It’s faster and easier to use Ads Data Hub

Advertisers tell us that understanding the business impact of their marketing is more important than ever. But they also report that it’s becoming more difficult as the industry—in response to growing concerns about privacy—changes its practices around how data is collected and used. Ads Data Hub enables customized analysis of your Google ad campaigns while protecting user privacy and upholding Google’s high standards of data security.

Today, we’re providing an update on improvements to Ads Data Hub that help you analyze data more quickly and easily, better understand the way that people interact with your ads, and use insights from your data to reach the right customers. With these updates, you can tailor your measurement to your unique business needs, understand how your marketing is performing, and drive the greatest business impact.

Improvements to help you analyze your data faster and easier

Over the past year, we’ve been investing in the infrastructure that underlies Ads Data Hub to make it available to a larger number of customers and simplify the process of writing queries. Over 200 brands, agencies and measurement partners are actively using Ads Data Hub today. And usage continues to increase, with successful queries up over 145 percent in 2019 compared to 2018. But we’ve heard from customers that we need to make it faster and easier to run analysis.

In the coming weeks, we’ll add self-service account linking for Google Ads, Campaign Manager, and Display & Video 360, so you can more easily access your Google ad campaign data across multiple products in a secure, privacy-centric environment. This includes allowing you to create multi-tier account structures, which adds flexibility to how brands and agencies can configure ads data within Ads Data Hub to address unique account hierarchies and user access requirements.

Link request.png

Link your Google Ads, Campaign Manager, and Display & Video 360 accounts to Ads Data Hub

We’re making it easier to run analysis with a Sandbox environment, which recently rolled out to all customers. This environment includes a test dataset and can be used to experiment with data and query development, which can help make execution faster by giving you a better understanding of the types of queries you can write and insights you can get in Ads Data Hub.

We’ve also launched a new query library that gives you access to over 20 templates for the most common types of analysis run in Ads Data Hub. For example, the All events template can be used to get impressions, clicks, conversions and Active View stats for a specific account. Ads Data Hub users can also suggest new templates directly via the in-product feedback form.

A frequent request we’ve heard from customers is to be able to access and analyze ad data closer to real-time. To address this, we’ve brought latency down from 24-48 hours to 6 hours for display and YouTube ads data from Google Ads, as well as for data from YouTube ads bought via Display & Video 360. That means, if an impression was served at 8am, you can query data associated with that impression from 2pm on the same day.

New ways to understand the consumer journey

Manually stitching together event-level data from Campaign Manager and Display & Video 360 to reconstruct the path to purchase is possible today in Ads Data Hub, but it can be time-consuming and difficult. That’s why we’ve introduced consumer journey paths, a set of pre-processed data that automatically join impression, click, and conversion events together if they’re part of a single journey. This will help advertisers get valuable insights about the consumer journey faster and with higher quality output than manual approaches, and is available to all Ads Data Hub customers that have Campaign Manager and Display & Video 360 data enabled in their account.

To cover more of the ways people interact with media and your brand, we’re expanding beyond computer, mobile and tablet device measurement to include TV screens. This includes coverage for connected TV and gaming consoles. These devices are becoming a bigger part of many media plans, so understanding their role in delivering value for your business is also becoming more important.

Today, Ads Data Hub includes key advertising metrics such as viewability, impressions, clicks, and conversions from display and video ads in Google Ads, Campaign Manager, and Display & Video 360. And in the coming months we’re enabling more measurement use cases by adding advanced Active View metrics for YouTube—including viewability and audibility metrics—that allow you to uncover deep insights into creative performance and user attention.

Reach the right customers with customized audience list creation

Beyond measurement, one of biggest pieces of feedback we’ve heard from customers is that they’d like to take action on the insights they uncover in Ads Data Hub, while protecting user privacy. We’ve begun a test to allow a limited group of customers to build audience lists based on clicks or conversions from Google Ads, Campaign Manager, and Display & Video 360, and use these audience lists to inform who sees display ads in Google Ads and Display & Video 360. For example, you could create an audience list in Ads Data Hub of users that have already purchased your product, then use that as an exclusion list to ensure you don’t continue to show them your ads served via Google Ads and Display & Video 360.

