Beginning the week of 9 November 2020, web publishers can manually include a signal via the API or a URL parameter (ltd=1) in display or video ad requests, and Google will attempt to serve an eligible limited ad. The general launch of limited ads, including in-app support, will still coincide with the end of the TCF v2.2 implementation error grace period, which is now scheduled for mid-January 2021.
We're introducing limited ads (LTD) to give publishers the ability to serve ads in a limited way in the absence of consent for the use of cookies or other local identifiers. This article outlines the limitations and supported features for Google’s limited ad serving solution.
If a publisher uses the IAB TCF v2.2 consent framework, we'll attempt to serve an eligible limited ad when there's no consent for Purpose 1. Alternatively, a publisher can manually send us a signal through the API or a URL parameter (ltd=1), and we'll similarly attempt to serve an eligible limited ad.
Cookie and local identifier usage
Limited ads disable all personalisation and features that require use of a local identifier. This means the following features aren't available for limited ads:
- Any ads personalisation
- Audience targeting
- Search lift measurement
- Survey lift measurement
- Remarketing
- Interest-based categories
- Mobile operator targeting
- Bandwidth targeting
- Features that rely on a local identifier, including:
- Conversion tracking metric
- In-app conversion tracking
- Unique reach measurement
- 'Mute this ad'
- Sequential creative rotation
- Video creative rotation and storyboarding
- Video ad rules and session ad rules
- Frequency capping
- Reporting on cookie reach, unique reach or in-app conversions
- Some invalid traffic detection
- Certain data transfer fields, such as
User ID, will be unavailable
Line items that utilise any of these features aren't eligible for limited ads.
Demand eligibility
The initial product offering will support reservations and mediation for web, app and video in Ad Manager. Reservations and their creatives are associated with non-programmatic line items, including guaranteed (Sponsorship and Standard) and non-guaranteed (Network, Bulk, Price Priority and House).
Programmatic demand is not eligible for limited ads. This includes Programmatic Guaranteed, Preferred Deals, Private Auction, Open Auction for Google demand and third-party demand, including Authorised Buyers and Open Bidding. Google demand as part of a mediation chain isn’t supported.
AdSense (AdSense for Search and AdSense for Content) is not supported and continues to require cookie consent to serve any ads.
Creative eligibility
Reservation
Reservation creative eligibility varies based on the following scenarios:
- For publishers using Google’s EU User Consent tools, creatives are eligible for limited ads requests if the publisher hasn't declared any ad technology providers and Google hasn't detected any.
- Under TCF v2.2, creatives are only filtered if an unknown ad technology provider is detected or an ad technology provider is known to violate Google’s policy or lacks any legal basis under the framework.
- In all other cases, the consent string may be passed along to third-party ad technology providers if the consent macros are used. Third-party ad technology providers are expected to respect the consent signals, including whether the use of cookies or local identifiers is allowed.
Mediation
For mediation, there's no creative enforcement when non-personalised ads are enabled using Google’s EU User Consent tools and that same policy will be extended for LTD creatives served through mediation. Under TCF v2.2, all creatives in general are eligible, but similar to reservations, we check that ad technology providers and other programmatic demand sources don’t violate Google policy and have at least one legal basis for processing data.
Implementation
There are no new user interface controls to implement limited ads. Publishers can indicate on a per-request level whether limited ads treatment should be applied.
- GPT for Web: Publisher can specify on the ad tag whether to explicitly trigger a limited ads request.
- IMA SDK for Web and App: Publishers can explicitly trigger a limited ads request by adding
ltd=1to the ad tag URL. - GMA SDK: It's currently not possible to manually trigger limited ads requests through the GMA SDK.
At the end of Google's TCF v2.2 grace period, for publishers using the IAB TCF v2.2, we'll respect the cookie or ID consent signal (Purpose 1) contained in the TC string. Limited ads will be requested when consent for Purpose 1 is missing but legitimate interest or consent has been obtained for Purposes 2, 7, 9 and 10.
Action required for consent management platforms
Publishers using Funding Choices will be able to create and traffic consent messages with cookie opt-outs using the IAB TCF v2.2 once the framework becomes generally available.
Other IAB TCF v2.2 consent management platforms (CMPs) shouldn't need to take any action to support limited ads. The existing TC string contains all of the relevant signals required to select the correct serving mode. If the following conditions are met for Google as an ad technology provider, we'll serve limited ads:
- No consent for Purpose 1
- Legitimate interest or consent for Purposes 2, 7, 9 and 10
Custom consent tools will need to ask for cookie consent, and if the user declines, should use the new APIs to signal ID-less ad serving behaviour.
The following ad serving modes will be available for publishers:
| Ad serving mode | Personalised ads | Non-personalised ads | Limited ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spam and fraud protection | |||
| Programmatic demand from Google | |||
| Programmatic demand from third-party buyers |
