2022 Google Ad Manager releases archive

Traffic and deliver ads

Ad Manager ad serving disruption Dec 9 UTC
Google Ad Manager experienced a technical issue on December 9 from 12:08 AM to 3:40 AM UTC that impacted ad serving of all line items and programmatic transaction types.
 
While making improvements to our ad serving infrastructure, a bug was inadvertently introduced that impacted Google Ad Manager’s ability to process ad requests and therefore serve ads. We detected this issue and fully resolved it a few hours later.

This was an isolated incident and we apologize for any confusion or disruption this may have caused you. 

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New dimension: "Auto-refreshed traffic"
The Auto-refreshed traffic dimension indicates if traffic is from auto-refreshed ad requests. Such requests can automatically serve or change advertising or content.

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New "Webpage ads" troubleshooting feature in Delivery tools
You can now more easily identify any mismatch issues that exist between targeting of an ad request and line items that were set up using custom or inventory targeting. Publishers can use the "Webpage ads" feature to detect line items that didn’t serve an impression due to a targeting mismatch.

To access the feature in Ad Manager, click Delivery Delivery tools Webpage ads.

Manage network settings

New first-party user identifier settings
When third-party cookies (on web) or device identifiers (on iOS apps) are not available, Ad Manager uses identifiers that are confined to a publisher’s own sites or apps as a fallback. These "first-party identifiers," when present, are used for ad delivery functionality, such as frequency-capping in reservation campaigns. The identifiers may also be used on behalf of the publisher to support buyer frequency capping and ads personalization on programmatic traffic.

To read more about the related network settings, visit Enable first-party user identifiers. 

Traffic and deliver ads

End of targeting support for Microsoft Windows Phone OS
Targeting support for Microsoft Windows Phone OS has been deprecated in Ad Manager. With Microsoft no longer supporting Windows phones, we’ve removed the targeting option from Ad Manager across all entities. 

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New Data Transfer field: "ATT consent status"
Earlier in 2022, we introduced the ATT consent status dimension to help publishers understand the impact of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) setting. We’ve now added the field to Data Transfer as well. You’ll find the new column "AttConsentStatus" in your Data Transfer files.   

Traffic and deliver ads

Updates to bid request signal on inventory with increased privacy protections
Google has generalized the User Agent string and redacted the IP address field on bid requests for inventory with increased privacy protections. An example of inventory with increased privacy protections affected by these changes is non-personalized ads.

For a complete list of the types of inventory subject to these additional privacy protections, visit Non-personalized ad requestsin the Authorized Buyers Help Center.  

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New pricing rules for video creatives 
You can now set target CPM or floor prices across your programmatic demand for video creatives. Pricing can be set for minimum video durations and/or video skippability.

Expansion of policy violation screenshots
In May 2022, we introduced screenshots for select categories of policy violations in the Policy Center. The feature now includes all categories of violations. With this update, only newly flagged violations will have screenshots; historic screenshots won’t be available. To review a screenshot, sign in to Ad Manager click Admin Policy Center Fix. 

View performance insights and yield groups for ad units
You can now view performance insights for individual ad units, with optional data breakdowns on country, yield partner, inventory format, and optional filters. You can also view yield groups that either target your ad unit or have served impressions to your ad unit in the last 30 days.

Manage network settings

Expand ads on mobile web (full screen)
You can choose to allow large display ads of different sizes (up to the size of the screen) to compete for impressions on eligible slots placed within scroll-based content. Enabling ad expansion for mobile web (full screen) allows publishers to more effectively monetize scroll-based user experiences.

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Customize your Overview Home dashboard
You now have multiple ways to customize your Overview Home dashboard.

• Add and organize data cards - Build and explore the insights you need with options to add and reorder cards.
• Customize cards - Select from a range of data visualizations that display the most popular dimensions and metrics on cards that you configure.
• Apply new dimension filters - Filter cards on your dashboard for date ranges and dimensions such as "Ad unit," "Demand channel," and "Device category."

