Google Ad Manager is an ad management platform for large publishers who have significant direct sales. Ad Manager provides granular controls and supports multiple ad exchanges and networks, including AdSense, Ad Exchange, third-party networks, and third-party exchanges.
Ad Manager is for you if you need:
- A central place to monetize all of your inventory types (websites, mobile apps, videos, or games)
- To manage a significant amount of ad revenue that comes through direct deals from buyers
- To use third-party networks to compete for ad inventory
- More complex reports to gain granular insights
AdSense or AdMob might be a better fit for you depending on the advertising business you need to manage. Learn more in Compare Ad Manager, AdSense, and AdMob.
Some features are available only for Ad Manager 360 accounts, including Audience Solutions, data transfer reporting, open bidding, publisher provided identifiers, special ad units, access to Teams, and more. Contact your account manager if you’re interested in an Ad Manager 360 account.
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How Ad Manager works
Most publishers use a single Ad Manager network to manage all their advertising. Your Ad Manager network is where you define your ad inventory and create, manage, and report on your advertising campaigns.
- Define your ad inventory—called ad units. This is the location on your webpage or app where you want to show ads. Ad Manager generates a tag (a snippet of code) for each ad unit.
- The tag is inserted in your webpage or app. When a user visits the webpage or app, the ad tag makes a request for an ad from Ad Manager.
- You create orders and line items—These represent your transaction with an advertiser or buyer of your ad inventory. Campaigns that reference or "target" the ad unit are then eligible to serve an ad to that request. Ad Manager chooses the best ad to serve at the time of the request.
With customizable reports, Ad Manager shows you which ads serve to which inventory, how much revenue you're likely to earn, and much more.
