Create an Ad Exchange Line Item

What’s an Ad Exchange type line item?

Ad Exchange line items let you decide which inventory is available to Authorized Buyers. Most of the settings, such as targeting, and frequency capping, are the same as any other line item type. 

Use the Ad Exchange line item type to allow Open Auction bids to compete in real time with guaranteed and remnant line items via dynamic allocation.

Create an Ad Exchange line item

Let’s create an Ad Exchange line item to target Display inventory using Google Ad Manager. Before a new ad exchange line item can be created, you’ll need to link an ad exchange account to Ad Manager. 

As with any line item, you must first select an Ad type, which determines the kind of creative the line item should serve. When setting up Ad Exchange line items to target your inventory, Google recommends that you create a single line item per inventory type — one for web, one for app, and another for in-stream video inventory. It’s a good idea to include these line items in the same order to stay organized. 

We want this Ad Exchange line item to target Display inventory on the web, so select Standard from the Display card, and choose Select. On the resulting line item creation page, start by giving the ad exchange line item a name that indicates the inventory type in which it will run. You might name this line item “Ad_Exchange_Run_of_Network_Web.” 

Under line item type, select Ad Exchange. The web inventory that this line item will target is 300×600, 300×250, and 728 x90, so input those sizes into the Expected creatives field. 

Under Additional settings, one of the setting options that appears for the ad exchange line item type is Web property alias. Select this, then choose one of the ad exchange accounts linked to your Ad Manager network. The Ad type you selected earlier (either targeting display or Video inventory) affects the setting options available here. Since you’re targeting Display inventory for a web environment, select the Display option.

Find Delivery settings, then Start time, and set this line item to begin serving immediately, with the End time set to Unlimited. This will ensure the targeted inventory remains eligible for dynamic allocation. 

Next, select the unique inventory you plan to target. This line item targets all of your web inventory, so include the relevant ad units accordingly. 

Be sure to select Save. 

On the next screen, locate the Creatives tab, and notice that Ad Manager will identify the sizes that are missing a creative. Select Automatically generate creative to add a creative that contains all the sizes defined in your Ad Exchange line item settings. 

And that’s it! You’ve created an Ad Exchange line item.