2016 releases archive

DFP Premium

• DFP Query Tool:
  • Change to report duration options
    To promote better performance, we're streamlining reporting duration options. The "All available" selector is being removed and replaced with "Last 3 years" under the "Dynamic" date ranges.
  • New mobile reporting dimensions ^Beta
    To better align the Query Tool with how cross-platform and app-only mobile publishers think about their business, we added three new dimensions. The following dimensions appear under "Platform": "App names," "Devices," and "Inventory types." Note that the "Device category" and "Targeting" dimensions are also now under "Platform." Learn more
  • Reporting for AMP ^Beta
    You can now run reports broken out for Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). This allows you to compare the performance of your ads on Accelerated Mobile Pages to other mobile pages, helping you to optimize monetization for AMP. Separate rows for AMP can appear in your report when you select the new "Inventory types" dimension mentioned above. The majority of AMP data should appear in the "Mobile Optimized Web - AMP" row. Note that DFP reports on AMP data back to December 2.
• Filters for native
  To make it easier to find relevant native data, you can now use filters to search for native styles, native ad formats, and native creative sizes. You can also save the filters for reuse. To get started, click Filters above the table on the "Native styles" or "Creatives" page. Learn more
• Mobile device targeting for new iPhone models
  DFP now supports line item "manufacturer/device" targeting for newer Apple iPhone models, such as the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Include or exclude these devices for better mobile app line item targeting. Learn more
• Clickable headlines for native app install ads
  Newly created native styles for the app install ad format now feature clickable headlines. This change increases clickable space in the ads and improves their performance.
  • As the change affects the HTML default, existing native styles will not yet be updated to preserve rendering consistency. They will need to be manually migrated over by the publisher.
  • On January 26, 2017, all existing native app install ad implementations will be converted to the new headline format. To ensure consistent rendering, we recommend updating the CSS based on the new default app install template.

Ad Exchange

• Declare horizontal sticky ads ^Beta
  To improve viewability and ad performance, you can now monetize horizontal sticky ad units by declaring them through Rules in Ad Exchange. A horizontal sticky ad is an ad unit that persists at either the top or bottom of a page and stays visible while the user scrolls content on the page up or down.

  If you use sticky ad units, you must set up rules that declare their existence. Learn about guidelines and restrictions for implementing sticky ads.

• Reporting for AMP ^Beta
  You can now run reports broken out for Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). This allows you to compare the performance of your ads on Accelerated Mobile Pages to other mobile pages, helping you to optimize monetization for AMP. Separate rows for AMP can appear in your report when you select the "Inventory type" dimension. The majority of AMP data should appear in the "Mobile optimized web - AMP" row.

Training and Help Center updates

• New DFP and Ad Exchange Level 1 Curriculum on Publisher University 
  To help publishers effectively and efficiently start learning DFP and Ad Exchange, new curriculums are now available on Publisher University -- DFP Level 1 Course + Exam and Ad Exchange Level 1 Course + Exam. If you are new to DFP or Ad Exchange, we strongly encourage you to explore the courses and take the exams! Check out this video for more details.

DFP Premium

• DFP Query Tool: Mediation metrics included in Total metrics
  As of November 14, metrics for third party ad networks in Mediation for mobile apps are now included in the “Total” metrics (Impressions, Code served, and revenue metrics). Previously, mediated third party ad network impressions were only included in the “Mediation” metrics.

• DFP Order auto-archiver extended to all networks
  Previously, DFP would automatically archive inactive orders (orders that had not served impressions in the past year), once 5,000 inactive orders existed in a DFP network. Now, DFP will automatically archive all inactive orders (no impressions in the last year), regardless of the number of inactive orders within a DFP network. 
  
  Archiving orders removes them from search results, improving the usability of search in the DFP UI. No information is lost when an order is archived, and you can always view and reactivate archived orders. 

Training and Help Center updates

• New DFP and Ad Exchange Level 1 Curriculum on Publisher University 
  To help publishers effectively and efficiently start learning DFP and Ad Exchange, new curriculums are now available on Publisher University -- DFP Level 1 Course + Exam and Ad Exchange Level 1 Course + Exam. If you are new to DFP or Ad Exchange, we strongly encourage you to explore the courses and take the exams! Check out this video for more details.

