New tools to manage publisher deals in Display & Video 360

Marketers and agencies sign annual deals with top publishers to simplify purchasing and negotiating inventory across multiple brands and campaigns. This includes annual upfronts and newfronts deals. Increasingly, marketers rely on Programmatic Guaranteed and other non-guaranteed deals to fulfill these commitments with Display & Video 360, because its frequency management capabilities improve performance while delivering consistent user experiences across channels.

To help media agency professionals more efficiently manage publisher deals, we’re introducing new tools to package, prioritize and monitor deals across partners and advertisers in Display & Video 360.

Let’s say you’ve negotiated a deal with a publisher and you’d like to use it across different partner accounts. Instead of going into each of Display & Video 360’s partner accounts and creating separate deals, you can now create one deal and then distribute impressions across partners and advertisers. You can also easily edit the deal and the changes will propagate to all Display & Video 360’s accounts you shared the deal with.

With the new tools to manage our private marketplace deals at the cross partner level, we are able to save up to 56% of time in our day to day operations and place strategic focus on inventory packaging to meet our client goals. Azriel Chan
Head of Platform & Capabilities, Omnicom Media Gro
User interface image of the Access Tab

Reach the new tools within your deal’s Access tab

Package and prioritize deals across partner accounts

In addition to saving time creating and editing deals, you can also package the inventory to fit the needs of the brands you work with. You can take inventory from different deals, bundle them together and give access across partners and advertisers. For example, you can create a package for a special time of year (like Black Friday or major sporting event), a marketing objective or for always-on campaigns and share it across multiple partners. This way you don’t have to recreate the same package in multiple accounts. In addition, for preferred deals, you can prioritize access to the deal across partners and advertisers, giving you additional control in how you distribute impressions from the deal among your various campaigns.

Monitor publisher commitments in one place

When you commit to buying a fixed amount of ad inventory through a Programmatic Guaranteed or a non-guaranteed deal, you have to closely monitor its delivery so that you don’t waste your budgets. The ability to keep track of your spend at the publisher level is particularly relevant for your upfront deals that span across various properties and cover different advertisers and campaigns. So if these deals are running behind, it’s important to quickly reallocate impressions across campaigns. Now, you can easily monitor pacing for each publisher and deal in one place, identify delivery issues and reallocate impressions across accounts and campaigns before the deal expires.

To access these new tools, please contact your account team. In the future, we’re planning to add more controls and flexibility in how you manage your deals across partners.

Related Article

New reach and frequency metrics in Display & Video 360

We’re releasing two new features to assess the reach benefits of your cross-channel frequency management strategy.

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Return to travel: Where Canadians are planning their next trip

As vaccine uptake continues to rise across the country, and government travel restrictions for fully-vaccinated Canadians start to loosen, many people are taking all of their stored-up holiday dreams and are starting to plan vacations again. 


We’re seeing more searches in Canada for travel-related destination information — like travel restrictions by country and where to travel, which both recently hit all-time highs. As Canadians start to re-engage with the travel industry, we were curious to see how their plans are coming along. Do Canadians want to plan a trip within the country, or are they ready to travel abroad? What are some of the top spots they want to visit? We took a look at what Canadians are searching for as they get back to planning their next trip.


Where Canadians are looking to travel 

When it comes to travelling locally or abroad, search interest for both international and domestic travel is starting to climb, with a steady uptick starting in June. In fact, Canadian search interest for both international and domestic travel are reaching all-time highs. 


And as many workplaces across the country switch to remote models, we’re also seeing a rise in a new type of travel - staycations and workcations. Over the last few months, searches in Canada for staycations and workcations have both hit all-time highs. 


When it comes to vacation planning, we took a look at some of the top destinations Canadians are searching for. 


