Native Advertisements

Abstract

A method for operating a server system. The method includes: receiving, by the server system, a request for a plurality of assets in a first format to fill an ad unit, in an application executing on a mobile device, with a native advertisement; receiving, by the server system and from an ad source over a network, ad content in a second format; converting, by a converter of the server system, the ad content in the second format to the plurality of assets in the first format; and sending, by the server system, the plurality of assets to the application, where the application fills the ad unit with the native advertisement including at least one of the plurality of assets.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for operating a mobile device, comprising:
 issuing, by a server system SDK executing on the mobile device, a request for a plurality of assets in a first format to fill an ad unit, in an application, with a native advertisement;   receiving, by the server system SDK and from a server system, an identity of an advertisement (ad) network;   issuing, by an SDK of the ad network executing on the mobile device and based on the identity received from the server system, a content request to the ad network for the plurality of assets;   receiving, by the SDK of the ad network, ad content in a second format from the ad network;   converting, by a converter executing on the mobile device, the ad content in the second format to the plurality of assets in the first format; and   filling the ad unit with the native advertisement comprising at least one of the plurality of assets.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the request is a URL hit and comprises at least one parameter selected from a group consisting of an identification of the ad unit, an identification of a computing device executing the application, and a type of connection between the computing device and the server system. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the request is a URL hit and comprises a parameter;   the ad source selects the ad content to send to the server system based on the parameter; and   the parameter is at least one selected from a group consisting of: a location of a computing device executing the application, a keyword, and a type of content surrounding the ad unit in the application.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of assets comprises: a title for the native advertisement, a text string for the native advertisement, a URL identifying a location of an icon, a URL identifying a location of a main image for the native advertisement, call to action text, a click URL identifying a destination, an array of impression tracking URLs, and a click tracking URL. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first format comprises a particular ordering and a particular grouping of one or more assets of the plurality of assets specific to the first application. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein converting the ad content in the second format to the plurality of assets in the first format comprises:
 extracting data from the ad content;   populating a plurality of entries of an asset table with corresponding portions of the data extracted from the ad content based on metadata associated with each portion of the data; and   populating the ad unit with entries from the plurality of entries of the asset table according to the first format   
     
     
         7 . A mobile device, comprising:
 a server system SDK, executing on a mobile device, that:
 issues a request for a plurality of assets in a first format to fill an ad unit, in an application executing on the mobile device, with a native advertisement; 
 receives, from a server system, an identity of a first advertisement (ad) network; and 
 converts, using a converter executing on the mobile device, ad content in a second format to the plurality of assets in the first format; and 
   an SDK of the first ad network, executing on the mobile device, that:
 issues based on the identity received from the server system, a content request to the first ad network for the plurality of assets; and 
 receives the ad content in the second format from the first ad network, 
   wherein the ad unit is filled with the native advertisement comprising at least one of the plurality of assets.   
     
     
         8 . The mobile device of  claim 7 , wherein the request is a URL hit and comprises at least one parameter selected from a group consisting of an identification of the ad unit, an identification of a computing device executing the application, and a type of connection between the computing device and the server system. 
     
     
         9 . The mobile device of  claim 7 , wherein:
 the request is a URL hit and comprises a parameter;   the ad source selects the ad content to send to the server system based on the parameter; and   the parameter is at least one selected from a group consisting of: a location of a computing device executing the application, a keyword, and a type of content surrounding the ad unit in the application.   
     
     
         10 . The mobile device of  claim 7 , wherein the plurality of assets comprises: a title for the native advertisement, a text string for the native advertisement, a URL identifying a location of an icon, a URL identifying a location of a main image for the native advertisement, call to action text, a click URL identifying a destination, an array of impression tracking URLs, and a click tracking URL. 
     
     
         11 . The mobile device of  claim 7 , wherein the first format comprises a particular ordering and a particular grouping of one or more assets of the plurality of assets specific to the first application. 
     
     
         12 . The mobile device of  claim 7 , wherein the server system SDK convertss the ad content in the second format to the plurality of assets in the first format by:
 extracting data from the ad content;   populating a plurality of entries of an asset table with corresponding portions of the data extracted from the ad content based on metadata associated with each portion of the data; and   populating the ad unit with entries from the plurality of entries of the asset table according to the first format.   
     
     
         13 . The mobile device of  claim 7 , further comprising a set of SDKs of ad networks executing on the mobile device including the SDK of the first ad network, each SDK of the set of SDKs in communication with a corresponding ad network to receive ad content from that ad network pursuant to the identity of that ad network being received by the server system SDK from the server system in response to the request.