Q2 2025
Manage Inventory
Protections block for Video Games (Casual & Online) sensitive category will be deprecated soon
On May 15, 2025, we started to remove the "Video Games (Casual & Online)" sensitive category from Protections and pricing rules. With this change, you can no longer block ads from video games, online games, and downloadable games using the "Video Games (Casual & Online)" sensitive category.
- If you don't have any existing blocks or pricing rules that use this category: You don't need to take any action. On May 15, 2025, we removed the "Video Games (Casual & Online)" category from Google Ad Manager.
- If you do have existing blocks or pricing rules that use this category: Starting June 15, 2025, the sensitive category "Video Games (Casual & Online)" will no longer be available in Google Ad Manager. This means that you will not be able to block ads from video games, online games, and downloadable games using the "Video Games (Casual & Online)" sensitive category in Protections or set pricing rules specifically for the "Video Games (Casual & Online)" sensitive category. If you have any existing protections that block this category or pricing rules set for this category, then these will no longer apply. If these protections or pricing rules block or apply to other criteria, those will still apply.
You can still use the "Video Games, Consoles & Accessories" and "Online Games & Puzzles" general categories or their subcategories in Protections to block ads from video games, online games, and downloadable games if you believe these types of ads are unsuitable for your users.
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Server-side unwrapping for VAST
Server-side unwrapping for VAST redirects has been launched to open beta. Allowing unwrapping on the server may help increase revenue by reducing unresolved VAST redirects that prevent ads from serving. Learn more about server-side unwrapping.
New video skippability setting
We are adding a new skippability setting for reservation video line items to help publishers accurately forecast skippable and non-skippable campaigns. Learn more about the skippability setting.
Add a "custom choice" user choice in Offerwall
Adding a custom choice allows you to implement your own monetization solution as an additional user choice on Offerwall messages. For example, allow site visitors the option to purchase a subscription. For more details, visit Set up a custom user choice.
Add "Supertab.co" in Offerwall
Adding the Supertab.co (third-party) choice allows publishers to offer site visitors a way to subscribe or pay a fee to access content for a set period of time. This choice uses an integration with the third-party company Supertab.co. For more, visit Set up the Supertab.co (third-party) user choice.
Offerwall monetization is now supported on unconsented traffic
Google Ad Manager has expanded Offerwall support, now enabling publishers to monetize traffic where user consent has not been obtained. For a user who has not consented, the Rewarded ad choice will serve limited (EEA traffic) or non-personalized ads (US states opted-out traffic). Other available choices, custom choice and Supertab, will also be available on unconsented traffic and provide a new avenue beyond serving limited or non-personalized ads (NPA).
Report and optimize
Interactive reports: Updates based on your feedback
We’ve been working to address feedback received from you, our users. We have recently made improvements to the performance of filter pickers, including filtering by Ad unit ID (exact ID only, no partial matching). We have also introduced the following dimensions and metrics:
- Dimensions: App SDK version, Auction package deal, Child network, Child network code, Child network ID
- Metrics: Invoiced impressions, Invoiced unfilled impressions, Total fill rate
Traffic and deliver ads
Certified CMP support status for Google’s Additional Consent specification is now listed in the Help Center
Additional Consent allows publishers, Consent Management Platforms (CMPs), and partners to gather and propagate additional consent for companies that are not yet registered with the IAB Europe Global Vendor List but are on Google's Ad Tech Providers (ATP) list. In order to help publishers choose a CMP that supports Additional Consent, if the publisher determines it’s right for their business, we’ve published Additional Consent support status by CMP in our Help Center.
Report and Optimize
Interactive reports to replace Reports
In Ad Manager “Reporting,” Interactive reports will replace Reports in 2026. Interactive reports, now available to all Ad Manager publishers, offers an enhanced reporting experience, including such features as AI report generation, options for deeper analysis, flags for notifications, building and viewing reports on a single page, and more.
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We encourage you to try Interactive reports and begin incorporating it into your workflow. As you familiarize yourself with Interactive reports, you can continue using Reports until later this year. For more details, visit About the migration to Interactive reports. |
Introducing the Monthly revenue summary workspace (Beta)
A new Monthly revenue summary workspace is now available in Beta. This workspace provides revenue insights across Google-monetized demand channels, including Ad server, Ad Exchange, Open Bidding, and SDK Bidding. The Monthly revenue summary applies predefined dimensions, metrics, and filters to generate overview charts and detailed breakdowns. Note that the data shown is estimated revenue data from reporting. For more details, visit Using your Monthly revenue summary workspace (Beta).
