Tag Archives: DoubleClick

New ways to reach your audience in DoubleClick Bid Manager

You know your customers and their preferences better than anyone else, but reaching these users as they explore sites and content online can be challenging. That's why we're excited to bring additional audience targeting options to DoubleClick Bid Manager to help you connect with customers at the right moments with the right message.

Bid Manager now enables you target your campaigns by demographic, affinity, in-market, and similar audience profiles to help you precisely reach users who are most likely to care about your brand or product. These targeting options complement any first and third-party data you may already be using in Bid Manager.

Reach customers throughout all stages of the purchase funnel

Bid Manager's new targeting options are designed to help you reach new and existing customers throughout all stages of the customer purchase funnel:

  • Demographic: Demographic targeting is what it sounds like-a way to find your target by age and gender. It can help you reach a specific target based on stage of life to continue to serve the most relevant messages to consumers.
  • Affinity: Affinity audiences can help you move beyond demographics and reach people who care about your brand. With over 80 unique personas based on lifestyle and interests, affinity audiences mimic the depth and breadth of TV-style audiences, so marketers can engage with precise audiences at scale.
  • In-market: Reach potential customers while they're actively browsing, researching or comparing the types of products you sell. Connect with those most interested in what you have to offer, using precise segments that classify users based on their demonstrated in-market behavior and purchase intent.
  • Similar audiences: Similar audiences looks at data about your existing remarketing audiences and finds new and qualified consumers who have shared interests with that audience. It's a powerful - but simple - way to reach a much larger audience and drive clicks and conversions among new prospects.

Audience solutions in action

Suppose you own a bicycle shop and you want to reach users who are interested in purchasing a new bicycle. Users with this intent may browse sites or content online as they begin to consider purchasing a new bicycle. Other users may be actively browsing product listings and committed to purchasing a new bicycle.

As a bicycle shop owner, each user represents an opportunity, and Bid Manager's audience targeting can help you reach the right user at exactly the right moment. For example, affinity targeting can be used to reach biking enthusiasts who are currently considering purchasing a new bicycle. In-market targeting can then be used as the user begins evaluating different bicycles to purchase.

We've seen customers have success using these new targeting options for all phases of the purchase cycle. AMNET Spain, for example, helps clients increase the reach on their target audience across TV and online video media buys:

"For branding campaigns, it is essential that we reach as much of our target audience as possible. In one particular case, we were asked to reach women in Spain between ages 25-45. By using Google Demographic Targeting and Google Affinity Audiences, we were able to achieve an extra 20% reach when compared to using TV alone.”
Ramón de la Guardia, Country Manager, AMNET Spain and Portugal

When your message reaches the right audience, you'll see higher engagement and improved performance. Danone Italy has experienced:

“We worked with Mindshare to drive awareness of our yogurt brands in women of different age groups in Italy. Google Demographic Targeting in Bid Manager helped us achieve our target coverage against this demographic and increase engagement, with a 20% uplift in CTR."
Valeria Surico, Marketing Connection Manager, Danone

These new audience targeting options are available today in DoubleClick Bid Manager. Learn more.

Posted by Maithreyi Raman
Product Manager, DoubleClick Bid Manager

Dynamic creative comes to Google Web Designer

As the holiday season gets underway, you’re likely focused on reaching holiday shoppers as they browse for gifts for their family and friends. Dynamic creative strategies are key to getting the most relevant messages and products in front of these shoppers. But with consumers’ increased usage of mobile devices, you need to build your dynamic creative in HTML5, and this confluence of technologies can lead to complexity.

Streamlining production of dynamic creative in Google Web Designer

To make it easier for you to build relevant and engaging cross-screen creative, we’re excited to announce the launch of simplified workflows in Google Web Designer that make it even easier to build dynamic creative in HTML5. You can now easily choose which data signals/feed attributes to connect to each dynamic element, pulling directly from the dynamic profile you’ve set up in DoubleClick Studio.

