Ads traffic navigatorprovides transparency into ad serving, helping publishers understand how different transactions compete, how bid requests are filtered, why some inventory fails to serve or monetize, and more.
You can use Ads traffic navigator to:
- Compare traffic performance across channels, such as mediation and header bidding trafficking.
- Streamline anomaly troubleshooting across inventory types.
- Check total ad requests against total impressions, and understand why requests may not become impressions.
- Review rejection reasons to help unblock inventory and optimize performance.
Jump to a section below:
- Get started with Ads traffic navigator
- About the ad serving overview cards
- Reporting
- Related articles
Get started with Ads traffic navigator
Ads traffic navigator is a feature of Premium reporting. To get started, you must activate Premium reporting in Advanced features.
For an overview of your ads traffic serving, you can review "Ad serving overview" scorecards. After initial processing, the cards show each step of the serving flow, retrieving ads from various demand sources to compete in an auction.
Expand the cards to drill down into the serving flow and rejection stages. Review the rejection reasonsto discover ways to optimize your bidder, deal, and demand settings.
- Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
- Click Reporting, then Ads traffic navigator.
- To focus on data that's important to you, select your page-level settings:
- Next to the date, click
and select a date or date range to explore.
Data is available starting June 15, 2025. - To compare your selected date range to a previous period, under "Compare," click
- To filter the results by a dimension, such as "Country," next to
, click Add page-level filters, make your selections, and click Apply.
- Next to the date, click
- For an overview of your ad serving, review the "Total ad requests" and "Total impressions" cards. Click the cards to expand them and view the data visualizations. To learn more about these cards, jump to Total ad requests and Total impressions .
- To review details for each demand type, click a card, such as "Ad requests allowing Programmatic." To learn more about each card, jump to a section below:
About the ad serving overview cards
Click each card to view the ad serving data visualizations. Along with the flow of ads traffic, each card indicates rejection stages and detailed rejection reasons. For suggestions on handling the rejection reasons, review the table for each card.
How to interpret the visualizations
Throughout the ads traffic visualizations, percentages correspond to arrow width, offering a visual key on where to focus. When a percentage is low, the arrow is narrower, and the impact on your traffic is smaller. For the most impactful optimizations, focus on troubleshooting rejection stages with higher percentages, indicated by wider arrows.
| Arrow color | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Yellow refers to potential ads, either from line items, bids, or third-party vendors. | |
| Blue refers to ad requests at different stages of serving. | |
| Purple refers to bid requests. | |
| Gray indicates totals flowing through the "Total ad requests" and "Total impressions" cards. |
Total ad requests card
This card's visualization covers the following details:
| Ad serving flow | Rejection stage |
|---|---|
| 1. * Total ad requests: Shows the number of times an ad request was sent (such as by GPT on a webpage) to an ad server. Such requests are the first step of the ad selection process . Note that this metric differs from the Reporting tool for video. Ads traffic navigator counts each pod request as an ad request, while the Reports tool counts each individual video ad in a pod as its own ad request. |
2. Rejected ad requests The "Total ad requests" card has one rejection stage called "Rejected ad requests." The rejection stage branches to the right, and lists the reasons ad requests are ineligible to serve any demand. To learn more about each rejection reason, and view suggested troubleshooting, visit Total ad requests rejection reasons . |
| 3. Valid ad requests: Shows ad requests that avoided rejection reasons so far. These requests continue on to the eligible demand types. | |
| 4. Overlap (Demand types allowed by ad requests): Ad requests can be eligible to serve any or all demand types (programmatic, line items, mediation, and header bidding trafficking). This results in some overlap, so the sum of the four ad request demand type boxes is expected to be larger than "Valid ad requests." In addition, ad requests with competing Programmatic Guaranteed deals and Preferred Deals are included in both "Ad requests with targeted line items" and "Ad requests allowing programmatic," as these deals must first be selected by ad server pacing and ranking logic, and then retrieve their creative via programmatic demand channels. For details on each demand type, click the other ad serving overview cards. |
* The numbering refers to the following image:
Reviewing the "Total ad requests" visualization, you'll notice how requests are filtered as they move through the serving flow.
