Changes to AdWords Express campaigns in AdWords API reports

If you use AdWords API reports to retrieve performance statistics for AdWords Express campaigns, please read on as these changes will affect you.

What's changing?
In preparation for upcoming improvements, an ongoing migration process is modifying campaigns managed by AdWords Express.

Currently, when you enable an AdWords Express promotion, it creates up to two AdWords campaigns:
  • A Search Network campaign with:
    • AdvertisingChannelType = SEARCH (appears as Search)
    • AdvertisingChannelSubType = SEARCH_EXPRESS (appears as Search Express)
  • A Display Network campaign with:
    • AdvertisingChannelType = DISPLAY (appears as Display)
    • AdvertisingChannelSubType = DISPLAY_EXPRESS (appears as Display Express)
As part of the migration, the two campaigns above will be paused and replaced by a single AdWords campaign with:
  • AdvertisingChannelType = EXPRESS (appears as Express)
  • AdvertisingChannelSubType = UNKNOWN (appears as an empty string)
After the campaigns for a promotion are migrated, performance statistics for the AdWords Express promotion will be available in reports as follows:
  • Performance statistics for dates prior to the migration will be attributed to the original campaigns with SEARCH / SEARCH_EXPRESS and DISPLAY / DISPLAY_EXPRESS.
  • Performance statistics for dates after the migration will be attributed to the new campaign with EXPRESS / UNKNOWN. The new campaign will only appear in the CAMPAIGN_PERFORMANCE_REPORT.
For example, assume an AdWords Express promotion manages the following two AdWords campaigns today:

Campaign ID Campaign Status Advertising Channel Type Advertising Channel Sub Type
1000 ENABLED SEARCH SEARCH_EXPRESS
2000 ENABLED DISPLAY DISPLAY_EXPRESS

After the migration, the account will contain the following campaigns for the AdWords Express promotion:

Campaign ID Campaign Status Advertising Channel Type Advertising Channel Sub Type Performance statistics
1000 PAUSED SEARCH SEARCH_EXPRESS Before the migration
2000 PAUSED DISPLAY DISPLAY_EXPRESS Before the migration
3000 ENABLED EXPRESS UNKNOWN After the migration

What should you do?
Ensure that your application properly handles all three combinations of AdvertisingChannelType and AdvertisingChannelSubType. For example:
  • If your application inspects AdvertisingChannelType or AdvertisingChannelSubType to handle AdWords Express campaigns, please adjust the logic to handle the new combination of EXPRESS / UNKNOWN.
  • If you use predicates on AdvertisingChannelType or AdvertisingChannelSubType to include or exclude AdWords Express campaigns, make sure that your predicate takes the new combination into account.
Reminder: The AdWords API only supports AdWords Express campaigns in reports. You cannot modify AdWords Express entities in your account using the AdWords API.

If you have any questions about this change, please contact us via the forum.
- Josh Radcliff, AdWords API Team