You can negotiate and finalize campaigns in Google Ad Manager in a variety of ways. This article introduces the various options and related terminology.
Note:Google is not a party to the contracts between publishers and third-party SSPs for the sale of digital inventory and does not restrict such parties from negotiating specific terms or pricing rules.
On this page:
Kinds of transactions
In the following table:
- Columns: Programmaticand Traditionalshow how buyers and sellers can transact or negotiate.
- Rows: Guaranteed campaignsand Non-guaranteed campaignsshow the type of commitment between buyers and sellers..
Programmatic
Traditional
Guaranteed campaigns
Reserved inventory
Sponsorship
Standard
"Programmatic Guaranteed" refers to either Sponsorship or Standard line item types. Learn more about Programmatic Guaranteed line items.
Sponsorship
Standard
"Buyer Direct" refers to either Sponsorship or Standard line item types. Learn more about Buyer Direct line items .
Non-guaranteed campaigns
Non-reserved inventory
Preferred Deals
Indirect sold
- Open Auctions (Ad Exchange)
- Open Bidding
- Private Auctions
- First Look
- AdSense
Price priority
Network
Bulk
Note:House and click-tracking line items do not represent transactions with buyers.
- House line itemsare typically used to promote products and services of your choice, often your own, and are non-revenue generating. Learn more about house line items .
- Click-tracking line itemsare a mechanism that shows you how many times a visitor to your website or app clicks a specific link. They don't serve ads and don't generate revenue. Learn more about click-tracking line items .
Key terms
For more detailed descriptions of each transaction or deal type, review the following table:
Transactions are characterized by the following:
- Auction based, a one-to-many relationship between you and multiple buyers
- No terms, promises, or obligations to deliver according to an agreement outside a single auction event
- There may be mechanisms to provide some buyers with preferred access to inventory over other buyers
No direct negotiation occurs for these transaction.
Transactions result from negotiations between you and a single buyer, a one-to-one relationship between you and a buyer.
The negotiated terms specify the price and inventory—though the inventory may be reserved or non-reserved for the buyer, depending on the transaction.
Traditional transactions
Terms are negotiated and finalized outsideof Ad Manager, say via email, spreadsheets, or PDFs. Details are manually input into orders and line items, and creatives are manually uploaded or managed in Ad Manager. Billing, payments, and reconciliation are all manually handled by you.
All traditional campaigns are direct sold.
Programmatic transactions
Programmatic transactions are automated. They're finalized systematically (in an auction), and the creative is served without manual intervention and management by you. The buyer hosts the creative, and Ad Manager simply makes a call for the creative when the transaction is complete.
Programmatic Direct
Historically, programmatic transactions were always indirect-sold—an auction based, one-to-many relationship between you and multiple buyers, with no specific terms outside the auction event.
However, Programmatic Direct lets you negotiate direct-sold campaigns while taking advantages of programmatic technology.
Terms are automatically negotiated and finalized systematically insideof Ad Manager. C reatives are hosted and managed by the buyer. Billing, payments, and reconciliation are all automatically handled by Google.
Refers to either Standard or Sponsorship proposal line items under the Programmatic Direct feature.
Programmatic Direct also allows you to negotiate Preferred Deals , a non-guaranteed (non-reserved inventory) line item type.
