2020 Google Ad Manager releases archive

These release notes are archives provided for your convenience only and might not reflect current product functionality. For the latest releases, see what's new in Ad Manager.
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Q4 2020

December 14  Ad unit mapping for Facebook, PG sponsorship percentage goals, troubleshooting line items, Open Bidding in Russia and China beta, updates to LGPD list

Manage inventory

Ad unit mapping for Facebook is now available

You can now connect your Facebook ad units to required parameters for a specific ad format and environment with ad unit mapping.

Traffic and deliver ads

Add a percentage goal to Programmatic Guaranteed sponsorships

You can now set the percentage of matching requests where a Programmatic Guaranteed sponsorship will serve. This type of advertising is sometimes called “share-of-voice” because the advertiser gets a certain percentage of the page views on your site or app.

To get started, add a proposal line item, selecting Sponsorship as the “Line item type.” Under “Goal,” select the percentage of ad serving for the advertiser.

Updated process for troubleshooting why a line item didn’t deliver

When you inspect webpage ad delivery from the Delivery tools interface, you will now have the option to troubleshoot an individual line item. In addition to the "Webpage" field, you'll see a new field labeled "Line item to troubleshoot." Enter the name of a line item to see more details, including a new "Non-delivery cause" column. In the “Action” column, click Inspect to see more information about the non-delivery reason for the requested line item. This improvement eliminates the need to navigate through multiple steps and pages in order to see why a line item was unable to serve.

Open Bidding bid requests for Russia and China (Beta) 

In this beta, you can receive bids and creatives from Open Bidding demand partners that will serve on requests in Russia and China. These creatives must not have a 3rd party SDK implementation and will be reviewed with strict, country-specific policies.

Report and optimize

Programmatic Guaranteed and Preferred Deals moving to net revenue in reporting

Ad Manager reporting currently displays revenue data for Programmatic Guaranteed and Preferred Deals as gross revenue. In early January 2021, net revenue will be used instead of gross, bringing Programmatic Guaranteed and Preferred Deals into alignment with all other transaction types.

The following metrics will switch to reporting net revenue in Ad Manager reports:

  • Total CPM and CPC revenue
  • Total CPM, CPC, CPD, and vCPM revenue
  • Total average eCPM
  • Ad server CPD revenue
  • Ad server CPM and CPC revenue
  • Ad server CPM, CPC, CPD, and vCPM revenue
  • Other revenue-related metrics when Programmatic Guaranteed or Preferred Deals data is included.

When this change goes into effect, net revenue will be displayed in all reports that include these metrics and a date range beginning on or after January 1, 2021. In preparation for this transition and to facilitate historical comparisons when this change goes into effect, temporary gross metrics have been introduced in Ad Manager reporting.

Other product or Help Center updates

Additions to the ad technology providers for LGPD list

On December 15, 2020, the following newly certified Ad Technology Providers (ATPs) are available for use with the LGPD: Adnuntius AS, Epom Ltd., Capteev, IMPACT PLUS, SAS VECTAURY, PowerLinks Media Ltd., Kidoz LTD, Lentainform, ScaleMonk Inc.

November 16 MCM Manage Inventory delegation type, 3rd party Android store support, TCF v2.0 error grace period, Limited Ads for web, LGPD providers available

Manage inventory

Manage Inventory delegation type now available

Set up ad units, orders, and line items on behalf of a child publisher with Multiple Customer Management’s Manage Inventory delegation type, which is now generally available. This feature requires an additional application. Contact your account manager for more information.

Manage MCM child sites in Ad Manager

You can now add sites for child publishers with the Manage Inventory delegation type to monetize their inventory. This is a part of MCM, which requires an additional application. Contact your account manager for more information.

More third-party Android stores now supported

Additional Android app stores are now supported when claiming apps, including Amazon Appstore, OPPO App Market, Samsung Galaxy Store, VIVO App Store, and Xiaomi GetApps.

Other product or Help Center updates

TCF v2.0 error grace period treatments extended

To give publishers time to manage errors and misconfigurations related to the launch of IAB Europe’s Transparency & Consent Framework v2.0, Google has previously provided publishers with a 90-day grace period. While originally scheduled to end on November 15th, in order to give you additional time to remediate errors, the grace period has been extended to mid-January 2021. This is a final extension.

