You can negotiate and finalize campaigns in Google Ad Manager in a variety of ways. This article introduces the various options and related terminology.
Kinds of transactions
In the following table:
- The Programmatic and Traditional columns show how parties (buyers and sellers) can transact or negotiate.
- The Guaranteed campaigns and Non-guaranteed campaigns rows show the type of commitment between parties.
Programmatic |
Traditional |
||
|---|---|---|---|
Guaranteed campaignsReserved inventory |
Sponsorship Standard "Programmatic Guaranteed" refers to either Sponsorship or Standard line item types. Learn more about Programmatic Guaranteed line items. |
Sponsorship Standard |
|
Non-guaranteed campaignsNon-reserved inventory |
Preferred Deals
|
Price priority Network Bulk |
Google is not a party to the contracts between publishers and third-party SSPs for the sale of digital inventory and does not restrict such parties from negotiating specific terms or pricing rules.
House and Click-tracking line items
House and Click-tracking line items do not represent transactions with buyers.
- House line items are typically used to promote products and services of your choice, often your own, and are non-revenue generating. Learn more about House line items.
- Click-tracking line items are a mechanism that shows you how many times a visitor to your website or app clicks a specific link. They don't serve ads and don't generate revenue. Learn more about Click-tracking line items.
Meaning of terms
For more detailed descriptions of each transaction or deal type, review the following table:
| Term or phrase | Usage |
|---|---|
Indirect sold |
Transactions are characterized by the following:
No direct negotiation occurs for these transaction. |
Direct sold |
Transactions result from negotiations between you and a single buyer, a one-to-one relationship between you and a buyer. The negotiated terms specify the price and inventory—though the inventory may be reserved or non-reserved for the buyer, depending on the transaction. |
Programmatic versus Traditional |
Traditional transactions Terms are negotiated and finalized outside of Ad Manager, say via email, spreadsheets, or PDFs. Details are manually input into orders and line items, and creatives are manually uploaded or managed in Ad Manager. Billing, payments, and reconciliation are all manually handled by you. All traditional campaigns are direct sold. Programmatic transactions Programmatic transactions are automated. They're finalized systematically (in an auction), and the creative is served without manual intervention and management by you. The seller hosts the creative, and Ad Manager simply makes a call for the creative when the transaction is complete. Programmatic Direct Historically, programmatic transactions were always indirect-sold—an auction based, one-to-many relationship between you and multiple buyers, with no specific terms outside the auction event. However, Programmatic Direct lets you negotiate direct-sold campaigns while taking advantages of programmatic technology. Terms are automatically negotiated and finalized systematically inside of Ad Manager. Creatives are hosted and managed by the buyer. Billing, payments, and reconciliation are all automatically handled by Google. |
Programmatic Guaranteed |
Refers to either Standard or Sponsorship proposal line items under the Programmatic Direct feature. Programmatic Direct also allows you to negotiate Preferred Deals, a non-guaranteed (non-reserved inventory) line item type. |
Guaranteed versus Non-guaranteed |
Describes the kind of commitment you and the buyer have. Non-guaranteed campaigns are not contractually obligated to deliver. Guaranteed campaigns are contractually obligated to deliver based on terms negotiated with a buyer. |
