Updates to video publisher policy in 2024

Starting 1 April 2024, new video publisher policies will apply to all video inventory monetised by Ad Manager, AdMob and AdSense publishers. The intentions of these updates are to better align our policies with changing industry standards and buyer expectations, and to simplify our policies so that our requirements are more clear to publishers and advertisers. In the interim period, the existing Ad Manager video publisher policies and AdSense video publisher policies will still apply, and we wanted to provide a summary of key differences between the existing and upcoming policies:

1. Accurate inventory description:
   • Our existing policy indicating that publishers must 'use metadata and declarations to accurately describe inventory' will continue to hold. However, we want to stress the importance of publishers passing two signals important for programmatic video buyers: for Ad Manager publishers, this is the vpmute field and the new plcmt field that supports this year’s IAB OpenRTB video update.
   • Publishers should accurately send the full set of video ad tag parameters, including description URLs and ad placement size, to improve discovery and transparency for buyers and to improve monetisation.
   • Aligning with the latest IAB OpenRTB video.plcmt definitions removes the need to clarify examples that shouldn't be considered in-stream.
2. Supported implementations:
   • In addition to IMA SDK, the new policy language also specifies the generally available Programmatic Access Library (PAL SDK) as an option for 'in-stream' or 'accompanying content' video placements.
   • For placements outside of a video player, publishers must use GPT or GMA SDK to monetise 'Interstitial' or 'Standalone' video placements.
3. Protecting advertiser value:
   • There's continued emphasis on ensuring that video content or controls aren't obstructed or non-functional.
   • We’ve updated the video policies to specify that audio ads must not be requested or served into muted video placements.
   • We removed requirements around standard aspect ratios and minimum ad sizes, as buyers can appropriately identify and target the inventory that they want based on placement size signals.
4. User respect:
   • We’re clarifying our policies on autoplay behaviour:
     • Only one video placement can autoplay with sound at any time, and only one 'in-stream' or 'accompanying content' placement can autoplay in view at any time.
     • Autoplaying placements can only start playback when 50% of the ad unit is visible.
   • We removed mentions of sum duration of video ads, as there's already an existing policy around more ads than publisher content.
   • The new policies introduce conditions for 'sticky' video ads, emphasising the need for a dismiss option. Per an earlier policy update, 'interstitial' and 'standalone' placements can now be anchored in sticky units via GPT SDK. Any 'in-stream' and 'accompanying content' placement still must first render in the body of the page before transitioning to a sticky placement.

It’s important to note that general Google Publisher Policies still apply. While these policies outline the minimum guidelines to monetise video inventory, different video implementations and signals may result in varying levels of monetisation from different buyers. For example, standard aspect ratios (4:3 or 16:9 for horizontal videos; 3:4, 4:5 or 9:16 for vertical videos; or 1:1 for square videos) and audible placements generally result in higher monetisation. We advise partners to experiment to find the setup that works best for them. Overall, with these new policies, we believe that we’re taking a step forwards in increasing transparency to buyers, upholding our high standards for inventory health and optimising the value we bring to our publishers.