Tutorial: Test adoption of new AdMob ad formats

Step 2: Set up an A/B test in the Firebase console

Now that you have a new ad unit implemented in your app, you need to set up an A/B test that will help you understand how this ad unit performs. You'll define which users to target in the test as well as your testing goals. You'll also need to define your test variants (the different ad units in your app) and set up the Remote Config parameter which will control the display of the variants in your app.

Firebase A/B Testing utilizes the following products to test and analyze the effects of adding an ad unit to your app:

• Firebase A/B Testing (this step) — define goals and configurable parameters for your test
• Firebase Remote Config (next step) — add logic to your code to handle the configuration of the parameters
• Google Analytics (runs behind the scenes) — measures the impact of the configurations

Initiate a new A/B test

To initiate a controlled test over adopting a new ad format, start by navigating to the A/B Testing section of the Firebase console. Click Create experiment, then select Remote Config.

Set up the basics

In the Basics section, define the experiment name and provide the experiment description.

Firebase console UI showing how to set up the basics of A/B test" class="screenshot">

Set up targeting

1. In the Targeting section, select the iOS or Android app that the experiment will target.

2. Set the percentage of users who will be exposed to the experiment. For this tutorial, the new ad unit will be tested with 10% of your users. Note that this doesn't mean that 10% of all your users will see the new ad format; this means that 10% of your users will be part of the experiment to see or not see the new ad format.

   Leave all other settings as their defaults.

Firebase console UI showing how to set up the targeting of A/B test" class="screenshot">

Set up your goals

Firebase A/B Testing tracks a primary metric to determine the winning variant, but it also allows you to add secondary metrics to understand the impacts of different configurations on other important factors for your app.

1. For this tutorial, Estimated AdMob revenue optimization is the primary goal, so select it from the dropdown menu.

2. (Optional) If you want A/B Testing to track additional metrics, like Estimated total revenue or different retention rates, select those by clicking Add metric.

Firebase console UI showing how to set up the goals of A/B test" class="screenshot">

Set up the variants

The last step of configuring an A/B test is defining a Remote Config parameter that controls whether the new ad unit will be shown to users.

1. In the Variants section, create a new parameter named SHOW_NEW_AD_KEY by typing it in the Parameter field of the Baseline card.

2. Finish setting up the Variants section using the following settings for the SHOW_NEW_AD_KEY parameter:

   • Baseline variant: Value set to false (which means: do not show new ad format)
   • Variant A variant: Value set to true (which means: show new ad format)

   For this tutorial, the Baseline variant will not show the new ad format to users at all, but the Variant A variant will show the new ad format to a small subset of users. This is controlled by the parameter's boolean value. These values are set here in Firebase A/B Testing, but it's actually Firebase Remote Config that sends these values to your app's code for handling. You'll set up Remote Config in the next step.

Firebase console UI showing how to set up the variants of A/B test" class="screenshot">

Click Review to make sure your experiment is set up as expected. However, before you can actually start the experiment, you need to define how your app's code will react to the true or false parameter value received from Firebase. Proceed to the next step to implement how Remote Config handles the SHOW_NEW_AD_KEY parameter.

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