User privacy protections are deeply embedded across all of these features, and—as always—there’s an aggregation requirement of at least 50 users for output of any data from Ads Data Hub. Over time, we'll continue to evolve the capabilities of Ads Data Hub by providing access to additional ads datasets and developing deeper integrations across our ad platforms.

Source: Google Ads


It’s faster and easier to use Ads Data Hub

Advertisers tell us that understanding the business impact of their marketing is more important than ever. But they also report that it’s becoming more difficult as the industry—in response to growing concerns about privacy—changes its practices around how data is collected and used. Ads Data Hub enables customized analysis of your Google ad campaigns while protecting user privacy and upholding Google’s high standards of data security.

Today, we’re providing an update on improvements to Ads Data Hub that help you analyze data more quickly and easily, better understand the way that people interact with your ads, and use insights from your data to reach the right customers. With these updates, you can tailor your measurement to your unique business needs, understand how your marketing is performing, and drive the greatest business impact.

Improvements to help you analyze your data faster and easier

Over the past year, we’ve been investing in the infrastructure that underlies Ads Data Hub to make it available to a larger number of customers and simplify the process of writing queries. Over 200 brands, agencies and measurement partners are actively using Ads Data Hub today. And usage continues to increase, with successful queries up over 145 percent in 2019 compared to 2018. But we’ve heard from customers that we need to make it faster and easier to run analysis.

In the coming weeks, we’ll add self-service account linking for Google Ads, Campaign Manager, and Display & Video 360, so you can more easily access your Google ad campaign data across multiple products in a secure, privacy-centric environment. This includes allowing you to create multi-tier account structures, which adds flexibility to how brands and agencies can configure ads data within Ads Data Hub to address unique account hierarchies and user access requirements.

Link request.png

Link your Google Ads, Campaign Manager, and Display & Video 360 accounts to Ads Data Hub

We’re making it easier to run analysis with a Sandbox environment, which recently rolled out to all customers. This environment includes a test dataset and can be used to experiment with data and query development, which can help make execution faster by giving you a better understanding of the types of queries you can write and insights you can get in Ads Data Hub.

We’ve also launched a new query library that gives you access to over 20 templates for the most common types of analysis run in Ads Data Hub. For example, the All events template can be used to get impressions, clicks, conversions and Active View stats for a specific account. Ads Data Hub users can also suggest new templates directly via the in-product feedback form.

A frequent request we’ve heard from customers is to be able to access and analyze ad data closer to real-time. To address this, we’ve brought latency down from 24-48 hours to 6 hours for display and YouTube ads data from Google Ads, as well as for data from YouTube ads bought via Display & Video 360. That means, if an impression was served at 8am, you can query data associated with that impression from 2pm on the same day.

New ways to understand the consumer journey

Manually stitching together event-level data from Campaign Manager and Display & Video 360 to reconstruct the path to purchase is possible today in Ads Data Hub, but it can be time-consuming and difficult. That’s why we’ve introduced consumer journey paths, a set of pre-processed data that automatically join impression, click, and conversion events together if they’re part of a single journey. This will help advertisers get valuable insights about the consumer journey faster and with higher quality output than manual approaches, and is available to all Ads Data Hub customers that have Campaign Manager and Display & Video 360 data enabled in their account.

To cover more of the ways people interact with media and your brand, we’re expanding beyond computer, mobile and tablet device measurement to include TV screens. This includes coverage for connected TV and gaming consoles. These devices are becoming a bigger part of many media plans, so understanding their role in delivering value for your business is also becoming more important.

Today, Ads Data Hub includes key advertising metrics such as viewability, impressions, clicks, and conversions from display and video ads in Google Ads, Campaign Manager, and Display & Video 360. And in the coming months we’re enabling more measurement use cases by adding advanced Active View metrics for YouTube—including viewability and audibility metrics—that allow you to uncover deep insights into creative performance and user attention.