Limited Ads for web

Publishers now have the ability to serve ads in a limited way when they haven’t obtained consent for the use of cookies or other local identifiers. To implement this solution for web-based ads, you can manually include a signal via the API or a URL parameter (ltd=1) in the ad request, and we will attempt to serve an eligible limited ad.

Removal of TCF v2.0 timeout requirement

As of November 9, 2020, the requirement for TCF v2.0 CMPs to respond within 500ms to AdManger, AdSense, or AdMob requests has been removed. Now Ad Manager, AdSense, and AdMob will wait indefinitely for a response from the CMP you choose to implement.

Additional ad technology providers for LGPD now available

On November 16, 2020, the newly certified Ad Technology Providers (ATPs) announced on October 19 became available for use with the LGPD. Review the Ad Technology Providers for the LGPD list to learn more about these new ATPs.

November 2 Programmatic demand for Web Stories, Adaptive Banner ads, updates to backfill management, Ad Buffet, forecasting breakdown

Manage inventory

Programmatic demand for Web Stories (Beta) 

Programmatic demand is now available to increase your revenue from ads in Web Stories. Programmatic demand can also be used to backfill Web Story ad unit line items. During this beta, only Google Display Ads demand is available through Ad Manager, with more demand partners coming soon.

Traffic and deliver ads

Serve Adaptive Banner ads in Ad Manager

Adaptive Banners dynamically adjust the ad size for a variety of devices and screen sizes without excessive custom code. Unlike standard or Smart Banners, Adaptive Banners let you specify the ad width. By using fixed aspect ratios instead of fixed heights, Adaptive Banners can choose from a wider variety of sizes without stretching or cropping advertiser creatives, leading to improved performance potential.

Serve master/companion ads in Programmatic Guaranteed

You can now serve master/companion ads in publisher-managed Programmatic Guaranteed deals. This allows the addition of multiple creatives that serve together, which advertisers often use to show more than one ad creative on a page at the same time. To get started, in a programmatic proposal line item, select Master/companion under the “Display” ad type.

Manage network settings

Updates to backfill management

The ability to create new account links is being replaced with new ways to discover and implement features. Requests to link additional Ad Manager and Ad Exchange accounts will be reviewed by the Ad Manager team to identify a best-fit solution.

Publishers that have not used this feature since January 2019 will no longer be able to link new Ad Exchange accounts. This change does not affect existing links to Ad Exchange accounts.

Update your app-ads.txt to authorize app inventory

On November 2, 2020, Google Display & Video 360 buyers’ default setting will update to buy authorized app inventory. Create an app-ads.txt file to ensure your app ad inventory is available and sold to buyers you’ve authorized. Creating this file prevents putting your earnings at risk.

Report and optimize

Ad Buffet is now available

Ad Buffet, fallback functionality for optimized pods, is now available for all publishers. Ad Buffet now offers the ability to backfill optimized pods with Ad Exchange line items by default.

Forecast inventory

Use segments to add forecast adjustments

We have improved the way you select targeting for traffic forecasts and adjustments:

  • To add specific targeting to a traffic forecast, you now click the new Targeting link on the “Traffic forecast” page, instead of the Filters link from the previous functionality. This allows you to easily filter forecasts using the same expanded targeting picker available elsewhere in Ad Manager.
  • Forecast adjustments have moved from the bottom of the “Traffic forecast” page to an “Adjustments” tab near the top of the page. Also, the “Forecasted,” “Reserved,” and “Adjusted” ad opportunity numbers now appear to the right of the graph, instead of above.
  • Near the top of the page, there’s also a new tab for “Segments,” which is a new inventory organization concept. Segments are reusable portions of inventory against which you can create forecast adjustments.
  • To create a forecast adjustment, you now always start from a forecast segment. There are also some new and updated settings when adding an adjustment.

See forecasting breakdown by creative restrictions

Forecasts now include details on creative restrictions, including for Programmatic Guaranteed and Preferred Deals. These restrictions can make a deal and its creatives ineligible on some impressions, potentially leading to underdelivery.

When you click the “View breakdown by targeting” link in the forecast of a line item or proposal line item, there may be a “Creative restrictions” section. If the numbers or percentages in this section are high, confirm that buyers are only uploading creatives that can serve on the reserved inventory.

