Create a YouTube media plan in Reach Planner

You can use Reach Planner to create, review, and edit a media plan. You can build your own media plan or select from a list of existing product mixes to add to your media plan.

Instructions

Create a new media plan

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Planning drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Reach planner.
4. Click the plus icon to create a new media plan.
5. Select your Country/Region and Currency.
6. Select YouTube as the channel for the media plan.
   • Note: You can add YouTube along with your existing TV plan with the “Keep TV and add YouTube” feature.
7. Choose your media plan settings:
   • Dates: Select the date range for your media plan. You can choose a date range of 1 to 92 days.
   • Demographics (Optional): Choose All people to target everyone in the selected location or Specific age or gender to target a specific age range or gender in the selected location.
     • Reach Planner doesn’t support targeting minors of the 13-17 age bracket. All age targeting must be 18 years or older.
   • Sub-location (Optional): Click the Sub-location drop-down to target a specific state, province, city, TV region, or metro region. This option is only available for some countries and regions.
   • Audiences (Optional): Choose the audiences you want to show your ads to. You can target the following audience types: Affinity, custom segments, in-market, life events, and your data.
   • Lineups (Optional): Choose the lineups you want to target. You can choose YouTube and/or Google video partners lineups. You can add lineups by ID using the lineups picker.
8. Enter your planned budget.
9. Choose the ad mix and goal that best suits you:
   • Awareness - Efficient reach: This preset mix recommends a mix of ad formats that increases your expected reach for your desired budget.
   • Awareness - Efficient completions: This option helps you increase your brand or product awareness with video ad formats designed to drive awareness.
   • Consideration - Maximize views: This preset mix recommends a product mix that increases your expected views. This option helps you get more people to consider your brand or product with a mix of ad formats designed to promote engagement.
   • Action - Online conversions: This option helps you drive more conversions like sales, leads, and website traffic with a single automated video campaign.
     • For Video action campaigns (VAC) and Demand Gen campaigns, we recommend using a conversion rate in line with past campaigns for similar types of conversions.
   • Create your own: Choose this option if you want to select the ad formats, pricing options, and budgets for your media plan. The plan page experience will be tailored to your selected goal. To include more ad formats, click Add ad format.
   • Your goal will determine your plan page metrics. You can still make adjustments on the plan page.
     • Note: Reach Planner can display where your campaign will run beneath the ad format. For example, Demand Gen will run on in-stream, in-feed, YouTube Shorts, Gmail, and Discover. Learn more About video ad formats.
10. Click View forecast. Reach Planner creates a media plan containing YouTube ad formats.
    • Scroll down to the campaign settings table below the reach curve, and hover over On-target reach and On-target impressions metrics on the Plan Page to view the additional effect of co-viewing. Learn more about the metrics in Reach Planner.
    • Note: Reach Planner now supports forecasting for Video view campaigns (VVCs). To review the resulting forecast curve and metrics, toggle between the "Reach" and "Views" tabs.
11. (Optional) To export your media plan to a CSV file before you save, click the More options icon in the upper right corner, then click Download (.csv). The CSV file retains the last saved information and detailed metrics for your media plan. Check the On-target reach, On-target impressions, On-target frequency, and TRPs metrics to review the additional effect of co-viewing in your CSV file.
    • You can also click Copy in the upper right corner of the top bar to compare a media plan with another media plan.
    • You can export a summary of your media plan to Google Slides. Learn more about How to export media plans from Reach Planner to Google Slides.
12. To save your media plan, click Save in the upper right corner, then enter a name for your plan. When you finish, click Save copy.

After saving the media plan, you can access it again from Reach Planner. When you open a saved media plan, you’ll need to refresh the forecast to review the reach curve, demographics, and impression estimates for different devices such as desktop, tablet, mobile, and connected TV.

Customize your plan page

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Planning drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Reach planner.
4. Click an existing plan or create a new plan.
5. Customize your scorecard.
   1. In the upper right corner of the scorecard, click the Metrics drop-down menu and choose Custom metrics.
   2. Select the metrics that you want to review in the scorecard.
   3. On the right side, drag and drop the metrics to reorder their position on the table.
   4. Click Apply.
6. Modify your columns in the campaign table below the chart.
   1. In the upper right corner of the table toolbar, click Columns.
   2. Select the metrics that you want to review in the table.
      • Note: Column metrics are pre-selected depending on your objectives.
   3. On the right side, drag and drop the metrics to reorder their position on the table.
   4. Click Apply.
7. Review your custom plan page.

