On October 1, 2020, we are upgrading the classification of the authorization scope used for the DoubleClick Bid Manager API ( https://www.googleapis.com/auth/doubleclickbidmanager ) to “ sensitive”. This upgrade is taking place to better secure the DBM API and the data retrieved from it.Read More

On October 1, 2020, we are upgrading the classification of the authorization scope used for the DoubleClick Bid Manager API ( https://www.googleapis.com/auth/doubleclickbidmanager ) to “sensitive”. This upgrade is taking place to better secure the DBM API and the data retrieved from it.

Starting on October 1st, all unverified apps that are using the DBM API for the first time will encounter an “unverified app screen” upon attempted authentication. This screen can be removed by submitting your app to our verification process. This process usually takes about 3 to 5 business days. Information on how this process fits in the larger task of authorizing requests can be found in our guide.

Existing apps that began using the DBM API scope before October 1st will not see the “unverified app screen” and will not immediately need to go through the verification process. However, all apps accessing sensitive scopes will require explicit verification before the end of 2021. In anticipation of this requirement, it is recommended that existing apps complete the verification process at their earliest convenience.

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

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

We are excited to announce that the Google Ads API is now generally available. This means you can use the Google Ads API for your production applications with confidence that prior performance issues have all been addressed.Read More

We are excited to announce that the Google Ads API is now generally available. This means you can use the Google Ads API for your production applications with confidence that prior performance issues have all been addressed. Batch processing is now available to everyone.

The AdWords API will continue to be supported. We will announce a deprecation schedule at a later date. We will continue to add more features in upcoming releases to reach full parity with the AdWords API.

Where can I learn more?
Get started with the following resources:

• Release Notes
• Guides
• Reference

If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum or at googleadsapi-support@google.com.
Nadine Wang, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team

Updated (3/16/2021): We have launched the new “pause” behavior on 25% of IMA traffic. This feature will be enabled on 100% of IMA traffic by April 16, 2021. Publishers looking to temporarily disable the new pause behavior may do so using the ImaSdkSettings.setFeatureFlags() API:

Read More

Updated (3/16/2021): We have launched the new “pause” behavior on 25% of IMA traffic. This feature will be enabled on 100% of IMA traffic by April 16, 2021. Publishers looking to temporarily disable the new pause behavior may do so using the ImaSdkSettings.setFeatureFlags() API:

adsLoader.getSettings().setFeatureFlags({'disableClickAdPause': true});

This feature flag will be available to publishers to disable the new pause behavior until June 1, 2021 to give publishers more time to make the recommended changes outlined below. After June 1, 2021, this feature flag will no longer function and will become a no-op.

Update (1/14/2021): The new target date for the changes to pause behavior to begin to launch is February 14th, 2021. Initially these changes will only affect a low percentage of requests in order to allow publishers time to make any adjustments without affecting their entire inventory. These changes will ramp up to 100% of IMA impressions on March 2nd, 2021.

Update (11/13/2020): The November 9th launch got rolled back due to the release negatively impacting some publishers. These changes are now being delayed until Q1 2021, with a more specific date to follow. The new date has now been updated in the below text.

Update (10/27/2020): The targeted date for the changes to pause behavior is now set for November 9th, 2020. This has been updated in the below text, instead of the original date of October 13th, 2020.

The IMA SDK is preparing to release changes to pause behavior when user clicks cause navigation away from the page or app. When this happens, the ad will be paused automatically by the SDK. These changes will launch on February 14th, 2021 for a low percentage of IMA requests. By April 16th, 2021 the changes to pause behavior will ramp up to affect 100% of IMA requests.

The IMA client-side SDKs already pause ad playback for ad click-throughs, but these changes add automatic pausing to many other user actions. The IMA DAI SDKs currently do not pause for any click events. For either implementation, if your code does not already provide a way for users to resume ad playback when ads are paused, we recommend adding a way to resume ad playback following ad pause events.

When the SDK automatically pauses the ad, the PAUSED event will be fired. We recommend that publishers listen for this event, and update the UI to allow the viewer to resume the ad. If this UI is not shown, the player may be permanently paused on the ad without a way for the user to resume ad or content playback.

Client-side changes

• On Desktop web, the SDK will automatically pause when the user clicks on an ad which results in navigation away from the page.
  • This behavior already exists for mobile web and mobile apps.
• On all platforms, the SDK will attempt to automatically pause if the user clicks on the:
  • Learn more button
  • Ad click (desktop)
  • Non-linear ad
  • Icon click
  • AdChoices icon

Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) changes

• On all platforms for DAI, the SDK will attempt to automatically pause if the user clicks on the:
  • Learn more button
  • Ad click (desktop)
  • Icon click
  • AdChoices icon

Pause events

The table below shows which API is called when a pause event occurs:

IMA platform	SDK version	Pause event for client-side SDK	Pause event for DAI SDK
HTML5	The current evergreen version.	google.ima.AdEvent.Type.PAUSED	The video player’s pause event.
Android	V3.20.0 and later.	videoAdPlayer.pauseAd()	videoStreamPlayer.pause()
iOS/tvOS	All versions	kIMAAdEvent_PAUSE	kIMAAdEvent_PAUSE

Note: For Android, the onPause event is only available on v3.20.0 and later. For previous versions the IMA SDK will not automatically pause ads, and developers will not have to implement these changes.