DFP Premium

• Delivery Inspector for video (open beta)

  This feature validates video ad tags and simulates ad and ad rule requests while providing additional troubleshooting information. You can use Delivery Inspector for video to check if video ad tags have all the required parameters, see the request type of a video ad tag, test which ad rule is returning to an ad rule tag, and more. Learn more

• Deprecated standalone versions of the Google Mobile Ads SDK

  On October 17, we deprecated support for old standalone versions of the Google Mobile Ads (GMA) SDK, which were not supported by Google Play Services. Please upgrade to a GMA SDK that is supported by Google Play Services version 4.0 or higher. Otherwise, your ad serving may be affected. Learn more

• Billing tab reorganization

  The Billing tab interface has been updated for better usability. Learn more

Ad Exchange

• Support for additional general categories in Ad Exchange

  To provide more granular control for ads associated with general categories, we've added over 200 general categories that you can include in your Ad Exchange rules. Learn more about general categories

• Deprecated standalone versions of the Google Mobile Ads SDK

  On October 17, we deprecated support for old standalone versions of the Google Mobile Ads (GMA) SDK, which were not supported by Google Play Services. Please upgrade to a GMA SDK that is supported by Google Play Services version 4.0 or higher. Otherwise, your ad serving may be affected. Learn more

Training and Help Center updates

• Improved Troubleshooting section

  We made major improvements to the Troubleshooting section in the Help Center, including a new best practices article for delivery troubleshooting and a new area for troubleshooting tools.

• DFP: HTML5

  We’ve launched a new video that teaches what an HTML5 creative is, and how to traffic them in DFP.

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• Learn which ads did deliver and why (open beta for mobile web and desktop)

  This feature helps you troubleshoot ad delivery in the context of inventory. The details can answer which ads delivered on your page, why these ads delivered and not others, which line item would deliver if you were to request the ad slot again, and more. In DFP, from the Delivery tab, click Troubleshoot in the sidebar, and then enter a URL to troubleshoot. Note that this feature is currently in open beta, is available only for mobile web and desktop, and will be fully launched soon as part of the improved DFP troubleshooting tools. Learn more

DFP Premium

• Native app install ads on mobile web

  You can now traffic native app install ads on mobile web (they were previously available only on mobile apps). Simply target native styles with the “Native app install ad” format to ad units on mobile websites.

  As a reminder, if you’re setting up native ads for mobile, be sure to set up styles for both Native app install ads and Native content ads. This allows both formats to compete to maximize yield. Learn more

• New report metrics to reflect invalid activity filtering

  To comply with industry standards, DFP filters invalid impression and click activity. Two new metrics in DFP reporting provide insight into how much invalid activity might be affecting your inventory: Ad server unfiltered impressions and Ad server unfiltered clicks. Learn about the filtration methodology

• DFP Dashboard available for users in custom teams

  If your network uses Teams, users who are part of a team other than the “All entities” team can now access the DFP Dashboard, except for the “Network snapshot” and “Leaderboard” cards. Learn more about the DFP Dashboard

Ad Exchange

• Payments tab reorganization

  The Ad Exchange Payments tab interface will be updated for better usability. This is primarily a cosmetic change. Learn more

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• Ad Exchange in DoubleClick for Publishers

  Users with access to both Ad Exchange and DoubleClick for Publishers can now enjoy access to Ad Exchange product features in the DoubleClick for Publishers interface. This streamlines the user workflow and reduces the need to access separate products. Ad Exchange users who do not have access to DFP will not experience any change. The current Ad Exchange interface remains available and unchanged. Learn more

DFP Premium

• See why line items didn’t deliver

  The “Non-delivery causes” tool provides detailed information on the delivery patterns of your line items for the past 7 days. It explains why a line item that was eligible for an ad request didn’t deliver. To access this tool, navigate to the line item in DFP and click the new Troubleshoot tab. This launch is the first of many you’ll see over the coming weeks to improve troubleshooting tools. Learn more

• Mobile ad network creative type deprecation

  The Mobile ad network creative type allowed publishers to traffic ad network tags that were called server-side by DFP. However, with the widespread availability of Mediation, this creative type became largely obsolete. As a result, the Mobile ad network creative type has been deprecated. All deprecated creatives will remain in DFP indefinitely for historical reporting purposes.

  If your network was using it, we recommend discussing your options with DFP support, such as re-trafficking with an alternative creative type.

• Code snippet deprecation for Ad Exchange line items

  The Ad Exchange "code snippet" text box in creative settings for Ad Exchange display/mobile line items has been removed, as well as the "channels" and "Ad Exchange Tag ID" text boxes for Ad Exchange video line items, for publishers who aren't already using these fields. The code snippet is no longer needed, as you can now use Ad Exchanges rules to target DFP inventory (such as ad units, placements, and key-values) instead. This is part of an eventual deprecation of this field for all publishers. Learn best practices for trafficking Ad Exchange in DFP

• View mobile audience segment composition

  New columns added to the Audience segments table in the Inventory tab allow you to see a breakdown of the types of mobile device identifiers that compose each audience segment. Learn more

• Admin tab reorganization

  The settings and features within the Admin tab have been reorganized for better usability. No setting or features have been removed as part of this change.