Reach the right customers with customized audience list creation

Beyond measurement, one of biggest pieces of feedback we’ve heard from customers is that they’d like to take action on the insights they uncover in Ads Data Hub, while protecting user privacy. We’ve begun a test to allow a limited group of customers to build audience lists based on clicks or conversions from Google Ads, Campaign Manager, and Display & Video 360, and use these audience lists to inform who sees display ads in Google Ads and Display & Video 360. For example, you could create an audience list in Ads Data Hub of users that have already purchased your product, then use that as an exclusion list to ensure you don’t continue to show them your ads served via Google Ads and Display & Video 360.

User privacy protections are deeply embedded across all of these features, and—as always—there’s an aggregation requirement of at least 50 users for output of any data from Ads Data Hub. Over time, we'll continue to evolve the capabilities of Ads Data Hub by providing access to additional ads datasets and developing deeper integrations across our ad platforms.

Source: Google Ads


Helping students and educators to continue learning and teaching from home

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected numerous sectors, one of which is education. India, with more than 1.5 million schools and more than 260 million enrollments, is home to one of the largest and complex school education systems in the world.


For years, we have worked to expand access to technology in classrooms, with equal investment in developing tools, as much as ensuring that educators and students were equipped to use them. Never before has this mission been more relevant or urgent, than the current reality we face, with COVID-19 having disrupted our daily lives. 


Teachers and educators have had to quickly adjust to meet the reality of students being unable to physically attend classes, while families across the country find themselves at home, with parents needing to balance their work with the learning needs of their children. As much as helping people find credible news and information is a key priority at this time, providing continuity in learning and education is equally mission critical and we are committed to providing helpful learning resources to families and educators in India.

Supporting education and learning through YouTube

To help parents, students, educators (or just the curious) find useful and high quality learning content created by education-focused creators on YouTube, we have launched the YouTube Learning Destination. The YouTube Learning Destination is accessible on mobile as well as desktop from the Explore tab, and contains resources spanning the full breadth of learning needs, from curriculum-relevant topics in physics, math, and biology, such as Permutations and CombinationsWhy does Salt make food taste better?, How does a plastic comb attract paper?, and Taxonomy to study hacks (How to make smart notes), language skills (How to change basic English into business English) and interest-based content like photography, yoga and more. So whether you’re  studying for a test, want to learn a new skill, or are just curious about the world, the YouTube Learning Destination is a handy resource to supplement curriculum learning for students or general skill building.

The YouTube Learning Destination currently features content in English and Hindi, with Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and other Indian languages coming soon. 
Caption: The Learning Destination on YouTube 

Helping educators transition to remote learning

To help ease the transition to remote learning during this situation, we have also rolled out free access to the premium features of Google Meet,  to extend enterprise-grade video-conferencing capabilities to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers, globally, until September 2020, which enables upto 250 participants in a single video conference. In India, we  have collaborated with FICCI Arise and have so far trained 250+ schools across 23 states in the use of these tools. This ensures our teachers, students and customers can stay connected and work remotely.

To enable teachers and educators to get the support they need to begin teaching remotely, we have provided training and tips through the Teach from Home hub, which is also available in Hindi. We’ve built this resource with UNESCO as a central resource for teachers. 
Caption: The Teach from Home website is a resource that helps teachers and educators get started with remote teaching during the COVID-19 crisis

This resource consists of numerous tutorials categorized around topics like setting up and teaching with and without video, keeping students engaged with discussions and virtual whiteboards, staying in touch with other teachers by sharing teaching resources and even making the teaching sessions accessible to children with special needs by implementing voice typing and closed captions.
We have also launched a global EDU hub comprising a collection of resources that help get started with remote  teaching, to help educators ramp up quickly, while home isolation and social distancing norms are imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

To help kids understand the safety measures to be taken during this COVID-19 outbreak, we have also released children's  books from MoHFW and Chota Bheem on our reading app Bolo.

We all know the power of great teachers and inspiring lessons, and we hope these steps will help our kids continue to learn for as long as schools remain closed, and return energised when the education system re-opens. 