 

October 19 Improved Dynamic Allocation, traffic web interstitials, improved security with SafeFrame, target more ad formats, ad technology providers for LGPD

Manage inventory

Improved Dynamic Allocation

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be releasing improvements to dynamic allocation that automatically increase a publisher’s revenue from remnant line items without impacting the delivery of guaranteed line items. Dynamic allocation works best when remnant line items have CPMs or CPCs that accurately reflect their true value.

Traffic and deliver ads

Traffic web interstitials (Beta) 

You can now traffic full-page web ads that appear between page views. Web interstitials serve as an additional inventory and revenue source. Publishers can monetize web pages with impactful ads while respecting Better Ads Standards.

Add terms & conditions and a no-pause agreement to a proposal

As part of the negotiation process with a buyer, you can now add your own terms and conditions to a Programmatic Guaranteed proposal and also agree to not pause delivery.

  • Terms and conditions specify the contract details of a proposal between the publisher and a buyer. These are custom terms and conditions that the publisher has an option to create. They’re not required and have no relationship to Google’s terms and conditions.
  • You and the buyer can agree that neither party will pause a proposal once it’s delivering. It’s helpful to both publishers and buyers to make this agreement because it sets clear expectations about whether you want to allow pausing. It also acts as a reminder to not pause unnecessarily.

Target more ad formats

You can now target the following formats in line items and pricing rules for even more control in reaching your intended audience:

  • Line items: You can target interstitial and anchor ads.
  • Pricing rules: You can target interstitial, rewarded interstitial, app open, and anchor ads.

Manage network settings

Improved security with SafeFrame random domains

On October 26, the "Default" for SafeFrame security will be set to load creatives from randomized subdomains. This is the strongest available security guarantee, used to further isolate SafeFrame content. To protect against a known security vulnerability, we recommend you test and enable unique SafeFrame domains.

Other product or Help Center updates

Additional ad technology providers for LGPD

On November 16, newly certified Ad Technology Providers (ATPs) will become available for use with the LGPD. Review the “Upcoming changes” section of Ad Technology Providers for the LGPD to learn more about these new ATPs.

Implementation Grace Period 0 for TCF v2.0

Beginning the week of October 19, 2020, ad requests with Grace Period 0 errors will transition to non-personalized ads (NPA).

About the SDK instance ID

With the latest versions of the GMA and IMA SDKs, a rotating SDK instance ID is automatically generated for each app to ensure effective delivery, display, and integrity of ads. The SDK Instance ID is unique per app and helps maximize your app’s ad performance. Learn more about preparing your app for iOS 14+.

 

October 5 Impression limit for CPM sponsorships, updates to Ad review center, limited ads launch delayed, Native ad styles manual experiment

Traffic and deliver ads

Impression limit for CPM sponsorships

You can now set the total number of impressions that can be served for the lifetime of a line item with a “Sponsorship” line item type and “CPM” rate. The limit can prevent the line item from using too much inventory after achieving its goals if there is more traffic than expected.

Updates to the Ad review center filters

You can now filter ads based on which of your apps they appeared in with the “Publisher application” filter. Additionally, you can search for ads that have served to your inventory from within the last 30 days using a datepicker, instead of within set times, with “Newest ads”.

Report and optimize

Report by inventory format  (Beta) 

Formats are growing increasingly important, especially for mobile app publishers, and we’ll be adding even more formats in the near future. The new “Inventory format” dimension allows you to compare how different formats are performing as you start to use them. You can now measure performance based on the format of the ad unit where the ad was requested.

Native ad styles manual experiment  (Beta) 

A new manual experiment type for Native ad styles is now available on the Experiments page. Manual experiments can be defined based on your own criteria and schedule and help you understand how proposed changes may impact your network.

Other product or Help Center updates

Limited ads launch delayed

The limited ads launch has been temporarily postponed. The launch of limited ads for web and apps will now coincide with the expiration of the grace period treatment, currently targeted for November 15, 2020.

Q3 2020

September 21 App data now shared with AdMob, update to Partner Guidelines, update to TCF v2.0 implementation error grace period

Traffic and deliver ads

App data is now shared with AdMob

The name and status for mobile apps you claim in Ad Manager is now shared with AdMob. When you create or add a new app in either product, that app will be available in both products.

Other product or Help Center updates

Update to Google Ad Manager Partner Guidelines: Invalid Activity

In September 2020, Ad Manager Partner Guidelines for Invalid Activity will be updated to include limitations to how ad requests and impressions can pass through Open Bidding on app.

