How did Adwords change bidding at the end of 2023? (performance analysis)
What is AdWords? Google AdWords, now known as Google Ads, is an online advertising platform by Google. It allows businesses…
Google Ad Manager (formerly DoubleClick For Publisher), undisputedly has a commanding lead among Publishers’ top ad tech partners, with over 80% of Publishers using Google Ad Manager as their top ad tech partner (source: Advertiser Perceptions SSP Report).
This world’s most popular ad management platform helps Publishers to sell and manage both ad inventory and campaigns. There are two main types of Google Ad Manager (GAM) accounts on the market: Ad Manager – previously known as DFP Small Businesses (the free version), and Ad Manager 360 (the paid version). This article will shed light on the main differences between the two versions, revealing both their main features and the requirements for Publishers to be able to use them.
Google Ad Manager (GAM)
GAM (previously known as DFP Small Business) is a free product with a no-minimum ad impressions requirement, and it is generally used by small to medium-sized Publishers.
Monthly impression limit
Using the free version of GAM, you are allowed to serve even up to 200 million impressions per month to non-video ad units if you are located mainly in Eastern Europe and Arab or LATAM countries. The full list is available here.
This number decreases to 180 million monthly impressions if you’re not located in any of the above countries; however if you’re located in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, this number changes to up to 90 million impressions per month to non-video ad units. When the number of monthly impressions exceeds this number, the Publisher is charged an additional fee, individually negotiated with their account manager. After reaching the limit, you can contact Google to sign up for GAM 360, or get in touch with one of the Certified Google Publishing Partners in order to get access to an account.
Features
GAM provides access to a decent number of features, including:
· A complete toolkit to manage your ads for a multi-screen audience,
· Access to the API,
· Access to limited number of reports, including active view impressions, historical, reach, and standard or vast delivery,
· Line item management,
· Ad Unit Hierarchy: Up to Level 2 i.e. Parent and Child,
· Formats: Native Ads, Responsive Ads, Video Ads,
· Custom dimension key-values (note the limit is 5,000).
If you’re a Publisher currently using GAM and looking to sign up for GAM 360, feel free to get in touch with us.
Google Ad Manager 360 (GAM 360)
GAM 360, the paid premium version of Ad Manager, caters to Publishers with larger volumes of traffic and more complex advertising setups, or simply more advanced needs. It offers several additional features over the free version, including access to Google Support.
Requirements
GAM 360 requires more than 90 million impressions per month. If you generate a smaller volume, you can still access the premium version on Ad Manager, but only through a GCPP.
Not sure if you are utilizing GAM in the best way possible? Order a detailed report, explaining the current situation of your Ad Stack, pointing to what works well and what should be fixed or replaced by another solution.
Pricing
Pricing for Google Ad Manager 360 varies and typically depends on your requirements. To gain access, you will need to negotiate a contract with a Google Sales Representative. If you’re accessing GAM through a GCPP, the price is usually based on a revenue share.
Features
Apart from the basic features available for Publishers who use Ad Manager, the premium version provides a lot of additional and very useful functionalities, such as Open Bidding, & Programmatic Guaranteed.
Open Bidding, aka Google response to Header Bidding, and formerly known as EBDA and Exchange Bidding, allows to integrate other SSPs to GAM so they can compete with AdX and other price-priority line items in real time server-to-server bidding. Simply put, Open Bidding increases the competition and demand for your inventory.
Programmatic Guaranteed Deals,where buyers can directly buy a fixed number of impressions from the Publisher for a guaranteed price. Programmatic Guaranteed provides Publishers with access to premium advertisers who are looking for high inventory volumes and paying a premium.
Other GAM360 functionalities include:
· Advanced video options,
· Detailed audience targeting, and auto-suggested ad units,
· Special ad unit which requires traffickers to explicitly target the ad unit for line items to serve,
· Formats: all ad formats supported by GAM SB and additional ones including rich media formats, and in-banner video,
· Line Item Type Hierarchy: More 7 Level which include (Sponsorship, Standard, Adx),
· Audience segments,
· GAM data in data studio, a reporting tool dashboard,
· More in-depth reporting and more reporting perimeters reports, including future sell-through, and invoiced impressions,
· Team network settings which facilitate the giving and restricting of access to data, advertisers and ads to groups of users on a granular level,
· Ads.txt. management,
· Creative wrappers (pieces of HTML code that can be added before/after creative code),
· Direct access to Google Support.
Final Thoughts
The evidence suggests that Google has brought its product to the next stage with GAM 360, enabling Publishers to increase revenue and benefit from all additional functionalities. While some Publishers can find the process of setting up and understanding GAM 360 quite long and overwhelming, the premium version of Ad Manager is definitely worth investing in. If you’re looking to upgrade, you can either discuss this with your Google Account Manager or reach out to Yieldbird. We at Yieldbird can help you assess and/or optimize your GAM 360 account so as to realize its full potential. Schedule a no-obligation consultation with one of our experts.
