Set up a reservation video campaign

Reservation campaigns allow you to buy an approximate number of impressions for a Video campaign at a fixed CPM and spend your entire budget for the length of the campaign. You can select "Reservation" as the buying plan when you create a campaign or you change the campaign's buying plan from auction to reservation.

Reservation is useful if you want:

• High visibility: You can guarantee placement of your ad at the top of the YouTube Home feed through the YouTube Masthead.
• Premier inventory: You can access YouTube Select to target premier content on YouTube. Learn more about YouTube Select.
• Reserved media: You can buy impressions at a fixed rate with delivery optimized by Google instead of manually adjusting your bid.
• Brand awareness: You can reach a wide audience using formats and capabilities not available in auction.

In this article, you'll learn how to set up a reservation campaign in Google Ads.

Before you begin

Reservation campaigns and Google Ads policies

To receive an accurate CPM quote, all content in your reservation campaign should comply with Google Ads policies.

Some alcohol-, gambling-, or politics-related content may be allowed if the content complies with Google Ads policies. To indicate if your reservation campaign includes this type of content, select the checkboxes in the "Ad policy restrictions" section when you create the campaign. This can help with generating a more accurate forecast for your campaign and preventing underdelivery. If you plan on running a reservation campaign with this type of content, review our policies first:

• Alcohol
• Gambling and games
• Political content

Reservation campaign planning

• Because reservation campaigns optimize for spending your budget at the quoted CPM, your campaign (and any ad groups and ads in the campaign) should be eligible to serve throughout the campaign dates. You should also upload your creatives to Google Ads at least 2 business days in advance of your campaign so that there's enough time to approve the creatives. Learn more about the ad approval process
• Make sure all the campaign details are right before you save the campaign. After you save your campaign, you won't be able to edit some settings (such as the ad schedule) and you won't be able to change the campaign buying type to auction.
• Make sure you understand the differences between the auction and reservation buying plans. To review the differences between both buying plans, expand the section below:

  Differences between buying plans

  	Auction	Reservation
  Buying plan	Buy cost-effective ad space through bidding in the Google Ads auction	Buy an approximate number of impressions at a fixed CPM and spend your entire budget
  Ad formats	Skippable in-stream Non-skippable in-stream Bumper In-feed video Outstream Audio (beta)	Skippable in-stream Non-skippable in-stream Bumper Shorts Masthead Learn more about how to Create a YouTube CPM Masthead campaign
  Bidding (CPM)	Fluctuates based on bid and auction conditions for a given campaign Slightly lower CPM than reservation	Secured at the time of the reservation for a given campaign Slightly higher CPM than auction
  Editing	Edit any setting for campaigns, ad groups, or ads Switch ads anytime Change the buying plan to reservation after saving the campaign (if the campaign is eligible)	Edit most settings, such as budget or dates (a full list of settings can be found when you edit the campaign in Google Ads) Some settings, like the ad schedule, can't be edited Switch ads anytime (one ad must always be active and approved in ad review) Can't pause the campaign or change the buying plan to "Auction" after saving the campaign Only one ad format can be used per campaign
  Targeting options	All targeting options	YouTube Select is only available via reservation premier reach. First position targeting is only available via reservation premier reach. Most other targeting options, including negative keywords, are available, except: Remarketing Keywords Radius targeting Customer Match segments Similar segments

Placing a hold on a quote

You can choose to hold a CPM quote for up to 14 days (hold duration is dependent on campaign eligibility) when you create a reservation campaign. When you're ready to start the campaign, you can accept the quote in your campaign settings in Google Ads.

If you don't accept the quote before expiration, you'll need to request a new quote. Keep in mind that your new quote may be different from your previous quote (even if you use the same campaign settings).

If you edit the campaign, you'll have to request a new quote, and either accept the quote immediately or request a hold again.

Expiration

An active reservation campaign may automatically expire after 4 days from the schedule start date if:

• The campaign doesn't contain any ads.
• Ads in the campaign have been disapproved.
• Ad groups in the campaign are paused.

Google Ads lets you know when there's an issue with the campaign in a notification on the campaign settings page. To ensure that your campaign doesn't expire after 4 days, follow the instructions in the notification to fix the issue. If the campaign expires after 4 days, you should request a new quote for the campaign.

Instructions

Set up a reservation campaign in Google Ads

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
2. Click the Campaigns drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Campaigns.
4. Click the plus button , then select New campaign.
5. Select  Awareness and consideration for your campaign objective.
6. Select Video for your campaign type.
7. Select Reservation for how you want to buy ads.
   • For YouTube Select lineups and other premier offerings, select premier reach.
   • For Masthead with CPM bidding, select Masthead. Learn more about how to Create a YouTube CPM Masthead campaign.
   • For standard reservation of YouTube inventory, select standard reach.
8. For premier reach and standard reach, select your ad format:
   • Non-skippable in-stream ads
   • Bumper ads
   • Skippable in-stream ads
   • Shorts ads
     • Note: First position targeting is available for 15 second non-skippable in-stream ads and Shorts ads only.
9. Click Continue.

   Note: Ad position is a new targeting feature for premier reach campaigns. When first position serving is turned on, an ad from this campaign will be the first 15 second non-skippable in-stream or Shorts ad shown to your audience when they visit YouTube. First position targeting doesn't apply to campaigns running on YouTube TV.

10. For premier reach only, use placement targeting to select your YouTube Select lineup.
    • For 15 second non-skippable in-stream ads with first position serving, targeting a YouTube Select lineup is required. YouTube TV lineups are automatically disabled.
    • For Shorts ads with first position serving, the ad will serve on any placement. Shorts ad with first position serving will be the first ad the viewer sees in the Shorts feed.

Reservation terms of service

We’re moving the Reservation terms of service from the campaign level page to the account settings page. Previously, these terms would need to be accepted during the construction of each campaign. With this time-saving change, you’ll only need to accept the terms of service once instead of multiple times.

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Admin icon .
2. Click Account settings.
3. Click the Reservation terms drop down.
4. Click Reservation cancellation policy to review it.
5. Click the acknowledgement checkbox to agree with terms of service and cancellation policy.
6. Click Save.