DFP Premium

• Apple iOS 10 available for targeting
  In preparation for the public release of Apple iOS 10, you can now include “Apple iOS 10.0.x” in device targeting for line items or creatives.

• Publisher University in the DFP Dashboard
  Stay updated directly from the DFP Dashboard with the latest Publisher University videos, featured training content, and more. Learn more

Ad Exchange

• No Flash creatives to Internet Explorer on Windows 7 and below
  Ad Exchange no longer serves Flash creatives to Internet Explorer on Windows 7 and below. We’re making this update for security reasons, as Flash is a common exploit method into machines on older versions of Windows. This update should have low impact for most publishers.

Training and Help Center updates

• What’s New in Ad Exchange, August 2016

  The August 2016 edition of "What's New in Ad Exchange" is now live on Publisher University. In this training video, we explore the most recent updates to Ad Exchange, including renamed dimensions in the Query Tool, a new set of data collection and targeting controls to Blocking rules, along with updated UI language for existing controls, the addition of advertiser and brand details to the Creative Review tool, and the addition of bid filter detail to the Deal Check report.

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• Claim apps for targeting
  The My apps feature gives you the power to select a subset of apps in DFP, which you can then use for easier app targeting in both DFP and Ad Exchange. Learn more

DFP Premium

• Query Tool
  • Change to report retention and duration options

    We've changed the retention for which completed reports are saved. Saved reports are retained for 40 days. We've also improved the report duration selectors to make it easier to choose the range of data in queries and reports. Neither change impacts reportable data in DFP — you can still query up to 3 years' worth of data.

  • Query prediction estimate

    As you build a report, Query Tool now displays the estimated time expected to generate your report.

• DFP Roles: advanced tab control

  Administrators can now hide tabs from user roles in the “Access to DFP tabs” section of roles settings (applies to all tabs other than “Home”).

• Custom fields surfaced in line item delivery table

  You can now display line item custom fields in order line item listings by selecting Show in table when creating or editing them.

• Additional geo targeting locations

  We’ve added more than 3,000 locations — neighborhoods, boroughs, cities, municipalities, and provinces — to the DFP line item targeting widget.

Ad Exchange

• Query Tool: Improved reporting for DFP ad unit

  To make DFP ad units easier to read, we’re streamlining their display in the Query Tool. We’re also removing IDs that are no longer relevant.

Training and Help Center updates

• Active View videos

  Looking to brush up on Active View, or understand the impact it can have on your properties? Check out these two new training videos, Active View: Overview and Troubleshooting Viewability, in both the School of Ad Exchange and the School of DFP on Publisher University.

• Mobile web performance videos

  We've launched two new training videos that help analyze and improve the performance of mobile websites: Mobile Web Performance Optimization Part 1 and Part 2 on Publisher University. These videos go into detail on how to recognize problem areas on mobile sites with respect to speed, and suggestions on how to fix them.

DFP Premium

• Query Tool: Delivery Indicator metric

  The Delivery Indicator metric is transitioning to become an attribute of the “Line Item” dimension. Soon, you’ll able to select the new "Delivery Indicator" attribute when you build reports.

  In early September 2016, the “Delivery Indicator” metric will be removed from the report builder screen. To select the attribute instead of the metric, you’re encouraged to update queries that use the “Delivery Indicator.” Once the metric is no longer supported, we’ll convert any remaining queries to use the Delivery Indicator attribute.

  This transition may cause the Delivery Indicator column to appear in a different position than where it previously appeared.

• Deprecation of Audience in creative-level targeting

  Effective July 25, we have removed the ability to specify audience targeting using creative-level targeting. (Audience targeting at the line item level is not affected.) Publishers that currently use this functionality will be contacted by their account teams with more details.

• IMA SDK support for preloaded video assets

  The IMA SDK for web (both HTML5 and Flash) now support preloading video ad assets in advance, resulting in an up to 95% reduction in user-visible latency for many ad breaks.

• Filter users by role

  You now filter user profiles by roles (including custom roles) on the Admin page.

• Kitty dashboard card

  Always have feline companions at your side by choosing the new Kitty card. Now back by popular demand from the days of DART.

Ad Exchange

• Branded inventory clarification for mobile apps

  When setting up your Open Auction inventory rules or creating a new Preferred Deal or Private Auction, you can choose to set the branding type to either branded, semi-transparent, or anonymous (Open Auction only). Because mobile app inventory always transacts as branded when not anonymous, the semi-transparent setting is now only available for desktop and mobile web. The option to select “semi-transparent” for mobile app inventory has been removed.