- Rejected requests branch off to the right, with various rejection reasons indicated.
- At the bottom of the visualization, you'll find the demand types that eligible traffic can funnel into. These demand types correspond to the other ad serving overview cards, such as "Ad requests allowing Programmatic," "Ad requests with targeted Line items," and so on.
Each of the eligible demand types selects ads to compete, leading into the "Total Impressions" card, which indicates the final ads that serve to the user.
On this card, you can view the number of ad requests allowing programmatic, along with any competing bids and percent change. This card’s data represents all ad requests allowing programmatic, including backfill and Programmatic Guaranteed. However, other transaction types may ultimately serve.
You may be able to increase the number of ad requests allowing programmatic by enabling backfill for more inventory, using more backfill line items, and loosening targeting restrictions on your existing backfill line items. To learn more, visit Ad Exchange line items .
- This card’s data includes Preferred Deals and Programmatic Guaranteed requests, and counts each video pod request as a single ad request.
- The "Programmatic eligible ad requests" reporting metric does not include Preferred Deals or Programmatic Guaranteed requests, and counts each ad served to a pod request as its own ad request.
RTB bid request samples (Beta)
Troubleshoot programmatic deals with confidence by accessing granular bid lifecycle visibility directly within Ad Manager.
- How to access bid request samples:Publishers can pull RTB request and response samples at all stages of the bid funnel by clicking
. This opens a side panel where you can view detailed RTB bid request and response samples (up to four real-time samples are available).
Note:Some data in the samples may be redacted due to user privacy and bidder contracts.
- Filter support and requirements:To view bid request samples, filter by one bidder and (optionally) one deal ID.
Bid request sampling ignores unsupported filters.
Note: Display & Video 360 and Google Ads aren't supported while in beta, but may be considered at later stages.
About Competing bids
On this card, "Competing bids" indicates the final number of programmatic bids that will compete for impressions
. To view the competing bids number on the card, next to the cards, click.
About the filters
To filter this visualization, next to, click Filter by and select a filter. Available filters for this stage include "Bidder," "Deal ID (all)," and "Demand source (all)."
Dimensions with "(all)" avoid overcounting when filtering on more than one value without segmenting the results by that dimension.
Review the visualization
This card's visualization covers the following details. To learn more about each rejection reason, and view suggested troubleshooting, visit Ad requests allowing programmatic rejection reasons .
Ad serving stage
Rejection stage
Ad requests allowing programmatic
Includes any ad request that allows programmatic demand. In other words, any ad request that has backfill
enabled or is attempting to perform a programmatic deal.
These ad requests do not necessarily always serve programmatic ads. These are ad requests that allow programmatic; whether they actually win depends on the auction. It’s possible a reservation could win here, but choosing a programmatic deal is the priority.
Note: When a Bidder filter is added, ad request counts are estimates.
Ineligible requestsAd requests that are only eligible to serve line items. In other words, they’re ineligible for programmatic, mediation, or header bidding trafficking.
Learn more about the rejection reasons and suggested actions for this stage .
Bid request candidates Indicates all buyers that Ad Manager could potentially send bid requests to. This number applies to real-time bidding, Open Bidding, and Google demand.
A bid request is a request from Ad Manager to a buyer to bid on their ad inventory.
Note: Ad Manager won’t necessarily send a bid request to all of these buyers. At this point, these are just the buyers that could potentially receive a bid request.
Skipped bid requestsAd Manager did not send bid requests to these buyers. Reasons for this include the publisher elected to not allow this buyer to bid, or the user might not consent to the buyer. It's also possible that an issue prevented bid requests from being sent to these buyers.
Learn more about the rejection reasons and suggested actions for this stage .
Valid ad requests allowing programmaticIndicates ad requests that allow programmatic, don’t have issues, and can move on to the next step of the trafficking flow.
