Line item type and priority are a starting point to determine how a line item competes with other line items, yield groups, and Ad Exchange for impressions. Line item type and priority are only one factor in ad selection.
How line item type and priority affect delivery
Each line item must specify a line item type. Line item types are mapped to a numeric priority value that serves as a guide for ad selection. The lower the number, the higher the priority.
For example, guaranteed "Sponsorship" line items are priority 4, while non-guaranteed "Bulk" line items are priority 12. When these line items compete for an impression, the Sponsorship line item is prioritized over the Bulk line item and wins ahead of the Bulk line item during ad selection.
Guaranteed line items
| Line item type | Priority | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Sponsorship | 4 | Serve based upon a defined percentage of impressions and a start and end time. Use this line item type for directly sold campaigns when your buyer wants to "takeover" a page or site. Can also be used to evenly rotate line items regardless of impression volume. |
| Standard | 6 8 10 |
Serve based upon a defined impression goal and start and end time. Use this line item type for directly sold campaigns when your buyer wants a specific number of impression to serve. Delivery pacing is adjusted to meet the defined goal. |
Ad network and exchange line items
| Line item type | Priority | Description |
|---|---|---|
| AdSense | 12 |
Target line items to specific inventory available to AdSense buyers via a line item. The AdSense line item type must be activated for your Ad Manager network to use this option. If you don't see this line item type when adding a line item, talk to your Ad Manager administrator. Google Ad Manager also allows you to activate ad units for AdSense competition. One or more AdSense accounts may be used for various segments of inventory. |
| Ad Exchange | 12 |
Target line items to specific inventory available to Authorized Buyers and the Open Auction. One or more Exchange accounts may be used for various segments of inventory. |
Priority and Preferred Deals
The Preferred Deals line item type has a fixed priority value that ensures it wins ahead of the Open Auction and all other line item types except Sponsorship and Standard line items. Sponsorship and Standard line items generally serve ahead of Preferred Deals except when Dynamic Allocation is activated and non-guaranteed competes with guaranteed line items in real time.
Non-guaranteed line items
While Sponsorship and Standard line items are for demand that is guaranteed, Network, Bulk and Price Priority line items are for demand that is non-guaranteed. Any third-party ad network or exchange that provides an appropriate ad tag can be represented by a non-guaranteed line item that competes based on a price that you enter into Ad Manager—for example, this is how header bidding can be configured. House line items are for advertising your own products and services.
Since non-guaranteed inventory can safely be superseded, these line item types are not included in lists of contending line items when performing a forecast. If you want to offer guaranteed inventory to an advertiser or buyer, use Sponsorship or Standard line items.
| Line item type | Priority | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Network | 12 | Serve based upon a defined percentage of impressions. Use this for your partner ad networks which don't have an impression goal. |
| Bulk | 12 | Serve based upon a defined impression goal, but because the inventory for bulk line items isn't guaranteed, the impression goal functions more like an impression cap, limiting the number of impressions that can be delivered. Use this for partners who have ordered a maximum number of impressions but aren't concerned about delivery timelines or guarantees. |
| Price priority | 12 | Serve primarily based on price, with optional daily or lifetime delivery caps. Use this line item type to fill your site's unsold inventory with the highest-paying line item available. |
| House | 16 |
House* line items only serve when no remnant line items (Network, Bulk, Price Priority), Ad Exchange or Open Bidding demand are available to serve. That is, House line items are treated as if they have a $0 rate and do not compete on price through dynamic allocation. House line item CPM determines ranking of eligible House ads but doesn't need to meet any floor price set in unified pricing rules in order to be eligible to serve an ad, thereby effectively serving as a fall-back ad. Learn more about unified pricing rules.** * Note that Price Priority, Bulk and Network line items that do not compete on price in the unified auction (such as line items with a zero rate and no Value CPM) are treated as House line items. |
Non-guaranteed line items in dynamic allocation
Remnant CPM line items
Ad Manager ranks all eligible remnant line items (Network and Price Priority) set to a CPM rate by their value CPM. CPC optimized bulk line items ultimately compete based on the calculated CPM conversion rate.
Ad Manager then chooses the highest value remnant line item.
- Network line items: their weight determines how often they compete against other remnant line items. For example, if a Network line item has 100% weight, it always competes against other remnant line items based on its rate. If a Network line item has 50% weight, it competes against other remnant line items about half of the time.
- Bulk line items: their pacing determines how often they compete against other remnant line items. For example, if bulk line item is behind schedule, it has a higher probability to compete against other remnant line items based on its rate for the opportunity to win the impression. If a bulk line item is far ahead of schedule, it has a lower probability to compete against other remnant line items because it doesn’t need the impression to stay on schedule.
Remnant CPA line items
Remnant line items set to a CPA rate (Network and Bulk) are treated like House line items: as if they have a $0 rate and, thus, do not compete on price via dynamic allocation.