DFP Premium

• Update of mobile devices in targeting picker
  We are updating our offering for mobile device targeting to speed up the FE and improve usability. Old and unused devices that do receive immaterial traffic will be removed from the targeting picker, and new ones added. Please note that existing line items are not affected.
• New Data Transfer Field: Referer URL
  A new optional field is available in Data Transfer that captures the URL of the page from where the ad was requested. For activation of the Referer URL field, contact your Account Team. Learn more about what's included in Data Transfer.

Ad Exchange

• Changes to Ad Exchange Blocking rules (available soon)
  In Ad Exchange Blocking rules, we are adding a new set of data collection and targeting controls as well as updated UI language for existing controls. These changes give you more visibility and control over data collected from your site.
  • The new "User-based data (Google Demand sources)" controls allow you to choose whether to block Google Demand sources (GDN and DBM) from serving remarketed ads or interest-based ads, or collecting visitation information from your site for the purpose of serving such ads. Please keep in mind that opting out of showing either interest-based or retargeting ads decreases the number of ads eligible to compete to appear on your website, and may result in lower earnings.
  • For existing Ad Exchange Blocking rules under “Cookies and data uses,” we have updated UI language to reflect that filters apply to non-Google Demand sources and are based on buyers’ voluntary declaration of data collection and targeting. These filters apply to non-Google Demand sources only.

Training and Help Center updates

• Ad Exchange Overview Training
  Three Ad Exchange overview videos (Introduction, What Happens Behind the Scenes, and Demand-Side Platforms) have been added to the Ad Exchange Fundamentals course, as well as the Ad Exchange Video Library.
• DFP Native Ads Training
  Two new training videos, Introduction to Native Ads and Implementing Native Ads, have been posted to Publisher University.

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• Easier HTML5 creative trafficking
  You can now upload HTML5 creatives as easily as other creatives in DFP - by using the new HTML5 creative type. You can select the HTML5 creative type when you add a creative and quickly upload HTML5 zip bundles or standalone HTML files. Learn more

DFP Premium

• DFP UI language settings moving to Google Accounts
  Settings for the DFP user interface language are now tied to your Google Account instead of DFP. An override is available, which allows you to use different languages for your Google Account and your DFP account. Your current DFP language is honored.
• DFP Query Tool
  • Save your preferences
    A new feature lets you store your DFP reporting preferences. Preferences include the date range and the number of rows output per page. Learn more
  • Support for flat reports
    We’re adding an option to let you choose between hierarchical or flat reports. Previously, all reports were hierarchical. We're replacing the current toggle in the “Ad Unit” dimension with this new option. This doesn't affect reports built through the API. If you want each Ad Unit in the hierarchy to appear in its own column, select the hierarchical option. Learn more

Ad Exchange

• Brand name in Creative review
  When reviewing an ad in Creative review, you’ll now see the brand name in the left sidebar. Brands are children that are mapped to parent advertisers, providing you with more granular blocking and pricing options and reporting data. Learn more

DFP Premium

• Change history update
  The second stage of the new change history rollout moves trafficking to the new change history panel and makes both roles and trafficking available in a new change history admin panel. Until the migration is complete, users need to use both admin panels to find all changes. Note that the rollout is spread out over multiple months, and that the legacy change history panel will be available for more than a year as a source for older changes. When the switch to the new change history is complete, the following objects will additionally have their own change history links: ad units, placements, labels, teams, and contacts.
• Removal of lesser used mobile carriers from targeting picker
  We’ve updated our offering for mobile carrier targeting. Old and unused carriers that are not receiving traffic anymore have been removed from the targeting picker, and new ones added. Please note that existing line items have not changed.
• DFP API v201605
  Highlights from this API release include:
  • A new local time flag for sales reports.
  • A new workflow progress indicator for Sales manager proposals.
  Learn more on the Google Ads Developer Blog.
• SafeFrame on by default for some creative types
  To provide better consumer protection, publisher control, rich interaction and viewability measurement, the "Serve into a SafeFrame" check box is checked by default for all new third-party, custom, and user-defined creatives. This change doesn't affect existing creatives. Learn more about SafeFrame and its IAB standards.

Ad Exchange

• Additional bid filter detail using Deal Check You can now determine which bid responses are filtered from your available impressions because the advertiser associated with the buyer creative did not match the advertisers configured for the deal. Deal Check displays this data as "Invalid advertiser" in the filtered bids section. Learn more
• New Ad Exchange control for applying per-query revenue share optimization
  As part of our ongoing efforts to provide smarter optimizations and maximize revenue, we may increase or decrease revenue share per query.
  
  If you’d prefer to apply your contracted revenue share on every query, use the new Ad Exchange UI Admin control to exclude all the sites you monetize through your account from revenue share-based optimizations. Your contracted revenue share over a billing period will not change. Learn more
  
  This control will take effect no earlier than August 1st.