Update to TCF v2.0 implementation error grace period

Grace period 0 has been adjusted to allow publishers additional time to correct misconfiguration errors. The transition from serving personalized ads to non-personalized ads when the TC string isn’t properly configured has been extended to October 15th.

September 8 Update to Google Publisher Policies, buyer-set targeting, troubleshoot 3rd-party delivery

Manage inventory

See more buyer-set targeting in proposal line items

Proposal line item settings now display the affinity and demographic targeting set by a Display & Video 360 buyer. This is in addition to the buyer-set audience list targeting that you could previously see.

  • This added targeting allows buyers even more value by being precise with their buy.
  • It also provides you with more transparency into the programmatic proposal details during negotiations.

You must accept the proposal for this targeting to take effect. Once the buyer has accepted a proposal, the targeting can’t be changed unless you reopen the proposal.

Manage network settings

Expand desktop ads for optimal performance

When Google determines that a larger ad can safely serve within an ad slot on desktop, we automatically enable the additional demand. Experiments indicate that expanded creatives can potentially increase demand eligibility and click-through rates. This capability is already available on mobile web. On desktop, ad expansion applies to backfill display and non-in-stream video and is limited to the width of the container.

Troubleshoot

Troubleshoot delivery related to third-party ad technology

Your network is required to configure various privacy and consent policy settings related to ad technology used in creatives. In addition, your network must collect consent from users to use this ad technology. Unconfigured or misconfigured settings may prevent a creative from delivering. New troubleshooting reasons under the "Troubleshoot" tab for line items now help you to identify and resolve these delivery issues.

Report and optimize

Legacy Reach report API removal

Access to the legacy Reach report via the API has been removed. Publishers should transition to using the updated Unique Reach Report.

Other product or Help Center updates

Update to Google Publisher Policies

In September 2020, the Google Publisher Policies will be updated to prohibit monetization of web pages, sites, or apps that are not primarily in one of our supported languages, or that do not contain content.

Update to the TCF error report

We’re adding an “Ad unit” dimension to the TCF error report to give you more insight and detail into the impact of TCF-related errors. Publishers can use the error codes listed in the report to find the suggested actions to be taken in the following troubleshooting tables and resolve the errors.

August 24 Explore your video content, deactivate creatives, prepare mobile apps for iOS 14, update sellers.json domain

Explore your video content  (Beta) 

Content explorer for Ad Manager provides you with a visual walkthrough of your ingested video content, grouped by relevant information, such as your content metadata or content bundles. It allows you to explore data based on these content groups to better understand and allow advertisers to reach specific audiences.

Whether you're viewing all of your video content, or content assigned to specific key-values or content bundles, the video content explorer displays at-a-glance discovery and measurement data and insights for your top video content, without having to run a report.

Content explorer is currently in beta, and available for video publishers who use content ingestion and first-party audience segments.

Manage network settings

Update your transparency status and business domain for Sellers.json

Authorized Buyers are actively reviewing Google’s sellers.json file and making buyer decisions. Your inventory has a higher chance of receiving Authorized Buyer bids when listed as transparent with an up-to-date domain. Please review your transparency status and add your domain.

Report and optimize

Slide-in panel removed from Reporting

Previously, a slide-in panel appeared when you created a new report in Ad Manager. This slide-in panel will no longer be used. Based on user feedback, the updated workflow will now open within the existing page.

Other product or Help Center updates

Integration with the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) v2.0

Google has launched our integration with the IAB’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) v2.0. To give publishers who are choosing to integrate time to manage errors and misconfigurations related to this launch, Google has provided a 90-day grace period that began August 15th, 2020. Learn more about the grace period and troubleshooting errors related to the TCF v2.0

August 10 Run audio ads, Programmatic Guaranteed CPM sponsorships, buyer-initiated Makegoods, sellers.json business domain, IAB TCF v2.0, "Limit EEA serving" deprecation

Traffic and deliver ads

Run audio ads  (Beta) 

You can traffic in-stream audio ads and easily manage your audio campaigns in Ad Manager. While some of this functionality is not new to Ad Manager, the workflow has been improved significantly and generally follows the same setup and trafficking as video.