Mediation data now available in Data Transfer
You can now review mediation data in your Data Transfer files. Previously, mediation data was available only in Reporting. This update brings the same level of mediation data insights to Data Transfer and includes:

• Yield partner tag - A new column in your Data Transfer file. Reports the Yield Partner Tag when mediation is the ad source. Review the YieldPartnerTag field. 
• Mediation revenue - Added to the "EstimatedBackfillRevenue" column in your Data Transfer file. Reports Yield group estimated revenue. Review the EstimatedBackfillRevenue field.

New Header Bidding metric
We’ve introduced a new metric, "Header Bidding (detected)." Along with reporting, you’ll find the metric on Insight cards such as "Demand insights" and "Top detected yield partners." This metric will help you identify inventory associated with Header Bidding demand. To include the metric in a Historical report, add the "Demand Channel" dimension.

Deprecation of Block Expandable Ads
The "Block Expandable Ads'' protection is deprecated and no longer available in Ad Manager. The deprecation includes:

• In the Historical report - The "Click to expand" and "rollover to expand" values of the "Ad experience" dimension 
• In the Ad Exchange historical report - The "Expandable types" dimension

Manage inventory

Audience explorer and traffic explorer

Audience explorer and traffic explorer are now generally available in Google Ad Manager 360. Use these new features to better understand and leverage your first-party audience and inventory data. 

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New home for Opportunities and Experiments 

You can now find your Opportunities and Experiments under "Optimization." To view them, sign in to Ad Manager, click Optimization, and select Opportunities or Experiments. This update helps publishers quickly review all their Opportunities and Experiments under one tab.

Opportunities will continue to show next to the "Overview" card on the Overview Home dashboard, and Experiments will continue to show in "Pricing rules." 

Other product or Help Center updates

Payments info

We’ve updated the Payments section in Ad Manager for ease of use and to more closely align with how payments information is presented in AdSense. If you’ve enabled Ad Exchange, you’ll find your payments info in Ad Manager at Payments Payments info (instead of Billing Payments).

"Encrypted signals from publishers" has been renamed to "secure signals"

In a blog post on September 13, we announced encrypted signals from publishers will be renamed to secure signals. If you’ve already begun testing encrypted signals, you will continue to test under this new product name. No action is required.

Onboarding Open Bidding partners

We’ve updated the experience of onboarding Open Bidding partners in Ad Manager 360. Publishers can now add Open Bidding partners at Delivery Bidders Open Bidding New bidder (instead of Admin Companies New company Ad network).

Traffic and deliver ads

Improvements to set up and link apps in Ad Manager

Ad Manager now allows you to set up apps that may not yet be listed in an app store, or are currently listed on a third-party store that Ad Manager doesn't support. Once they're both listed and supported, you can come back later to link apps to an app store, and make them easier to target.

Manage network settings

Scaled Partner Management tab removed from Ad Manager

Earlier this year, publishers that used SPM migrated to MCM. Following the migration, the SPM tab has now been removed from Ad Manager. Learn more

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New Active View metric in reporting

We've added a new metric, Total Active View: Impressions audible and visible at completion, to the Historical report. This metric tracks impressions that were played to completion and were audible and visible at completion time.

Longer lookback window for Reach reports

The Reach report lookback window has been extended to one year. This data is currently available as far back as 6/1/2022 for weekly reports and 7/1/2022 for monthly reports. Going forward, it will be available for up to one year. 

Changes to the "Mediation fill rate" metric

To make it more accurate, the Mediation fill rate has been redefined from Yield group impressions ∕ (Yield group impressions + Mediation passbacks) to Mediation chain impressions ∕ (Mediation chain impressions + Mediation passbacks). As a result, you may see a decrease in Mediation fill rate for Ad Exchange/Open Bidding demand channels. 

VAST errors card

The VAST errors card on your Home dashboard allows you to view actionable video errors without having to run a report. You can quickly and easily find line items and creatives whose errors are impacting your inventory, allowing you to troubleshoot issues based on specific VAST errors.

Other product or Help Center updates

A new look for Ad Manager

Google Ad Manager has a new design that now aligns with all Google-branded products. Some elements look different, but each page functions the same.

