Programmatic inventory rules for video

Google Ad Manager uses inventory rules to control duration, linear display ads and overlays for all programmatic indirect demand types, including Ad Exchange video and audio demand and Open Bidding. Video settings can apply to all inventory types, including ads served to in-stream, display, or mobile app inventory.

On this page:

• Access video ad format settings in your inventory rules
• Report on eligible inventory for video ad formats
• Troubleshoot delivery issues with video inventory rules
• Video setting overlap
• New to programmatic inventory rules for video
• Linear display ads
• Compare legacy to new settings
• Changes to overlay ads

Access video ad format settings in your inventory rules

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Inventory, then Inventory rules, and then Video settings.

You can configure video settings that apply to specific video demand in the "Ad formats" tab.

Report on eligible inventory for video ad formats

You can report on the video ad formats eligible for your inventory with the Video ad formats rule dimension, available in a historical report.

Troubleshoot delivery issues with video inventory rules

To troubleshoot issues related to delivery and examine video inventory rules details:

1. Click Delivery, then Delivery tools.
2. Click Select on "In-stream video and audio ads".
3. Enter a video or audio tag and optionally select a specific line item and click Troubleshoot.

4. Click Inspect in the "Action" column of the table that appears.

5. Click the Auction details tab.

   Auction details provides the mechanics for troubleshooting video inventory rules that include:

   • Video inventory rules shows rules that were selected from the targeting expression.
   • Video inventory rule constraints shows the settings applied

Learn more about troubleshooting issues related to delivery.

Video setting overlap

In cases where multiple video inventory rules settings overlap and conflict, the most constraining setting will be applied. You can use the following tables for possible overlapping scenarios and the setting that would apply.

Explore overlapping video ad format rules

You can use the "Explore overlap" feature to understand how and when multiple programmatic video ad format rules configured in your network apply at the same time. Rules overlap when their targeting settings define overlapping segments of inventory.

To explore overlap:

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Inventory, then Inventory rules, and then Video settings.
3. Either choose the rule you'd like to compare against other rules that might contain the same inventory, or click New ad format setting to initiate a new rule. 
4. Ensure that the targeting options are selected, including any optional settings to block any skippable, non-skippable, overlay, or linear display ads.

5. Locate "Explore overlapping video ad format settings and view the merged result" and click Explore overlap.

   

   The panel that opens displays:

   • Any other existing rules with overlapping inventory, including an overlapping percentage
   • Merged results showing overlapping ad format settings, or those that apply to all of the selected inventory rules
6. You can select any or all overlapping rules below to update the merged overlap, or hover over targeting  to see the targeting defined for each overlapping rule.

   

New to programmatic inventory rules for video

We're introducing enhancements to how Open Auction demand interacts with your video inventory.

• You can now allow display ads to compete with video for your instream linear placements (pre-/mid-/post-rolls). 
• Overlay ads have increased demand competition from HTML creative types
• Programmatic inventory rules for video are the only mechanism determining overlay and linear display demand eligibility, replacing any VAST ad tag URL parameters controls. 

Linear display ads

Linear Display ads are static images, animated images, or rich media creatives that can serve on pre-, mid-, and post-roll placements. They compete via open auction and open bidding with video creatives, where the highest bid wins the chance to serve. Creative duration and skippability are controlled via programmatic inventory rules for video.

Publishers have granular controls to decide exactly where this demand can compete. And as such, the front-end controls are the only mechanism determining overlay and linear display demand eligibility.

Linear display ads demand and inventory eligibility

In order to be eligible for display demand, the single-ad pod request has to have the following (optimized pods aren’t eligible):

1. IMA SDK
2. Web inventory type
   Trafficking linear display ads in Web placements requires publishers to pass content metadata
3. Single-ad requests (not available for pods)
4. ca-game-video or ca-video-pub Ad Exchange property codes
5. Ad tag parameter needs &plcmt=2 (IAB video placement accompanying), video ad requests without the IAB placement declaration will also be eligible to serve this demand.

Eligible demand

1. Google demand 
2. Authorized Buyers
3. Open Bidding

How skippability and duration settings affect linear display ads

To optimize your yields, the rendering of display demand follows this logic:

If you allow skippable ads:

• For durations of 7s or longer: the ad will be skippable with a fixed 5-second skip offset.
• For durations under 7s: the ad will be non-skippable for your specified duration (subject to a minimum of 5 seconds).

If you don't allow skippable ads:

• The ad will be non-skippable for your specified duration (subject to a minimum of 5 seconds).

Compare legacy to new settings

Changes to overlays and linear display demand

Changes to overlay ads

Rich media HTML files were added to the Overlay demand pool. Multiple creative sizes will be eligible to compete for the placements and IMA SDK will resize them accordingly to fit the placement. With that, we have deprecated IMA SDK controls that allowed publishers to define nonLinearAdSlotHeight, nonLinearAdSlotWidth and forceNonLinearFullSlot.