Programmatic strategies are constantly changing due to emerging formats, product features, and advancements in measurement and KPIs.

Many clients are seeking guidance on both short-term and long-term strategies for programmatic native ads on DV360.

Today, we are sharing with you the top five strategies our very own programmatic managed service buyers are implementing right now.

What is Google DV360?

It is a demand-side platform (DSP) and is part of the Google marketing platform (GMP). It’s an enterprise-level software different from Google ads.

Google Display & Video 360 (DV360), formerly DoubleClick, is a key component of Google’s marketing platform (GMP). Through a single dashboard, it enables campaign management & media buying across several multimedia channels, such as native, audio, video, display, and CTV.

Google’s machine learning technology powers DV360 and lets marketers work together more easily across teams while maintaining control of their marketing investments, creating faster and smarter marketing.

This article will use DV360 as a reference when learning about an effective way of buying programmatic native ads on the internet across web publishers and apps. However, the principles also apply to other demand-side platforms such as MediaMath, Xandr and The Tradedesk. 

How do you run Google’s Native Ads on DV360?

There are several steps marketers need to follow before they can start running native ads via Google’s platform:

1. The first step for marketers is to create ads that meet the advertising specifications.
2. Create the first campaign via the dashboard.
3. Next, select the “Native” placement type for your ads.
4. Once that is done, set up your bids by adding daily or lifetime budgets or using automated, rule-based bidding to optimize ads delivery across different placements.
5. Define the campaign duration by setting a start and end date.
6. Ensure you select all the right targeting options so your native ads are displayed to a relevant audience that is likely to purchase your product or service.
7. Select an appropriate bidding optimization. There are several types of bidding optimizations available that we list below.
8.  The last step marketers need to take is to sit back and watch as Google’s platform takes over, serving your ads across the internet. The best part of running native ads on DV360.

Bidding optimizations:

• CPM Bid Strategy: A bidding optimization that uses a cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) bid.
• Flat Bid Strategy: A flat bid strategy sets the maximum price per ad impression based on the total budget for all ads in an ad group or campaign.
• Target CPA Bidding Strategy: bidding optimization uses a target cost-per-acquisition (CPA) bid.
• Custom bid strategy is an automated bidding method in DV360 that optimizes the bids by considering various factors like campaign priority, time of day, device type etc. This custom bid strategy can enhance the overall performance of the campaigns. It can provide an edge over other competitors participating in the same auction. This is a data-led approach for advanced advertisers only.
•  The last step marketers need to take is to sit back and watch as Google’s platform takes over, serving your ads across the internet. The best part of running native ads on DV360.

Main Modules

There are five main modules on DV360. They include campaigns, audiences, creatives, inventory, and insights. Each of these modules plays a unique role and has its own management tools.

Campaign

The campaign module is where advertisers create and also execute cross-channel media campaigns. You can create, monitor, optimize, and plan campaigns.

Audiences

The audience module is where marketers can create and manage their audiences and maintain optimizations based on the reporting module across their campaigns. An experienced programmatic agency, advertiser or individual expert can set up audiences with Google’s tools in the audience module.

Creative

Start creating native ads by uploading an image for your ad. Click on the “Create Native” button and upload an appropriate file or enter text manually using the editor provided below. You can create native ads by customizing both the title and description of your ad.

The format gallery also allows advertisers to browse and find innovative formats and templates to test custom solutions. You can use the campaign manager to host native creative.

Inventory

An inventory module is where experts can discover and manage inventory from top publishers and broadcasters. This section offers the possibility to negotiate deals and explore opportunities in the marketplace.

Google’s DV360 native ads are exceptionally scalable. They are a mixture of remnant inventory and premium, which can be bought through PMPs, programmatic direct and programmatic guaranteed. 

Insights

The insights module allows users to access all the information and metrics needed for their campaigns. Customizable features inside the insight panel allow experts to analyze performance and act on those results.

These are available in easy-to-visualize reports and interactive dashboards. With the new 360s query workspace, you’re able to instantly access all of the data and insights that you need to create superior ad campaigns and first-class user experiences.

We recommend using Google Data Studio, which has a direct connection with Google DV360, allowing you to visualize data quickly and faster, encouraging stakeholders to refer to the data and making informed decisions about campaign optimizations.

FAQs

Can I run native ads via DV360 on Programmatic Direct?

Yes.

Can I run native ads via DV360 on programmatic guaranteed?

Yes.

Can I run native ads via Real-Time-Bidding (RTB)?

Yes.

What are some of the  programmatic native ad exchanges?

1. Google Exchange
2. Open Exchange (Adhese)
3. PubMatic
4. MdotM (Mobfox)
5. Sovrn (Sovrn Holdings Inc.)
6. Smaato
7. Mopub
8. Nexage
9. Adyoulike
10. Teads
11. Sharethough
12. Triplelift
13. Taboola
14. MGID
15. OutBrain

What are the advertising specifications for Native ads on Google DV360?

Agencies and media buyers should refer to the following link.

What types of native campaigns can I run on the DSP DV360?

App install

App install ads are a great way to increase your app’s installs.

Traffic campaigns

Traffic ad campaigns are a great way to drive traffic to your website and increase conversions.

Native video

Ads are a great way to tell stories through the power of video.

Can Advant Technology help to run native ads for me?

Yes, this is our bread and butter. We have run hundreds of native ad campaigns and can run native ads on Google DV360 and potentially other native ad tech platforms depending on the objectives of your campaign and the KPI metrics you have set. 

If you don’t know the objectives and KPIs to look at, reach out to our team, and we can develop them in collaboration with you based on your business goals. If you want to run with a different DSP for whatever reason, we can facilitate this for you.

I’m interested in native ads. Does Advant Technology work with advertisers and agencies?

Yes, we work with advertisers directly or via many types of agencies, including

1. SEO
2. Creative
3. Traditional Media Buying agencies / Offline Media Agencies
4. PPC agencies
5. Social media agencies
6. PR agencies
7. Full-service agencies
8. Branding
9. Influencer
10. We even partner with other programmatic agencies

Conclusion

The possibilities for digital marketing are endless. What is your business goal? Do you want to generate more leads, convert more visitors into customers, or increase the average lifetime value of customers?

Getting started with programmatic native ads on DV360 isn’t so tasking once you know what it’s all about. However, delivering profitable advertising and returning a positive ROI with programmatic isn’t easy to do well. 

We hope this article was useful but if at the end of reading this you need help, consider hiring a marketing agency that allows you to obtain all of the value offered by DV360. You will be one step closer to delivering faster and smarter marketing campaigns.

Let our team of international media buying and planning experts help you deliver.