Programmatic Guaranteed CPM sponsorships  (Beta) 

You can now sell Programmatic Guaranteed sponsorships on a CPM rate basis to Display & Video 360 buyers. Publishers currently selling CPM sponsorships through traditional reservations can now run them programmatically. Before this release, only the cost per day (CPD) rate was available for Programmatic Guaranteed sponsorships. Now, this feature combines the power of Programmatic Guaranteed, sponsorships, and CPM rates.

To get started:

  1. Add a proposal line item, selecting Sponsorship as the "Line time type."
  2. Under "Rate," select CPM and the amount you want to charge the buyer per thousand impressions.
  3. Under "Impression limit," enter the maximum lifetime number of impressions on the sponsorship that the buyer is willing to pay for.

Buyer-initiated Makegoods

Display & Video 360 buyers can now initiate Makegoods on Programmatic Guaranteed deals. The buyer initiates the Makegood through a request for proposal; the publisher is still in control of whether a Makegood runs and can negotiate terms with the buyer.

Native style targeting/activation improvements

To make native style targeting and activation consistent with other Ad Manager components:

  • Native style inventory targeting now defaults to "Run of network" (previously: defaulted to "No inventory").
  • You can set native styles to "Active" or "Inactive" (previously: you had to remove targeting to effectively "deactivate" a style).
  • You need to activate new native styles to make them eligible to serve ads (previously: native styles were automatically activated).

Make sure to activate new native styles—when completing the creation of a native style, you can now click "Save and activate" or "Save":

  • Save and activate: The native style is eligible to serve ads.
  • Save: You need to activate the style later to serve ads. To do this, from the table, select the style and click "Activate" from the bar that appears.

"Limit EEA serving" line item controls deprecation

In coordination with Google's integration with the IAB TCF v2.0 framework, we will be deprecating the "Limit EEA serving" line item control. Going forward, you should use the new control we introduced in June to declare ad technology providers for your reservations creatives. If you previously selected “Don’t serve on any EEA ad requests” for a line item that was otherwise eligible to serve ads in the EEA and the UK, this line item will be active. You should review the new setting and adjust the targeting manually to exclude the EEA and the UK, if desired.

Manage network settings

Update your business domain for sellers.json

Ad Manager support for sellers.json is being extended to all Ad Manager publishers. In addition, publishers can now update your business domain for sellers.json to help buyers verify your inventory. Publisher domains will be listed in Google's sellers.json file over time.

Some publishers will automatically be set as transparent. Publishers categorized as "INTERMEDIARY" and "BOTH", including publishers which are not directly paid by Google, in part or in total, will automatically be set as transparent and can view this setting but will not have access to edit this setting.

  1. Go to your Ad Exchange account settings.
  2. Select Enable next to "Sellers.json transparency".
  3. Add or edit your "Business domain".

Other product or Help Center updates

Integration with the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) v2.0

Google is launching our integration with the IAB’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) v2.0 on Thursday, August 13th. To give publishers who are choosing to integrate time to manage errors and misconfigurations related to this launch, Google will provide a 90-day grace period upon the availability of our integration with the IAB TCF v2.0, beginning August 15th. Learn more about the grace period and troubleshooting errors related to the TCF v2.0

July 27 Creative render rate in troubleshooting, run manual experiments (beta), experiment with unblocking advertiser URLs

Troubleshoot

Creative render rate in troubleshooting

Creative render rate is the percentage of times a line item served and successfully rendered a creative. This metric is now available directly from the "Troubleshoot" tab for line items. Low creative render rates could alert you to issues with latency in webpages, video players, or apps. Learn more about how to use creative render rate in troubleshooting.

Report and optimize

Run manual experiments (Beta)

Experiments help you understand how proposed changes may impact your network. In addition to experiments created from opportunities, you can now define manual experiments based on your own criteria and schedule. Manual experiments for Unified pricing rules and Unblocking categories are now available on the Experiments page. Learn more

Experiment with unblocking advertiser URLs

Unblocking advertiser URLs in your existing protections allows more advertisers and buyers to compete for your inventory, which increases coverage and helps you maximize revenue.

