Update: Updated section on changes to YouTube & partners line item content targeting to clarify that targeting of this type will not be able to be assigned directly to YouTube & partners line items, but can be inherited from the parent advertiser.

In the coming months, the following updates to the Display & Video 360 product might impact your integration with the Display & Video 360 API and Structured Data Files:

• On September 30, 2024, directly assigned content targeting will be deprecated for YouTube & partners line items.
• On September 30, 2024, audiences from Oracle will no longer be accessible and removed from existing targeting.
• On September 30, 2024, optimized targeting will no longer be available for line items using a subset of bid strategies.
• On November 5, 2024, “Flight ASAP” pacing configuration will no longer be accepted for insertion orders, and existing insertion orders with this configuration will automatically be updated.

For details on how to prepare for each of these changes, read the rest of this blog post and check the Display & Video 360 API Announced Deprecations page.

Changes to content targeting for YouTube & partners line items

On September 30, 2024, it won’t be possible to directly assign Digital Content Label and Other Content Types exclusion targeting to YouTube & partners line items. Embedded video, live streaming, and Family content rating exclusion will still be available at the advertiser-level, and then will be applied to child YouTube & partners line items only.

In Display & Video 360 API, all TARGETING_TYPE_DIGITAL_CONTENT_LABEL_EXCLUSION and TARGETING_TYPE_SENSITIVE_CATEGORY_EXCLUSION AssignedTargetingOptions will be removed from YouTube & partners line items.

Assigned targeting inherited by YouTube & partners line items are not retrievable at the line item level, so any targeting of these types inherited from the parent advertiser will continue to not be returned. This will impact responses from assigned targeting LIST requests and attempts to retrieve these resources using advertisers.lineItems.targetingTypes.assignedTargetingOptions.get will return a 404 error.

In Structured Data Files, Line Item files will no longer use the following values in the “TrueView Category Exclusions Targeting” column:

• “All Audiences”
• “Younger Teens”
• “Teens”
• “Adults”
• “Not Yet Rated”

Generated files will no longer populate these values in the column. The values “Embedded Videos,” “Live Streaming,” “Games,” and “Families” will be populated in the column when the targeting is inherited from the parent advertiser. Line Item file entries for YouTube & partners line items updating the “TrueView Category Exclusions Targeting” column will fail on upload.

To avoid any interruption of service, remove any impacted targeting from YouTube & partners line items using the UI or Structured Data Files upload.

Sunset of Oracle first- and third-party audiences

On September 30, 2024, first- and third-party audiences sourced from Oracle will sunset. Once sunset, these audiences will be removed from any resource targeting and combined audiences. This update will automatically pause any line items that target only sunset audiences, or negatively target any sunset audiences.

You can identify sunsetting third-party audiences in the UI as third-party audiences from providers “Bluekai”, “Datalogix”, and “AddThis”. If you have an external account link with Oracle to import audiences from their platform, check with your relevant team to identify sunsetting first-party audiences. These audiences can’t be easily identified using the Display & Video 360 API.

In the Display & Video 360 API, TARGETING_TYPE_AUDIENCE_GROUP AssignedTargetingOptions will be updated to remove sunset audiences. Requests to add sunset audiences to resource targeting will return a 400 error.

In Structured Data Files, IDs of sunset audiences will no longer be included in “Audience Targeting - Include” or “Audience Targeting - Exclude” columns in Insertion Order, Line Item, and YouTube Ad Group files, as well as the “Bid Multiplier” column in Line Item files. File entries using sunset audience IDs in these columns will fail on upload.

To avoid any interruption of service, review the audiences used in your resource targeting, identify any Oracle audiences, and remove them. If you cache audience ID, make sure to remove any of these audiences from your cache.

Ineligibility of Optimized Targeting for certain bid strategies

On September 30, 2024, line items using the following bid strategies will no longer be able to use optimized targeting:

• Maximum views with in-view time over 10 seconds
• Maximum completed in-view and audible views
• Maximum viewable impressions
• Target viewable CPM

At this time, line items that use one of these bid strategies combined with optimized targeting will be updated to turn off optimized targeting.

