You can set up a standard ad rule to define when and how ads appear within a single video stream, or a session ad rule for multiple video streams.
Requirements to use video ad rules
- Google Ad Manager 360 with an advanced video contract
- Use of the IMA SDK 3 or a player that uses VMAP for ad insertion (learn more about supported environments)
- Content ingestion is not required to serve mid-rolls through ad rules. However:
- If you use content ingestion, you must include the
cmsidandvidparameters in your video tags, or - Serve mid-rolls without content ingestion by including the
vid_dandallcuesparameters in your tags
- If you use content ingestion, you must include the
Specific requirements for session video ad rules
Session video ad rules can only be applied to pre-roll ads.
They require the availability of a user identifier, such as a cookie, AdID, IDFA, or PPID. If no identifier is present, session ad rules are not considered, and a lower priority standard rule is selected for serving instead.
If a PPID is provided, and Display & Video 360 programmatic creatives are eligible to serve for ad requests controlled by a session ad rule, the frequency cap can sometimes fail to be applied, in which case users keep receiving ads after reaching it.
Session video ad rules only work if an impression is pinged. However, it's possible for a request-based session ad rule to allow the session counter to increment on a request rather than an impression. This might be helpful if your network uses tight timing windows or if requests are scattered geographically and cannot be matched in time for the next ad rules request.
Activate video ad rules
You can begin using video ad rules by activating them for your entire Ad Manager network, so that all video ad requests become ad rules requests. If a line item is not targeted to specific video positions (pre-rolls, mid-rolls, post-rolls, or bumpers), it is considered eligible to serve in any position that your ad rules specify.
To activate ad rules:
- Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
- Click Admin, then Video and audio, then Video and audio settings.
- Activate "Ad rules".
- Click Save.
Video ad rule priority and the default rule
When you turn on ad rules for your network, a default ad rule is created automatically with the following settings:
- Shows one 30-second pre-roll video ad, with no podding
- Targeted to the run of network, with no specific targeting
- Mid-rolls, post-rolls, and other types of ads are deactivated
Every video ad rule has an assigned priority. When your rules have conflicting settings, Ad Manager chooses from the rule with the highest priority. The default ad rule always has a lower priority than ad rules you create.
Rules with different settings can merge and both apply to video content
For example, let's say "Rule 1" excludes mid-rolls, but "Rule 2" shows mid-rolls at the 1-minute mark. Ad Manager chooses the setting of the higher priority "Rule 1" and blocks mid-rolls completely. Other settings of "Rule 2" aren't blocked, as long as they don't conflict with "Rule 1" settings.
You can click Video, then Ad rules to open a list of your ad rules, ordered by priority. Since the default rule has the lowest priority, it's located at the bottom of the list of active ad rules.*
From the list of rules, you can change a rule's status to inactive to pause the rule, or update the priority. When you change the priority for one ad rule, all other ad rules automatically update accordingly.
If all of your rules are set to "never show" ads of a certain type, those ads will never show. Configuring a more inclusive default rule is recommended so that you don't unintentionally deactivate an entire ad type.
* If you don't filter your ad rules by those with the "Active" status, the default ad rule appears between your active and inactive rules.
Export video ad rules (Beta)
You can export all your video ad rules to a spreadsheet, which may be helpful to share with users outside your Ad Manager network, for things like trafficking, revenue operations, and forecasting.
- Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
- Click Video, then Ad rules, then Export ad rules.
- A file is then generated and downloaded, which includes columns for individual ad rule settings, like pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll settings, and targeting configurations.