Traffic and deliver ads

Active View metrics in Data Transfer

We've introduced new viewability fields in Data Transfer to help publishers correctly report on Active View for video creatives, though the new fields apply for all creative types, and include:

• Active View Eligible Impression Count (ActiveViewEligibleCount)
• Active View Measurable Impression Count (ActiveViewMeasurableCount)
• Active View Viewable Count (ActiveViewViewableCount)

These fields will ultimately replace legacy Active View fields:

• Active View Eligible Impression (ActiveViewEligibleImpression)
• Active View Measurable Impression (MeasurableImpression)
• Active View Viewable Impression (ViewableImpression)

The legacy metrics populate until August 29, 2022. After this date, the values will be null. For accurate reporting, publishers should start using the new Active View metrics.

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Inactive tracked ads metrics in reporting

Two new metrics to help you understand invalid traffic are now available: Inactive tracked ads and Ad server inactive tracked ads. Inactivity is currently only measured for connected TV (CTV).

Manage inventory

Build detailed inventory insights with Traffic Explorer

Traffic Explorer allows publishers to assess their inventory and develop first-party data in a consolidated view using high-level scorecards and breakdowns. Publishers can build detailed inventory insights with targeted dimensions, (i.e. device, geography, platform, etc.), audience segment reach, unique identifier forecasts and more.

Traffic and deliver ads

Web interstitials for Open Bidding

You can now traffic web interstitials in Open Bidding. Interstitials are full-page web ads that appear between page views. Support for interstitials in Open Bidding potentially expands the competition for these impactful ads that respect Better Ads Standards.

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Heavy Ads metrics in reporting

Two new metrics to understand the impact of Heavy ads are now available to all publishers: Total unloaded impressions due to CPU and Total unloaded impressions due to network. Publishers can use these metrics to report the volume of impressions which are unloaded due to Chrome Heavy Ads. 

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Test web interstitials with manual experiments

You can now test web interstitials on your inventory by running a manual experiment. This allows you to test web interstitials before committing developer resources to tagging. To create a manual experiment for web interstitials, select the "Formats" type.

MoPub sunset from the Ad Manager platform on August 1st

After completing its acquisition of MoPub, AppLovin recently sunsetted the MoPub platform. All MoPub ad source instances in the Ad Manager platform have been automatically paused and will be removed from Ad Manager yield groups on August 1, 2022.

Manage network settings

Enforcement of app-ads.txt for CTV inventory

Starting in July 2022, buyers began to enforce the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standard for inventory transparency, app-ads.txt for Connected TV (CTV) inventory. It is highly recommended to correctly set up your app-ads.txt file for all relevant CTV app stores. Additionally, we added support for the IAB inventorypartnerdomain specification that helps CTV publishers engaging in inventory sharing practices better manage their app-ads.txt files. Learn more about ads.txt/app-ads.txt and inventory sharing partners.

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Cost of Latency insight card deprecation

The Cost of Latency insight card on the Ad Speed tab of the Home dashboard was deprecated and removed from Ad Manager on August 1, 2022. 

Traffic and deliver ads

GPT can share top-page URLs with embedded Google ad tags

You can now share a top-page URL across iframes that have Google Publisher Tag (GPT). The top-page URL is shareable across embedded Google ad tags for content labeling purposes. This sharing improves inventory visibility to advertisers who only buy ad space from sites with brand-safe labels.

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"ATT consent status" dimension in reporting ^(Beta) 

The ATT consent status dimension is now in open beta. This dimension helps publishers understand user consent status in relation to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency setting and its impact on monetization.

Heavy ads metrics in reporting ^(Beta) 

Two new metrics to help publishers understand the impact of Heavy ads are now in open beta: Total unloaded impressions due to CPU and Total unloaded impressions due to network. Publishers can use these metrics to report the volume of impressions which are unloaded due to Chrome Heavy Ads.