Posted by Bani Dhawan, Head of Education - South Asia, and Satya Raghavan, Director, YouTube Partnerships - India

Stable Channel Update for Desktop

The stable channel has been updated to 81.0.4044.113 for Windows, Mac, and Linux, which will roll out over the coming days/weeks.





A list of all 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.


Security Fixes and Rewards
Note: Access to bug details and links may be kept restricted until a majority of users are updated with a fix. We will also retain restrictions if the bug exists in a third party library that other projects similarly depend on, but haven’t yet fixed.


This update includes 1 security fix. Please see the Chrome Security Page for more information.


[$TBD][1067851] Critical CVE-2020-6457: Use after free in speech recognizer. Reported by Leecraso and Guang Gong of Alpha Lab, Qihoo 360 on 2020-04-04


We would also like to thank all security researchers that worked with us during the development cycle to prevent security bugs from ever reaching the stable channel.


Many of our security bugs are detected using AddressSanitizer, MemorySanitizer, UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer, Control Flow Integrity, libFuzzer, or AFL.



Prudhvikumar Bommana
Google Chrome

Google for Nonprofits adds new countries and G Suite discounts

With the spread of coronavirus, nonprofits need access to tools to help them work remotely and raise awareness online. To serve the unique needs of the nonprofit community, the Google for Nonprofits team is expanding the program to new countries and offering discounts for nonprofits who use G Suite Business and Enterprise editions.

Reaching nonprofits in more countries 

In the program’s first expansion in years, we’re bringing Google for Nonprofits to 6 new countries—Portugal, Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Peru. Google for Nonprofits is now available in 57 countries, helping thousands ofeligible organizations get access to Google’s nonprofit tools and continue business operations amid COVID-19. 

Nonprofits can activate G Suite for Nonprofits at no cost and collaborate online with apps like Gmail, Docs, and Calendar. In addition, advanced features of Google Meetare available to all editions of G Suite through September 30, 2020. To help organizations raise awareness online, the Ad Grants Crisis Response Program is extending Ad Grants, up to $10,000 worth of text-based Search ads at no cost, in these countries through October 2020. The YouTube Nonprofit Program and Google Earth and Maps also offer nonprofits storytelling tools to amplify their cause. 

Discounting G Suite Business and Enterprise editions for nonprofits

Many nonprofits are learning how to transition their staff and programs to online-only formats, and with that comes challenges around cloud storage, security and virtual collaboration. To give nonprofits access to G Suite’s advanced features, we’re launching nonprofit discounts globally for G Suite Business ($4 per user per month, normally offered at $12) and G Suite Enterprise ($8 per user per month, normally offered at $25). As always, G Suite for Nonprofits will continue to be offered at no charge.

G Suite Business for Nonprofits offers 1 TB storage per user, access to Google Vault for data management, video conferencing for up to 150 people, along with more security and administrative options. With G Suite Enterprise for Nonprofits, organizations have all the features of G Suite Business and G Suite for Nonprofits, with the addition of email encryption, live streaming and video conferencing for up to 250 people, as well as Cloud Identity to manage users and apps. 

G Suite Nonprofits pricing

Google for Nonprofits is on a mission to empower nonprofits with technology. See our full list of COVID-19 resources on the Google for Nonprofits website, Coronavirus Resources page. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get notifications for upcoming live streams and to learn more about our products.

Google for Nonprofits adds new countries and G Suite discounts

With the spread of coronavirus, nonprofits need access to tools to help them work remotely and raise awareness online. To serve the unique needs of the nonprofit community, the Google for Nonprofits team is expanding the program to new countries and offering discounts for nonprofits who use G Suite Business and Enterprise editions.

Reaching nonprofits in more countries 

In the program’s first expansion in years, we’re bringing Google for Nonprofits to 6 new countries—Portugal, Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Peru. Google for Nonprofits is now available in 57 countries, helping thousands ofeligible organizations get access to Google’s nonprofit tools and continue business operations amid COVID-19. 