In the Display & Video 360 API, LineItem resources with targetingExpansion.enableOptimizedTargeting set to True and bidStrategy.maximizeSpendAutoBid.performanceGoalType set to BIDDING_STRATEGY_PERFORMANCE_GOAL_TYPE_CIVA, BIDDING_STRATEGY_PERFORMANCE_GOAL_TYPE_IVO_TEN, or BIDDING_STRATEGY_PERFORMANCE_GOAL_TYPE_AV_VIEWED or bidStrategy.performanceGoalAutoBid.performanceGoalType set to BIDDING_STRATEGY_PERFORMANCE_GOAL_TYPE_VIEWABLE_CPM will be updated to set targetingExpansion.enableOptimizedTargeting to False. Requests creating or updating LineItem resources with any of these sunset configurations will return a 400 error.

In Structured Data Files, Line Item file entries with either “Optimized vCPM” in the “Bid Strategy Type” column or a combination of “Maximum” in the “Bid Strategy Type” column and “CIVA”, “IVO_TEN”, or “AV_VIEWED” in the “Bid Strategy Unit” column will be updated, if needed, to set the “Optimized Targeting” column to False. Line Item file entries using the sunset configurations will fail on upload.

To avoid any interruption of service, update and verify that your line items using these bid strategies don’t have optimized targeting turned on.

Sunset of “Flight ASAP” pacing for insertion orders

On November 5, 2024, “Flight ASAP” pacing will sunset for insertion orders. All existing Insertion Orders with “Flight ASAP” pacing will be updated to “Flight Ahead” pacing.

In the Display & Video 360 API, InsertionOrder resources with a pacing.pacingPeriod of PACING_PERIOD_FLIGHT and a pacing.pacingType of PACING_TYPE_ASAP will be updated to use a pacing.pacingType of PACING_TYPE_AHEAD. Requests creating or updating InsertionOrder resources with this configuration will return a 400 error.

In Structured Data Files, Insertion Order file entries with “Flight” and “ASAP” values in “Pacing” and “Pacing Rate” columns, respectively, will be updated to an “Ahead” value in the “Pacing Rate” column. Insertion Order file entries using the sunset configuration will fail on upload.

To avoid any interruption of service, update the pacing of any existing insertion orders currently using the “Flight ASAP” configuration.

If you run into issues or have questions about these changes, please contact us using our new Display & Video 360 API Technical support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

On October 1, 2024, the Anonymous Inventory Modeling (AIM) reporting dimension will sunset and DST/ROC (Regulatory Operating Costs) and Total Media Cost metrics will become incompatible with YouTube reports in Display & Video 360. This will impact the structure of the reports that can be created and run using the Bid Manager API.

The relevant AIM dimension is defined by Filter value FILTER_ANONYMOUS_INVENTORY_MODELING. Once sunset, queries.create and queries.run requests creating and running Query resources with this dimension will return a 400 error.

The relevant cost metrics are defined by any Metric value using the prefix METRIC_TOTAL_MEDIA_COST_ or METRIC_FEE32_. Starting October 1, queries.create and queries.run requests creating and running Query resources of ReportType YOUTUBE that use these metrics will return a 400 error. In the weeks following October 1, we will update existing YouTube queries that use these values to remove the metrics. In place of total cost metrics, we recommend the use of individual media cost metrics instead, which can be added together with other supported fees to calculate the now unavailable total media cost.

To avoid any interruption of service, review your reports to remove the AIM dimension from any existing reports and all relevant cost metrics from any existing YouTube reports.

Read more about these changes on our release notes.

If you run into issues or have questions about these changes, please contact us using our new Bid Manager API Technical support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

The Google Real-time Bidding protocol is deprecated and will sunset on February 15th, 2025. As previously announced, Google plans to no longer send bid requests to endpoints configured to use that protocol after it is sunset.

Additionally, starting September 1st, the protocol will enter maintenance mode, and stop receiving non-critical feature and quality of service updates. If your real-time bidding integration uses the deprecated Authorized Buyers RTB protocol, Google strongly recommends that you start migrating to either our JSON or Protobuf OpenRTB implementations in order to continue accessing the latest real-time bidding features, and avoid interruptions on the sunset date.

You can use the OpenRTB migration guide as a reference while you work on your migrations.