Other product or Help Center updates

FLEDGE testing expanding to EEA/UK

On, or after, August 1, Ad Manager will expand FLEDGE testing to a small percentage (<1%) of global traffic, including traffic in the EEA/UK. There is no publisher revenue impact expected at this stage. If you would like to disable access to FLEDGE on your sites, you can do so via Chrome permission policy. For more information, see FLEDGE origin trial and Ad Manager. 

Please note, the use of FLEDGE is subject to Google’s EU User Consent policy requirements (for example, obtaining users’ legally valid consent for the collection, sharing, and use of personal data for ads personalization).

Traffic and deliver ads

Header bidding in yield groups ^(Beta) 

We launched header bidding in yield groups. This beta release enables Ad Manager 360 publishers to integrate their header bidding demand directly into yield groups.

Additional settings for video ad break templates ^(Beta)  

Video ad pods prioritize the serving of ad spots based on revenue by default. Ad break templates now allow you to set the "Ad spot prioritization" to "Position" and specify the "Fill order direction" — either "Left to right," "Right to left," or "Edge to center." This primarily dictates the fill order of optional ad spots.

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Query migration for Ad Exchange Historical report type queries

To help you migrate from the Ad Exchange Historical report type (deprecated), we’ve created new saved queries in the Historical report type that mirror the data retrieved from the Ad Exchange Historical report type. To help you distinguish between Ad Exchange Historical and Historical reports, a "(migrated)" label has been added to the Historical report name. Emails have been sent for both the Ad Exchange Historical and Historical saved report users.

PPID TTL is extended from 90 days to 180 days. This helps publishers support personalization use cases that reach users who have periods of inactivity above 90 days yet return within 180 days, such as seasonal behavior targeting.

Optimized pricing increases auction floor prices to more accurately reflect and protect your inventory’s value. Optimized pricing is enabled by default, but can be disabled via your network settings.

As part of a recent rebrand, Facebook is now known as Meta. Publishers will now see "Meta" in all references to the ad network in Google Ad Manager.  This does not affect publishers that have Facebook within already existing bidders or yield groups. No action is required from publishers.

Updated ad experiences video protections

The migration of the opt-in control "Allow video ads" is complete. The control is now a block called "Block non-instream video ads." Learn more

Troubleshoot transparency files for MCM publishers (ads.txt, sellers.json)

Google is working on marking the SupplyChain Object complete for MCM Manage Inventory publishers. This update is planned for the end of June 2022. To prepare for this update, we developed a new Ad Manager report that you can download to confirm the ads.txt configuration for your child publisher sites/apps. The report highlights errors we've detected with your child publishers’ ads.txt, app-ads.txt files, and your sellers.json file. We encourage you to review the report and fix errors with your child publisher inventory by the time Google begins completing SupplyChains towards the end of June 2022, in order to prevent potential revenue impact.

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Google Analytics 4 integration for web data in open beta

The Google Analytics 4 integration with Google Ad Manager for web data is now in open beta. Follow the steps to link your Ad Manager account to Google Analytics 4 properties. To view reporting on Google Analytics metrics and dimensions, you can use the Analytics report type.

Updates to the "Bid rejection reason" in reporting and data transfer

More granularity is being added to the "Bid rejection reason" in both reporting and data transfer to account for recently introduced pricing and floor features, and to be more specific about scenarios that result in bid loss.

Other product or Help Center updates

WebView API for Ads

The WebView API for Ads is now available to help app developers unlock the monetization opportunity in WebView content.

 

Traffic anchor ads

We now offer full support for anchor ads on both desktop and mobile web. We recently announced an open beta of anchor ads for mobile web, and this full launch solidifies our anchor web offering. Anchor ads appear at the top or bottom of your web pages, remaining in view as the user scrolls. They use a high-performing format that is compliant with the Better Ads Standards. Users can collapse an anchor ad at any time by clicking the arrow.

Create and apply multiple line item templates

Starting this week, Publishers (Admins) of the Ad Manager network can create and save multiple templates. The existing form within the line item (LI) defaults tab will now be replaced with a table of all the publisher’s templates. Publishers will also have the option to modify previously created templates. The LI creation page will have a dropdown containing all the templates. The LI creation form will be pre-populated when a template is selected.