Note: When a Bidder filter is added, ad request counts are estimates.
Bid requests sent For the ad requests that resulted in Ad Manager sending bid requests to buyers, this is the total number of bid requests sent across all those buyers.
Bid requests sent = Bid request candidates − Skipped bid requests
Bid requests without bidsThis number includes all bid requests that did not result in bids. For example, buyers may not have received the request or Ad Manager may not have received the response due to errors or timeouts, or the buyer response didn't include a bid.
Learn more about the rejection reasons and suggested actions for this stage .
Ad requests with bid requests sent The number of ad requests that resulted in Ad Manager sending a bid request to at least one buyer.
Notes:
- Each bid request calls out to a single bidder, who may represent multiple buyers.
- When a Bidder filter is added, ad request counts are estimates.
Bid requests with response
Indicates the number of bid requests that resulted in one or more bids.
For bids that Ad Manager received from buyers, this is the number that can't compete for the ad request. For example, the advertiser may not be allowed, the bid is below the publisher floor, and so on.
Learn more about the rejection reasons and suggested actions for this stage .
Total programmatic bidsIndicates the total number of bids that Ad Manager received from buyers who received bid requests.
This value is usually higher than "Bid requests with response" because a bidder can return multiple bids to each single request, such as when submitting separate bids for different eligible sizes or formats.
Ad requests with bidsIndicates the number of ad requests that have received bids from any demand source.
Note: When a Bidder filter is added, ad request counts are estimates.
Competing programmatic bids
Indicates the final number of programmatic bids that will compete for the impression
. Put another way, this is the total number of programmatic bids that competed for all ad requests.
All bids that reach this stage will compete to serve.
Example:
- If there are 10k competing programmatic bids, and 1k ad requests with competing programmatic bids, each request had an average of 10 competing bids.
Ad requests with competing programmatic bidsIndicates the number of ad requests that have received bids determined to be eligible to compete in the auction.
Note: When a Bidder filter is added, ad request counts are estimates.
About competing line items on the card
You can view the number of competing line items on the card. This is the number of line items that matched an ad request, were compared against other line items in the ad request, and were the one line item from the ad request chosen to compete in the auction. All line items that reach this stage will compete to serve.
To view the Competing line items number on the card, next to the overview cards, click.
About the filters
Review the visualization
Targeted line itemsIndicates the number of line items with targeting that matches the ad requests.
If you have a segment of traffic where this number is low, it may indicate the traffic is undersold, or is completely reserved for a few line items or buyers.
Rejected line itemsThe number of targeted line items that are disallowed from competing to serve to some ad requests.
Example: If we average 10 rejected line items per request, 200 requests would show 2000 rejected line items.
Learn more about the rejection reasons and suggested actions for this stage .
Ad requests with targeted line items
Indicates the number of ad requests where the publisher has targeted line items
.
Note: Ad requests for Programmatic Guaranteed deals and Preferred Deals are included both here and in Ad requests allowing programmatic, so there is some overlap. Deciding whether to serve Programmatic Guaranteed deals or Preferred Deals happens within this value. Getting the actual creative served is included in Ad requests allowing programmatic.
Eligible line itemsThe number of line items that matched an ad request, will be compared against other line items in the ad request, and could potentially be the one line item chosen to compete against other demand such as programmatic bids.
In some cases, such as video pods, multiple line items may be chosen to compete.
Eligible line items = Targeted line items − Rejected line items
The number of line items that were not selected to move on to compete in the auction.
Learn more about the rejection reasons and suggested actions in this stage .
Ad requests with eligible line itemsIndicates the number of ad requests that contain a list of eligible line items, one of which will be chosen to compete in the auction.
Competing line items
Indicates the number of line items
that matched an ad request
, were compared against other line items in the ad request, and were the one line item from the ad request chosen to compete in the auction.
All line items that reach this stage will compete to serve.