July 13 Integration with the IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) v2.0

Other product or Help Center updates

Integration with the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) v2.0

Google is committed to supporting our publishers who choose to integrate with the IAB TCF v2.0. We plan to align our product support timeline as closely as possible with IAB’s full transition to TCF v2.0 on August 15, 2020. We will begin reading and passing the TC string for a low percentage of traffic 2 weeks ahead of this date. Learn more

 

Q2 2020

June 29 Preferred Deals payments applied in your local timezone

Manage network settings

Preferred Deals payments applied in your local timezone

Starting with the June transactions on the Payments page, there will be a separate line for Preferred Deals. These earnings will appear on the 11th of the following month, but you’ll still be paid on the 21st. We're also changing the timezone for Preferred Deals payments from Pacific Time (PT) to your local timezone.

June 15 Native ads in Open Bidding, "Impression counting method" dimension available, Reach reports in GA, CCPA control

Traffic and deliver ads

Native ads on Open Bidding are now generally available

Native ads follow a similar process to other ad formats on Open Bidding. Maximize native demand for your inventory by creating yield groups with eligible exchanges and ad networks.

Report and optimize

Begin-to-render measurement to web display

The "Impression counting method" dimension is now available for use in reports on web display traffic. It identifies the methodology used to count the impressions being reported upon. Possible values include “Downloaded” and “Begin to render.”

Reach reports extended to all Ad Manager users

All Ad Manager users can now use Reach reports. Reach report data represents the number of unique visitors exposed to different advertisers, orders, line items, or ad units in your Google Ad Manager network over a given time period.

Last 93 days of data now available for Reach reports

Previously, Reach reports could only report on the last 63 days of available data. This limit has been increased based on user feedback. Reach reports can now report on the last 93 days of data.

Other product or Help Center updates

Control data sharing in California

A new control has been added to the CCPA settings page. It enables you to select which programmatic demand sources can receive bid requests originating from users in California.

June 1 Give buyers Makegoods, declare ad tech providers for your reservations creatives

Traffic and deliver ads

Give buyers Makegoods

If a Programmatic Guaranteed deal hasn’t met its originally agreed-upon terms or performance, a publisher can create a Makegood on that deal. The publisher creates the Makegood through an existing proposal line item and adjusts impressions and other parameters as needed to “make the deal good.” The buyer then accepts the Makegood as they would in a regular negotiation. Learn more

Other product or Help Center updates

Declare ad tech providers for your reservations creatives

On June 2, 2020, we will add new controls in the Ad Manager user interface to assist with your GDPR compliance and help you declare which ad technology providers you’re working with on reservation campaigns. These controls expand upon and replace the existing “Limit EEA serving” control previously located on the line item Settings page in Ad Manager. Learn more

May 18 Open Bidding key-values are retired, return VAST inside of VMAP with inline VMAP, export video ad rules, support for sellers.json

Traffic and deliver ads

Native ads are now available for Open Bidding (Beta) 

You can maximize native demand for your inventory by creating yield groups with exchanges and ad networks which are eligible for native demand. Learn more

Open Bidding key-values are retired

The Open Bidding key-values beta has ended. You will no longer be able to serve ads from third-party exchanges using key-values. Additionally, key mappings by yield partners are no longer available.

Return VAST inside of VMAP with inline VMAP

You can include vpi=1 (video playlist inred) in your video ad tag to return VAST inside of VMAP. This is beneficial for server-side video solutions, like Dynamic Ad Insertion, to reduce latency, and ensure frequency caps and competitive exclusions. Learn more

Export video ad rules  (Beta) 

You can now export all of your video ad rules into a spreadsheet, which includes columns for individual ad rule settings, like pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll settings, and targeting configurations. This may be helpful to share with users outside of your Ad Manager network, for things like trafficking, revenue operations, and forecasting. Learn more

Manage network settings

Support for sellers.json

Ad Manager will begin support for sellers.json on May 28. Some publishers will automatically be set as transparent. Check your Ad Exchange account settings for the “Sellers.json transparency” setting. Intermediaries and accounts which are not directly paid by Google, in part or in total, will automatically be set as transparent and will not have access to this setting.

Other product or Help Center updates

Declare ad tech providers for your reservations creatives

To assist with your GDPR compliance, beginning May 26, 2020, new controls will appear in the Ad Manager user interface to help you declare which ad technology providers you’re working with on reservation campaigns. These controls expand upon and replace the existing “Limit EEA serving” control previously located on the line item Settings page in Ad Manager.