Top searched domestic destinations Canadians are searching for in Travel, past month: 

  1. Toronto 
  2. Vancouver 
  3. Calgary 
  4. Montreal 
  5. Niagara Falls 
  6. Edmonton 
  7. Quebec City 
  8. Whistler 
  9. Banff 
  10. Ottawa 


“One of the benefits of this pandemic is that Canadians have an increased appreciation for what their own communities and regions have to offer travellers,” says Gloria Loree, CMO, Destinations Canada. “With the recent news of the border reopening plan, our industry is not only excited to welcome back visitors, but we believe Canadians and their passion for what this country has to offer will have a positive impact in influencing decisions to travel to and within Canada. And our research shows that the diversity of our people, landscapes and experiences are just what curious travellers are seeking.” 


Top searched international destinations Canadians are searching for in travel, past month: 

  1. Italy 
  2. United States 
  3. Mexico 
  4. India 
  5. France 
  6. Dubai 
  7. Greece 
  8. Japan 
  9. United Kingdom 
  10. Cuba 


"As we transition into a period of significant recovery many of our assumptions on the rebuild are coming to fruition. Domestic flight demand has seen steady increases over the past few months and we're seeing strong demand for international travel, such as Europe and sun destinations, as travel restrictions are expected to decrease. We're excited to welcome back travellers in greater numbers" says Mark Nasr, SVP, Products, Marketing and eCommerce at Air Canada 


As Canadians begin to plan, here are the top questions they’re searching for: 

  1. Who can travel to Canada? 
  2. When can Canadians travel to the US? 
  3. Where can Canadians travel? 
  4. Where to get a PCR test for travel? 
  5. What is considered essential travel? 


International interest in travelling to Canada is on the rise 

When you look at search interest to Canadian destinations, more and more international tourists are starting to consider travelling to Canada. 


Top 10 Canadian destinations most searched by the world (excluding Canada) in Travel, past month:

  1. Toronto 
  2. Vancouver 
  3. Banff 
  4. Niagara Falls 
  5. Montreal 
  6. Calgary 
  7. Ottawa 
  8. Victoria 
  9. Jasper 
  10. Edmonton 


If you're ready to plan a trip, here are a few updates to keep you informed on the latest travel guidance and explore potential destinations. 


Stay up to date on travel guidance 

When you look for travel information like flights, hotels or things to do, Search will let you know if there are COVID-19 related travel advisories or restrictions for your destination. Now, we’re adding more travel restriction details, like whether you’ll need to quarantine upon arrival or provide proof of test results or immunization records. 


You can now also track travel advisories or restrictions for your destination and get email updates. If you are signed into your Google account, you can toggle, “Receive an email if this guidance changes.” You'll be notified when restrictions are added, lifted or reduced. 





If you use Maps to plan travel, you can use the COVID layer within the app to see how cases are trending in an area. You can also access quick links to trusted local resources so you’ll know at a glance if there are specific guidelines or restrictions you need to follow. 


Get destination ideas for when you’re ready to travel 

Where will you go on your first trip when you're ready to travel again? It's exciting to think about, and we've made some updates to Explore to help you get started. Google Flights fans may already be familiar with the Explore map, which shows flight prices for different destinations if you’re flexible on where and when you’re traveling. 


Now, Explore has its own tab on Google.com/travel and has been redesigned so you can browse more than just flights. You’ll see more destinations on the map — including smaller cities and national parks — and if you have a certain type of trip in mind, you can filter destinations for interests like outdoors, beaches or skiing. If you only want to see cities with an airport, select flights only in "Travel Mode." When you pick a destination, we'll show you if there's a travel advisory or restriction and, in addition to the best flights, you’ll see other helpful information for planning your trip, like hotels, things to do, the best time to visit and more. 




More choice for travellers with free hotel booking links 

For many years, we’ve helped travellers choose the right hotel by providing a list of relevant properties, along with information like reviews, photos and hotel amenities. Hotel booking links have been offered via Hotel Ads, which display real-time pricing and availability for specific dates of travel. We've seen that users find these hotel booking links to be highly useful and partners find them to be a valuable source of potential customers. 