Ad requests with competing line itemsIndicates the number of ad requests that chose a line item to compete in the auction.
Note: It’s possible for an ad request to have no line item compete in the auction.
Example use case
Scenario:I'm a publisher whose inventory includes Mobile, and I want to use the Mediation card to understand my App traffic. In particular, I want to learn why a partner didn’t bid.
Troubleshooting:
I check the card to see if a partner didn't bid, got rejected, or wasn’t matched. Reasons they didn’t bid are difficult to confirm. I don’t see the data in the card visualization.
That’s likely because for (waterfall) mediation, once ad requests are passed to the mediation partner, and other demand types decide not to bid, Google has no visibility on what caused the rejection. Therefore, no further data for visualization is available. This scenario is similar to Programmatic Guaranteed deals, where the buyer did not bid.
About Competing partners on the card
On this card, “Competing partners” indicates the final number of mediation partners that are eligible to be served as part of mediation chains. To view the Competing partners number on the card, next to the cards, click.
About the filters
Review the visualization
The card’s visualization shows the following details. To learn more about each rejection reason, and view suggested troubleshooting, visit Ad requests allowing mediation rejection reasons .
Ad requests allowing mediation
Indicates ad requests that have mediation demand. Mediation
increases your mobile app revenue by calling a series of third-party ad networks to fill an ad request, ordered by expected yield.
Ineligible requestsAd requests that are only eligible to serve line items. In other words, they’re ineligible for programmatic, mediation, or header bidding trafficking.
Learn more about the rejection reasons and suggested actions for this stage .
Valid mediation ad requestsIndicates ad requests with mediation demand that don’t have issues, and can move on to the next step of the trafficking flow.
Ad requests with no partnersThe number of ad requests that don’t have targeted mediation partners.
Learn more about the rejection reasons and suggested actions for this stage .
Targeted mediation partners
Indicates the number of mediation
partners that have targeted an ad request and are able to match it.
The number of mediation partners that can’t compete for an ad request. For example, the publisher may have assigned the partner a value below the floor price for the request, or the user didn’t consent to the partner.
Learn more about the rejection reasons and suggested actions for this stage .
Ad requests with targeted mediation partnersIndicates the number of ad requests that have targeted mediation partners.
Competing mediation partners
Indicates the number of mediation partner candidates that compete to be in mediation chains
.
Competing mediation partners = Targeted mediation partners − Rejected partners
Ad requests with competing mediation partners
Indicates the number of ad requests that serve mediation chains
.
Example use case
Scenario: As a publisher, I’ve seen a 10% drop in header bidding trafficking impressions based on a week-over-week comparison report run in Interactive reports.
Troubleshooting: Looking in Ads traffic navigator, I go to the "Ad requests allowing Header bidding trafficking" card to compare the same two time periods. I want to see if the "Ad requests allowing header bidding" have decreased, or if the "Valid header bidding trafficking ad requests" have decreased. If not, I will look at the “Rejected bids” card to see if there are any bidder errors, or if bids below the floor have increased.
Finally, I will check if the "Ad requests with competing header bidding trafficking bids” has decreased. If not, then I am confident that my header bidding setup does not have an issue, and I will use reporting to further investigate what other demand is beating header bidding more often than it had the previous week.
About Competing bids on the card
On this card, "Competing bids" indicates the final number of header bids (sent by the publisher) that will compete for the impression. To view the Competing bids number on the card, next to the cards, click.
About the filters
Review the visualization
Ad requests allowing header bidding trafficking
Indicates ad requests that have header bidding trafficking demand. Header bidding trafficking
simplifies setting up header bidding and potentially improves header bidding performance.
Ad requests that are only eligible to serve line items. In other words, they’re ineligible for programmatic, mediation, or header bidding trafficking.
Learn more about the rejection reasons and suggested actions for this stage .
Valid header bidding trafficking ad requestsIndicates ad requests that have header bidding trafficking demand, don’t have issues, and can move on to the next step of the trafficking flow.
