Tag Archives: deprecation

Changes coming to Display & Video 360 API in May and June 2023

Throughout May and June 2023, we will be making four changes in the Display & Video 360 API that may impact your integration. These changes and relevant dates are as follows, with links to further details:

With the announcement of these deprecations, we are launching a new Announced Deprecations page listing all announced deprecations and sunsets. This includes version deprecations and API-wide feature deprecations.

If you have questions regarding these changes, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Display & Video 360 optimized targeting rollout extended through early May 2023

The period for the gradual rollout of optimized targeting in Display & Video 360 has been extended and will now complete in early May instead of mid-April as previously announced.

The extension of this rollout does not alter any of the changes to the Display & Video 360 API and Structured Data Files (SDFs), so users should continue to apply the recommendations detailed in the previous blog post to prepare.

If you have questions regarding these changes or need help with these new features, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Deprecation of Display & Video 360 API v1

Today we are deprecating Display & Video 360 API v1. While deprecated, v1 will no longer be updated. We will sunset v1 on September 14, 2023. Migrate to v2 before the sunset date to avoid an interruption of service.

You can read our release notes for more information about new features available in v2, such as the ability to retrieve YouTube & Partners line items, ad groups, and ads. Follow the steps in our v2 migration guide to help you migrate from v1 to v2.

After supporting and regularly updating Display & Video 360 API v1 for over three years, we are excited to introduce new Display & Video 360 API features using a more consistent version release and sunset schedule. A projected schedule will be announced on this blog at a later date.

If you run into issues or need help with your migration, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Announcing the deprecation of Ad Exchange Buyer II API

The Ad Exchange Buyer II API is now deprecated, and the following resources will be sunset on September 29th, 2023:

Accessing the sunset resources will return an error response following the sunset date. Note that RTB Troubleshooting resources aren’t included in this list, and will continue to be supported until further notice.

To continue programmatically accessing your Client Access and Marketplace configurations, you should migrate to the Authorized Buyers Marketplace API. For more information, we recommend that you review the Marketplace guide and samples. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to reach out to us via the Authorized Buyers API Forum.

- Mark Saniscalchi, Authorized Buyers Developer Relations

Rescheduled changes to targeting expansion in Display & Video 360 API and Structured Data Files

On March 25, 2023, optimized targeting will gradually begin replacing targeting expansion for all display, video, and audio line items in Display & Video 360. By mid-April, optimized targeting will be live for all partners. These changes will be reflected in Display & Video 360 API and Structured Data Files (SDF), and might impact your existing implementation and the success of your requests.

Similar changes were previously announced and subsequently postponed late last year, but these rescheduled changes have some important differences. Please read this blog post in its entirety if you use the targetingExpansion field in the Display & Video 360 API or the “Audience Targeting - Similar Audiences” column in SDF to configure your Display & Video 360 line items.

Changes in the Display & Video 360 API

Optimized targeting will be configured using the existing targetingExpansion field and TargetingExpansionConfig object in Display & Video 360 API LineItem resources. Once optimized targeting replaces targeting expansion for your partner, these fields will be used to manage optimized targeting in the following ways:

  • The targetingExpansionLevel field will only support two possible values:
    • NO_EXPANSION: optimized targeting is off.
    • LEAST_EXPANSION:optimized targeting is on.
  • Optimized targeting will not automatically be turned on for eligible line items created or updated by the Display & Video 360 API. NO_EXPANSION will be the default value for the targetingExpansionLevel field and will be automatically assigned if you do not set the field.
  • If you set targetingExpansionLevel to one of the following values, it will automatically be reset to LEAST_EXPANSION:
    • SOME_EXPANSION
    • BALANCED_EXPANSION
    • MORE_EXPANSION
    • MOST_EXPANSION
  • excludeFirstPartyAudience will be deprecated. If set to true, it will automatically be reset to false.
  • If you turn on optimized targeting for an ineligible line item, the request will not return an error and the change will persist. However, you must update the line item to be eligible before it will use optimized targeting when serving.

