Native Advertising Guidelines

Designing an ad experience that is native to your app environment is a great way to reach users. These native ad design guidelines will help you build engaging ad experiences while protecting the integrity of advertisers' brand assets.

Advertisers provide a number of different assets through the Yahoo Gemini marketplace for native ads. Developers should adhere to the following guidelines when implementing Yahoo Gemini native ads in their apps. If you want to create a native ad experience different than what is described here, a request must be submitted to ad-policy@yahoo-inc.com for prior review and approval.

Native Ad Assets

Main Image (Required)
  • 1200x627 image
  • Wide aspect ratio main image.
  • Asset Name: secHqImage
Icon Image (Optional)
  • 82x82 max, may be slightly smaller
  • For app advertisers, this is the app icon
  • Asset Name: secImage
Get a Ride When You Need It
Ad Title (Required)
  • 50 maximum character length string of ad headline
  • Provide enough space to display the entire length of the Ad Title
  • Asset Name: headline
Fun and Convenient, Your Journey is a Tap Away
Ad Text (Optional)
  • 150 maximum character length string of ad text
  • Provide enough space to display the entire length of the Ad Text
  • Asset Name: summary
By QUICKRIDES
Advertiser Name (Required)
  • 30 characters maximum
  • Provide enough space to display the entire length of the Advertiser Name
  • Asset Name: source
CTA Text (Optional)
  • Text for a button
  • 12 characters maximum
  • Use "Install" with app advertisers and "Learn more" with non-app advertisers
  • Provide enough space to display the entire length of the CTA Text
  • Asset Name: callToAction Note: this asset is provided only for the Install ads.
Sponsored Marker (Required)
  • 20x20 or 40x40
  • "Starburst" ad mark must be displayed together with one of the following text ad labels: "Ad" or "Sponsored"
  • Use "Install" with app advertisers and "Learn more" with non-app advertisers
  • Asset Name:secBrandingLogo (20x20), secHqBrandingLogo (40x40)
App Rating (Optional)
  • The app rating, expressed as image, high quality image and a string containing the ratio
  • (for example 80/100 for the 4 star rating or 100/100 for the 5 star rating of the app)
  • Optional assets, all three assets are present only for the app install ads.
  • Asset Name: secRatingImg, secHqRatingImg and appRating
Social
App Category (Optional)
  • The app category. Optional asset, present only for the app install ads.
  • Asset Name: appCategory

Native Video Ad Assets

The assets that are provided for the video ad are:

Get a Ride When You Need It
Ad Title (Required)
  • 50 maximum character length string of ad headline
  • Provide enough space to display the entire length of the Ad Title
  • Asset Name: headline
Fun and Convenient, Your Journey is a Tap Away
Ad Text (Optional)
  • 150 maximum character length string of ad text
  • Asset Name: summary
By QUICKRIDES
Advertiser Name (Required)
  • 30 characters maximum
  • Asset Name: source
CTA Text (Optional)
  • Text for a button
  • 12 characters maximum
  • Use "Get it now!" or "Watch now!"
Sponsored Marker (Required)
  • 20x20 or 40x40
  • "Starburst" ad mark must be displayed together with one of the following text ad labels: "Ad" or "Sponsored"
  • Use "Install" with app advertisers and "Learn more" with non-app advertisers
  • Asset Name:secBrandingLogo (20x20), secHqBrandingLogo (40x40)
App Rating (Optional)
  • The app rating, expressed as image, high quality image and a string containing the ratio
  • (for example 80/100 for the 4 star rating or 100/100 for the 5 star rating of the app)
  • Optional assets, all three assets are present only for the app install ads.
  • Asset Name: secRatingImg, secHqRatingImg and appRating
Social
App Category (Optional)
  • The app category. Optional asset, present only for the app install ads.
  • Asset Name: appCategory

Native Ad Implementation Requirements

  • The native ad unit may not appear outside of the mobile application.

  • Borders: Native ad units must have a border, background or treatment that differentiates the ad from non-advertising content sufficient that a typical user could tell the difference between the ad and publisher page content.


Ad Unit with a white border around it

native_white_border

Ad Unit with a different background color

  • Video ads must have the same styling as the statics ads, be of the same ration as the images provided.

  • Video ads must not have the text overlay, the required text such as the ad title, the advertiser name and the sponsored logo must be presented outside the video image.

  • Built-in video controls are overlaid on the video ad and are visible for 3 seconds after the user touches the video ad

  • The ad image must not be distorted in a way that renders the ad content illegible or changes how a typical user would understand the ad offer. Cropping of the image is permitted, but limited only to the extent necessary to make the image fit within the application.

✓ Acceptable

Wide main image cropped to 16:9 aspect ratio
native_background_color

✓ Acceptable

Wide main image cropped to 4:3 aspect ratio

✕ Not Acceptable

Do not square crop the main image. Developers may use the provided square image, secOrigImg instead.

✕ Not Acceptable

Distorting the main image is not acceptable

  • All ad titles and text must be clearly legible to users. If overlaying text on an image, consider using an opaque gradient layer behind the text to ensure the text is legible.

✓ Acceptable

Text is clear and easy to read

✕ Not Acceptable

Text is not clear and is difficult to read

✓ Acceptable

Text is clearly legible against the opaque background image

✕ Not Acceptable

Text is not clear or easy to read against the background image

Examples of Acceptable Native Ad Units

Ad Unit within an image background content stream

Ad Unit within a content stream with rectangular thumbnails and text

Ad Unit within a content stream with square thumbnails and text

Ad Unit as horizontal swipe interstitial

Technical Requirements

  • Publishers must not minimize, remove or otherwise inhibit the full and complete display of any advertiser landing page.

  • Publishers may not use deceptive methods to generate clicks or installs, or engage in any deceptive practices, as determined by Flurry from Yahoo.

User Experience

  • Apps may not direct the user to a landing page not relevant to the ad offer.

  • “Clicking” an ad must not be the only way for a user to exit a screen.