Note: When a Yield partner filter is added, ad request counts are estimates
The number of ad requests that don’t have header bidding trafficking bids. Learn more about the rejection reasons and suggested actions for this stage .
Header bidding trafficking bidsIndicates the number of header bidding trafficking bids (which Ad Manager received from the publisher) for ad requests.
Rejected bidsFor header bidding trafficking bids that Ad Manager received, this is the number that can't compete for the ad request. For example, the advertiser may not be allowed, the bid is below the publisher floor, and so on.
Learn more about the rejection reasons and suggested actions for this stage .
Header bidding trafficking ad requests with bidsThe number of header bidding trafficking ad requests that have bids.
Note: When a Yield partner filter is added, ad request counts are estimates.
Competing header bidding trafficking bidsIndicates the number of header bidding trafficking bids that are able to match an ad request, minus the bids that were rejected.
Competing header bidding trafficking bids = Header bidding trafficking bids − Rejected bids
Ad requests with competing header bidding trafficking bidsIndicates the number of ad requests where the publisher informed Ad Manager about header bidding trafficking bids, and at least one of those bids was not rejected.
Note: When a Yield partner filter is added, ad request counts are estimates.
Review the visualization
The card’s visualization shows the following details. To learn more about each rejection reason, and view suggested troubleshooting, visit Total impressions rejection reasons .
AuctionThe line items and bids compete equally in a single, unified process, where Ad Manager determines which ad(s) to serve. This will result in serving ads either into mediation chains (from which the client will load one ad) or by themselves.
NA
The sum of served single ads and served mediation chains represents everything Ad Manager serves. For each request, Ad Manager serves either a single ad or a mediation chain.
Indicates ads that are selected to serve without needing to be part of a mediation chain of other ads.
Served mediation chainsIndicates the number of mediation chains Ad Manager serves.
This number is only for mediation chains, which Ad Manager only serves when there’s a mediation request.
Unloaded ads from chainsIndicates the number of ads that Ad Manager served in mediation chains that were not loaded by the client.
Note that "Served single ads" always get loaded, so they never appear in this rejection stage.
Learn more about the rejection reasons and suggested actions for this stage .
Loaded ads from chainsAd Manager served a chain of ads to the client, and the client analyzed the chain to load one ad.
This indicates the number of ads that were loaded from that process.
Total code served countIndicates the number of times the Google Ad Manager ad server, AdSense, Ad Exchange, and third-party Mediation networks responded to a request for an ad. A code serve is not counted if the ad server response is empty.
If this metric is broken down or filtered by Line item, Advertiser, Order, Line item type, and any unsupported dimension, the results could be incomplete. Using these combinations can cause all reservation impressions to be reported as "0", "unknown", or "-".
The supported dimensions that can be combined with the ones listed above are: Ad unit, Placement, Creative, Creative size, Creative type, App names, Devices, Inventory types, and Device category.
Failed to renderAds that served but didn’t render.
Learn more about the rejection reasons and suggested actions for this stage .
Total impressionsIndicates total impressions from the Google Ad Manager server, AdSense, Ad Exchange, and yield group partners. Learn more about how Ad Manager counts impressions.
The "Total impressions" metric does not count impressions served by companion ads. To include the number of impressions served by companion in your report, add the "Master and Companion creative" dimension available in the Historical report type.
Indicates the total amount of CPM and CPC revenue based on the number of units served by the Google Ad Manager server, AdSense, Ad Exchange, and third-party Mediation networks.
Indicates the total amount of CPM revenue based on the number of units served by the Google Ad Manager server, AdSense, Ad Exchange, and third-party mediation networks.
Indicates total clicks served by the Google Ad Manager server, AdSense, and Ad Exchange.
Indicates the total amount of CPC revenue based on the number of units served by the Google Ad Manager server, AdSense, Ad Exchange, and third-party Mediation networks.
Reporting
Review the full set of dimensions and metrics available in the " Ads traffic navigator " report type.
