Google Ads API 26.2 adds video controls and expanded audience reporting

Google released the 26.2 update to the Google Ads API on November 11, adding features for Demand Gen video advertisements, seasonality adjustments and audience reporting. The release also includes new errors for operations requiring approval from multiple administrators. It is a minor update within the version 26 family, without changes Google classifies as breaking within the major version.

The changes concern applications managing accounts and reports through the API. One addition controls the overlay of text on video assets. Another expands access to data about unique people reached by advertisements, including at account level. The features nevertheless have different scopes, depending on the advertisement type, campaign and metric requested.

Advertisement text can be overlaid on video

The OVERLAY_TEXT_ON_VIDEOS control takes text already associated with an advertisement, such as headlines, and overlays it on video assets. The documentation associates it with the DemandGenVideoResponsiveAd format. In the API 26 family, this automation is enabled by default for new advertisements of that type. The technical identifier names a precise operation on the advertisement's existing assets.

Google separates automations applying to an entire campaign from those configured for a single advertisement. Text overlays belong to the latter category. The setting has a type identifying the function and a status indicating whether it is enabled or disabled. Other video automations, such as shortening assets or adapting their orientation, have their own controls and types.

The documentation also retains the distinction between Demand Gen formats. Automations that create videos from other advertisement assets are associated with the multi-asset format, while text overlays are associated with the responsive video format. This distinction determines where each control can be used in applications that create and manage advertisements.

Seasonality adjustments reach Demand Gen in beta

The update adds seasonality adjustments for Demand Gen in beta. According to Google, support covers YouTube, Display, Gmail and Maps inventory; adjustments have no effect on Discover. The beta status and this channel boundary form part of the published conditions for the feature. The announcement does not turn all Demand Gen surfaces into a single inventory with identical behaviour.

Seasonality adjustments communicate expected conversion-rate changes for future events to Smart Bidding. Google describes them as a tool for short periods, typically between one and seven days. The technical resource includes a start, an end and a conversion-rate multiplier, with time values interpreted in the account's time zone.

The allowed multiplier range is 0.1 to 10, with a value of 1 indicating no adjustment. The resource requires a period longer than zero and no longer than 14 days. The modifier represents the expected conversion-rate change for that interval; the entered figure is not reported as an increase in sales already achieved.

An adjustment can apply to named campaigns or campaigns belonging to a particular channel type. In the former case, the list can include up to 2,000 campaigns for the same adjustment. There is also an optional device selection; if it is absent, the adjustment includes all device types. These properties describe the scope of the scheduled rule separately from its period of validity.

Reach can also be analysed at account level

Unique reach reporting allows the number of people who saw an advertisement within a selected period to be examined. The base metric measures people exposed at least once. Frequency metrics track people exposed at least twice, three times and up to ten times. These are cumulative exposure thresholds rather than independent groups that can be added together.

The updated documentation allows reach queries on the campaign and customer resources. At account level, the data deduplicate people across supported campaign types. Reporting by format and reporting by network have distinct segment combinations: results can be broken down by format or network, but those two families cannot be combined in the same query.

Time windows differ between metrics. Base unique reach supports periods of up to 92 days, while cumulative frequency thresholds support up to 31 days. For average impression frequency per user, the supported resource remains the campaign. These distinctions prevent all audience-related columns from being treated as identical account-level indicators.

A numeric value also has information about its measurement state. Google documents cases where data are withheld for privacy protection, quality requirements or exceeding the retention period. There is also a state where the value has been calculated but has low quality. Companion metadata distinguish these cases from genuinely zero reach.

The base reach metric is supported for Display, Video, Demand Gen and App campaigns. Frequency thresholds, however, apply to Video campaigns. Reach data have a three-year retention period. The selection of campaign type, period and state metadata therefore defines the population described by the report.

Two new errors for sensitive approvals

Google Ads uses approval by a second administrator for sensitive actions, including inviting a user, changing their access level and removing access. The API provides operations for approving, rejecting or revoking requests. An authorised administrator approving a request must be someone other than its initiator, and unprocessed requests expire after 20 days.

The first new error identifies a combination of resources incompatible with multi-party approval in a modification operation. The second identifies an approval request that has become stale because the target resource was modified or deleted after the request was created. The responses describe different causes: the composition of the operation and a change to the object for which approval had been requested.