Training and Help Center updates

• Publisher University: What’s New in DFP
  In the June 2016 edition of "What's New in DFP," we take a look at improvements to the layout and wording of the Forecasting screen, expanded vCPM measurement with Active View, First Look, and the addition of unfilled impressions to the Network Snapshot card in the DFP Dashboard. Check out the video on Publisher University.

DFP Premium

• Query Tool: Additional negation filters
  To make it easier to filter on relevant data, we've expanded support for negation filters - "is not" and "does not contain".

Ad Exchange

• Query Tool
  • New Active View metric
    Active View average viewable time (beta) metric for DFP display and video has been released. You can now report on the average time (in seconds) that an individual ad impression was viewable.
  • Change in Deal types dimension
    To make it easier to find Open Auction and First Look transactions, we’ve renamed the "Deal types" dimension to "Transaction types".

Training and Help Center updates

• DFP mobile app Mediation
  We've added two new DFP mobile app Mediation video tutorials to Publisher University. The first video gives an overview of Mediation and walks you through how it can be set up. The second video demonstrates how you can report on mobile app Mediation in your DFP network. Find the tutorials by visiting the School of DFP video library and selecting Mediation from the topic list. Or access each tutorial directly from these links: Overview and Setup | Reporting
• What’s New in Ad Exchange, May 2016
  The May 2016 edition of "What's New in Ad Exchange" is now live on Publisher University. In this training video, we explore the most recent updates to Ad Exchange, including new functionality to Private Auctions, the DoubleClick Marketplace, and Opt-in rules.
• Getting Started with Ad Exchange Video
  To help new Ad Exchange video publishers get up and running, a new course has been launched on Publisher University. Getting Started with Ad Exchange Video is comprised of five new training videos and quizzes, a final assessment, and a course glossary with relevant video-related terms.

DFP Premium

• Improved forecasting UI
  We made several improvements to the layout and wording of the forecasting UI. When you check inventory for a new or existing line item, it’s now easier to analyze and understand the forecasting numbers. Improvements include:
  • Improved bar graph: We improved the visual design of the graph to make it easier to understand the different segments in the bar. Also, the bar now always appears for any type of forecast along with a summary headline above it.
  • Consolidated data: You can now expand and see the “Contending line item” and “Criteria breakdown” details on the same page as the availability forecasting numbers. You no longer need to click to another page.
  • Improved wording: We updated the wording next to some of the forecasting numbers so it’s more clear what the numbers actually mean. We also changed when certain terms appear. In addition, these updates allow full support of vCPM forecasting.
  Learn more about the improved bar graph and wording and how to use the improved forecasting UI.
• Change history update
  The second stage of the new change history rollout moves trafficking to the new change history panel and makes both roles and trafficking available in a new change history admin panel. Until the migration is complete, users need to use both admin panels to find all changes. Note that the rollout is spread out over multiple months, and that the legacy change history panel will be available for more than a year as a source for older changes.
• Location data for app ads
  If users grant your app location permissions, DFP now uses location data to help serve better targeted ads and improve monetization. To turn off this feature, visit the Network settings page under the Admin tab. Learn more

Ad Exchange

• Ad Exchange publisher declarations
  We’ve launched the ability to allow publishers to monetize refreshing inventory. In order to be policy compliant, publishers need to declare the time interval and type of refresh that they plan to use on Ad Exchange. Refreshing inventory updates ad content without necessarily having to refresh the entire contents of your page.
  
  Ad inventory that refreshes is allowed to compete on Ad Exchange. However, you must declare which portions of their inventory refresh per advertising industry guidelines on refresh transparency. Failure to declare inventory that refreshes or improperly declaring it is a violation of Google policy.
  
  Learn more about declarations.
• Impressions chart in Ad Exchange Creative review
  When reviewing an ad in Creative review, there is a new Impressions chart in the left sidebar. The chart shows you a graph of the number of impressions per day an ad has had over the past 30 days. This impression data helps you understand the potential revenue impact of an ad. The chart replaces the “Impression score” and “Historical trend”. Learn more
• Exclude child ad units when targeting DFP inventory units in rules
  You can now exclude specific child ad units from parent ad units that are targeted by your rules in Ad Exchange. Learn more about DFP ad units in rules

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• DFP Native styles
  Natives styles give publishers the ability to execute native reservation campaigns across web and apps. DFP handles the rendering of your native ads based on native styles you specify within the product. This builds on our existing native offering for publisher-rendered native ads in apps. Learn more

DFP Premium

• Third-party viewability tracking for DFP video
  You can now implement third-party tracking pixels for viewability events in your DFP video creatives. These third-party tracking URLs are used to measure ad metrics and information on user interaction with creatives, not content. Learn more

