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I released an app with an iAd in it on Friday. So far it has generated zero impressions with many requests - a fill rate of zero. Most of my requests are in the USA (~90%) so the problem is not that the requests are from countries which iAd does not support).

An older app of mine which is less popular is consistently generating a 98% fill rate despite a lower number of requests.

I was just wondering if it's normal for iAd apps to not generate impressions right away. Should I expect to eventually get impressions after some time, or is something wrong?

Jackson
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2 Answers2

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It takes 1-4 days for an app to start receiving ads. It's normal1 for the fill rate to be zero or nearly zero for a few days after release.

1: This is not documented on Apple's website anywhere, but Apple iAd representatives confirmed this via email.

AstroCB
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Jackson
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  • Thank you! I was wondering about my new app game I just submitted to the App Store. Last time it took about 5 hours before iAds started to show up but I wasn't sure this time. It's only been 1 hour. – Hedylove Dec 06 '15 at 23:47
  • Really 5 hours? That is lucky, I guess the iAd Network wasn't very busy when you submitted your app! Mine has taken 12 hours so far... – Max Goodridge Jan 07 '16 at 13:08
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Yes it is normal and documented.Have you read - https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/iAd_Guide/Introduction/Introduction.html

StuartM
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    I read through all of that and I don't see anything related to the question I asked (specifically if it is normal not to see any impressions for a newly released app). – Jackson Oct 07 '13 at 16:10
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    I suppose I will mark this as correct even though it is NOT well documented. The documentation says nothing about this. However I spoke with Apple and it is normal that new iAd apps take 3-4 days before they start getting ads. – Jackson Oct 19 '13 at 15:01
  • Nothing ever is :] I would add I recommend using AdMob Mediation as opposed to a single iAd provider. This means you can include multiple ads from different services, location based ads, house ads etc. That way you could have ensured the house ads where being shown, until you had confirmation that iAd was producing results. – StuartM Oct 19 '13 at 16:38
  • I don't need AdMob because now that my iAd is showing I am getting great fill rates of >90%. – Jackson Oct 19 '13 at 16:43
  • Right, I guess it was more aimed as a solution that could of been... at the time of the issue not now. A great item I use the mediation service for is iAd location based. As iAd is not available in all locations, I check on the user location before showing the ad and if they do not have iAds available to them I show a different/house ad. – StuartM Oct 19 '13 at 16:44
  • Cool, that's a good idea. I guess since 90% of my users are in iAd supporting locations I don't care enough to implement AdMob now. – Jackson Oct 19 '13 at 16:46
  • Yep... I guess you have some form of in App purchases if not there is not much point. If you do I would look into showing some house ads that advertise these to the other 10% ... something for the future. – StuartM Oct 19 '13 at 16:56
  • yeah I've added an in app purchase. Actually just got my app rejected a minute ago because I forgot to enable it.. ugh... another 7 days wait. :( Right now the in-app just disables the ads but in the future I will add some features that require the in app purchase to encourage those in non iAd countries to upgrade... – Jackson Oct 19 '13 at 17:02