Google Ad Manager (GAM) 360, is the latest platform that organizes and delivers ads through the web, including mobile and app inventory. In a nutshell, it takes on the resources from DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) and DoubleClick Ad Exchange (AdX) to offer the services used by both the buy-side and sell-side.
The complete platform enables publishers to increase their revenue while ensuring brand protection — which is precisely what makes GAM 360 a next-level monetization product.
What Exactly Is Google Ad Manager 360?
As mentioned above, Google Ad Manager 360 is a complete ad delivery platform, which is why it’s the paid version of Google Ad Manager.
This paid version grants access to publishers who have reached a specific monthly impressions threshold. Because there’s such a high impressions requirement, GAM 360 is largely used by enterprise-level publishers that have extensive Ad Ops and sales teams, as well as an extensive ad inventory.
These monthly impressions are limited based on location. Here’s the overview of what these specific monthly impression thresholds look like:
- 90 million for non-video ad units for Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand
- 200 million for non-video ad units for countries within Europe and Asia that are supported by Google
- 150 million for non-video ad units and 800 thousand from video ad units for Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, and countries within Europe and Asia that are supported by Google
GAM 360 also comes with several other features, like more detailed audience segmentation, a new reporting dashboard, and integration with the Google Data Studio.
Additionally, the pricing for GAM 360 is negotiated with one of Google’s sales representatives. That means that the final price will vary depending on a publisher’s monthly impressions, additional features, and the type of Google support chosen.
Google Ad Manager vs. Google Ad Manager 360
Google Ad Manager and Google Ad Manager 360 are intrinsically different, although they may not seem like it. Both platforms integrate with Google Analytics, AdSense, and Ad Exchange for better end-to-end management. However, they differ in the following six (6) ways:
Their Parameters
GAM 360 was more or less established for enterprise-level publishers while Google Ads Manager is geared towards smaller publishers.
Their Pricing Models
Google Ad Manager is 100% free while Google Ad Manager 360 has pricing that varies depending on several factors, as mentioned above.
Their Impression Requirements
For Google Ad Manager, publishers may have to get up to 90 million monthly impressions, depending on their location. With GAM 360, the requirement for impressions depends on the negotiated price, previous average impressions, and additional features.
Their Features
With the regular GAM platform, you get line item management, historical data, customized reporting, and access to APIs. With GAM 360, you get all of that plus customizable features and direct support from Google.
Their Ad Formatting
GAM provides responsive ads, video ads, and native ads. GAM 360 provides all of these, plus in-banner video and rich media formats.
The Open Bidding Action
Open bidding isn’t supported on the GAM platform. However, it is supported with GAM 360.
Additionally, GAM 360 also works with multiple currencies while GAM does not. It’s also common for a Google Account Manager to reach out to a publisher once they’re about to reach the GAM 360 threshold number.
The Benefits of Using GAM 360
Many publishers sitting on the fence of the first threshold number tend to wonder if upgrading to Google Ad Manager 360 is worth it. If that’s what you’re currently wondering, here are four (4) of the main benefits that come from using GAM 360:
You Can Link GAM to Google Data Studio for More Visual Reporting
As your impression number increases, reporting the data behind it becomes increasingly tricky. For example, there are more complex sell-cycling and non-stop increasing line items, which may lead publishers to seek out better reporting methods.
By allowing GAM to sync up with Google Data Studio, GAM 360 lets publishers turn their data into informative reports via more user-friendly dashboards.
The Audience Solution Feature Offers Better Audience Segmentation
The GAM 360 platform also allows publishers to use the Audience Solution feature, which helps them segment their audiences based on specific demographics.
This permits much better audience targeting since publishers can get specific with their audience categorization.
You Can Use the Create Team Feature For Streamlined User Management
The Create Team feature helps publishers manage user access for certain items like line items, ad units, orders, and more.
This feature comes in handy, especially for enterprise-level publishers that need to manage several in-house teams, employees, and freelance or contract workers, as it allows them to customize each individuals’ user access.
All the publisher has to do is create teams and add specific users to each. Each team is granted certain rights. Plus, users can be added to multiple teams.
You’ll Get More Advanced Video Ad options
GAM 360 allows publishers to have access to more advanced features regarding video ads. Of course, the availability of certain options will depend on the type of GAM 360 account the publisher has.
However, the Video Ad options features may include:
- Audience measurement tools (as mentioned above)
- The ability to create video ad rules to define how ads are displayed within the video content
- Access to server-side insertion of video ads through dynamic ad insertion
Is Google Ad Manager 360 Right for You?
Google Ad Manager 360 is a powerful platform that provides publishers with some pretty incredible features. However, it also costs a significant amount of money and it can take a while to get it set up properly. It’s important to decide what’s best for you and your website(s)!