Ad Exchange

• Requests for proposals replacing Open offers from buyers
  Buyers using the DoubleClick Marketplace can now send you a request for a proposal, stating their goals and inventory needs. These proposals appear in the “Action required” section of the Offers menu in the Deals tab. Because this feature replaces buyer "Open offers," that section of the Deals tab has been removed. You are also notified by email when each request is sent.
• Allow Open Auction bids to compete with Private Auction bids
  You can now allow Open Auction bids to compete with your Private Auction bids to maximize your revenue through increased competition. For any new Private Auction, this feature is enabled by default. Learn more
• Set Private Auctions to be discoverable by all buyers
  When you create or edit any individual Private Auction, you can now allow any buyer to discover the Private Auction in the Marketplace and apply to join. Uninvited buyers will not see a price. For any new Private Auction, this feature is enabled by default. Learn more
• Removed the "Image & Flash" ad technology from Opt-in rules in Ad Exchange
  We've removed the "Image & Flash" ad technology as an option for Opt-in rules. Instead, all publishers are opted into this ad technology by default, and you may see an increase in revenue as a result. This control was not actually blocking Flash. Learn more about Opt-in rules

Training and Help Center updates

• Improved glossaries
  We significantly improved the glossaries for both DFP and Ad Exchange, adding several new terms, improving existing ones, and removing obsolete information.

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• DFP First Look
  Use First Look to maximize your yield by allowing preferred access to inventory for selected buyers in Ad Exchange. Learn more
  In the DFP Query Tool, you may notice fields with a dash ("-") value when reporting on First Look impressions. This means First Look doesn’t need a line item to deliver. These dashes are also exposed in the DFP API.

DFP Premium

• Inventory
  “Target platform” is no longer in use and is being removed from the expanded ad unit view.

Training and Help Center updates

• New DFP Forecasting training
  We’ve updated the DFP Forecasting module on Publisher University. You’ll find the six new tutorials in both the DFP Fundamentals for Traffickers and Administrators courses, and in the Video Library.
• What's New in Ad Exchange
  The April 2016 edition of "What's New in Ad Exchange" is now live on Publisher University. In this training video, we explore the the most recent updates to Ad Exchange, including expanded functionality of the “Override blocks” button in Preferred Deals, more granular information in the Deal Check tool, the deprecation of four report dimensions in the Query Tool, and the ability to create Flexible sizes rules for mobile in-app inventory.

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• DART tag deprecation
  DART tag deprecation is scheduled to take place on April 5, 2016. After deprecation, DART tags will no longer deliver ads; instead, they will respond with an HTTP 400 error. Be aware that DART tag deprecation affects all DFP DART tags (includes internal redirects/DFP JS tags used as third-party tags), but NOT DCM legacy tags. Please replace any DART tags on your sites with Google Publisher Tags (GPT) prior to the cutoff date to ensure seamless ad serving. Learn more
• Changes to reporting of eCPMs and impressions
  To help provide clarity, we’ve made three CPM-related changes to the Ad Exchange.
  • Changed the default CPM metric from eCPM to “Ad eCPM (new)”
  • Renamed eCPM to “Matched eCPM”
  • Added new versions of Ad eCPM and Ad Impression that count a single ad impression if an ad request returns multiple text ads to a single slot, the deprecation of old versions of these two metrics, and the removal of old versions over time.
  Learn more about eCPM in Ad Exchange

DFP Premium

• DFP Mediation for mobile apps
  Access mobile app demand from third-party ad networks while continuing to use DFP and Ad Exchange. Learn more
• DFP Dashboard includes new filters
  Ad unit, advertiser, and country name filters are available in the network snapshot card and leaderboard card.
• Dynamic allocation for sponsorships
  Dynamic allocation now supports standard and sponsorship line items; both types can compete with Ad Exchange and other lower-priority remnant line items while ensuring reservation delivery. Ad Exchange and other lower-priority line items still cannot compete when a 100% sponsorship line item is eligible, or when a combination of sponsorship line items at the same priority with goals that add up to greater than or equal to 100% are eligible.

Ad Exchange

• Notable changes to Ad Exchange Query Tool
  We've removed some already deprecated dimensions that have outlived their value and utility. Here is the list of dimensions:
  • Settings rules
  • Ad units
  • Bid types
  • Bid results
• Ad Exchange Creative review includes policy status and more
  When reviewing an upcoming ad in Creative review, the policy status appears in the left sidebar. This includes the ad’s deals status and open auction status. The sidebar also includes the creative file size and whether the creative uses data collection pixels. Learn more
• Changes to Ad Exchange Block Override for Preferred Deals
  As of March 30, the Block Override feature overrides Open Auction policy restrictions for Preferred Deals. Learn more
• Deprecating reparenting in Ad Exchange
  We've removed the ability to assign a new parent to a child ad slot.