We’ve now improved this experience by making it free for hotels and travel companies around the world to appear in hotel booking links, on google.com/travel. With full access to a wider range of hotel prices, users will have a more comprehensive set of options as they research their trip and ultimately decide where to book. 


For all hotels and travel companies, this change brings a new, free way to reach potential customers. And our testing of this new feature shows that all partner types — from individual hotels to online travel agents — benefit from free booking links through increased booking traffic and user engagement. 


Whatever type of trip you’re planning (or just starting to think about), we hope these tools will help you make travel decisions with confidence. 


Helping you navigate crowds 

Before you go, search for your destination on Google Maps, then scroll down on the Business Profile to see how busy a place typically is or how busy it is right now. With busyness information, you’ll know instantly you’re about to face a long line or a big crowd and can adjust your plans accordingly. 


Also check to see how crowded your bus, train, or subway car is likely to be — so you’ll know if you’re likely to grab a seat or if you should wait for another train. You’ll be able to see transit crowdedness predictions for over 10,000 transit agencies in 100 countries around the world. 


Posted by Marshall Self, Director of Travel and Natasha Walji, Director of Tourism, at Google Canada

YouTube Shorts Fund and 7 other ways to earn money and build Your Business on YouTube


Earlier today, Robert Kyncl, Youtube’s Chief Business Officer announced the launch of the YouTube Shorts Fund, a $100M fund distributed over 2021-2022. Each month, we’ll invite thousands of eligible creators to claim a payment from the Fund. This is the first step in our journey to build a monetization model for Shorts on YouTube and any creator that meets our eligibility criteria can participate. We’re excited about what this means for creators in India. Not only does the Shorts Fund reward the next generation of mobile creators for their original contributions to Shorts, it also offers them a new way to earn money and build a business on YouTube. 

YouTube has helped a growing community of Indian creators and artists to transform their creativity into viable businesses. Along with the YouTube Partner Program, which is our unique business model that shares the majority of revenue generated on the platform with creators, YouTube has continued investing in new monetization options for creators beyond advertising, including Merchandise, Channel Memberships, Super Chats and Super Stickers. We have seen a demonstrable impact of these revenue sources, with over 100% growth in creator revenue in India coming from features like Super Chat, Super Stickers, Channel Memberships and Merchandise between February and May 2020. 


In addition to the Shorts Fund, here are 7 ways in which creators can continue to earn more revenues from their content on YouTube and build robust businesses.


  1. Ads

Ads have been at the core of creators’ revenue streams, and continue to be the main way that creators can earn money on YouTube. Once in YPP, creators can decide which videos to turn on ads for. In addition to our Community Guidelines, videos must meet our Advertiser-Friendly Guidelines to be eligible for ads. Creators receive the majority of the revenue generated from ads on YouTube.


  1. YouTube Premium

YouTube Premium is a paid subscription option which enables members to enjoy ad-free content, background playback, downloads, exclusive content and premium access to the YouTube Music app. The majority of subscription revenue goes to YouTube partners. 


  1. Merchandise

The merch shelf allows channels to showcase their official branded merchandise right on their watch page on YouTube. 


Bhuvan Bam launched his everyday streetwear brand, Youthiapa, in 2017 after building an enviable subscriber base for BB Ki Vines in just two years since he began uploading comedy sketches to YouTube. Today, more than 20.7M of his subscribers can browse for their favourite merchandise from tees to caps and even masks right by accessing his store on the channel.


When Garden Up’s Ekta was looking to grow her home decor and gardening accessories business, she introduced the YouTube Merch Shelf and displayed the Store tab on her channel, allowing her to showcase her products to her 1.28M subscribers.


  1. Super Chat 

Fans watching livestreams and Premieres can purchase a Super Chat: a highlighted message in the chat stream that stands out from the crowd to get even more of their favorite creator’s attention. Samay Raina emerged as one of the most subscribed chess streamers in India, clocking  over 100M views for his content that sits at the intersection of chess game play and comedy. Samay not only supercharged interest in an age-old game, but has also increased his earnings from his YouTube channel at a time when revenues from on-ground gigs had come to a halt, building an engaged community of fans, with Super Chat.