Nonprofits can activate G Suite for Nonprofits at no cost and collaborate online with apps like Gmail, Docs, and Calendar. In addition, advanced features of Google Meetare available to all editions of G Suite through September 30, 2020. To help organizations raise awareness online, the Ad Grants Crisis Response Program is extending Ad Grants, up to $10,000 worth of text-based Search ads at no cost, in these countries through October 2020. The YouTube Nonprofit Program and Google Earth and Maps also offer nonprofits storytelling tools to amplify their cause. 

Discounting G Suite Business and Enterprise editions for nonprofits

Many nonprofits are learning how to transition their staff and programs to online-only formats, and with that comes challenges around cloud storage, security and virtual collaboration. To give nonprofits access to G Suite’s advanced features, we’re launching nonprofit discounts globally for G Suite Business ($4 per user per month, normally offered at $12) and G Suite Enterprise ($8 per user per month, normally offered at $25). As always, G Suite for Nonprofits will continue to be offered at no charge.

G Suite Business for Nonprofits offers 1 TB storage per user, access to Google Vault for data management, video conferencing for up to 150 people, along with more security and administrative options. With G Suite Enterprise for Nonprofits, organizations have all the features of G Suite Business and G Suite for Nonprofits, with the addition of email encryption, live streaming and video conferencing for up to 250 people, as well as Cloud Identity to manage users and apps. 

G Suite Nonprofits pricing

Google for Nonprofits is on a mission to empower nonprofits with technology. See our full list of COVID-19 resources on the Google for Nonprofits website, Coronavirus Resources page. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get notifications for upcoming live streams and to learn more about our products.

Find high-quality apps for kids on Google Play

We’ve heard from parents that it’s difficult to dig through all the content that's out there for kids. Today, we’re making it easier for parents to find the good stuff, with a new Kids tab on Google Play filled with “Teacher approved” apps that are both enriching and entertaining. We decided to launch the Kids tab a bit earlier than planned because parents who have tried it out told us that it’s been helpful, especially now with their kids home from school and spending more time with screens. Because it’s early, you may not see some of your favorite apps in there just yet, but we’re adding new content as quickly as possible.

“Teacher approved” kid-friendly app content

Great content for kids can take many forms: Does it spark curiosity? Does it help your child learn? Is it just plain fun? To share the best apps for kids on the Play Store, we've teamed up with academic experts and teachers across the country, including our lead advisors, Joe Blatt (Harvard Graduate School of Education) and Dr. Sandra Calvert (Georgetown University). Apps that have been rated by teachers and meet our quality standards receive a "Teacher approved" badge.

hero_badge_play_quality.png

Apps are rated on factors like age-appropriateness, quality of experience, enrichment, and delight. We include information in the app listing about why the app was rated highly to help parents determine if the app is right for their child.

hero_teacher_module_static.png

How to find “Teacher approved” apps in Google Play


Whenever parents search the Play Store, they can look for the “Teacher approved” badge to quickly see which apps have been reviewed and rated highly by teachers. If you want to browse content that's been "Teacher approved", simply go to the "Kids" tab. And, if you’re a Google Play Pass subscriber, a great selection of “Teacher approved” content is available within "Apps and games for kids."
R2-teacherapproved_blog_scrolly.gif

Today’s announcement wouldn’t be possible without teachers who’ve been working closely with us for the last few years to curate apps that can help kids develop, grow and have fun. We trust teachers to enrich our kids while they’re in school, and we’re grateful they’ve shared their expertise to rate the apps kids use when they’re not in school as well.


The new Kids tab with “Teacher approved” apps will roll out in the U.S. on Google Play over the next few days, and we’ll be expanding internationally in the coming months. We’d love to hear what you think as we continue to make the Play Store more helpful for parents. You can share your thoughts by opening the menu in the Play Store and tapping “Help and feedback.” And don’t forget—for parents who want to set digital ground rules for their kids, like setting time limits on the apps your child has on their device, check out our Family Link app.