We’ve already seen some teams find success with the new dynamic workflow. Kaymu, one of the largest online retail marketplaces for emerging markets, used Google Web Designer to build an HTML5 dynamic remarketing campaign and show relevant products to shoppers. This strategy drove a 580% increase in CTR compared to their previous, non-HTML5, non-dynamic campaign, and the team’s dynamic creative build time dropped from 3 days to 10 minutes.

CyberAgent, a media agency based in Japan, also used Google Web Designer for a recent dynamic remarketing campaign. To provide the time needed to focus on the creative strategy, the team first automated the bidding and targeting for the campaign. They then could build and test several dynamic templates, using advanced animations and multiple dynamic elements. Ultimately, these advanced creatives led to a 40% higher CTR and a 28% lower CPC compared to the previous dynamic remarketing campaign that didn’t use Google Web Designer.

In addition to the new dynamic support in Google Web Designer, we’re also excited to launch:

  • Animation improvements, which help you build smooth animations
  • Updates to our text authoring capabilities, which make editing and manipulating the text in your ad units much easier and more intuitive
  • Two new components in our components gallery: a Spritesheet component, so you can more easily build out your spritesheets, and a Streetview component, so you can add location-based imagery to your ads. (We’ve kept this component separate from the Google Maps component to help you keep your file sizes smaller.)

Upcoming Google Web Designer Hangout on Air

Want to learn more about the new features? Sign up for one of our Hangouts on Air. Sean Kranzberg, Engineering Manager for Google Web Designer, will walk through the new features and take your questions.

  • Wednesday, Dec. 9th @ 12pm ET / 9am PT. RSVP here
  • Thursday, Dec. 10th @ 5pm PT / Friday, Dec. 11th @ 12pm Sydney time (APAC Friendly time) RSVP here
Posted by Becky Chappell
Product Marketing Manager, Google Web Designer

Fetching invalid product offers in Content API

The Shopping Content API now supports the retrieval of invalid product offers. This means that offers such as those with an invalid category or a mismatched URL can now be retrieved and reviewed via the API. This will enable you to more easily view invalid product offers and debug API requests. Going forward, invalid product offers that are newly inserted via the API will be available for review in the Diagnostics tab of the Merchant Center.

How should you go about retrieving your invalid offers from the API? You can do this by using a new optional URL parameter that has been added to the products.list method, called includeInvalidInsertedItems. (Yes, it's a long name; we apologize for the extra keystrokes.) If you set this parameter to true, your response will include products that were invalid at the time of insertion. The default value is false, so if you don't include the parameter in your request, you will not have invalid products in your response. This preserves existing behavior, with the exception that if you have invalid product offers from feeds, they will also not be returned in the response. Note that you can still use the 'get' and 'delete' methods to reference product offers directly by ID, even if they are invalid. No additional parameter is needed for those methods.

We are introducing one new error when inserting product offers, called "The item could not be inserted". An invalid offer is inserted only if it does not overwrite an existing valid offer. When there already is an existing valid offer, an additional error is returned, stating "The item could not be inserted". This also means that the product offer will not be available for review from products.list nor in the Diagnostics tab. Product offers are matched based on the full product ID, of the form channel:languageCode:countryCode:offerId.

It's important to remember that the new includeInvalidInsertedItems parameter will only filter between valid and invalid product offers, as determined at insertion time, ignoring whether they were or not later disapproved. This means that it will return invalid product offers inserted both from the API and from feeds. To distinguish between approved and disapproved product offers, use the Productstatuses Service.

To try out this new parameter, add includeInvalidInsertedItems as a query parameter to your products.list request. If you have more questions or feedback, please head on over to our developer forum.
  —Yufeng Guo, Shopping API Developer Relations

Preparing for universal ads in DCM

As you may have heard, universal ads are launching to DCM accounts throughout November and December 2015. The centerpiece of these new ads is a set of unified compatibilities that remove the distinction between in-app and in-page environments. To learn more, visit our DCM user or partner support sites.

What does this mean for DCM/DFA Reporting and Trafficking API users?