We will also update the configurations of existing line items as follows:

To aid in this migration, we are adding a new LineItemWarningMessage value to Display & Video 360 API v1 and v2. The warning value DEPRECATED_FIRST_PARTY_AUDIENCE_EXCLUSION will be added to the warningMessages field of line items that have excludeFirstPartyAudience set to true.

Changes in the Structured Data Files

Targeting expansion is currently set using the “Audience Targeting - Similar Audiences” column in Line Item and Insertion Order SDF formats. These columns will be deprecated when optimized targeting replaces targeting expansion. When downloading SDFs, this column will always be set to FALSE and when uploading SDFs, the value of this column will be ignored.

Eligible line items created using SDF upload will have optimized targeting turned off by default. You will not be able to manage optimized targeting configurations using existing SDF versions and must instead use the Display & Video 360 UI or API.

Upcoming SDF v6 will support optimized targeting configurations. The SDF v6 launch will be announced on the Google Ads Developer Blog and in the SDF release notes.

Preparing for these changes

To prepare for these changes, we recommend the following:

  • Turn on automated bidding for line items currently using fixed bidding with targeting expansion before March 25, 2023 so that they are eligible for optimized targeting.
  • Update your Display & Video 360 API integration to directly exclude any first-party audiences using audience targeting before March 25, 2023 to account for the deprecation of the excludeFirstPartyAudience field.
  • Update your Structured Data Files integration to no longer use the “Audience Targeting - Similar Audiences” column in Line Item and Insertion Order SDFs before March 25, 2023 to account for the column deprecation.

If you have questions regarding these changes or need help with these new features, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Announcing iOS Google Mobile Ads SDK Version 10.0.0

We are excited to announce the release of our newest version of the Google Mobile Ads SDK. We recommend upgrading as soon as possible to stay up-to-date with our latest features.

Version 10.0.0 Changes

Google Mobile Ads SDK version 10.0.0 introduces a few major changes:

  • The minimum OS version has been bumped from 11 to 12. Given the high adoption rate of iOS 16, we are continuing the trend of incrementing the minimum support level. Applications can still be built for iOS 11, however, the SDK will not load any ads on iOS 11.
  • Since bitcode is deprecated in Xcode 14, we have disabled bitcode in the SDK. As a result, this has decreased the download size of our SDK by ~35MB. What this means for you is to integrate with SDK version 10.0.0, you also have to disable bitcode (if you haven’t already) in the build settings of your Xcode project.
  • Ad Manager applications require an app ID upon initialization of the SDK. This also means the key GADIsAppManagerApp will no longer bypass this check. App IDs are added to the Info.plist with a key of GADApplicationIdentifier. See Update your Info.plist for more details.
  • Ad Manager applications require GoogleAppMeasurement.xcframework as a dependency. If you install the Google Mobile Ads SDK through CocoaPods or Swift Package Manager, no additional action is required. If you install frameworks manually, see Manual Download for more details.
  • We also have removed deprecated APIs of various properties and classes.

For the full list of changes, check the release notes. Check our migration guide to ensure your mobile apps are ready to upgrade.

SDK Deprecation Reminder

Per the deprecation schedule announced last year, the release of version 10.0.0 means that:

  • iOS Google Mobile Ads SDK versions 8.x.x is officially deprecated, and will sunset in Q2 2024.
  • Versions 7.x.x and below will sunset sometime in Q2 2023, approximately 60 days following the release of Android Google Mobile Ads SDK major version 22.0.0.

As always, if you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum.

 - Justin Malandruccolo, Mobile Ads Developer Relations

Optimized targeting launch in Display & Video 360 postponed

The launch of optimized targeting and deprecation of targeting expansion for display, video, and audio line items in Display & Video 360 have been postponed. Optimized targeting was previously announced to gradually launch for all Display & Video 360 partners from November 7 to November 9, 2022.

The changes in Display & Video 360 API behavior that were previously announced have also been postponed. The targetingExpansion field in the LineItem resource will continue to represent the targeting expansion feature.

We will announce a new date for these changes at a later date.
- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Removing support for old OpenRTB versions

Starting today, Google’s OpenRTB implementation will be updated to only include fields and messages for the latest supported version, OpenRTB 2.5. This will affect the OpenRTB protocol and any APIs or tools used to configure bidder endpoints.