The OpenRTB protocol uses IAB Content 1.0 taxonomy rather than Google’s product and sensitive category IDs when describing categories blocked by publishers with BidRequest.bcat. You can use the new detectedCategories field in Real-time Bidding API’s creatives resource to find the detected categories for a given creative in IAB’s taxonomy. Google recommends that you use this to reduce bid filtering by only placing bids with creatives having detected categories that aren’t blocked by the publisher. Learn more about changes related to categories.

If you have questions or feedback about how we can ease your migration, please contact us using the Authorized Buyers support forum, or adxbuyerapi-support@google.com.

- Mark Saniscalchi, Authorized Buyers Developer Relations

Today we’re announcing the deprecation of Structured Data Files (SDF) v6. This version will sunset on April 30, 2025.

Migrate to SDF v7 or higher before the sunset date to avoid any interruption of service. Instructions on how to migrate from v6 to v7 can be found in our migration guide.

After April 30, 2025, the following changes will apply to all users:

• The default version of partners and advertisers using those versions will be updated to v7.
• sdfdownloadtasks.create requests using SDF_VERSION_6 in the request body will return a 400 error.

If you run into issues or need help with your migration, please contact us using our new Display & Video 360 API Technical support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

As announced in February 2024, Display & Video 360 API v2 will sunset on September 3, 2024. Please migrate to Display & Video 360 API v3 before the sunset date to avoid an interruption of service.

You can read our release notes for more information about v3. Follow the steps in our v3 migration guide to help you migrate from v2 to v3.

If you run into issues or need help with your migration, please contact us using our new Display & Video 360 API Technical support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

On October 31, 2024, Display & Video 360 Entity Read Files (ERFs) will sunset. After this date, new private and public ERFs will not be generated. ERFs were deprecated in June 2021 and the October sunset date was first announced in January 2024.

If you are currently using ERFs to programmatically retrieve Display & Video 360 resource configurations, migrate to the Display & Video 360 API. You can either integrate directly with the Display & Video 360 API using REST requests or automatically import Display & Video 360 resource configurations into BigQuery using the Display & Video 360 API BigQuery Connector.

See our migration guide for more information on migrating to the Display & Video 360 API and the two integration options.

If you have questions or concerns about this migration, please contact us using our new Display & Video 360 API Technical support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Today we’re deprecating the publisherReviewStatuses field in the Display & Video 360 API Creative resource. The field will sunset on June 26, 2024. After the sunset, publisherReviewStatuses will always contain an empty array in retrieved Creative resources.

We’ve added the upcoming sunset to our list of feature deprecations. To avoid any issues, we recommend that you stop reading the publisherReviewStatuses field from retrieved Creative resources.

If you have questions regarding these changes, please follow the instructions on our support guide or contact us using our contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

To align more closely with industry practices and embrace OpenRTB as the standard protocol, Authorized Buyers Real-time Bidding protocol will sunset February 15th, 2025. Following this date, bid requests will no longer be sent to endpoints configured to use the Authorized Buyers RTB protocol. After this time we will support the OpenRTB protocol only. We strongly recommend that you transition to either the JSON or Protobuf formats of the Authorized Buyers OpenRTB protocol implementation as early as possible to avoid interruptions to your bidding integration.

As a first step in migrating to OpenRTB, we suggest that you read through the OpenRTB migration guide. The guide highlights differences between the Google RTB protocol and the supported OpenRTB formats, identifies how Google RTB protocol fields map to OpenRTB, and provides instructions for complex mappings. We will continue updating our developer content as we approach February 2025 to provide additional guidance, and to ensure a smooth migration.

For any questions or feedback you have concerning the transition to OpenRTB, please contact us using the Authorized Buyers support forum, or adxbuyerapi-support@google.com.

- Mark Saniscalchi, Authorized Buyers Developer Relations

Today we’re announcing the deprecation of Structured Data Files (SDF) v5.5. This version will sunset on October 3, 2024.

Migrate to v7, the most recent version, by the sunset date. Instructions on how to migrate to v7 can be found in our migration guide.

Once v5.5 is sunset:

• The default version of partners and advertisers using those versions will be updated to the oldest supported version, v6.
• sdfdownloadtasks.create requests using the sunset version in the request body will return a 400 error.

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

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Version 23.0.0 of the Android Google Mobile Ads SDK is now available. We recommend upgrading as soon as possible to get our latest features and performance improvements.