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"Ad Exchange Historical" to "Historical" report type conversion  ^(Beta) 

To simplify reporting workflows, publishers can now access Ad Exchange Historical report dimensions and metrics in the Historical report, rather than having to rely on two separate report types.

For reports containing date ranges before May 1, some Ad Exchange dimensions will not have data. For partners who need to report on Ad Exchange Historical-specific fields before this date, they will need to use the Ad Exchange Historical report. In May 2023, we will turn down the Ad Exchange Historical report in Ad Manager, and there will no longer be API versions that support Ad Exchange report type queries.

To prepare for this change, we encourage publishers to start using the Historical report for all Ad Exchange Historical needs. You can learn About the Ad Exchange Historical report migration for details on the migrated dimensions and metrics in the Google Help Center.

To help publishers migrate, we'll copy existing Ad Exchange Historical saved queries and update them to have only Historical report type fields. More details on the saved query migration will be forthcoming. 

Improved Reach report

The Reach report now supports Browser category and Operating system category dimensions, and the Order and Line Item dimensions are now compatible. These dimensions are compatible with existing Reach metrics. Learn more about Reach reports.

Other product or Help Center updates

Violation screenshots in Policy center

Publishers can see example screenshots of the violations flagged on their properties in the Policy center. Initially, we'll cover specific categories of violations. More categories will be added in the coming months. Please note that the screenshots don’t cover all violations occurring on your properties. This only applies to web publishers.

Traffic and deliver ads

Improved impression estimate view in publisher profiles

The "Overview" tab in publisher profiles now shows impression estimates in an improved view that is similar to what buyers see in the Marketplace. This helps ensure both buyers and publishers have a consistent user experience when analyzing the estimates.

Authorized Buyers support of publisher-managed creatives in Programmatic Guaranteed deals

There is now limited Authorized Buyers support for publisher-managed creatives in Programmatic Guaranteed deals. "Limited support" means integration work may be needed to use the feature. See which buyers support publisher-managed creatives.

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"Audience segment (targeted)" dimension in reporting (Beta)

We now support reporting on all audience segments that were matched on the winning line item. Previously, reporting was limited to a singular audience segment per line item that was used for billing purposes. This new dimension provides greater transparency into all audience segments matched to a winning line item.

Other product or Help Center updates

Topics and FLEDGE testing starting soon

Chrome's Topics and FLEDGE public origin trial has begun. 

• Topics: Ad Manager will begin initial testing of Topics globally on ad requests for a small percentage of traffic starting early to mid June. This initial test is to validate that our systems are operating as designed and there is no publisher revenue or performance impact expected. If you prefer to opt out of Topics testing, you can do so via Chrome permission policy.
• FLEDGE: Ad Manager will begin initial testing of FLEDGE without rendering any ads, on a small percentage of traffic outside of the EEA/UK in the coming weeks, and testing in the EEA/UK after the initial testing is complete. There is no publisher revenue or performance impact expected and no change on how publisher controls apply for now. We’ll be sharing more information before Ad Manager starts rendering ads via FLEDGE. If you would like to disable access to FLEDGE on your sites, you can do so via Chrome permission policy.

Please note, the use of Topics and FLEDGE is subject to Google’s EU User Consent policy requirements (e.g., obtaining users’ legally valid consent for the collection, sharing, and use of personal data for ads personalization).

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Audience Segment Forecasting on Current Membership

Changes to audience segment membership, or creation of new audience segments will no longer require 28 days to reflect forecasting line items. Instead, forecasting will reflect up-to-date membership after 28 hours, similar to how changes to protections are accounted for within a day or two.

Traffic and deliver ads

Optimize floors in unified pricing rules (Beta)

You can leverage Google’s machine learning expertise to automatically set floor prices per-query that maximize yield while protecting long-term inventory value. Optimized floor prices are available as a pricing option within unified pricing rules, in addition to fixed floor prices and target CPM. You have control over whether to use optimized floor prices and can choose to enable the feature on a per-rule basis.