With Super Chat, our leading gaming creators including Dynamo Gaming, MortaL, and Gamerfleet have taken their livestreams to the next level, creating immersive and interactive experiences for their audiences while monetizing their channel. 


  1. Super Stickers

Another way followers can show support during livestreams and Premieres is with Super Stickers, which allows fans to purchase a fun sticker that stands out. We have seen creators such as Payal Gaming, Natasha Gaming and Curlbury use Super Stickers to great effect. 


  1. Channel memberships

With channel memberships, creators can offer exclusive perks and content to viewers who join their channel as a monthly paying member at prices set by the creator. Nitin Bhatia, a creator who is also a full-time trader, utilizes channel memberships to share exclusive educational videos on stocks, real estate and personal finance with his members. He has seen almost a 6X increase in YouTube revenue within 18 months. 


Among Carnatic musician Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s growing subscribers are Indians living abroad who have found a unique way to connect with their culture through his channel. Every month, he enthralls his audience with Sanjay Sabha that includes exclusive access to a special concert each month and early preview to his other videos.


  1. Super Thanks

Viewers can give thanks and appreciation on uploaded videos as well through Super Thanks, the newest member of the Supers family. Super Thanks enables fans to support their favorite channels, while giving creators access to a new source of revenue. As an added bonus, fans will get a distinct, colorful comment to highlight the purchase, which creators can respond to. We’re excited to see how our creators will use Super Thanks to  keep their connections with (super) fans meaningful! 


Every new fan that subscribes to their favourite creators’ channels, every new member that joins, every like, comment received and every rupee earned goes into building the business ventures of tomorrow. At YouTube, the passion and ambition of our creators fuels us to continue innovating new ways to help them realise their goals and we are committed to introducing more revenue opportunities for our creators.  


Posted by Satya Raghavan, Director, YouTube Partnerships, India

Dev Channel Update for Desktop

The Dev channel has been updated to 94.0.4595.0 for Windows and Linux and 94.0.4595.3 for Mac.

A partial list of changes is available in the log. Interested in switching release channels? Find out how. If you find a new issue, please let us know by filing a bug. The community help forum is also a great place to reach out for help or learn about common issues.


Srinivas Sista

Google Chrome

Your progress is automatically saved as you respond to forms and quizzes

What’s changing

When responding to a Google Form, Quiz, or Quiz assignment in Classroom while signed into your Google account, your progress will automatically be saved as a draft for 30 days from your last edit, or until your submission is complete.

Gif showing a form being filled out and saved



Who’s impacted

End users


Why it matters

This highly requested feature helps ensure you won’t have to start over if:
  • You can’t complete a form or quiz in one sitting,
  • You have to switch between multiple devices,
  • You have low internet connectivity.

Additional details

Form owners and editors can disable this feature for responders to a specific form. You may want to disable the feature on forms that are:
  • Used for repeated data entry,
  • Embedded in websites,
  • On certain shared devices, such as registration or information kiosks.

To disable this feature, within Google Forms, go to Settings > Presentation > Restrictions and select “Disable autosave for all respondents”.


Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.

Rollout pace

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 3.
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 15.

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
  • Available to users with personal Google accounts

Resources

Sunset of the Ad Manager API v202008

On Tuesday, August 31, 2021, in accordance with the deprecation schedule, v202008 of the Ad Manager API will sunset. At that time, any requests made to this version will return errors.

If you’re still using v202008, now is the time to upgrade to a newer release and take advantage of additional functionality. For example, in v202105 we added support for pushing creative previews to linked devices.

When you’re ready to upgrade, check the full release notes to identify any breaking changes. Here are a few examples of changes that may impact your applications:
  • v202102
    • We renamed an AuthenticationError enum value from NOT_WHITELISTED_FOR_API_ACCESS to NETWORK_API_ACCESS_DISABLED.
    • We removed deprecated LineItem fields isPrioritizedPreferredDealsEnabled and adExchangeAuctionOpeningPriority.
  • v202105
As always, don't hesitate to reach out to us on the developer forum with any questions.
 - Donovan McMurray, Ad Manager API Team

Transit trends: the road ahead for commuters

I’ve lived in major cities around the world, from Johannesburg to Shanghai to the San Francisco Bay Area. That means public transportation has played a big role in my daily life. 