Other product or Help Center updates
Redesigned Policy center interface
The updated Policy center interface is now available for all publishers in Ad Manager. To view the Policy center, sign in to Ad Manager and click Admin and then Policy center. For more details, visit Introducing the new Policy center.
Report and Optimize
Interactive reports general availability
Interactive reports is now generally available to all Ad Manager publishers. With Interactive reports, you can create reports and view the results on the same page in Ad Manager. You can organize the data with filtering and sorting, apply date-segment comparisons, and choose between a hierarchical or flat table structure for your results. Additional features, such as scheduled reports triggered by flags you create, offer new ways to streamline your workflow. To try Interactive reports, visit Create an Interactive report.
View a downloadable PDF guide of key Interactive reporting features.
AI generated reports (Beta): A feature of Interactive reports
You can now have Interactive reports generated for you with the help of AI. Enter a description or click a suggested prompt, and Ad Manager will generate several relevant reports for you. You can then choose the one you want to run. For example, if you ask for a report on the number of ad requests by programmatic channel, Ad Manager will identify relevant metrics and run a report. Your descriptions can reference dimensions, metrics, time periods, sorting, time-based comparisons, and more. As with other Interactive reports, you can refine the results, such as by adding other metrics and filters. Get started with AI generated Interactive reports.
Secure signals enters general availability
Secure signals in Google Ad Manager allows you to share signals from supported providers on ad requests to improve match rates, serve more relevant ads, and increase ad revenue across Authorized Buyers, Open Bidding, and SDK Bidding. All Ad Manager partners with Ad Exchange can now readily access and benefit from secure signals. Learn more about secure signals.
Q1 2025
Manage Inventory
High-engagement ads are now serving to all eligible inventory
High-engagement ads (HEA) will be served to all mobile app Rewarded and Interstitial inventory that doesn’t have HEA disabled in the frontend settings. We recommend reviewing your settings to ensure your inventory is configured to your preferences. Note that performance improvements may take some time while models calibrate on the changes. Learn more about using high-engagement ads to fine-tune your ad strategy.Curation (Beta)
Ad Manager's new curation capabilities help publishers access agency demand by enabling audience and contextual data segment targeting. When enabled, curation partners can package inventory and create data segments for buyers. Publishers can control which curation partners can access their inventory and report on curation with several new dimensions. Learn more about curation.
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Limited ads 2.0 to launch on or after March 31, 2025
In order to (1) simplify our ad serving offerings and (2) provide publishers with more feature-rich ad serving options, we will replace Limited ads and Technical ad delivery with an updated serving approach: Limited ads 2.0 (available on or after March 31, 2025). Learn more about Limited ads 2.0.
Troubleshoot
Troubleshoot SDK bidding issues (Beta)
If you use SDK bidding, you can now troubleshoot common issues in Google Ad Manager. For each SDK bidder, you can check for existing issues and review their impact under "Bid health." Review the configuration, regulatory, and targeting issues impacting your setup, and learn about available solutions. To learn more, visit Troubleshoot SDK bidding issues.
Policy
New requirements for CTV and DOOH inventory
On May 1, 2025, Google will implement new requirements for Connected TV (CTV) and Digital out-of-home (DOOH) inventory that is monetized with Google-served ads. To learn more, review the Ad Manager policy change log.
IAB TCF 13 month TC String expiry requirement to be removed
On or after March 25, 2025, we will remove the requirement to re-obtain user consent every 13 months. This reflects updates in IAB EU TCF v2.2 policies. We encourage publishers to remind users of their choices at a frequency that reflects requirements from publishers’ local regulators.
Other product or Help Center updates
Google’s CMP launches support for consent mode
Consent mode allows other Google products you use (such as Google Ads, Google Analytics, or Firebase) to respect your users' consent choices. Later this week, two new account-level flags will become available on the European regulations Settings page in Privacy & Messaging. These flags will be disabled by default. If enabled, Google’s CMP will be able to interpret your existing EEA, UK, and Swiss user consent choices for consent mode’s advertising purposes (including ad storage, personalization, and user data) and analytics storage. This setting will only be applicable for publishers who want to use Google's CMP to obtain consent and provide transparency for the use of both our publisher and advertising products. If this setting is enabled, it will apply to all of your European regulations messages shown on the web and in apps, but will not apply to messages shown on AMP. Learn more about consent mode in Privacy & messaging.
Traffic and deliver ads
Updated VAST ad tag parameter guidance
The VAST ad tag parameter documentation has been updated to clarify parameter functionality and explicitly state usage requirements for different implementations. You can now find a complete collection of VAST ad tag parameters as well as separate tailored guidance for your implementation, including web, mobile app, CTV, and audio.
