% of your traffic to display our own (clean) offers.
Paid - $29 a month, you use it all you want and keep all your traffic.
There are no limits to the services either way.

Richard
LunarAds [import]uid: 9046 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104643[/import]

I second Method Mobile when he says the implementation is super easy. The only issue I had was it does not seems to work with the current stable build (704)

By the Richard, did I asked you already which minimum Corona build do we need. I know my app work with 704 but I am afraid to switch to a “too” current build version (and break my game)

It is cool to be able to automatically add ad networks on the fly.

I was going to release (soon) my app as premium but now i am seriously considering using Lunar Ads (in addition to Revmob) for my first app. Both are super easy to implement.

Mo
(LairdGames) [import]uid: 100814 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104705[/import]

You should be able to use 704 but we are going to test it again (they might have changed something) and I’ll report back here. [import]uid: 9046 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104706[/import]

We just tested build 704 and it works fine. Are you using LunarAds SDK 1.5 or older?

Richard
[import]uid: 9046 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104711[/import]

Hello Richard. Thanks for getting back to me. I actual stopped working on it when you said that 704 won’t work the other day (because of network thing if I remember) I was going to wait until i upgrade the build number but it is great to know that it will work with the current stable build! I was using Lunar Ads 1.4 sdk.

I will try again with my current settings.

Thanks again.

Mo [import]uid: 100814 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104713[/import]

Ok, good news. Yes it works fine with my app now. Couple questions if I may.

1- How I do clean up the ad when switching screens? (I am using Director)

2- Is is normal for the ad showing in a screen not update to different? Or do i need to call lunar.showLunar every time I want to get a new ad? What are the best practices if any? Should i just show one ad or should update the ads with maybe timer.performWithDelay?

3- is is appropriate to use ads during fast game play? Any issues I need to be concern about that or should I just keep the ads for screens that do not need CPU like options and main menu?

Thanks a lot for all the support I got so far. I appreciate that very much.

Mo [import]uid: 100814 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104725[/import]

No problem LairdGames,
Cleaning up the ads in Corona just call lunar.hideLunar() from the screen the ad is called on, I’m not sure how director treats is but it might depend on where you actually started the ads from.
Ads should show until closed unless you are doing a native cancel web popup somewhere.

The ads should stay open from screen to screen until you close them or again, call a cancel web popup somewhere. Getting a new ad is automatic and occurs based on the refresh you value you have set in your channel data.

In games that require a lot of on-screen action Corona will not play nice with ad refreshes. So setting the LunarAds channel data (in the http://LunarAds.com dashboard) to 0 will prevent this from happening.

Glad to be of service!

Richard
[import]uid: 9046 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104728[/import]

Hello Richard. Thanks for the info. I am curious of where on the dashboard I can set those elements you are talking about (refresh.) Also, do hide.lunar actual clean up the memory or just hide (alpha = 0) the ad?

Thanks again.

Mo

EDIT1: I have noticed something interesting. On my Mac (mini) I can actually see the ads on the simulator! But not my windows laptop? Any reason why?

EDIT2: Probably a stupid question but can i setup ALL the ads networks at the same time? Would that means that the ads box on my app would automatically choose the network?

EDIT3: Forget my question about refresh. I simply had to click on my channel name. Sorry about that… [import]uid: 100814 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104734[/import]

To edit your channel info, after logged into the website click App Channels on the menu, then click the title of the app channel you wish to edit.

The hide lunar closes and frees memory. It’s gone until you call the ad back again using the method described in the SDK.

Yep - Macs show the emulator ads (and other things from Corona like web popups, etc) I’m not sure why, better support for Unix based systems though is my guess.

Richard
[import]uid: 9046 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104737[/import]

humm. I switch to a 15 sec refresh but the ad on the device do not seems to refresh. Is that maybe due to the fact i am using cross promotions ads (from Lunar ads) and not the other networks?

Just curious.

Mo [import]uid: 100814 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104739[/import]

Yes you can setup all the ad networks at the same time, just need the network data plugged in.
The refresh should be occurring, not sure what is going on there. Contact me offline to see if we can help, perhaps it’s your app code?

Richard
[import]uid: 9046 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104742[/import]

Thanks Richard. I will contact you as soon as I can since the ad do not seems to refresh by themselves on the device (or Mac-simulator for that matter) for some reason. I agree, it is probably my code.

Mo.

[import]uid: 100814 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104765[/import]

@Richard. I am sorry but it seems that i have another issue (maybe not related to Lunar Ads but I am not sure) Anyway, as a test I join Inneractive ad network and added the ID on my Lunar ads dashboard. Everything seems to work fine and I can see the add from there on the device and see the result on my dashboard. The bizarre thing is that if I click on those ads (on device) nothing happens! If the ads is from Lunar ads then everything looks ok (will bring me to the app store)

Not clear what could happen with Inneractive and Lunar Ads? Any idea?

Thanks again.

Mo

EDIT: I can seems to scroll the ad (from inneractive) but clicking on it do nothing. I also noticed that impressions are zero on their dashboard even so i have 8 impressions so far on the Lunar Ads dashboard (under inner)… [import]uid: 100814 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104805[/import]

Verified!
We’ve contacted Inneractive about this issue. We should know something soon.

Richard
[import]uid: 9046 topic_id: 25730 reply_id: 104878[/import]