How to grow programmatic video revenue with Google Ad Manager

Video Ad Optimization
August 30, 2019 | by Kean Graham
How to grow programmatic video revenue with Google Ad Manager

Internet users worldwide love videos, and with its increasing popularity, advertisers do as well. Recently Google published an article showing how publishers can increase ad revenue through programmatic video. We wanted to provide you with a quick summary and some additional tips from the MonetizeMore video ad optimization department. We’ll also provide tips on how to implement them through Google Ad Manager (GAM).

#1 – Increase inventory value by providing more information

The more information you provide advertisers about your ad inventory, the higher your fill rates, and CPMs are. With video inventory, you can provide information on variables such as viewability, brand safety, demographics, Device ID, App ID, etc. which help attract premium advertisers.

Need help with your video ads? Get in touch with our Video Ads Team at MonetizeMore today!

How to implement this with GAM?

While generating the GPT video tag, be sure to include information like: description_url=www.mysite.com (page where the player is present and request is firing)
msid=com.package.publisher (App ID, mostly for mobile apps and Connected TVs)
an=sample%20app (App name, mostly for mobile apps and Connected TVs)
rdid=123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426655440000 (Device IDs)

An example video tag for mobile app: https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/123456/YourAdUnit&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=&tfcd=0&npa=0&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&sz=640×360&unviewed_position_start=1&description_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmysite.com&msid=com.package.publisher&an=sample%20app&rdid=123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426655440000

#2 – Utilize your first-party data

This step further supports the previous point of providing more information. If you have access to first-party data regarding your content or audiences, and you have the right to use it for advertising, consider using it to maximize the value of your ad inventory. If advertisers correctly utilize this custom data, it can result in high-quality ad experiences for your website audience.

How to implement this with GAM?

Use Audience Segments to collect and target your users with specific inventory and ad types. You can add Audience targeting in your line item settings. For example, target line items to audience segments like ‘sports enthusiasts’ for sporting goods ads. If you don’t have this feature available, contact Google Support team or your Account Manager.

#3 – Maximize yield across all auction types

With Google Ad Manager, you can sell your ad inventory in various ways such as through Exchange bidding or Open Auction. Some publishers have been able to dramatically increase programmatic video ad revenue through Exchange Bidding when running in-stream video ad units, for example.

How to implement this with GAM?

Setup Yield Groups under the Delivery tab and add the Exchange Bidding partners to run a direct competition with your Ad Exchange demand. The highest bidding demand get the chance to serve on the page without any delay or running additional auctions.

It’s good to use the unified pricing rule for both Exchange Bidding and Open Auction to manage CPMs and floor prices for all programmatic demand.

#4 – Check and fix all technical errors

Video failures and errors can result in lost ad revenue and bad user experiences. Be sure to check video ads for any failures and issues regularly.

We’ve written an extensive guide on how to troubleshoot video ad failures here.

#5 – Protect your brand and inventory

As a publisher, you must protect your brand and ad inventory from ad fraud, spam, and bad actors. By protecting your ad inventory and having all the necessary roadblocks in place, advertisers will feel more comfortable in trusting your site with their ad budgets.

How to implement this with GAM?

Setup your Ad content/competition/ Exclusion rules under the Protections tab in the UI and opt-in/block the ad categories, advertisers, buyers, ad formats as per the site requirements.

We also recommend using Ads.txt. Apps.txt and even reduce the risk of ad fraud by sending programmatic video inventory to GAM through the IMA SDK. You can also use the Review Center to review individual ads.

Furthermore, implementing an invalid traffic and ad fraud protection tool such as Traffic Cop will also help. With Traffic Cop, you can rest assured that your ads will not be served to invalid traffic. You won’t risk your ad network accounts and won’t lose out on valuable ad revenue.

Conclusion

To some publishers, video ads remain a foreign concept. With the rise in usage and advertiser demand for the medium, you’d be surprised how it can add to your bottom line! However, running, testing, and optimizing video ads aren’t always a simple thing to do.

Need help figuring out video ads? Our expert team of video ad optimization experts can take care of that for you! Sign up to MonetizeMore today and let us help you maximize your ad revenue through video ads!

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