OpenRTB protocol changes
As a result of supporting only the latest version, the following fields are deprecated and will no longer be populated:
  • BidRequest.imp[].banner.hmax
  • BidRequest.imp[].banner.hmin
  • BidRequest.imp[].banner.wmax
  • BidRequest.imp[].banner.wmin
Additionally, the following fields may now be populated for all bidders:
  • BidRequest.device.ext.user_agent_data
  • BidRequest.device.geo.accuracy
  • BidRequest.device.geo.utcoffset
  • BidRequest.imp[].banner.api: This will support the value MRAID_3.
  • BidRequest.imp[].banner.format
  • BidRequest.imp[].banner.vcm
  • BidRequest.imp[].metric
  • BidRequest.imp[].native.api: This will support the value MRAID_3.
  • BidRequest.imp[].video.api: This will support the value MRAID_3.
  • BidRequest.imp[].video.companionad.api
  • BidRequest.imp[].video.companionad.format
  • BidRequest.imp[].video.companionad.vcm
  • BidRequest.imp[].video.linearity
  • BidRequest.imp[].video.maxduration
  • BidRequest.imp[].video.placement
  • BidRequest.imp[].video.playbackend
  • BidRequest.imp[].video.skip
  • BidRequest.site.mobile
  • BidRequest.test
  • BidRequest.wlang
If a newer OpenRTB specification is published, Google may upgrade the current supported version to match it. Previously deprecated fields that are removed from the specification will also be removed from the protocol. Non-deprecated fields that are removed will be marked as deprecated in the protocol, and eventually removed following a brief deprecation period.

Authorized Buyers Real-time Bidding API changes
The behavior of the bidders.endpoints resource will change. The following enum values for bidProtocol will be deprecated:
  • OPENRTB_2_2
  • OPENRTB_2_3
  • OPENRTB_PROTOBUF_2_3
  • OPENRTB_2_4
  • OPENRTB_PROTOBUF_2_4
  • OPENRTB_2_5
  • OPENRTB_PROTOBUF_2_5
New enum values for bidProtocol will be added to represent the latest supported OpenRTB version in either JSON or Protobuf formats:
  • OPENRTB_JSON
  • OPENRTB_PROTOBUF
If you have existing endpoints with their bidProtocol set to any of the deprecated values above, they will automatically be migrated to either OPENRTB_JSON or OPENRTB_PROTOBUF depending on the format specified by the original value. Additionally, any modifications to your endpoints that would set bidProtocol to the deprecated values will instead set it to OPENRTB_JSON or OPENRTB_PROTOBUF.

Feel free to reach out to us via the Authorized Buyers API support forum with any feedback or questions you may have related to these changes.
- Mark Saniscalchi, Authorized Buyers Developer Relations

Upcoming changes to targeting expansion in Display & Video 360 API

On November 7, 2022, optimized targeting will gradually begin replacing targeting expansion for display, video, and audio line items under a Display & Video 360 partner, with the new feature launched for all partners by November 9, 2022. We will be making changes to the Display & Video 360 API to reflect this. These changes may impact the existing configurations of your resources, and the behavior for your currently successful requests.

Read the optimized targeting and targeting expansion guides to understand the differences between optimized targeting and targeting expansion. Optimized targeting is not available for over-the-top line items, or line items that use fixed bidding.