Enhanced line item delivery troubleshooting
To increase the helpfulness of line item delivery troubleshooting, we:
- Expanded the number of non-delivery causes that can appear for a line item from 5 to 8
- Added several new possible non-delivery causes
These improvements provide more actionable details that enhance your ability to resolve delivery issues on your own.
Report and Optimize
Interactive reporting updates: Search, delete, and table formats
Several new features have been added to interactive reporting:
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Search and delete: The Interactive reporting page now includes search and delete capabilities. Quickly find your saved reports using the search box or filters, and delete unneeded reports for better organization.
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Selectable table formats: You can now select either a flat or hierarchical table format for your Interactive report. The hierarchical format provides a way to group report data into a hierarchical structure, making it easier to identify trends across different levels of your data and drill down into specific areas of interest. Previously, all interactive reports showed in the flat table format. You can now select either format as needed.
Report and Optimize
Parquet support in Data Transfer
Starting February 24, Ad Manager 360 will launch support for Parquet, a high-performance output format for Data Transfer files. Upon network enablement, publishers can select Parquet as an alternative or supplement to CSV for Data Transfer files. Parquet provides:
- Smaller file sizes: Leading to more efficient storage and faster downloads.
- Faster processing speeds: Enabling quicker data analysis and reporting.
- Optimized integration with BigQuery: Simplifying data workflows for users leveraging BigQuery.
- Widely adopted open-source file format.
To enable Parquet for your network, contact your account manager. To learn more and view sample files, visit Ad Manager Data Transfer reports.
Sharing for Interactive reports
You can now share your Interactive reports with reporting users in your Ad Manager network. Shared reports are view-only for the recipient, but they can make a copy of the shared report to customize it. Use the “Shared with me” filter to quickly find reports others have sent you. For details, visit Share a report.
Manage inventory
IMA SDK for header bidding trafficking (Beta)
The IMA SDK for header bidding trafficking is now available for all publishers that use HBT and have IMA SDK-enabled inventory for header bidding. New partners meeting these requirements (HBT + IMA SDK traffic) will automatically be included. Partners who don’t want their IMA SDK video inventory run through HBT can opt out by creating an inventory exclusion rule for the "Header bidding" demand source. Please be aware that video ad serving fees, in addition to the standard ad serving fees, will be implemented at the time of this launch. This update aligns the fee structure with the price priority line items used for IMA traffic.
Report and Optimize
Scroll through results in interactive reports
When your report results have multiple rows, you can now quickly scroll from top to bottom to view all rows. Previously, pagination required clicking through result pages to view additional rows.
Other product or Help Center updates
Configure European regulations messages on a per country basis in Privacy & messaging
European regulations messages in Privacy & messaging now provide the ability to display or hide the "do not consent" button by country. This gives publishers the flexibility to configure consent messages to meet business goals and address country-specific requirements. On average, messages without a "do not consent" button result in higher consent rates.
Report and Optimize
Completion of Data Transfer storage access migration
In the coming days, access to Data Transfer storage buckets will be available only through the Ad Manager user role permission “View data transfer buckets.” Access to Data Transfer provided by Google Groups will soon be removed. To maintain the desired level of access to your Data Transfer buckets, be sure you’ve updated your user roles as needed. For details, visit Migrate Data Transfer access from Google Groups to Ad Manager Permissions.
Gain competitive insights with Peer benchmarks
Publishers can now compare their network’s performance to similar networks. Peer benchmarks, now in general availability, lets you compare key metrics like revenue, CPM, and impressions with a relevant peer set. Check the Peer benchmark card to understand if performance changes are unique to your inventory or part of a broader trend. Explore the detailed breakdowns and expandable charts to gain deeper insights. To learn more, visit View and configure Peer benchmarks.
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More secure signals providers available through the Prebid User ID integration
For publishers that use Prebid User ID modules, we have extended secure signals support to 15 secure signals providers, including EUID, UID 1.0 and 2.0, Permutive, and LiveRamp ATS. For publishers using the Prebid auto-configuration, Ad Manager will automatically pass the output of Prebid User ID modules found on page to all of a publisher’s Authorized Buyers and Open Bidding demand partners enabled by the publisher to receive secure signals. For more details, visit secure signals providers.
Report and Optimize
Publisher provided signals in Data Transfer
Publisher provided signals, the IAB and Google video defined taxonomies associated with ad requests, are now available in multiple file types as fields "PublisherProvidedSignals" and "PublisherProvidedSignalsDelivered." Taxonomy and external category ID are always present, while Data provider name is used if present. For details, visit Explore Data Transfer fields and View Data Transfer fields by file type.