YouTube ad campaigns target \’TV screens\’ by default, coming to AdWords API in Jan. – Marketing Land

API availability January 8. The AdWords API capabilities for  TV targeting will be available as of January 8. With the API, “ConnectedTV” will appear as a new platform name along with desktop, tablet and mobile with an ID of 30004. Connected TV reporting via the API can be accessed with the Device segment named CONNECTED_TV.

Targeting TV screens by default. Google opened up connected TV inventory targeting this fall. It added “TV screens” as a device type for ad targeting in Display & Video 360 in October and quietly rolled it out in Google Ads in mid-November. That means all YouTube TrueView (for brand awareness, shopping and action) and bumper ad campaigns now automatically target connected TV inventory.

Where is the TV screens inventory? The TV screens device type targets YouTube channel inventory on smart TVs, set top boxes, gaming consoles and streaming devices such as AppleTV, Chromecast and Roku.

You can’t see a breakdown of what types of connected TV devices your ads appeared on, but you can see which YouTube channel content your video ads appeared alongside on TV screens by segmenting the “Where Ads Showed” placement report by device.

How to manage TV screens device type. Bid modifiers work for the TV screens device type just as they do for the other device platforms — desktop, mobile and tablet — ranging from -90% to +900%.

Why you should care. Mobile is still the dominant platform for YouTube viewing, but more people are spending more time watching YouTube on their televisions. Google’s internal data from June showed users watch more than 180 million hours of YouTube on TV screens daily. The extension of YouTube campaigns onto TV devices can mean greater reach and frequency for campaigns, and video advertisers should be monitoring how well ads on these devices do compared to other platforms.

If you haven’t taken a look at the device breakdowns in your video campaigns since mid-November, now is a good time to see how TV screens have been performing and consider whether you should make any bid adjustments.

About The Author

Ginny Marvin is Third Door Media\’s Editor-in-Chief, managing day-to-day editorial operations across all of our publications. Ginny writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, she has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

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