What is Google Ad Manager (GAM)?


Google Ad Manager (GAM) is an ad management platform developed by Google. It provides publishers with the tools and infrastructure to manage and monetize their digital advertising inventory. Google Ad Manager allows publishers to:


  • Manage ad inventory: Publishers can control the delivery of ads across their websites, apps, and other digital platforms. They can define ad placements, ad sizes, targeting criteria, and ad formats.
  • Optimize ad delivery: Ad Manager uses algorithms to optimize the delivery of ads based on factors such as user behavior, targeting criteria, and advertiser goals. It can prioritize higher-paying ads or deliver ads based on specific rules set by the publisher.
  • Monetize ad inventory: Publishers can connect with various demand sources, including Google AdSense, Google Ad Exchange, and third-party ad networks, to fill their ad inventory and generate revenue.
  • Generate reports and insights: Ad Manager provides reporting tools that give publishers insights into their ad performance, revenue, and audience engagement. Publishers can track impressions, clicks, revenue, and other key metrics to understand the effectiveness of their ad campaigns.



Why is it important to integrate GAM into the Project Agora Platform?


Integrating your Google Ad Manager data into the Project Agora Platform can provide valuable insights and help you make data-driven decisions regarding your advertising strategies and revenue optimization. Here are a few reasons why integrating GAM data into the Project Agora Platform can be beneficial:


  • Holistic view of ad performance: By integrating GAM data into the Project Agora Platform, you can have a consolidated view of your ad performance metrics alongside other business data. This allows you to analyze the impact of advertising on your overall business goals, revenue, and user engagement.
  • Ad revenue optimization: GAM provides data on impressions, clicks, fill rates and other performance metrics. Integrating this data into the Project Agora Platform, enables you to monitor revenue trends and optimize their ad placements, formats, and pricing strategies to maximize revenue from GAM's sponsored content.
  • Data-driven decision-making: Integrating GAM's data into the Project Agora Platform facilitates data-driven decision-making by providing a comprehensive view of ad performance alongside other relevant business metrics. This enables you to identify trends, patterns, and correlations, helping you refine your advertising strategies, pricing decisions, and revenue optimization efforts. 
  • Enhanced reporting: Combining GAM's data with other sources in the Project Agora Platform allows for better collaboration among teams. It also enables more comprehensive reporting, presenting a holistic view of advertising efforts and their impact on the overall media business.
  • Performance Comparison: The Project Agora Platform's integrated reporting can facilitate performance comparison between different advertising sources, including GAM and other ad networks. This enables you to assess the effectiveness of each source and allocate resources accordingly.


Overall, integrating GAM data into the Project Agora Platform enables you to leverage the power of data analytics to make informed decisions, optimize your ad revenue, and align your advertising efforts with your broader business goals.



How can I integrate GAM into the Project Agora Platform?


In the Project Agora Platform, you can seamlessly and securely integrate your Google Ad Manager (GAM) data into our Business Intelligence dashboard, using the trusted OAuth 2.0 integration process. This industry-standard protocol ensures that your login credentials remain private, as it authorizes our platform to access your GAM data without ever sharing sensitive information. To proceed with the integration, simply follow these steps:



Step 1: Integration


  • Google Ad Manager account


  1. Navigate to Admin > Global settings> Network settings.
  2. Toggle API access to enable access for the network(s) you want to integrate into the Project Agora Platform.



Important Note: If you have multiple networks under your Google Ad Manager account that need integration into the Project Agora platform, API access must be enabled for each network separately.



  • Project Agora Platform account: 


  1. Navigate to Connect > Data integrations.
  2. Select Add integration on the GAM application.



  3. Log into your GAM account, following the instructions provided on the Google authentication page.



  4. Assign full permissions to Project Agora to retrieve data from your GAM account.


  5. Select the networks you want to integrate data from and confirm.



Upon completing these steps, your integration will be established and your Google Ad Manager data will be available in the Project Agora platform within the next hour.




Step 2 (Optional - For established integrations with other SSPs): Exclusions


To ensure accurate revenue information, it is crucial to avoid duplicate counting of revenue generated by other monetization partners (e.g. Project Agora) whose tags are set through GAM. Therefore, it is necessary to provide the corresponding GAM elements associated with these monetization partners, to enable exclusion of their revenue from the total GAM revenue reported in the platform. This step is essential for maintaining correct and accurate revenue data.  




The following list summarizes the elements that can be used for exclusion: 


  • Company ID: 


i. Navigate to Admin > Companies.

ii. Select the company for exclusion.

iii. In the URL, the ID mentioned after "company_id=" is the company ID, as in the following example:



https://admanager.google.com/{network-id}#admin/company/detail/company_id={company-id}



  • Order ID: 

i. Navigate to Delivery > Orders.

ii. Select the order for exclusion.

iii. At the top left of the page, under the order name, you can find the order ID. Alternatively, in the URL, the ID mentioned after "order_id=" is the order ID, as in the following example:



https://admanager.google.com/{network-id}#delivery/order/order_overview/order_id={order-id}


  • Line item ID: 


i. Navigate to Delivery > Line items.

ii. Select the line item for exclusion.

iii. At the top of the page, you can find the line item ID. Alternatively, in the URL, the ID mentioned after "line_item_id=" is the line item ID, as in the following example:



https://admanager.google.com/{network-id}#delivery/line_item/detail/line_item_id={line-item-id}




You can have more than one exclusion types and more than one exclusion of each type, depending on the configuration in your GAM account.




Step 3 (Optional - For Ad Revenue report): Line Item Types Mapping


To ensure accurate breakdown of your GAM data in the Ad Revenue report, it is possible to map the line item types reported in your GAM account. You can properly categorize your data, by mapping the GAM line item types with the options provided below:


  • Direct: Direct deals that involve a direct relationship between the publisher and the advertiser.
  • PMP (Private Marketplace): Private marketplace deals where selected publishers and advertisers can transact programmatically.
  • Open Exchange: Open marketplace transactions, where publishers make their inventory available for purchase to a wide range of advertisers through real-time bidding (RTB) auctions.

 

Line item types that are not mapped with any of the above options will be automatically considered "Direct".



Once the mapping process is completed, your GAM data will be accurately reported and broken down in the Ad Revenue report's  "by Revenue Type" dashboard. To proceed with the line item types mapping, please download the GAM_Line_Item_Type_Mapping.xlsx file provided at the end of the article and fill it out accordingly. 




If you would like to proceed with the customizations described in Steps 2 and 3, please share the List of exclusions and Line item types mapping file with our team at platform-operations@projectagora.com.