DV360 to introduce granular inventory source controls for Demand Gen line items

Display & Video 360, Google's programmatic advertising platform, will introduce granular inventory source controls for Demand Gen line items starting March 17, 2025, just six days from today. According to the announcement made on March 3, 2025, this update will significantly change how advertisers manage their ad placement preferences across Google's expanding network.

The update marks a strategic shift in inventory source targeting, moving controls from the line item level to the ad group level. This change will give advertisers more precise control over where their ads appear across YouTube (including skippable in-stream, in-feed and Shorts ad formats), Gmail, Discover, and the Google Display Network.

Industry analysts have noted that this represents one of several significant updates to Display & Video 360 announced for the first quarter of 2025, as digital advertising platforms continue adapting to market demands for greater targeting precision and campaign customization.

The forthcoming update introduces a fundamental architectural change to how advertising campaigns are structured within Display & Video 360. According to the announcement, inventory source targeting will "move from the line item level to the ad group level, where many other Demand Gen targeting settings are applied."

This shift aligns inventory source controls with other targeting parameters already applied at the ad group level, creating a more cohesive campaign management experience. For advertisers currently using Display & Video 360, the platform will automatically migrate existing settings during the transition.

"We will automatically apply your existing 'video partners' line item level settings to all ad groups within those line items," the announcement states. This automation is designed to minimize disruption during the transition period.

Once implemented, all Demand Gen line items will be required to use ad group level controls for Google Display Network settings. The current line item level settings will be deprecated, meaning they will no longer be supported in the platform.

For advertisers who manage their campaigns through automated processes, these ad group level inventory source targeting settings will be available via Structured Data Files in version 8.1, which will be released ahead of the March 17 launch date.

Enhanced reporting capabilities

Alongside the control changes, Display & Video 360 is introducing expanded reporting dimensions to provide advertisers with more detailed performance analytics.

Advertisers will be able to use the YouTube "Inventory Source" reporting dimension to segment performance by inventory source across platforms. This enables marketers to analyze how ads perform specifically on YouTube, Discover Feed, Gmail, or Google Display Network properties separately.

Furthermore, by combining this with the YouTube "Ad format" reporting dimension, advertisers can segment performance by specific ad formats (skippable in-stream, in-feed, Shorts), providing deeper insights into which creative formats perform best on which platforms.

A significant technical enhancement comes in how the platform categorizes and reports inventory sources. According to the announcement, "the YouTube 'Inventory Source' reporting dimension will no longer return the value 'Mixed', but instead will segment this as YouTube, Discover, or Gmail, along with Google Display Network inventory."

This change eliminates the ambiguity previously associated with the "Mixed" category, giving advertisers clearer data on exactly where their ads are appearing.

Additionally, the "App & URLs" reporting dimension will begin reporting Gmail and Discover impressions with specific domain values: mail.google.com for Gmail and google.com for Discover, rather than the generic "Low volume inventory" designation used previously.

For consistency during the transition, the standard "Inventory Source" reporting dimension will maintain its current values of "Google Owned Properties" (for YouTube, Discover & Gmail inventory) and "Google Display Network" after the initial launch. However, the announcement indicates that in future updates, this reporting dimension will also be enhanced to "segment out YouTube, Discover & Gmail inventory as separate values."

Expanded capabilities for Demand Gen campaigns

The change to inventory source controls comes alongside other enhancements to Demand Gen line items announced for early 2025. These updates reflect the growing importance of Demand Gen campaigns in Display & Video 360's advertising ecosystem.

Demand Gen line items currently facilitate engagement across YouTube (in-stream, in-feed, Shorts), Discover, Gmail, and video inventory within the Google Display Network. According to the announcement, from late April 2025, Display & Video 360 will expand Demand Gen capabilities with access to image inventory on the Google Display Network.

This expansion will provide advertisers with increased avenues to achieve lead generation and online sales by leveraging the Google Display Network's extensive network of websites, apps, and video publishers.

The technical implementation is straightforward: once launched, "Demand Gen line items that have image ads and which are opted into serving on the Google Display Network via Inventory Source targeting controls will automatically become eligible to serve image ads across the Google Display Network."

Context of the Demand Gen transition

These changes occur within the broader context of Display & Video 360's transition from YouTube & partners video action line items to Demand Gen line items, planned for early 2025.

According to separate documentation, starting in March 2025, advertisers "will no longer be able to create new YouTube video action line items in Display & Video 360." The platform recommends that advertisers familiarize themselves with Demand Gen line items in preparation for this change.

Demand Gen offers a range of features designed to help advertisers achieve greater success, including expanded reach across YouTube, Discover and Gmail (engaging with up to 3 billion monthly users), multi-format creative storytelling capabilities, and more specific audience targeting through lookalike segments.

The platform cites internal data showing advertisers who uploaded both video and image assets to Google Ads Demand Gen campaigns saw 20% more conversions at the same cost per action than those who uploaded video assets only.

Implications for advertisers

The shift in inventory source controls requires advertisers to adapt their campaign management approaches. With targeting controls moving to the ad group level, advertising teams will need to adjust their workflows and potentially update any automated systems they use to manage campaigns.

For organizations that manage large-scale campaigns through the Display & Video 360 API or Structured Data File uploads, the transition to version 8.1 will be particularly important to implement before March 17.

While the automatic migration of existing settings should minimize immediate disruption, advertisers should review their campaigns after the update to ensure settings have been applied as expected across ad groups.

The enhanced reporting capabilities offer advertisers more detailed insights into campaign performance across different platforms and formats. This granularity could help optimize ad spend by identifying which combinations of formats and platforms deliver the best results for specific campaign objectives.

Timeline

• March 3, 2025: Announcement of inventory source controls and reporting enhancements
• Mid-March 2025: Release of Structured Data Files version 8.1 supporting ad group level inventory source targeting settings
• March 17, 2025: Implementation of granular inventory source controls for Demand Gen line items
• Late April 2025: Expansion of Demand Gen capabilities with access to image inventory on Google Display Network
• Early 2025: Complete transition from YouTube & partners video action line items to Demand Gen line items