DFP Premium

• vCPM (viewable impressions)
  You can now forecast, traffic, serve, and report on viewable impressions (vCPM) line items using Google’s Active View technology. Viewability helps determine how likely it is that an ad was actually seen by a user. Publishers with the most viewable inventory will be in the best position to earn more revenue from this trend. Learn more.
• Advanced video: improved metadata key-value mapping
  It’s now easier to map your CMS keys and values to DFP key-values. Learn how to manage CMS keys and values.
• DFP Dashboard includes unfilled impressions
  Unfilled impressions are now available in the network snapshot card. If you haven’t yet added the network snapshot card, unfilled impressions will be included upon addition of the card. If you added the card before this release, you’ll need to remove then re-add the card to show unfilled impressions. Learn more
• Removed the “Text and image” creative type
  We removed the seldom-used “Text and image” creative type. This creative type is still available as a system-defined creative template named “Mobile application download”, so there’s no loss in functionality for publishers. Existing "Text and image" creatives have become identical "Mobile application download" template creatives with no interruption to ad serving.

Ad Exchange

• Advertiser name added to the Data Transfer report
  A new Advertiser name field has been added to the report entries. Learn more about protocol buffers in Data Transfer.

DFP Premium

• DFP API v201602: Highlights from this API release include:
  • Support for Active View (vCPM)
  • Support for forecasting with alternative unit types
  • Availability of terms and conditions on proposals via API

  Learn more on the Google Ads Developer Blog.

• Changes to data protection report
  Creatives delivered via dynamic allocation are no longer scanned by DFP and so are not included in the data protection report.
• Changes to custom fields
  Location and type can no longer be changed for a custom field after it has been saved. Learn more about custom fields.
• Deprecation of segments overlap report
  Because of reliability issues, we have deprecated the segments overlap report. In place of this report, consider running a forecast of two potentially overlapping segments in an AND relationship, with a lifetime per-user frequency cap of 1. Note that forecasting is designed to estimate future impressions based on past traffic, whereas the segment overlap report compared identifiers comprising two audience segments. The forecasting workaround is therefore only a rough approximation of the overlap size between the two segments, and should not be viewed as replicating the report.

Ad Exchange

• Deal check enhancement
  Deal Check now shows “Bids not for this deal,” which happens when a buyer receives a request for impressions, but chooses instead to either bid for the impression in the Open Auction, or bid on a different overlapping deal. Learn more
   

Training and Help Center updates

• Publisher University: What’s New in DFP
  In the March 2016 edition of "What's New in DFP," we take a look at new feature updates covering the DFP Dashboard, more granular geographical targeting options, creative-level targeting, new GPT targeting macros, companies filtering, and more. Check out the video on Publisher University.

Highlight

DFP Release notes card
Starting February 16th, 2016, you can view DFP releases in the “Release notes” card of the DFP Dashboard.

DFP Premium

• Notable change to DFP Query Tool reporting
  DFP Query Tool has phased out reporting on orders, line items, ad units, and placements that don't include metrics. You can continue to export orders and line items from the "Delivery" tab. We're also working on a future feature to export ad units from DFP Inventory management. Be aware that ‘scheduled reports without metrics’ will no longer run. Note that reports related to Sales Manager don't change as a result of this update.
• Postal code targeting
  Postal code targeting is now available for France (FR), Germany (DE), India (IN), and the United Kingdom (GB). 
• Ads status dashboard
  We’ve released the Ads Status Dashboard, a new, publicly-accessible tool that enables you to learn about major outages or functionality concerns across DoubleClick products, including DoubleClick for Publishers, DoubleClick Ad Exchange and DoubleClick Sales Manager.
• Advanced video: MPEignoredDASH
  For DFP-hosted assets, DFP can now transcode media files into the MPEignoredDASH format. Learn more about transcoding.
• Change History update
  We’re releasing a new, improved version of change history. This will be a gradual rollout, with new changes migrated to the new change history in groups. As a first step to this rollout, changes to Roles will be temporarily unavailable via the Admin page and instead should be viewed from the details page for a given Role.

Ad Exchange

• Flexible Ad Exchange sizes for apps
  Flexible sizes, which allow you to specify a range of creative sizes that a segment of your inventory will accept, can now be used for apps. This removes the previous limitation where creative size must equal inventory size on apps. 

Training and Help Center updates

• What’s New in Ad Exchange
  In the February 2016 edition of "What's New in Ad Exchange," we take a look at updates including the rollout of video interstitials for mobile app publishers, the deprecation of Ad Exchange seller names, and the removal of the “Hold placement ads for 24 hours” option from Creative Review. Check out the video on Publisher University.
• Register now for the March 2016 Display Ads API Workshops:
  We're pleased to announce that we’ll be holding a series of Display Ads API Workshops in March 2016. These workshops are a half-day of tech talks, group discussions, and office hours geared toward developers who use the DoubleClick for Publishers API, Interactive Media Ads SDK, or Mobile Ads SDKs. The workshops will be held in the following cities:
  • San Francisco - March 14, 2016: Register here
  • New York - March 21, 2016: Register here

For more information on the 2-session agenda and a preview of our talks, see our workshop page.