Currently, the API does not expose these new compatibilities, although full support is coming in a future release. Until then, the in-app and in-page compatibilities you currently use will remain available. This means that there are no immediate changes necessary to your applications, but you may notice some discrepancies between the values presented by the API and UI:

API compatibility
New UI compatibility
APP
In-app
APP_INTERSTITIAL
In-app interstitial
IN_STREAM_VIDEO
In-stream video
WEB
Display
WEB_INTERSTITIAL
Display interstitial

What can API users do to prepare?

To make your future transition to universal ads easier, we recommend that API users begin transitioning off of in-app placements now. Be aware that it will no longer be possible to traffic in-app placements once universal ads support is added to the API, and existing in-app placements will not be automatically converted to use the new unified compatibilities.

Instead, newly trafficked placements should be created using in-page compatibilities. These placements will be mapped directly to the new unified compatibilities (as seen in the table above), making them immediately eligible to serve in both environments.

Questions about this or anything else DCM API related? Contact us via our support forum.

 - , DCM API Team

Announcing the Google Mobile Ads API Demo apps

The Google Mobile Ads API Demo apps for Android and iOS are now available. These new apps contain advanced examples for both AdMob and DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) that demonstrate features of the Google Mobile Ads SDK that can help you improve the user experience and maximize ad revenue. Whether you’re a new publisher or a seasoned veteran of the SDK, the API Demo apps showcase new ways to customize ad requests, experiment with multiple ad sizes, and compare AdMob and DFP technologies.

Download the API Demo apps for Android and iOS today and explore new ways to improve your integration with the Google Mobile Ads SDK!

If you have any questions regarding the new API Demo apps, feel free to contact us through our forum.

 - , Mobile Ads Developer Relations

Check out the latest workshop content!

We’ve completed the last round of the AdWords API Workshops, and you can check out all the content online by visiting the official website, www.adwordsapiworkshops.com, and clicking on Resources.

Be sure to also check out our YouTube channel for the recorded presentations.

If you have any questions about the AdWords API Workshops, you can post them on our forums. Check out our Google+ page for Ads APIs updates.

Gustavo M. P. Moreira, AdWords API Team

Bringing native ads and mobile video interstitials to DoubleClick Ad Exchange

Mobile is changing the way people experience content - including advertising. Every time they reach for their devices, they expect to find what they are looking for and be engaged, and they quickly look elsewhere if their experience is poor. In this environment, publishers must take new approaches to advertising to grow revenue. More than ever before, advertising experiences need to be relevant and respectful of the user’s context in the moment.

At DoubleClick, we’ve been investing heavily to help publishers address this challenge. With DoubleClick Ad Exchange, we’ve built programmatic technologies that scale advertising to wherever users are, in the moments that they’re most likely to respond. We’ve also developed mobile-first, immersive ad formats to keep users engaged and ensure advertiser goals are met. Today we’re excited to bring these two areas of investment together for our DoubleClick customers with programmatic support for native and video formats on mobile.

Enabling publishers to sell native ads programmatically

Earlier this year, we announced support for native formats in DoubleClick for Publishers. Now we’re also enabling publishers to sell native ads programmatically, both in the open auction and in private marketplaces, on DoubleClick Ad Exchange. This is available now in apps and will roll out for cross-screen native ads over the next few months. Beta testers of these features, including eBay, have already experienced strong results.

As a pioneer in the programmatic space, eBay recently rolled out its Native Mobile Programmatic solutions, which have revolutionized the way brands deliver their message to the right person, at the right time. Since the launch of its new native ad unit, eBay is seeing a 3.6x increase in ad engagement on average, with some campaigns delivering click-through rates up to 5%.

“We’re focused on leveraging DoubleClick’s technical footprint to bring scalability to our native mobile programmatic offering,” says Brian Brownie, Director of U.S. Display Operations & Programmatic Advertising at eBay. “Our success with desktop private marketplaces, backed by eBay insights, has unlocked massive client adoption and this next phase of mobile delivery is a continuation of the effort.”