Traffic anchor ads on desktop (Beta)

You can now traffic anchor ads on desktop in addition to the previously supported mobile web. Anchor ads appear at the top or bottom of your desktop web pages, remaining in view as the user scrolls. Anchor ads allow you to improve the monetization of your web pages, using a high-performing format that is compliant with the Better Ads Standards. Users can collapse an anchor ad at any time by clicking the arrow.

Manage network settings

Changes to cross-network backfill linked accounts

As of April 16th, partners are no longer able to add new cross-network backfill linked accounts. This is related to the recent deprecation of Ad Exchange linked accounts to a single Ad Manager account. As an alternative, there are migration options and tools available to help partners migrate off linked accounts.

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Update to mediation chains and the Total ad requests metric

For the purposes of reporting, requests with at least one mobile fallback ad will now be considered mediation chains. This update affects mediation chain metrics and code serves. As mediation chains are only counted as code serves if they fill, you may see a decrease in code serve/responses served metrics. Note that passbacks still won’t be counted for reservation ads. Learn more about mediation.

In addition, the Total ad requests metric in Historical Reporting will now include Mediation Chains that failed to fill. As a result, you may see an increase in total ad requests and a decrease in total fill rate.

Another way to view the Top pricing rules card

Publishers can now access the Top pricing rules card within the "Insights" tab of individual unified pricing rules. This feature provides partners a more complete picture of their bid landscape in order to easily evaluate the impact of UPRs on their revenue.

Other product or Help Center updates

Addition to the ad technology providers for LGPD list

Solution Coupons is now available for use with the LGPD and has been added to the list of Ad Technology Providers (ATPs) for LGPD.

Manage inventory

Onboard online with Open Bidding

Onboard online with Open Bidding is now available for all publishers using Ad Exchange in Ad Manager. Onboard online is not available in Google Ad Manager 360. 

Forecasting for new or changed audience segments is now reflected in 48 hours across all accounts

The turnaround time for forecasting to reflect the current membership of new or updated audience segments in Ad Manager will be reduced from 28 days to 48 hours. Previously, publishers were limited to a lengthy amount of time getting an accurate forecast read. This change provides an up-to-date audience segment membership reflected in forecasting within 48 hours, and improves accuracy and reliability of inventory estimates for segments.

The audience forecasting updates will be reflected when publishers run new forecasts targeting audience segments.

Getting ready to complete SupplyChain Object for MCM Manage Inventory

Google is working on marking the SupplyChain Object complete for MCM Manage Inventory publishers. This update is planned for mid-Q2, 2022. To prepare for this update, most MCM parents will now be required to submit seller ID information for their child publishers using the Ad Manager frontend or API. Once launched, there will be 1 node for MCM child publishers, 1 node for MCM parents, and the chain will be marked complete. Please reach out to your account manager to understand the next steps for your account or case.

Traffic and deliver ads

Set blackout dates in Programmatic Direct

You can now set blackout dates in proposal line items for Programmatic Direct deals. These are periods when ad requests aren’t sent to line items. You can use blackout dates instead of creating multiple proposal line items that must deliver during different time ranges but are otherwise the same. Blackouts are already supported on traditional line items.

Manage network settings

Changes to data collection

We've changed the way data is collected from your sites and apps: it’s now per buyer rather than by inventory. Over the next few weeks, Google (Google ads, Display & Video 360) and Authorized Buyers will start using this setting. You can review and make changes to the setting now. Learn more about data collection controls. 

Other product or Help Center updates

Japan’s Amended APPI came into force on April 1, 2022

 

Manage inventory

Forecast adjustments supported for cross-sell networks

Forecast adjustments can now directly target cross-sell traffic from a network’s partner site. For example, youtube.com traffic is included. This allows forecast adjustments to consider a more complete picture of your overall traffic. This also means that all forecasting features now support cross-sell networks.

Deprecation of Ad Exchange linked accounts and launch of migration tools

The ability to link multiple Ad Exchange accounts to a single Ad Manager account will be deprecated in March 2023. As a result, an Ad Manager account can backfill to only one Ad Exchange account, and every Ad Exchange account can be backfilled by only one Ad Manager account.