DFP Premium

• Notable change to DFP Query Tool reportimng
  DFP Query Tool has phased out reporting on orders, line items, ad units, and placements that don't include metrics. You can continue to export orders and line items from the "Delivery" tab. We're also working on a future feature to export ad units from DFP Inventory management. Be aware that ‘scheduled reports without metrics’ will no longer run. Note that reports related to Sales Manager don't change as a result of this change.

Ad Exchange

• Traffic app video interstitials: rollout is complete
  We’ve completed the rollout of the ability for Ad Exchange App publishers to show video interstitials, including TrueView and Video click-to-download. You can display both skippable and standard videos. Video demand competes with standard image ads to maximize performance for the publisher. Learn more
• Ad Exchange seller names deprecation
  You can no longer associate a seller name with inventory channels, and existing seller names have been removed from your inventory. Reporting channels are not affected by this change.

Training and Help Center updates

Register now for the March 2016 Display Ads API Workshops:
We're pleased to announce that we’ll be holding a series of Display Ads API Workshops in March 2016. These workshops are a half-day of tech talks, group discussions, and office hours geared toward developers who use the DoubleClick for Publishers API, Interactive Media Ads SDK, or Mobile Ads SDKs. The workshops will be held in the following cities:

• San Francisco - March 14, 2016: Register here
• New York - March 21, 2016: Register here

For more information on the 2-session agenda and a preview of our talks, see our workshop page.

Coming soon...

• DFP Reporting
  We’ll be retiring the report size column in the DFP Queries and Report listing. We're replacing it with a column that shows the number of rows in each report, to give you a better idea of the size of your reports.
• DFP Release notes card
  Starting February 16th, 2016, you’ll be able to view DFP releases in the “Release notes” card of the DFP Dashboard.
• DFP Targeting
  Postal code targeting will soon be available for France (FR), Germany (DE), India (IN), and the United Kingdom (GB).

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More granular targeting within country geo

The following countries now provide more granular targeting: Estonia, Greece, Hong Kong, Latvia, Lithuania, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.

DFP Premium

Tagging

New GPT targeting macros
You can now insert one or both of these macros into your creative code:

• %%PATTERN:TARGETINGMAP%%: Expand the complete key-value string and dynamically create passback tags. This serves the same function as the %p macro in DART tags.
• %%ADUNIT%%: Insert the complete ad unit path into your creative code.

Learn more about these new macros.

DFP-to-DFP internal redirects
You can now traffic tags between two separate DFP networks by using internal redirects. Learn more.

DART tag deprecation
Fewer than 75 days remain before DART tag deprecation. Please migrate to Google Publisher Tags (GPT) as soon as possible. Learn how to re-tag from legacy DART tags to GPT.

Delivery

Change in how “Ready” line items are indicated in the user interface
Line items in the “Ready” state will now be displayed with a blue background to more easily distinguish them from line items that are in the “Paused” state.

Admin

Broader availability of filters
Filters are now available on the “Companies” section of the Admin tab, allowing you to quickly locate companies with certain characteristics. You can also save filters for reuse, a convenience for searches that you use often. Learn more about filters.

Partner management

Simplified DFP partner management
This approach allows you to indicate a simple percentage revenue share for each of your partners right on their details page. This replaces the separately managed financial terms. As part of this launch, the “Partner management” metrics replace the existing dimensions and metrics for partner management. Learn more.

Ad Exchange

Creative review

Removal of “Hold placement ads for 24 hours” from Creative review
On January 27, 2016, this feature will no longer be available in Ad Exchange. This mode currently only applies to a small fraction of ads (those that are placement targeted). Learn more about why we’re removing this setting.

Training and Help Center updates

Register now for the March 2016 Display Ads API Workshops: We're pleased to announce that we’ll be holding a series of Display Ads API Workshops in March 2016. These workshops are a half-day of tech talks, group discussions, and office hours geared toward developers who use the DoubleClick for Publishers API, Interactive Media Ads SDK, or Mobile Ads SDKs. The workshops will be held in the following cities:

• San Francisco - March 14, 2016: Register here
• New York - March 21, 2016: Register here

For more information on the 2-session agenda and a preview of our talks, see our workshop page.

Programmatic Guaranteed (Beta) training videos are now available: To support the recent beta, three new Programmatic Guaranteed training videos are available on Publisher University. The list includes Programmatic Guaranteed: Overview, Create a Proposal, and Create a Product.