Please see the following code snippet as an example of setting up a listener for the PAUSED event for a client-side HTML5 IMA SDK implementation:

adsManager.addEventListener(google.ima.AdEvent.Type.PAUSED, function() {
    showAdResumeUI();
});

function showAdResumeUI() {
  // TODO: Add a play button that resumes playback.
}

Please review your IMA SDK integrations and make any necessary adjustments to handle the pause event so that you’re prepared for when the changes go live on February 14th, 2021. Please look for announcements about pause behavior changes in the IMA HTML5 SDK release notes. If you have questions about making these changes for your own IMA SDK integrations, feel free to reach out to us on the IMA SDK forum.

 - Jackson Sui, Interactive Media Ads Developer Relations

Starting September 29, 2020, the default version for all search queries and report queries that use Google Ads Query Language (GAQL) will be updated from v4 to v5. If you're manually specifying a version for your queries, nothing will change. If you haven't already migrated to the ...Read More

Starting September 29, 2020, the default version for all search queries and report queries that use Google Ads Query Language (GAQL) will be updated from v4 to v5. If you're manually specifying a version for your queries, nothing will change. If you haven't already migrated to the new beta search feature, then this doesn't affect you.

Support for v5 is available if you want to opt in sooner. You can modify your code to set an explicit version using:

var report = AdsApp.search(query, {
  apiVersion: 'v5'
});

See the Google Ads API release notes for a complete list of changes in v5. Some highlights for reporting include:

• Fetching stats for entity types not explicitly supported by the API, such as Discovery campaigns
• Improved policy summary fields for ads with more selectable options

If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback, please contact us via our forum.
- Mike Cloonan, Google Ads Scripts Team

We’re constantly working to improve our offerings for Google Publisher Tag (GPT) developers. Whether it's writing guides, producing samples, or building tools like the Google Publisher Console and Publisher Ads Audits for Lighthouse, we strive to equip you with everything you need to succeed.Read More

We’re constantly working to improve our offerings for Google Publisher Tag (GPT) developers. Whether it's writing guides, producing samples, or building tools like the Google Publisher Console and Publisher Ads Audits for Lighthouse, we strive to equip you with everything you need to succeed.

To better understand what's working and what needs improvement, we're asking our developer community for feedback. Starting today, we're launching the first Google Publisher Tag developer survey.

Take the survey

All questions in the survey are optional and your answers will be completely anonymous. We expect the survey to take about 10 minutes to complete, and it will be open through the end of September 2020.

The feedback you provide will directly impact what we work on over the course of the next year, so please let us know what matters most to you. Thanks in advance for taking the time to help improve the GPT developer experience.
 - Jonathon Imperiosi, Publisher Ads Audits Team

Update (Feb 1, 2021): Correction to some of the category mappings.

Since May 2020, when you sign in to your Google Ads account you may be prompted to upgrade each of your conversion actions to the new conversion categories. The updated conversion categories provide more granularity to describe the conversion actions that are the most meaningful for your business. More details can be found in ...Read More

Update (Feb 1, 2021): Correction to some of the category mappings.

Since May 2020, when you sign in to your Google Ads account you may be prompted to upgrade each of your conversion actions to the new conversion categories. The updated conversion categories provide more granularity to describe the conversion actions that are the most meaningful for your business. More details can be found in this Google Ads Help Center article.

Starting October 15th 2020, these suggestions will be automatically applied if you haven’t already accepted them. Google Ads API, AdWords API and Google Ads Scripts users will see the following changes:

If you are using the Google Ads API, the new conversion categories are already available in ConversionActionCategoryEnum. No further action is needed.

If you are using the AdWords API, since we are not releasing a new version for the AdWords API, the new conversion category types will be translated to the existing ConversionTracker.Category enum values, based on the mapping below:

New Conversion Category	ConversionTracker.Category
Add to cart	LEAD
Begin checkout	LEAD
Purchase	PURCHASE
Subscribe	PURCHASE
Sign-up	SIGNUP
Phone call leads	LEAD
Imported lead	LEAD
Submit lead form	LEAD
Book appointment	LEAD
Request quote	LEAD
Get directions	LEAD
Outbound click	LEAD
Contact	LEAD
Download	DOWNLOAD
Page view	PAGE_VIEW
Engagement	DEFAULT
Store visit	DEFAULT
Store sale	PURCHASE
Other	DEFAULT

Therefore, if you are using the AdWords API to retrieve conversion category types (via reports or services), you will still see existing conversion category types being returned based on the mapping above, which will be different from the migrated new types in Google Ads UI.

AdWords API users can still create conversion actions using the existing category types. The AdWords API will automatically translate the created conversions to new category types, based on machine learning models. You can find code examples on how to set category type for conversion actions on the AdWords API developer site.

If you are using Google Ads scripts, when you select or filter on the report field ConversionCategoryName, you will see the same existing category types as the ones used in AdWords API, based on the mapping in the above table.

If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum.
- Fei Xiang, Google Ads API Team