There will be no structural changes to the existing targetingExpansion field or TargetingExpansionConfig object in Display & Video 360 API LineItem resources. Once optimized targeting replaces targeting expansion for your partner, these fields will be used to manage optimized targeting in the following manner:
  • The targetingExpansionLevel field will only support two possible values:
    • NO_EXPANSION: optimized targeting is off
    • LEAST_EXPANSION: optimized targeting is on
  • NO_EXPANSION will be the default value for the targetingExpansionLevel field and will be automatically assigned if you do not set the field
  • If you set targetingExpansionLevel to one of the following values, it will automatically be reset to LEAST_EXPANSION:
    • SOME_EXPANSION
    • BALANCED_EXPANSION
    • MORE_EXPANSION
    • MOST_EXPANSION
  • excludeFirstPartyAudience will continue to set whether first-party audiences should be excluded from targeting. This will now apply to optimized targeting instead of targeting expansion.
  • If you turn on optimized targeting for an ineligible line item, the request will not return an error and the change will persist. However, you must update the line item to be eligible before it will use optimized targeting when serving.
  • Optimized targeting will not automatically be turned on for eligible line items created or updated by the Display & Video 360 API.
We will also be updating the configurations of existing line items as follows: To prepare for this change, it is recommended that you turn on automated bidding for line items currently using fixed bidding with targeting expansion before November 7, 2022 to continue using audience expansion to improve campaign performance.

If you have questions regarding these changes or need help with these new features, please contact us using our support contact form.
- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Announcing a deprecation schedule for the Google Mobile Ads SDK

To provide Google Mobile Ads SDK developers for AdMob and Ad Manager more transparency and predictability on the expected lifetime of an SDK version, we are introducing a deprecation schedule for the Google Mobile Ads SDKs for Android and iOS.

Benefits

Introducing a predictable deprecation schedule offers the following benefits for app developers and publishers:

  1. Ability to predict and plan for SDK updates with a year of lead time.
  2. Legacy SDK code that only exists to support old versions can be deleted, thereby decreasing SDK size and lowering the risk of bugs.
  3. Engineering resources are freed up to focus more on support for newer SDKs and innovation of new SDK features.

Glossary

To understand the deprecation schedule, let’s first align the terms used to describe the state of a Google Mobile Ads SDK version:

SDK State Impact
Supported
Deprecated
  • Ads will still serve to this SDK.
  • Support questions specific to this SDK version are no longer answered on the Google Mobile Ads SDK developer forum. Users will be asked to validate the issue in a supported SDK version to receive full support.
Sunset
  • Ads will not serve to this SDK.
  • Ad requests return a no fill with an error indicating that this version is sunset.

Timelines

The deprecation and sunset timelines will revolve around major SDK version releases. We plan to do a major version release annually, in the first quarter of each year. The release of a new major version on both Android and iOS will trigger changes in SDK state for older major versions on both platforms.

Once we release a new major version N for both Android and iOS:

  • All SDK versions with major version N-2 on their respective platforms are considered deprecated immediately. Questions specific to these versions will no longer receive support.
  • All SDKs versions with major version N-3 on their respective platforms will sunset after 2 months.
    • We will publish subsequent blog posts communicating specific sunset dates to activate this two-month sunset period. The first sunset announcement is expected in Q1 2023 with a sunset date in Q2 2023.

With this schedule, a new major version will live in the supported state for about 2 years, and in the deprecated state for an additional year before moving to the sunset state.

The graphic below helps visualize the schedule:

How does the change apply to existing versions?

Effective today, Android v19 and iOS v7 versions are considered deprecated. In accordance with the schedule above, we plan to sunset Android v19 and iOS v7 versions in Q2 2023 following the releases of Android v22 and iOS v9 planned for Q1 2023. We will provide more specific sunset dates following the releases of Android v22 and iOS v9.

The graphic below helps visualize the state of existing Google Mobile Ads SDK versions for Android and iOS with today’s announcement.

Note: Versions 6.x.x and below for both Android and iOS have been sunset since 2018.

Exceptions

The deprecation schedule provides a framework for predictable lifetimes for an SDK version. However, there may be exceptions in the future. This schedule does not preclude us from sunsetting an SDK version at an earlier date, but we are committed to providing proactive communication with ample lead time for any future changes.

Next Steps

  1. Refer to the deprecation developer pages (Android | iOS) for the latest updates to the deprecation schedule. If you are on a deprecated version, see the Android migration guide or iOS migration guide for more information on how to update.
  2. Stay tuned for future updates to this blog, where more specific sunset dates will be communicated once new major Google Mobile Ads SDK versions are released.

If you have any questions about this announcement, please reach out to us on the Google Mobile Ads SDK Developer Forum.

 - Eric Leichtenschlag, Mobile Ads Developer Relations