 

May 4 Crawl app-ads.txt on-demand, advanced expression targeting, set pricing rules, share reports with Drive, changes to counting Active View video

Traffic and deliver ads

Crawl app-ads.txt on demand

You are now able to manually recrawl your app-ads.txt files in Ad Manager. Ad Manager will validate the syntax and provide diagnostic information to troubleshoot errors.

Advanced expressions targeting

Advanced expressions targeting has been reintroduced for custom targeting. Advanced expressions targeting allows you to easily enter large sets of key-values, audience segments, or content metadata. Your organization can create and share resources with commonly used targeting to be copied and pasted via advanced expressions targeting.

Only available in Google Ad Manager 360.

Set pricing rules by creative type

You can set unified pricing rules that apply to only display or video (in-stream and out-stream) creatives. This allows you to differentiate floors for display and video demand.  Learn more

Report and optimize

Sharing a report using the Google Drive file format

Starting May 12, 2020, if you previously granted Ad Manager access to your Google Drive, you will need to grant permission again to continue using the Google Drive file format.

Changes to counting methodology for Active View video measurable impressions

As we continue to improve Ad Manager reporting, we’ve increased the accuracy of Active View video impression counting. Due to increased precision, you may notice a decrease in the “Active View measurable impressions” metric and an increase in the “Active View % viewable impressions” metric when compared to the previous methodology.

April 20 Pricing rules card and Top apps card on your Overview Home dashboard

Report and optimize

Pricing rules card on your Overview Home dashboard

The "Pricing rules" card is now generally available on your Overview Home dashboard. Use this card to compare how your unified pricing rules influenced your bid landscapes. Learn more

Top apps card on your Overview Home dashboard (Beta) 

A new "Top apps" card has been added to your Overview Home dashboard. Use this card to learn more about your top performing mobile apps. “Claim” your apps to add them to Ad Manager for targeting. Learn more

April 6 Programmatic Guaranteed and Preferred Deals moving to net revenue in reporting

Report and optimize

Programmatic Guaranteed and Preferred Deals moving to net revenue in reporting

Ad Manager reporting currently displays revenue data for Programmatic Guaranteed and Preferred Deals as gross revenue. In the near future, net revenue will be used instead of gross, bringing Programmatic Guaranteed and Preferred Deals into alignment with all other transaction types.

In preparation for this transition and to facilitate historical comparisons when this change goes into effect, temporary gross metrics have been introduced in Ad Manager reporting. Learn more

Q1 2020

March 23 Block all buyers protection, Ad Response ID for app ads, Override Dynamic CPM for yield groups, support for Programmatic Guaranteed creatives

Traffic and deliver ads

Block all buyers protection now available

You can now set ad content protections to blocks all buyers, except those you select.

Review app ads using the Ad Response ID

Search for individual mobile app ads in the Ad review center using an Ad Response ID, a value in the responseIdentifier field. Ad Response IDs are available to look up in the Ad review center for 7 days.

HTML5, video overlay, and set-top box support for publisher-managed creatives for Programmatic Guaranteed

Publisher-managed creatives for Programmatic Guaranteed now supports the following creative types:

  • HTML5: You can upload using zip bundles or standalone files.
  • Video overlay
  • Set-top box (if you already have set-top box enabled for traditional reservations)

See an updated list of supported features for Programmatic Direct.

Improved names of full-screen creative sizes

We updated the names of some creative sizes to be more easily identifiable as full-screen ads used for mobile app interstitials. Nothing has changed functionally; this is strictly a text change.

Previous Name New Name
320x480 (HVGA Full Screen) 320x480 (Mobile Portrait Full Screen)
480x320 (HVGA Full Screen) 480x320 (Mobile Landscape Full Screen)
768X1024 (XGA Full Screen) 768x1024 (Tablet Portrait Full Screen)
1024x768 (XGA Full Screen) 1024x768 (Tablet Landscape Full Screen)

Report and optimize

Override Dynamic CPM for yield groups

Mobile app publishers can now override Dynamic CPM in their yield group with Default CPM publishers set for the network. This allows you to set a fixed price for the network in a specific yield group without disabling automatic data collection for the network.

Other product or Help Center updates

Market study for the UK Competition & Markets Authority (CMA)

The UK Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) is conducting a market study into online platforms and the digital advertising market in the UK. In connection with the market study, at the CMA's direction, Google is providing the CMA with a sample of UK ad impression data covering the period of a week in early March 2020.