To assist partners with migrating off linked Ad Exchange account setups, the following tools are available: 

• Bulk update backfill line items to point to the primary Ad Exchange network
• Bulk download and upload Unified Pricing Rules and Protections

New protection: Block display ads

The protection "Block display ads" is now generally available. Use this block to allow only video ads in targeted inventory. You can review your settings for this block under Blocks Ad Experiences when you create a new protection in Ad Manager.

Traffic and deliver ads

Third-party video quartile tracking now available for Programmatic Guaranteed and Preferred Deals

Video quartile tracking events (Start, First quartile, Midpoint, Third quartile, and Complete) previously only supported for creatives on reservation line items are now available for Programmatic Guaranteed and Preferred Deals.

Report and optimize

Currency selection in Historical reports (Beta)

For greater insight on how your inventory performs in different countries, you can now select the currency of your choice for Historical reports. Learn more about reporting currency.

Other updates

Updates to semi-transparent URLs in Open Bidding

We have updated the treatment of semi-transparent URLs in Open Bidding. Previously, semi-transparency was not enforced on requests to exchanges participating in Open Bidding. Semi-transparency is now enforced across all programmatic demand.

Google Publisher Tags no longer supported for Internet Explorer 11

We no longer support ad serving with Google Publisher Tags for Internet Explorer versions 11 and below.

Traffic and deliver ads

Audience segment targeting in unified pricing rules (Beta)

You can now target by first-party audience segments in unified pricing rules. This provides even more granularity and flexibility when selecting which programmatic demand to apply to a certain target CPM or floor price. When creating or updating a unified pricing rule, expand "Custom targeting" in the "Targeting" section, select Audience segment from the dropdown, and add the audience segments you want to target.

Manage network settings

Share encrypted signals with bidders (Beta)

Publishers can now securely share encrypted signals with Authorized Buyers and Open Bidders through Ad Manager. When sharing encrypted signals with your Authorized Buyer and Open Bidder partners, you have full control over what data is passed and which bidders receive the signals. Ad Manager will only route the signals on behalf of the publisher and cannot read the signals.

Troubleshoot

Troubleshoot Open Bidding health issues

All publishers that use Open Bidding can now troubleshoot Open Bidding health issues.

Report and optimize

Updates to Serving Restriction field in Data Transfer

The logic for the Serving Restriction field in Data Transfer will be updated to align with Ad Manager reporting. Publishers may notice a change in the values reported in this field in Data Transfer. No changes have been made to serving. This reporting-only change creates consistency between Ad Manager reporting and Data Transfer.

Other updates

The US Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) is conducting an investigation into certain aspects of our business. In connection with that investigation, at the DOJ’s request, Google is providing the DOJ with certain ad impression and auction data from one week during March 2022.

Traffic and deliver ads

Rewarded ads for web are now generally available

All publishers can now traffic rewarded ads on Google Ad Manager desktop, mobile, and tablet web inventory. The rewarded ad experience allows users to voluntarily opt in to an ad experience in exchange for a reward. Rewarded ads for web can deliver to both video and display inventory.

New required parameters for Android mobile app video publishers 

Video publishers in Android mobile app environments should begin passing the pvid and pvid_s parameters on ad requests. These app set ID values are needed for monetization when users opt out of personalization on Android devices.

Unified pricing for sensitive categories

You can now set unified pricing rules that apply only to creatives in selected sensitive categories. Some ads are considered "sensitive" due to the nature of the business or ad — such as Sensationalism or Significant Skin Exposure. Our system classifies ads automatically, and we don’t rely on advertiser-provided categorization.

Troubleshoot

Troubleshoot Open Bidding health issues

Eligible publishers that onboard online with Open Bidding can now troubleshoot Open Bidding health issues.

Report and Optimize

Flexible dates on the Homepage

You can now change the date selection on the Overview Home dashboard to any date range within the last 3 months. Previously, we offered options for Last 7 days or Last 30 days. The new date selector offers completely flexible date ranges including today, yesterday, or any arbitrary date range.