Promoting high-quality, teacher-approved kids content on Google Play

Posted by Michael Watson, Product Manager, Google Play

With more kids spending time at home, parents are looking for ways to find apps and games for children that are both enriching and entertaining. Today, we’re announcing an update that will make it easier for parents to find this content on the Google Play Store. We’re launching the Teacher Approved program, an editorial program to highlight high-quality, teacher-approved apps for kids. This is part of our ongoing effort to create a safer Google Play for kids.


What’s changing

We consulted with academic experts to develop a framework for rating apps for kids. Specially trained teachers across the US will rate apps for kids based on this framework, evaluating things like:

  • Design quality
  • Appeal to children
  • Enrichment potential
  • Ads & in-app purchases
  • Age appropriateness

Teacher-approved apps will:

  • Be eligible to appear in the new Kids section on Google Play
  • Be eligible for featuring in banners or collections on Google Play
  • Display the new "Teacher approved" badge
  • Display information about what teachers found valuable on their app details page
Phone scrolling through teacher-approved app store
The Google Play store featuring teacher-approved apps

As a result of these changes, we are removing the Family star badge and the Family section on Google Play. All apps that were in the Family section will continue to be discoverable on the Play Store and appear in search results. Note that this change will have no effect on Family Library.

Who’s eligible

Apps need to meet the requirements of the Designed for Families program before they’re eligible to be reviewed by teachers. All Designed for Families apps are automatically placed in the teacher review queue.

We made the decision to launch the Teacher Approved program a little early given the vast number of kids at home now. Teachers are working hard to review apps as quickly as possible, but it will take time to review all apps, so we appreciate your patience. Our initial launch will be limited to the US, to be followed by a global rollout in the coming months.

To help developers better understand what the teachers are looking for, we published a new learning path on Google Play’s Academy for App Success, including findings from Google Play’s research into technology usage by parents and kids.

Rewarding for all

We’re committed to improving the ecosystem and partnering with our developers. We look forward to continuing to work with you to create the best possible experience for children and families on Google Play. For more information on the Teacher Approved program, check out our FAQs.

How useful did you find this blog post?

Promoting high-quality, teacher-approved kids content on Google Play

Posted by Michael Watson, Product Manager, Google Play

With more kids spending time at home, parents are looking for ways to find apps and games for children that are both enriching and entertaining. Today, we’re announcing an update that will make it easier for parents to find this content on the Google Play Store. We’re launching the Teacher Approved program, an editorial program to highlight high-quality, teacher-approved apps for kids. This is part of our ongoing effort to create a safer Google Play for kids.


What’s changing

We consulted with academic experts to develop a framework for rating apps for kids. Specially trained teachers across the US will rate apps for kids based on this framework, evaluating things like:

  • Design quality
  • Appeal to children
  • Enrichment potential
  • Ads & in-app purchases
  • Age appropriateness

Teacher-approved apps will:

  • Be eligible to appear in the new Kids section on Google Play
  • Be eligible for featuring in banners or collections on Google Play
  • Display the new "Teacher approved" badge
  • Display information about what teachers found valuable on their app details page
Phone scrolling through teacher-approved app store
The Google Play store featuring teacher-approved apps

As a result of these changes, we are removing the Family star badge and the Family section on Google Play. All apps that were in the Family section will continue to be discoverable on the Play Store and appear in search results. Note that this change will have no effect on Family Library.

Who’s eligible

Apps need to meet the requirements of the Designed for Families program before they’re eligible to be reviewed by teachers. All Designed for Families apps are automatically placed in the teacher review queue.

We made the decision to launch the Teacher Approved program a little early given the vast number of kids at home now. Teachers are working hard to review apps as quickly as possible, but it will take time to review all apps, so we appreciate your patience. Our initial launch will be limited to the US, to be followed by a global rollout in the coming months.

To help developers better understand what the teachers are looking for, we published a new learning path on Google Play’s Academy for App Success, including findings from Google Play’s research into technology usage by parents and kids.

Rewarding for all

We’re committed to improving the ecosystem and partnering with our developers. We look forward to continuing to work with you to create the best possible experience for children and families on Google Play. For more information on the Teacher Approved program, check out our FAQs.

How useful did you find this blog post?