The minimum Android API level is 21

Starting in version 23.0.0, the Google Mobile Ads SDK requires all apps to be on a minimum Android API level 21 to run. To adjust the API level, change the value of minSdk in your app-level build.gradle file to 21 or higher.

Ad Manager builder methods can now be chained

In version 23.0.0, AdManagerAdRequest.Builder methods inherited from its parent can be chained together to build an AdManagerAdRequest using a single call:

var newRequest = AdManagerAdRequest.Builder()
  .addCustomTargeting("age", "25") // AdManagerAdRequest.Builder method.
  .setContentUrl("https://www.example.com") // Method inherited from parent.
  .build() // Builds an AdManagerAdRequest.

A side effect of this change is AdManagerAdRequest.Builder no longer inherits from AdRequest.Builder.

SDK deprecation and sunset timelines activated

With this Android major version 23 launch and the iOS major version 11 launch last month, we are announcing new deprecation and sunset dates for older major releases. Specifically:

• Android Google Mobile Ads SDK versions 21.x.x are officially deprecated, and will sunset in Q2 2025.
• Android versions 20.x.x and iOS versions 8.x.x will sunset on June 30, 2024.
  • While there are currently no plans to disable ad serving on Android versions 20.x.x and iOS versions 8.x.x, we strongly recommend updating to a supported SDK version to avoid being impacted in the future.

For the full list of changes in v23.0.0, check the release notes. Check our migration guide to ensure your mobile apps are ready to upgrade. As always, if you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the developer forum.

 - Jill Song, Mobile Ads Developer Relations

Starting May 1, 2024, requests to retrieve, create, or run Full Path and Path Attribution reports through the Bid Manager API will return an error. We deprecated both report types in February 2024. We announced this deprecation last November.

After deprecation, running a query using the ReportType FULL_PATH or PATH_ATTRIBUTION generates an empty report. Existing Query and Report resources of these types are still retrievable, and report files generated previously will still be available.

Starting on May 1, 2024, ReportType values FULL_PATH or PATH_ATTRIBUTION and the pathQueryOptions field will sunset. As a result:

• queries.create requests using these values or fields will return an INVALID_ARGUMENT error,
• queries.get, queries.delete, and queries.reports.get requests retrieving resources using these types will return a NOT_FOUND error,
• and queries.list and queries.reports.list responses will not include resources using these types.

We’ve added these details to our change log. To avoid an interruption of service, we recommend that you stop creating, retrieving, or running any reports using these values before the applicable sunset date.

If you have questions regarding these changes, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Bid Manager API Team

Today we are deprecating Display & Video 360 API v2 and will sunset v2 on September 3, 2024. Migrate to Display & Video 360 API v3 before the sunset date to avoid an interruption of service.

You can read our release notes for more information on updates made to the API in v3, such as the addition of proximity location list management and updates to resource and field names. Follow the steps in our v3 migration guide to help you migrate from v2 to v3.

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

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

On October 31, 2024, Display & Video 360 Entity Read Files (ERFs) will sunset. Public and private ERFs won’t be generated after this date. Migrate to the Display & Video 360 API to continue programmatically retrieving Display & Video 360 resource configurations.

ERFs were deprecated in June 2021. Since then, we’ve made updates to help you migrate from ERFs:

• You can retrieve Floodlight Activities and YouTube & Partners resources (line items, ad groups, and ads) using the Display & Video 360 API.
• Starting with Structured Data Files v7, you can use IDs retrieved through the Display & Video 360 API in place of ERFs.

See our migration guide for more information on migrating from ERFs to the Display & Video 360 API.

If you have questions regarding these changes, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Today we’re deprecating cross-device conversion metric values in Bid Manager API. The following values will sunset on February 28, 2024:

• METRIC_CM360_POST_CLICK_REVENUE_CROSS_ENVIRONMENT
• METRIC_CM360_POST_VIEW_REVENUE_CROSS_ENVIRONMENT
• METRIC_POST_CLICK_CONVERSIONS_CROSS_ENVIRONMENT
• METRIC_POST_VIEW_CONVERSIONS_CROSS_ENVIRONMENT
• METRIC_TOTAL_CONVERSIONS_CROSS_ENVIRONMENT

Upon sunset, queries.create requests using these values will return an INVALID_ARGUMENT error, and these values will be removed from existing Query resources.