Updated Total Active View metric

The Total Active View Average Viewable Time (seconds) metric is now available to all publishers.

Other products or Help Center updates

Ad categories filter in ARC

Publishers can now filter and block creatives based on general ad categories in Ad Manager's Ad review center.

Report and Optimize

User identifier status dimension expanded to reservations
The "User identifier status" dimension has been expanded to cover reservations. Previously, it supported only programmatic traffic.

New Data Transfer fields: User identifier status & PPID presence
The "User identifier status" and "PPID presence" fields are now available for Data Transfer files.

Other products or Help Center updates

Updates to Android guide for the upcoming Google Mobile Ads SDK release
In the January 18 release notes, we included links to migration guides for the upcoming Google Mobile Ads SDK release. Please be aware that:

• We updated the Android migration guide to reflect recent additions to this major release.
• The iOS migration guide remains unchanged.

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Improved Top Pricing Rules card

We’re launching a series of improvements to the Top Pricing Rules card on the Home Dashboard that includes:

• A more comprehensive data set
  • Remnant bids have been added
  • A more detailed bid breakdown that shows Rejection reason for losing bids and Auction type for winning bids, or continue to group by winning and losing bids
• Enhanced usability and navigation
  • Breakdown by each pricing option
  • Floor price/tCPM indicator
  • UI indication of rule changes or deactivation during the selected time period

New MCM "Child partner name" reporting dimension

We launched a new dimension in reporting for "Child partner name" to make it easier for publishers to identify their MCM child partners by name. Child Partner Name will reflect the company name that parent publishers see in the MCM section of Ad Manager.

Other product or Help Center updates

The setCookieOptions to be deprecated on or after January 31, 2022

The setCookieOptions setting, which provides options for ignoring Google Ad Manager cookies on the current page, will be deprecated on or after January 31, 2022. If you would like to prevent cookies from being created on the page, please use Limited ads, which is the current best practice.

Report and optimize

Updated "Mediation Chain Served" metric

To be consistent with other Mediation Chain metrics, the "Mediation Chains Served" metric now only counts responses that return at least one third-party ad network tag. As before, the metric will be counted even if none of the ad networks in the response deliver an ad.

Active View metrics in Data Transfer

We're introducing new viewability fields in Data Transfer to help publishers correctly report on Active View for video creatives. The new fields apply for all creative types, and include:

• Active View Eligible Impression Count (ActiveViewEligibleCount)
• Active View Measurable Impression Count (ActiveViewMeasurableCount)
• Active View Viewable Count (ActiveViewViewableCount)

These fields will ultimately replace legacy Active View fields:

• Active View Eligible Impression (ActiveViewEligibleImpression)
• Active View Measurable Impression (MeasurableImpression)
• Active View Viewable Impression (ViewableImpression)

The legacy metrics will populate until April 30, 2022. For accurate reporting, publishers should start using the new Active View metrics.

New "ProcessingDateAndHour" Data Transfer Field 

We’re introducing a new Data Transfer field, ProcessingDateAndHour, to simplify matching ad events to the respective hourly file. 

Other product or Help Center updates

Prepare for upcoming Google Mobile Ads SDK release

The Google Mobile Ads (GMA) SDK 21.0.0 (Android) or version 9.0.0 (iOS) will be released in early 2022. In the update to these major versions, a number of existing APIs will be changed or deprecated. Minimum supported versions of Android, iOS, and the GMA SDK will also be updated. 

• Before these versions become available, please consider updating API usage in existing apps per the Android or iOS migration guide.
• When GMA SDK 21.0.0 (Android) or version 9.0.0 (iOS) becomes available, please ensure all apps have been updated according to the migration guide before releasing your apps.
• Updating the GMA SDK to 21.0.0 (Android) or version 9.0.0 (iOS) without also making changes to the following APIs per the migration guide will cause issues with apps building or compiling and may affect revenue.
• The breaking changes in GMA SDK to version 21.0.0 (Android) or version 9.0.0 (iOS) won’t break existing implementations that target older SDK versions.