"The eBay Native in-app offering has a very powerful combination of attributes — high quality inventory, programmatic access and a cross-channel audience at a scale few can match,” says Michael Collins, CEO of Adelphic, a leading mobile and cross-channel DSP. “These attributes combine to give brands a unique and high-impact opportunity for their advertising investment, especially in the upcoming holiday season.”

Introducing programmatic support for mobile video interstitials in apps

Along with native ads, we’re also introducing programmatic support for mobile video interstitials in apps on DoubleClick Ad Exchange. Video is key to driving brand impact in the moments that matter, no matter where they occur. With these new immersive, full-screen video ads available programmatically, again in both the open auction and in private marketplaces, publishers can offer their advertising partners a new way to bring engaging brand experiences to users seamlessly, driving advertiser performance and growing publisher revenue. During beta tests, publishers realized gains as high as 30% CPM in interstitial video compared to regular interstitial performance.*

Together, these innovations help address a strong demand from ad buyers for native and mobile video formats that can be bought programmatically.

"We've been a longtime supporter of DoubleClick’s programmatic solutions for mobile,” says Adam Foroughi, CEO and Co-Founder of AppLovin Corporation. "The Native and Mobile App Video ads on AdX are in high demand among our buyers and have shown strong performance both for advertisers and publishers. We're happy launch partners with DoubleClick on these new initiatives."

As the digital world around us continues to shift, these innovations are just some of the ways we’re helping publishers and advertisers adapt to changing consumer preferences and thrive.

Posted by Jonathan Bellack
Director, Product Management
Source: eBay Ad Serving Reports, in-app home screen placements, FY 2015.
*There are many factors that impact video demand on a publisher's app and experiences may vary.

Active View updates: Improved cross-screen options for brands and publishers

When advertisers pay for an ad, the chance for it to be seen is a basic expectation. Advertisers shouldn’t have to pay extra to measure and ensure that it was viewable. These expectations drove the launch of Active View back in 2013, an effort to establish a neutral and common set of viewability metrics used by both advertisers and publishers. Since then we've continued to invest in this technology across DoubleClick, YouTube and the Google Display Network, and today we're happy to share two new updates that will help advertisers and publishers run more effective cross-screen campaigns.

Announcing Active View optimization in DoubleClick Bid Manager - A better way to programmatically buy viewable impressions

Today, we're introducing Active View bid optimization in DoubleClick Bid Manager for clients globally. This new bid optimization feature uses the collective intelligence from many signals (e.g. URL, time of day, page category) to predict, impression by impression, the probability that it will be viewable. It then dynamically adjusts bids higher or lower based on that probability to deliver the viewable CPM target that advertisers set for their video and display campaigns. Active View optimization delivers what advertisers actually care about - the total volume of viewable impressions - and doesn’t fixate on a viewable percentage.

This will help solve a common problem: when marketers buy viewable impressions programmatically using current viewability targeting, the decision to bid on a single impression is very basic. Buyers choose a target viewable percentage (e.g. 50%) and their programmatic buying system bids the same amount for any impressions with a likelihood of being viewed above that target - or nothing at all for impressions with a likelihood of being viewed below that target. This means that buyers are missing out on wide swaths of inventory that may actually be viewable and are driving up competition (and CPMs) for the inventory they are buying.

Announcing Active View for mobile apps in DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange - Bringing holistic viewability measurement to publishers

We believe that viewability metrics should be a standard currency between buyers and sellers. To enable this, we've been investing in features that allow publishers to see and report on a holistic picture of viewability across their channels and content. We're continuing that momentum today by announcing Active View reporting for mobile apps in DoubleClick for Publishers and on the DoubleClick Ad Exchange. With the consumer shift to mobile reshaping how publishers engage with their audience and those interactions increasingly happening on mobile apps, this new measurement solution completes the picture for publishers helping them see how viewability plays out across all of their properties.

