Guide for ironSource Ads Direct Demand sunset
Information about the sunset process for the ironSource Ads network direct demand business.
Read time 4 minutesLast updated 4 months ago
On April 30, 2026, the direct demand business of the ironSource Ads network will officially sunset. To assist in this process, we’ve put together a guide on the next steps you can take based on your current engagement with us in addition to the available FAQs. If you need further assistance, please file a support ticket.
- Advertisers
- Publishers
Important dates
Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| March 26, 2026 | Sunset Announced: Notice is given on sunsetting ironSource Ads direct demand and a transition period begins. You'll be able to continue to manage your ironSource Ads campaigns until the end of the transition period on April 15, 2026. |
| April 15, 2026 | Transition Period Ends: Advertisers will no longer be able to create a new ironSource Ads account, new ironSource Ads campaigns or creatives. Publishers will be able to continue to add and manage monetization instances via the ironSource dashboard, which will be serving iSX demand only starting on April 30, 2026. |
| April 30, 2026 | ironSource Ads Direct Demand Sunsets: ironSource Ads network will stop serving direct demand campaigns. Both Advertisers and Publishers will still be able to log in to the Reporting page to download historical data. Publishers will still be able to manage their iSX supply configurations and instances. Your access to LevelPlay or other mediation historical data will be fully maintained and remains unaffected. |
Advertisers
With the progress of Unity Vector, we’re confident that we can deliver better growth for you in the Unity Ads network, and we are committed to making that transition seamless for you. In fact, Unity Vector has been updated and enhanced specifically to provide continuity in performance for campaigns you have been running in ironSource Ads, leveraging your existing account history and established audience signals so your new campaigns will bypass the typical learning phase and accelerate immediately. If you need further assistance, please file a support ticket.Only spending with ironSource Ads
- Have Unity Ads account, no live campaigns: If you already have your app onboarded to Unity Ads and don’t have any live campaigns in Unity Ads, we will pre-create recommended campaign setups for you based on your ironSource Ads campaigns. Where applicable, you will receive a notification in the dashboard about the recommendations and will be able to find the campaigns (with the name that starts with AUTO_GENERATED) under the Campaign tab of your Unity Ads dashboard. You can add creatives, and either verify and accept the setup in the UI or set up the campaigns manually.
- Don’t have a Unity Ads account or live campaigns: Get started with creating an account here. Additional information on how to get started with user acquisition on Unity Ads can be found here.
- We recently launched a simplified ROAS campaign onboarding flow that requires no initial CPI ramp or mandatory spend to become eligible for Unity Ads ROAS campaigns.
Spending with both ironSource and Unity Ads
Determine if the following circumstances apply:- Missing Geos: If you were running in certain geos on ironSource Ads that are not enabled in Unity Ads, consider enabling the missing geos in Unity Ads. Additional information can be found here.
- ROAS Optimization: Review your Unity Ads performance compared to ironSource Ads performance.
- If your Unity Ads campaigns have been capping, consider adjusting budget caps to further capture performance at scale.
- In cases where observed ROAS (oROAS) in Unity Ads is higher than in ironSource Ads, consider lowering your target ROAS (tROAS) in Unity Ads to your ironSource Ads oROAS to capture the same performance but at scale on Unity Ads.
Publishers
We plan to continue to maintain the ironSource Ads SDK, and it should remain part of your monetization stack. To access the scale and performance being driven by Unity Vector, you can integrate the Unity Ads SDK, available here, and activate it within your mediation solution to optimize your monetization stack. If you need further assistance, please file a support ticket.Only monetizing with ironSource Ads
- Keeping ironSource Ads SDK: While direct demand sunsets on April 30, 2026, the ironSource Exchange (iSX) will continue to serve programmatic demand through this SDK.
- Adding Unity Ads SDK: In addition to the ironSource Ads SDK, add the Unity Ads SDK to optimize your monetization stack and take advantage of Unity Vector. Learn how to get started here.
Monetizing with both ironSource Ads and Unity Ads
- Keeping ironSource Ads SDK: While direct demand sunsets on April 30, 2026, the ironSource Exchange (iSX) will continue to serve programmatic demand through this SDK.
- Updating Unity Ads SDK: Update to the latest version of the Unity Ads SDK here, which has been re-architected to deliver a faster, more reliable ad monetization experience. The new architecture reduces initialization time so ads load and start faster, helping improve impressions and boost revenue.
Maintain Ad Quality (AQ) Continuity
Check your Ad Quality SDK integration:- If you use LevelPlay as your mediation platform, no action is required.
- If you use a third-party mediation partner and your Ad Quality is currently bundled with the ironSource SDK, Ad Quality will not work if you remove the ironSource Ads SDK. If you are removing the ironSource Ads SDK and want to maintain Ad Quality reporting, integrate the Ad Quality SDK natively here.