Automated bid for video reach and video view campaigns

On this page

• Overview
• Key benefits
• How automated bid works
• Supported campaign types and networks
• Steps to set up automated bid
• Best practices

Overview

When you create video reach campaigns (VRC) or video view campaigns (VVC) in Google Ads, you can now automate bidding without setting an explicit bid target (Target CPM or Target CPV).

With automated bid, you can launch YouTube reach, views, and engagements video campaigns without calculating or entering a manual bid. Google Ads automatically manages and dynamically adjusts your bids in real time to ensure your campaign spends its entire budget efficiently.

If you prefer strict control over your unit costs, you can still choose to specify a manual Target CPM (tCPM) or Target CPV (tCPV) at any time.

Key benefits

• Simplified campaign setup: Eliminates the complexity and uncertainty of predicting competitive bids, which is particularly beneficial when starting new campaigns or reaching new audiences lacking historical performance data.
• Full budget delivery: Prevents campaign under-delivery caused by overly restrictive bid caps. The bidding system dynamically adjusts bids throughout the flight to ensure 100% budget utilization.
• Optimized results: Maximize budget efficiency and eliminate the need to research, set, or frequently adjust bids.
• Seamless flexibility and control: Effortlessly switch between automated bidding (no bid entered) and manual target bidding. This can be done during campaign creation, within ad group settings, directly from reporting tables, or while duplicating campaigns.
• Streamlined campaign performance estimation: Get accurate forecasts in the campaign construction panel with only budget, campaign dates, and video creative, without the need for bid entries.

How automated bid works

Supported campaign types and networks

• Eligible campaign subtypes:
  • Video view campaigns (tCPV)
  • Video reach campaigns:
    • Efficient reach (tCPM)
    • Non-skippable (tCPM)
    • Target frequency (tCPM)
• Networks: YouTube, Google video partners (GVP), and Google TV (GTV).
• Budget types: Supported for both daily budgets and campaign total budgets.

Steps to set up automated bid

1. Set up automated bid in a new campaign

1. Go to Campaigns within the Campaigns menu .
2. Select plus icon to create a New campaign.
3. Choose YouTube reach, view, and engagement (or create a campaign without a goal's guidance), then select Video.
4. Select your campaign subtype.
5. Set your campaign name, budget, dates, and targeting criteria.
6. In the Bid section at the ad group level:
   • To use automated bidding (recommended): Leave the default setting as it is. You don’t need to enter a bid amount.
   • To set a manual target: Select the checkbox next to Set a target tCPM for video reach campaigns or Target CPV for video view campaigns and enter your desired target amount.
7. Add your video creative and select Create campaign.

2. Update bid in ad group settings (post-launch)

1. Go to Ad groups within the Campaigns menu .
2. Select the ad group you want to edit, then select Edit Settings .
3. Open the Bid section.
4. Toggle between automated and target bidding:
   • Check Set a target to enter a manual bid.
   • Uncheck Set a target to return to automated bid.
5. Select Save.

3. Update bid directly in the ad group table

1. Go to Ad groups within the Campaigns menu .
2. In the bid column for your campaign's bidding strategy:
   • Campaigns utilizing automated bidding display as Automated in the Target CPM or Target CPV reporting table.
   • Campaigns with a manual target display the numerical bid amount (for example, $5.00 USD).
3. Hover over the cell and select the Pencil icon .
4. Select Automated bidding or enter a specific Target bid.
5. Select Save.

4. Manage bids in campaign copy paste workflows

When duplicating existing Video campaigns using copy paste:

1. Copy your desired campaign and paste it into your account.
2. In the Adjust Bids configuration window, you can choose how to manage your bids. Depending on your selection, you may view the following options:
   1. Use automated bids for all eligible ad groups: Apply the automated bid strategy to all eligible ad groups in your copied campaign. This clears existing manual bids and transitions the new campaign to automated bidding.
   2. Use suggested bids: Select this option to apply Google's recommended bids to the ad groups you are copying. Note that bid suggestions may not be available for all ad groups.

   Opting out of adjusting bids for video ad groups will retain your current bids. Your bids will be copied directly from the original campaign without any changes.

3. Confirm your selection and complete the paste operation.

Best practices

• Allow for an initial ramp-up period: When you launch a campaign with automated bidding, allow 24 hours for the bidding system to adjust to the auction dynamics before making significant updates to your audience or budget.
• Align budgets with audience size: Ensure your budget is proportional to the size of your targeted audience. Combining extremely narrow audience targeting with high budgets can result in elevated average CPMs or CPVs. This occurs as the automated bid system prioritizes spending your entire budget.
• Review performance trends: Monitor delivery, unique reach or views, and average CPM or CPV in your Google Ads reporting columns to evaluate delivery efficiency and adjust your marketing mix accordingly.