At Google, we remain committed to investing in a broad set of measurement solutions for brands and publishers through a combination of product innovation with our own solutions and partnerships with leading third parties. These announcements are two big steps in our ongoing effort to help our clients measure every moment that matters.

Posted by:

Ari Feldman
Product Manager, DoubleClick for Publishers Reporting and Active View
Deepti Bhatnagar
Product Manager, DoubleClick Bid Manager Brand Measurement and Optimization

Active View updates: Improved cross-screen options for brands and publishers

When advertisers pay for an ad, the chance for it to be seen is a basic expectation. Advertisers shouldn’t have to pay extra to measure and ensure that it was viewable. These expectations drove the launch of Active View back in 2013, an effort to establish a neutral and common set of viewability metrics used by both advertisers and publishers. Since then we've continued to invest in this technology across DoubleClick, YouTube and the Google Display Network, and today we're happy to share two new updates that will help advertisers and publishers run more effective cross-screen campaigns.

Announcing Active View optimization in DoubleClick Bid Manager - A better way to programmatically buy viewable impressions

Today, we're introducing Active View bid optimization in DoubleClick Bid Manager for clients globally. This new bid optimization feature uses the collective intelligence from many signals (e.g. URL, time of day, page category) to predict, impression by impression, the probability that it will be viewable. It then dynamically adjusts bids higher or lower based on that probability to deliver the viewable CPM target that advertisers set for their video and display campaigns. Active View optimization delivers what advertisers actually care about - the total volume of viewable impressions - and doesn’t fixate on a viewable percentage.

This will help solve a common problem: when marketers buy viewable impressions programmatically using current viewability targeting, the decision to bid on a single impression is very basic. Buyers choose a target viewable percentage (e.g. 50%) and their programmatic buying system bids the same amount for any impressions with a likelihood of being viewed above that target - or nothing at all for impressions with a likelihood of being viewed below that target. This means that buyers are missing out on wide swaths of inventory that may actually be viewable and are driving up competition (and CPMs) for the inventory they are buying.

Announcing Active View for mobile apps in DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange - Bringing holistic viewability measurement to publishers

We believe that viewability metrics should be a standard currency between buyers and sellers. To enable this, we've been investing in features that allow publishers to see and report on a holistic picture of viewability across their channels and content. We're continuing that momentum today by announcing Active View reporting for mobile apps in DoubleClick for Publishers and on the DoubleClick Ad Exchange. With the consumer shift to mobile reshaping how publishers engage with their audience and those interactions increasingly happening on mobile apps, this new measurement solution completes the picture for publishers helping them see how viewability plays out across all of their properties.

At Google, we remain committed to investing in a broad set of measurement solutions for brands and publishers through a combination of product innovation with our own solutions and partnerships with leading third parties. These announcements are two big steps in our ongoing effort to help our clients measure every moment that matters.

Posted by:

Ari Feldman
Product Manager, DoubleClick for Publishers Reporting and Active View
Deepti Bhatnagar
Product Manager, DoubleClick Bid Manager Brand Measurement and Optimization

Jellyfish drives more online university students with DoubleClick Search

Since its beginnings in 1999, digital marketing agency Jellyfish has been at the forefront of digital advertising, helping clients of all shapes and sizes succeed in digital.

Most recently, Jellyfish partnered with a leading international online university who wanted to attract prospective students using online search. To meet the challenge, Jellyfish turned to DoubleClick Search and its ability to respond in real-time to optimize performance as the best tool for the job.

Goals

  • Hit regional lead volume and cost-per-lead goals.
  • Maximize quality of leads.

Approach

  • Tailor bid strategies by region with the Performance Bidding Suite.
  • Use bid strategies to respond to real-time, data-driven feedback including online and offline conversions.
  • Deploy best practices with bid strategies.

Results

  • Increased lead volume by 29%.
  • Decreased cost per lead by 84%.
  • Effectively generated quality leads for the university's search program internationally.

To learn more about Jellyfish’s approach, read the full case study.

Posted by Nick Macrae
Product Marketing Manager, DoubleClick Search