We’ve added the upcoming sunset to our change log. To avoid an interruption of service, we recommend that you stop creating any reports using these values before the applicable sunset date.

If you have questions regarding these changes, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Bid Manager API Team

Today we’re announcing the deprecation of Structured Data Files (SDF) v5.4. This version will be fully sunset on February 27, 2024.

Please migrate to v6, the most recent version, by the sunset date. Once v5.4 is sunset::

• The default version of partners and advertisers using those versions will be updated to the oldest supported version, v5.5.
• sdfdownloadtasks.create requests declaring the sunset versions in the request body will return a 400 error.

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

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

On August 1, 2023, outcome-based buying will be deprecated in Display & Video 360. After this date, all resources using outcome-based buying will be archived, line items using outcome-based buying will stop serving, and you will no longer be able to create resources that use outcome-based buying.

Outcome-based buying is set at the insertion order level, and is used by their child line items. Outcome-based buying is set in the following ways:

• In Display & Video 360 API, outcome-based buying is used if the billableOutcome field of the InsertionOrder resource is set to BILLABLE_OUTCOME_PAY_PER_CLICK or BILLABLE_OUTCOME_PAY_PER_VIEWABLE_IMPRESSION.
• In Structured Data Files, outcome-based buying is used if the “Billable Outcome” column of the Insertion Order file row is set to “Click” or “Active View.”

Effective August 1, 2023, all relevant insertion orders and line items will be archived. Display & Video 360 API requests creating new insertion orders and line items using outcome-based buying will return 400 errors. Structured Data File uploads will fail for rows attempting to do the same.

Read more about this change on our Announced Deprecations page.

If you have questions regarding these changes, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

On June 8, 2023, Audience Composition Reports will be deprecated in Display & Video 360. This means that you will no longer be able to retrieve, create or run Audience Composition Reports using the Bid Manager API.

In the Bid Manager API, an Audience Composition Report is a Query resource with a ReportType of AUDIENCE_COMPOSITION assigned to params.type. After deprecation:

• Any request to the queries or queries.reports services identifying an Audience Composition Report will return an error.
• All queries.create requests creating a new Audience Composition Report will return an error.
• All queries.list responses will no longer include Audience Composition Report queries.

To avoid an interruption of service, we recommend that you stop creating or retrieving any existing reports of this type.

If you have questions regarding this change, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Bid Manager API Team

Throughout May and June 2023, we will be making four changes in the Display & Video 360 API that may impact your integration. These changes and relevant dates are as follows, with links to further details:

• On May 17, 2023, we will begin deprecating manual triggers in Display & Video 360.
• On May 20, 2023, we will begin deprecating a subset of GoogleAudience and FirstAndThirdPartyAudience types in Display & Video 360.
• On May 30, 2023, existing Display & Video 360 API quota limits will be replaced with new, per-advertiser quota limits.
• On June 8, 2023, LIST request filter parameters will no longer allow OR operators between restrictions of different fields and two filterable fields will be deprecated for insertion order and line item LIST methods.

With the announcement of these deprecations, we are launching a new Announced Deprecations page listing all announced deprecations and sunsets. This includes version deprecations and API-wide feature deprecations.

If you have questions regarding these changes, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

The period for the gradual rollout of optimized targeting in Display & Video 360 has been extended and will now complete in early May instead of mid-April as previously announced.

The extension of this rollout does not alter any of the changes to the Display & Video 360 API and Structured Data Files (SDFs), so users should continue to apply the recommendations detailed in the previous blog post to prepare.

If you have questions regarding these changes or need help with these new features, please contact us using our support contact form.

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team

Today we are deprecating Display & Video 360 API v1. While deprecated, v1 will no longer be updated. We will sunset v1 on September 14, 2023. Migrate to v2 before the sunset date to avoid an interruption of service.

You can read our release notes for more information about new features available in v2, such as the ability to retrieve YouTube & Partners line items, ad groups, and ads. Follow the steps in our v2 migration guide to help you migrate from v1 to v2.

After supporting and regularly updating Display & Video 360 API v1 for over three years, we are excited to introduce new Display & Video 360 API features using a more consistent version release and sunset schedule. A projected schedule will be announced on this blog at a later date.

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

- Trevor Mulchay, Display & Video 360 API Team