 

March 9 Improved Google Ad Manager experience, new Data Transfer fields for NativeStyle and NativeFormat

Traffic and deliver ads

Improved Google Ad Manager experience

For the last several months, we listened closely to your feedback and introduced a number of improvements. You can now benefit from improvement in the following areas:

We continue to listen to your feedback and work to improve your experience. Thank you for your partnership and for choosing Google Ad Manager.

Report and optimize

New Data Transfer fields for NativeStyle and NativeFormat

Beginning on February 26, NativeStyle and NativeFormat fields are available for Data Transfer reports. For non-Native ads and Native ads that aren’t associated with a style or format, the field will contain an empty string. The related Data Transfer sample files have been updated.

 

February 24 MCM Manage Account for platform partners, "Ad server begin to render" metric expanded, Universal search for campaigns

Manage inventory

MCM Manage Account for resellers

Multiple Customer Management (MCM) Manage Account delegation type is now available for Ad Manager 360 reseller partners. Gain access to child publisher accounts to help monetize their inventory. Contact your account manager for more information.

Report and optimize

“Ad server begin to render” metric expanded

Mobile app impressions generated by native or interstitial ads, Programmatic Guaranteed, and Preferred Deals are now included in the “Ad Server begin to render impressions” metric in Ad Manager reporting. Note: Backfill isn’t included in this metric.

Universal search for campaigns

Line items and proposal line items now open within the same page instead of through a slide-in panel. Slide-in panels took over the entire page, preventing easy access to universal search. Opening these items within the same page allows you quick access to universal search to find items and navigate between them.

 

February 10 Update to Google Ad Manager System Maximum and Limits, Active View metrics, Pricing rule card, Bids data

Manage inventory

Update to Google Ad Manager System Maximum and Limits

Google Ad Manager system maximum and limits now clarifies the intended uses for specific line item types: Sponsorship line items, Standard line items, Price Priority line items, Network line items, Bulk line items, and House line items. Publishers have until May 1st, 2020 to familiarize themselves with the requirement and, for the very small subset that are impacted, come into compliance with the new requirement. Read the policy change log.

Report and optimize

Active View metrics for publisher-hosted creatives

Active View metrics are now supported for publisher-hosted creatives for Programmatic Guaranteed. Active View tracks the viewability of ads, which helps determine how likely it is that an ad was actually seen by a user.

Pricing rule card (Beta) 

A new "Pricing rules" card has been added to the Overview Home dashboard. Use this card to compare how your unified pricing rules influenced your bid landscapes.

Bids data in Ad Manager Data Transfer (Beta) 

Ad Manager 360 publishers with access to Ad Manager Data Transfer can now view information about each of their auctions. The NetworkBackfillBids file includes details about every Open Bidding and Authorized Buyers bid for your inventory, whether the bid won the auction or not. The NetworkBackfillBids sample file has also been updated.

 

January 27 Creative bulk uploads, Demand Channel reporting dimensions, new reporting experience

Traffic and deliver ads

Creative bulk upload improvements

The creative bulk upload experience has been streamlined. Navigation between creatives is now easier, and you can apply changes to "Destination" and "Target ad unit size" across multiple creatives in your upload. Learn more

Report and optimize

Updates to Demand Channel reporting dimension

The Demand Channel reporting dimension has been updated. Exchange Bidding was renamed Open Bidding, both retroactively and moving forward for consistency within the product. Additionally, for publishers involved in the Network Bidding beta, this reporting dimension was also renamed Open Bidding.

New reporting experience for Ad Manager

We’ve designed an improved Ad Manager reporting experience, including several updates across the reporting user interface to streamline common processes. Learn more

 

January 13 Calendar improvements, greater text contrast, COPPA line item settings, new reporting experience, and more

Traffic and deliver ads

Calendar improvements

Calendar input across Ad Manager now requires fewer clicks. Features of the calendar are also now accessible via your keyboard. These improvements help streamline your work when trafficking campaigns.

Greater text contrast

The contrast of text across Ad Manager has been increased. Greater contrast means better readability and accessibility for everyone.

New line item settings for COPPA

COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) enforcement on reservation line items begins in January 2020 based on line item controls released in November. Learn more

Other product or Help Center updates

Ad Manager on Air

Register for our monthly video series. You'll learn tips and tricks from our experts to help improve your account performance in 2020.

 


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