That changed last spring, when, like many people, I traded in my daily commute on the public bus for a much shorter trip to my dining room table. I wasn’t the only one transforming my kitchen into an office — transit ridership plummeted across the globe. 


While we are still far from a return to normal, we wanted to understand how people feel about returning to public transit. So we surveyed 2,000 commuters across New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Chicago to find out. Here’s what we learned: 


Image of an infographic. Two-thirds of people are eager to get back to their pre-pandemic transit habits. By city: 60% of San Francisco commuters, 56% of Chicago commuters, 59% of DC commuters, and 68% of New York City commuters said they want to get back to their pre-pandemic transit routine.

All aboard

We’ve all missed a lot during the last 18 months— from concerts and big weddings to dinner parties with family and friends. But public transportation? Turns out, surprisingly, yes. According to a recent survey we commissioned, roughly 2 in 3 people want to get back to their pre-pandemic transit routine, with New Yorkers being the most keen to return.


Infographic that answers “What do people miss most about their commute?” 54% miss not stressing about parking; 40% miss the ease of getting around; 30% miss having time to reflect on their day; and 30% miss listening to podcasts or reading.

Parallel parking not required

While I don’t miss delayed trains or crowded commutes, getting back on public transit means leaving parking behind. More than half of those we surveyed indicated that’s what they miss most about their commute. But people also value the ease public transit brings when it comes to getting around, the time it provides them to reflect on their day, the time they get for themselves for podcasts or reading and even the people-watching, with 1 in 4 people admitting they miss that part, too.


Infographic which shows the increase in popularity for mobile contactless payments, from 23% before the pandemic to 34% in the next 3-6 months. Cash payments took the biggest dive in popularity, from 42% to 32%.

Cashing out for contactless

But it’s not all about going “back to the good old days.” With the increasing popularity of contactless payments across many facets of daily life, it’s no surprise riders want to modernize their commutes as well. Increasingly, people are turning to contactless payments as a touch-free way to pay their fare. In fact, mobile contactless payments are the only payment type that increased in popularity (up 11 percentage points) when we asked commuters how they plan to pay for transit fare now versus pre-pandemic. Cash took the biggest dive, from 42% to 32%. 


What’s more, one in two people who didn’t use mobile contactless payments before the COVID-19 pandemic say they would be more comfortable riding if there were touch-free options such as mobile contactless payments or ticketing.


Of course contactless payments yield far more than a touch-free way of paying. Three in four people said the convenience factor is what they like most about contactless transit payments. Ever ran to catch a train only to realize you left your wallet at home? ? Every second counts when it comes to your commute, which is why 70% of people said what they like most is the speed of paying contactlessly. 


Tapping to pay: from uptown to downtown to your town

At Google Pay, we’ve been hard at work to help roll out mobile transit payment options in even more cities across the U.S. We’ve teamed up with transit agencies in major cities like New York, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington to give more commuters a way to quickly and easily tap for transit fare. And, by teaming up with Token Transit, we’re bringing mobile contactless payments to more than 100 cities across the country, in bigger and smaller towns like Savannah, Georgia, Kalamazoo, Michigan and Santa Monica, California.


Everyone will navigate our new normal at a different pace. So, while some of us start to venture back out, consider ways that make your commute even a little easier. 


Findings are based on results of an online survey conducted by Allison+Partners Research + Insights. The online survey was conducted among n=2000 U.S. consumers age 18 or older who use public transit in New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., or Chicago  - 500 respondents were captured per DMA. When referenced, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was considered March 2020. The survey was fielded using Qualtrics and panel was sourced from Lucid. Fielding was executed May-June 2021.