Traffic Multiplex ads

Multiplex retirement in July 2023

Starting July 2023, you’ll no longer be able to create, edit, or serve Multiplex ads.

• Why is this happening?
  • We have seen declining usage of the Multiplex format and are focusing our efforts on more impactful formats.
• What is happening?
  • Multiplex ads will no longer serve into any ad units. If you don’t have a fallback native style (see “What should I do to prepare?”), no ads will appear.
  • You’ll no longer be able to create new Multiplex styles or edit existing ones in Ad Manager. You’ll still be able to view existing Multiplex styles in Ad Manager.
  • In reporting, if you use the “Multiplex style name” dimension to break down reports by Multiplex style, you’ll still be able to see data from before the retirement date. There won’t be any new data after the retirement date because Multiplex ads will no longer serve.
• When is this happening?

  We aim to start the retirement the week of July 10, 2023. It may take a week or two to complete. We’ll notify you the week before the retirement and also when it's done.

• What should I do to prepare?

  For each Multiplex style, make sure you have a fluid native style with the same targeting settings as the existing Multiplex style. This will allow ad units to fall back to serving native ads instead of Multiplex ads and help maintain your revenue stream.

• What should I do after the retirement is complete?

  If you don’t want to fall back to serving regular native ads, we recommend you remove the Multiplex tags.

 

Multiplex ad is a brand-safe type of native ad format that serves multiple ads within an ad slot. This format is highly customizable—you can change the layout and style to fit your website.

Jump to: Auction details | Get started | Reporting | Layout recommendations

How the Multiplex auction works

Ad Manager holds independent auctions for each cell within a Multiplex grid. To be eligible, each candidate for the cell auction must meet the floor price or target CPM set in the unified or First Look pricing rules for the ad unit(s).

Preferred Deals are ineligible to serve on multiplex-enabled ad requests. Programmatic Guaranteed deals are eligible to serve on multiplex-enabled ad requests.

Get started

The Multiplex ads setup is similar to that for native ads in Ad Manager.

All Multiplex ads currently use the fluid size.

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Delivery  Native
3. Click New native ad  Multiplex ad.
   Learn more about the Single ad option.
4. The default is to have Google optimize your Multiplex style. Choose whether you want to optimize for Desktop or Mobile, and Google will dynamically choose the best performing layout, rows and columns for your Multiplex ad. To customize your own style:
   1. Deactivate the Let Google optimize layout slider.
   2. Select a layout and the number of rows and columns you want your ads to appear in. See layout recommendations below.
5. Expand the “Fonts and colors” section.
   • You can update the colors and fonts to match the overall look of your websites.
   • Keep Let Google optimize fonts and colors enabled so that, once it is operational, Google can choose the fonts and colors of your ads if we determine they may perform better than your selected settings.
6. Click Continue.
7. Target your Multiplex ads. To serve your Multiplex ad, the targeting on this page needs to match the line item’s targeting.
   1. Expand the “Inventory” dropdown to target inventory.
      • Multiplex ads will only run where you have targeted valid Multiplex styles.
      • Ensure that the inventory targeted can display the Multiplex ads as desired. One Multiplex ad, for example, might look appropriate on your homepage but unsuitable on your sports page.
      • As all Multiplex ads currently use the fluid size, target ad units that are also configured to use the fluid size.
   2. Expand “Geography”, “Device category”, “Operating system”, and “Custom targeting” as needed for additional targeting.
8. Click Save and activate.
   If you haven't already done so, name your style and click Save. The new style appears in the list of existing native and Multiplex styles.
9. A Multiplex ad needs an Ad Exchange line item with "Native programmatic" size. Make sure you have added the Multiplex ad unit to the targeting of an Ad Exchange line item with "Native programmatic" as an expected creative.

See how Multiplex ads are performing

In Ad Manager reporting:

• The “Multiplex style name” dimension breaks down your reports by Multiplex style. Multiplex styles determine how grids of ads look for a segment of inventory.
• The “Total Multiplex cell impressions” metric shows the number of times Multiplex ads begin to load for a user, counting a separate impression for each ad in the grid. For example, when a grid of four ads begins to load on three separate occasions, we count it as 12 impressions.

Layout recommendations

As described in step 4 above, you can choose to Let Google optimize layout or select your own layout.

Option	When to use	Example (ads in blue)
Let Google optimize layout	Recommended in all cases, unless you must have a specific number of rows and columns. Must be used when targeting multiple placements within a single style.	NA
Multi column (landscape image)	For desktop layouts only
Single column (square image)	For mobile or rail placements only
Single column (landscape image)	For mobile or rail placements only