Channel controls

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Channel controls in Demand Gen campaigns allow you to choose where ads appear across Google's visual-first surfaces, including YouTube, Gmail, Discover, as well as the Google Display Network.

For example, you can tailor Demand Gen campaigns to serve specifically on YouTube Shorts.

You can customize channel controls at the ad group level, using the demand_gen_ad_group_settings.channel_controls.channel_configuration field.

Configure channel controls

There are three possible configurations:

All channels (default)

This is the default strategy, and it will deliver impressions on all channels supported by Demand Gen.

To enable this, set the channel_strategy property to ALL_CHANNELS:

"demand_gen_ad_group_settings": {
    "channel_controls": {
      "channel_strategy": "ALL_CHANNELS"
    }
}

All channels owned and operated by Google

This strategy delivers impressions on all channels owned and operated by Google, such as the Discover feed, Youtube, Gmail and Maps. Channels operated by third parties, such as the Display channel, are disabled.

To enable this configuration, set the channel_strategy property to ALL_OWNED_AND_OPERATED_CHANNELS:

"demand_gen_ad_group_settings": {
    "channel_controls": {
      "channel_strategy": "ALL_OWNED_AND_OPERATED_CHANNELS"
    }
}

Control each channel individually

This strategy offers the most granular level of control, by allowing you to select which individual channel is enabled.

Enable this strategy by populating the individual flags in the selected_channels property: setting an option to true means that a channel is enabled.

For example, this configuration enables an ad group to only serve on YouTube Shorts:

"demand_gen_ad_group_settings": {
    "channel_controls": {
        "selected_channels": {
            "youtube_in_stream": false,
            "youtube_in_feed": false,
            "youtube_shorts": true,
            "discover": false,
            "gmail": false,
            "display": false,
            "maps": false,
        }
  }
}

Retrieve channel controls

The channel controls configuration can be queried from the ad_group resource:

SELECT
  ad_group.id,
  ad_group.demand_gen_ad_group_settings.channel_controls.channel_config,
  ad_group.demand_gen_ad_group_settings.channel_controls.channel_strategy,
  ad_group.demand_gen_ad_group_settings.channel_controls.selected_channels.youtube_in_feed,
  ad_group.demand_gen_ad_group_settings.channel_controls.selected_channels.youtube_in_stream,
  ad_group.demand_gen_ad_group_settings.channel_controls.selected_channels.youtube_shorts,
  ad_group.demand_gen_ad_group_settings.channel_controls.selected_channels.discover,
  ad_group.demand_gen_ad_group_settings.channel_controls.selected_channels.display,
  ad_group.demand_gen_ad_group_settings.channel_controls.selected_channels.gmail,
  ad_group.demand_gen_ad_group_settings.channel_controls.selected_channels.maps
FROM ad_group

Use the channel_config property to determine whether an ad group is using the CHANNEL_STRATEGY configuration or the SELECTED_CHANNELS configuration.