Review a media plan

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Planning drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Reach planner.
4. In the table, click a media plan to open it. After you open a saved media plan, it shows all the forecast details for the media plan during the date range you selected. It also shows the date the forecast was saved.
   • When you open a media plan that’s ended, you’ll find the historical forecast for the media plan.
   • When you open a media plan that’s still in progress, you’ll have the option to edit the plan.
5. Review the media plan details and metrics (such as the on-target reach and CPM). Hover over On-target reach and On-target impressions metrics on the Plan Page to view the additional effect of co-viewing. Learn more about the metrics in Reach Planner.
6. (Optional) To export your media plan to a CSV file, click the More options icon in the upper right corner, then click Download (.csv). The CSV file retains the last saved information and detailed metrics for your media plan. Check On-target reach, On-target impressions, On-target frequency, and TRPs metrics to review the additional effect of co-viewing in your CSV file.
   • You can also click Copy in the upper right corner of the top bar to compare a media plan with another media plan.
   • You can export a summary of your media plan to Google Slides. Learn more about How to export media plans from Reach Planner to Google Slides.

Edit a media plan

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Planning drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Reach planner.
4. In the table, click a media plan to open it. If the media plan is still in progress, you can edit it.
5. Click Refresh forecast to update the media plan’s forecast with identical settings. If you choose to refresh the forecast, it generates a new forecast for the media plan, and you’ll need to save the media plan again to keep the new forecast.
   • Note: If refreshing a forecast created before May 2022, your refreshed forecast will now include the effect of co-viewing.
6. 1. To edit settings for all ad formats in your media plan from the top bar dashboard:
      • Location: Select Location drop-down on the top bar to include or exclude sub-location from the media plan.
      • Dates: Select Dates drop-down on the top bar and select the date range. You can choose a date range of 1 to 92 days.
      • On-target demographics: Select On-target demographics drop-down and switch between All people to target everyone in the selected location or Specific age or gender to target a specific age range or gender in the selected location.
      • Audiences: Select the pencil icon next to “Audiences” on the top bar and include or exclude audiences from your media plan.
      • Lineups: Select the pencil icon next to “Lineups” drop-down on the top bar and include or exclude audiences from your media plan.
   2. To edit settings for an ad format individually, click the Edit button next to the YouTube ad format in your media plan.
      • General settings: Update the budget, target CPM, and network for the media plan.
      • Pricing: Select Auction, Reservation, or Rate-card, availability depends on your campaign type.
      • Networks: The “Video partners on the Display Network (GVP)” extends the reach of video ads to a collection of sites and apps in the Google Display Network, and is included by default in your plan. On the forecast page, this can be changed by clicking "Edit" next to a campaign line item where checkboxes appear under the "Networks" section. Learn more About Google video partners.
      • Location and demographics: You can make changes to the sub-location and demographics for the media plan. You should only do this if you want to override the current media plan settings for the ad format.
      • Dates and frequency cap: You can make changes to the dates and frequency cap for the media plan. You should only do this if you want to override the current media plan settings for the ad format.
      • Audiences: You can add affinity, life events, your data, customer segments, and in-market audiences to the media plan. You should only do this if you want to override the current media plan settings for the ad format.
      • Lineups: Use pre-built segments that help you reach your audience using the most locally relevant content. Lineups can include seasonal events, travel, sports, media and entertainment, beauty and fashion, video games, and more.
      • Parental Status: Include or exclude parents, non-parents, or people whose current parental status is unknown in the media plan.
      • Devices: Include or exclude desktop, tablet, mobile, or connected TV devices from your media plan.
      • Content exclusion settings and ad policies: Review any account-level content exclusions and advertising policies included in your forecast.
7. When you finish making changes, click Apply to generate a new forecast for the media plan.
8. (Optional) Navigate to the table below the reach curve, then click the plus button to add a new ad format to the media plan.
   1. Click Add ad format and select the ad type from the drop-down.
   2. Enter your planned budget.
   3. Click Apply.
9. To save your edited media plan, click Save.
10. To save your edited media plan separately, click Copy, then enter a name for your plan. When you finish, click Save copy.
11. To download or remove your media plan, click the More options icon in the upper right corner of Reach Planner, then select an option from the menu.

Save a media plan

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Planning drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Reach planner.
4. In the table, click a media plan to open it.
5. Click Save in the top right corner to save the media plan.

Add reservation pricing to a media plan

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Planning drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Reach planner.
4. In the table, select a media plan to open it. If the media plan is still in progress, you can edit it.
5. Click Refresh forecast to update the media plan’s forecast with identical settings.
6. Navigate to the campaign settings table below the reach curve, then click the Edit button next to a YouTube ad format.
   • Alternatively, in the table below the reach curve, hover over your “Pricing options” and select the pencil icon .
7. Under the “Pricing” drop-down menu, select Reservation to buy a targeted number of impressions for a fixed CPM.
8. Click Apply.
   Reach Planner doesn't support certain targeting and exclusion options that are available for reservation. Learn how to Set up a reservation video campaign.

Related links

• About Reach Planner
• About TV in Reach Planner
• Create a YouTube media plan with TV in Reach Planner
• Co-viewing: Definition