Making it easier for publishers to manage privacy and messaging

The advertising ecosystem is constantly evolving with new privacy regulations, updates to advertising identifiers and ad blocker technologies — all of which give users more transparency and control. But they can be confusing and time-consuming for publishers to manage. To help our partners streamline how they manage global privacy regulations and their user messaging journey, we’re introducing enhancements to the privacy & messaging tab in Google Ad Manager and AdMob.

The privacy & messaging tab will act as a single place for our partners to stay informed about relevant regulations, understand what actions they can take, message their users and navigate the advertising landscape to mitigate impact to their businesses. It’s also the evolution of our Funding Choices solution as we begin to move all of its features into this tab alongside ad serving controls.

Let’s take a look at the features in the privacy & messaging tab that can help support your advertising business.

Stay informed about privacy regulations 

Privacy regulations, like the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), play an important role in respecting user privacy while advertising. To help you better understand how these privacy regulations may impact your business, the privacy & messaging tab includes privacy regulation educational cards. Simply click on a card and find information on how the regulation may affect you, how you can give users control and additional Google resources like website and developer documentation all in one place.

Configure your ad serving controls

The privacy & messaging tab makes it easy to configure your ad serving controls for privacy regulations. These controls, which were previously located in the Admin tab in Ad Manager and the Blocking Controls tab for AdMob, have now migrated to the privacy & messaging tab so that you can manage all of your privacy regulation settings in one place. Easily select the types of ads you want to show users in that region, select your advertising partners and where applicable, enable additional creative controls. If you’ve previously specified these settings in your account they’ll stay the same in this tab.

Message your users and offer them control 

You also have the option to create GDPR (web and app) and CCPA (web only) consent and opt out messages in the privacy & messaging tab, making it possible for you to gather, manage and communicate user choices for advertising purposes. These features were previously available in Funding Choices, and we’ve now integrated them directly into the privacy & messaging tab in Ad Manager and AdMob to help you streamline your workflows and increase efficiency. We’ve also added new features to the messaging workflow, such as multi-language support for apps and bulk messaging so that you can easily deploy a message across all of your properties.

These messages can help you gather consent so that you’re able to continue to monetize your content in a privacy-focused way. For example, Tellonym was able to create a compelling consent experience on their app using GDPR messages. “We’ve been able to give our users choice and transparency, and gain their trust and consent,” says Maximillian Rellin, CEO at Tellonym. “This has allowed us to continue to grow our business through advertising, which is an important revenue stream for us.”

Beyond privacy regulations, in the coming months you’ll also be able to set up IDFA messages from the privacy & messaging tab to give iOS 14.5+ users additional context before they see the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt. You can use these messages to explain what their data may be used for before they decide to consent. Of course, all of these messaging features are optional and you can work with any consent management platform of your choice. 

One tab for all your privacy and messaging needs

By helping our partners stay informed of privacy regulations, manage ad control settings and implement optional messages, they’re able to more easily meet regulatory requirements and focus on growing their business. In the coming months, we’ll continue to add more features and message-types, like ad blocking recovery messages. And as the advertising ecosystem continues to evolve and new privacy regulations arise, we’ll continue to make it easy for you to find all the resources you need in the privacy & messaging tab.