Standalone Gmail campaigns becoming read only in Google Ads

Starting on July 8, 2021, all standalone Gmail campaigns will become read-only. This means that you will not be able to create new campaigns or create ad groups in existing campaigns of this type after that date. This applies not only to the Google Ads and AdWords APIs, but also to any other interface you use to manage your Google Ads accounts.

Specifically, the types of campaigns that would be affected are those with an AdvertisingChannelSubType of DISPLAY_GMAIL_AD, where the following operations will fail with an OPERATION_NOT_PERMITTED_FOR_CONTEXT error and a trigger of DISPLAY_GMAIL_AD:

• Creating a new Gmail campaign.
• Creating a new Gmail ad group.
• Creating or updating Gmail ads.

Existing campaigns’ data will still be available.

There is no general workaround for API users to continue to be able to target Gmail specifically. If you would like to continue to target Gmail, you can use Discovery campaigns, which include Gmail ads, in the Google Ads web interface.

If you have any questions, please leave a post on our forum so that we can help.
- Mike Cloonan, Google Ads API Team