Google's new requirements for Connected TV and Digital out-of-home inventory

Google has announced new requirements for Connected TV (CTV) and Digital out-of-home (DOOH) inventory monetized with Google-served ads. The announcement, made on March 16, 2025, gives publishers approximately six weeks to ensure their inventory complies with these enhanced standards, which will take effect on May 1, 2025.

The updated requirements come as part of Google's ongoing effort to improve transparency and quality across all advertising formats. Connected TV and Digital out-of-home represent two rapidly growing segments in the digital advertising ecosystem, each with unique characteristics that require specialized guidelines.

"On 1 May 2025, Google will implement new requirements for Connected TV (CTV) and Digital out-of-home (DOOH) inventory that are monetized with Google-served ads," according to the official announcement. "Please review the requirements and ensure your inventory complies by the effective date."

Connected TV implementation specifications

The guidelines for Connected TV implementations build upon the existing video inventory framework, which divides requirements into four key areas: inventory transparency, supported implementations, advertiser value protection, and user experience considerations.

For CTV specifically, publishers must accurately identify the placement type in their ad requests using parameters such as "plcmt" and "ott_placement." The documentation states that "The OTT placement parameter (ott_placement) accepts a constant value which indicates a request for a non-in-stream OTT placement."

Supported placement types for CTV environments include:

1. Pause ads: Out-stream format that appears via an overlay when a user pauses content playback
2. Homescreen ads: Ads appearing on the homescreen of a CTV device or OTT app, including masthead, banner, and tile implementations
3. Picture-in-picture ads: In-stream video ads played in a separate video player beside content
4. L-banner ads: In-stream display ads that involve squeezing back video content with an L-shaped ad content box around it
5. Overlay ads: In-stream formats appearing on top of video content that don't take up the full screen

The documentation makes it clear that "This parameter is only required for programmatic monetization in web, mobile apps, and connected TV for publishers monetizing non-standard placements on OTT streaming environments."

Digital out-of-home specific requirements

For Digital out-of-home inventory, Google has introduced several unique parameters that publishers must implement to properly identify and monetize this inventory type.

The most significant new requirement is the "venuetype" parameter, which "is used to indicate the type of out-of-home venue." According to the documentation, this parameter must be populated with "the integer enumeration IDs supported by the IAB OpenOOH venue type 1.1 taxonomy."

Examples provided in the documentation include:

• Hotel rooms: venuetype=80703
• Tablet in a taxi backseat: venuetype=103

The documentation explicitly states that "This parameter is required for programmatic monetization in digital out-of-home."

Additionally, DOOH implementations must include the "sid" (Session ID) parameter, which is "a privacy-preserving advertising identifier that is used for frequency capping purposes only." While this parameter is recommended for other formats, the documentation notes that it is specifically "required for programmatic monetization in digital out-of-home."

Technical parameters critical for compliance

The complete implementation requires several technical parameters that publishers must include in their ad requests. These fall into two main categories: parameters required for ad serving and parameters required for programmatic monetization.

For both CTV and DOOH, the core parameters required for ad serving include:

• correlator (for competitive exclusions)
• env (environment indicator)
• gdfp_req (schema indicator)
• iu (ad unit)
• output (output format)
• sz (size)
• url (request URL)

Additional parameters required specifically for programmatic monetization include:

• vpmute (video play mute status)
• plcmt (placement type)
• ott_placement (for CTV non-in-stream placements)
• venuetype (for DOOH venue identification)

"In general, these parameters are required for ad serving for most implementations. However, there may be instances where they are not required," the documentation clarifies.

Supported implementations for different environments

To ensure proper ad serving and measurement, Google specifies different implementation requirements based on the environment:

For CTV environments:

• Use either the Google Interactive Media Ads SDK or the Google Programmatic Access Library
• For non-SDK implementations, implement the required parameters manually

For DOOH environments:

• Implement the Google Publisher Tags
• Include the venuetype parameter according to the IAB taxonomy
• Implement the required session ID (sid) parameter

"By using supported Google video implementations, video ads can be optimized for your users, support brand measurement, protect against invalid traffic, and render proprietary formats," according to the guidelines.

Device identification and audience targeting

The guidelines also address how publishers should handle device identification across different environments:

For CTV devices, publishers must implement the "dth" (device type hint) parameter, which "accepts a constant value that helps reduce device misclassification, specifically on connected TV and set top box environments."

For both CTV and DOOH, the documentation recommends implementing resettable device identifiers (rdid, idtype, is_lat) where applicable. These parameters are "required for programmatic monetization in mobile apps, connected TV, audio, and digital out-of-home."

Industry context and market implications

These new requirements come at a time when CTV and DOOH advertising are experiencing significant growth. The specific guidelines reflect Google's effort to standardize practices across these emerging channels while ensuring transparency for advertisers.

The implementation deadline of May 1, 2025, gives publishers approximately six weeks to make necessary adjustments to their ad implementations. This timeline suggests Google recognizes the technical complexity involved while maintaining urgency for compliance.

What publishers need to do before May 1

Publishers monetizing CTV and DOOH inventory with Google-served ads must take several actions before the May 1 deadline:

1. Review their current implementation against the new requirements
2. Implement any missing required parameters
3. Ensure proper placement type identification
4. For DOOH, correctly implement the venue type according to IAB taxonomy
5. Test implementations to confirm proper ad serving

"Please review the requirements and ensure your inventory complies by the effective date," the announcement emphasizes.

Timeline of relevant events

• May 1, 2025: Deadline for compliance with new CTV and DOOH requirements
• March 16, 2025: Announcement of new CTV and DOOH requirements
• Late 2024: Previous updates to video inventory guidelines
• 2023-2024: Growth of CTV and DOOH as significant advertising channels