Buyer Direct for Ad Manager publishers (Beta)

You can use Buyer Direct to sell your inventory on a guaranteed basis to ad agency customers.

Buyer Direct streamlines traditional ad reservations, bringing some of the benefits of Programmatic Guaranteed through a centralized Google Ad Manager platform for direct agency partnerships. 

Since Buyer Direct doesn’t use a demand-side platform (DSP), publishers and buyers have a more direct supply path.

Jump to a section of the article:

• About Buyer Direct
• Enable Buyer Direct
• Propose a deal using Buyer Direct
• Reporting
• Payments

About Buyer Direct

Buyer Direct brings agencies and publishers closer together for their direct reservation campaigns. The workflow is similar to Programmatic Guaranteed; however, instead of the buyer working in a DSP, they work in the Agency interface.

• Buyer Direct introduces a new supply path for your reservation campaigns, so you can now choose either Buyer Direct or the demand-side platform (for Programmatic Guaranteed).
• Buyer Direct combines concepts from both traditional reservation buying and Programmatic Guaranteed to make booking ad campaigns in Ad Manager more efficient.

Enable Buyer Direct

Enabling Buyer Direct at the network level requires the Administrator or Legal manager user role, or the Sign and accept contracts permission.

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Admin, then Advanced features.
3. Under "Feature," locate "Buyer Direct."
   You can review associated costs for the feature under "Cost."
4. Under "Status," turn the switch on . 
5. Review and accept the terms.  

Propose a deal using Buyer Direct

Setting up an Buyer Direct deal is similar to setting up a Programmatic Guaranteed deal, with the following differences:

• In the proposal phase, you select Buyer Direct as the "Supply path."
• The "Expected Creatives" value for a proposal line item will always be set to "Publisher Managed," which mirrors the creative workflow for traditional reservation.

To set up your proposal, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Sales, then Proposals.
3. Click New proposal.
4. Next to "General settings," complete these steps:
   1. Enter a name for the proposal. Buyers see this name during negotiation. Use something descriptive and follow naming conventions for your organization.
   2. Under "Supply path," select Buyer Direct. 
   3. Click Select buyer, and select an agency from the menu. 
5. Finish setting up your proposal, then click Add proposal line item.
   For more details on setting up proposals, visit Start and negotiate proposals. 

Reporting

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Reporting, then Interactive reports. 
   For details on setting up an Interactive report, visit Create an Interactive report. 
3. Add the Demand subchannel dimension. 
   In the report results, review the "Buyer Direct" value for this dimension.
4. Add Ad server metrics.
5. Review the results.

Payments

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Payments, then Payment info. 
3. Under "Transactions," review your monthly payment statement for "Buyer Direct campaigns."

Learn more about payments in Ad Manager.