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YouTube

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YouTube

Target ads on YouTube.com and your YouTube channel using Google Audience within Google Ad Manager.

Setup

Troubleshooting

Looking to target ads in an embedded YouTube player on your website or app? See the Embedded YouTube Player Integration.

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Overview

YouTube is the world’s largest video platform, enabling publishers to distribute and monetize video content through YouTube.com and YouTube channels. This integration enables targeting of syndicated YouTube videos where your content is hosted on YouTube.com (outside your own domains) using Google Audience within Google Ad Manager. This integration is a Destination:
  • Destination: Permutive cohorts are synced to Google Audience segments in GAM, which can then be targeted on YouTube inventory.
Use cases include:
  • Target ads on your YouTube channel videos with Permutive cohorts
  • Retarget users who visited your website when they watch videos on YouTube.com
  • Extend your audience reach to YouTube inventory beyond your owned properties
  • Monetize your YouTube channel with advanced audience targeting
How DV360 Fits Into This WorkflowDisplay & Video 360 (DV360) is Google’s demand-side platform (DSP) that advertisers use to programmatically buy video inventory, including YouTube. When you create Google Audience segments in GAM using Permutive cohorts:
  1. You create segments in GAM using Permutive key-values (as described in this guide)
  2. Segments can be shared with linked DV360 accounts via your Ad Exchange connection
  3. Advertisers target these segments in DV360 when buying YouTube inventory
The “Addressable Users” metric in DV360 shows how many users in your audience segment can actually be reached on YouTube—this is where PPID becomes critical for achieving meaningful scale.This integration focuses on the publisher side (creating segments in GAM). The advertiser-side workflow in DV360 is managed by your advertising partners or internal ad ops team.

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Environment Compatibility

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Prerequisites

  • Google Ad Manager Integration: The GAM integration must be enabled in Permutive.
  • Google Audience Access: You must have access to Google Audience within your Google Ad Manager instance.
  • Cohorts with GAM Activation: Cohorts must have GAM Activation Sync enabled in the Permutive dashboard.
  • PPID Implementation (Strongly Recommended): Publisher Provided ID (PPID) should be configured in GAM for meaningful audience scale on YouTube.com. Without PPID, match rates will be very limited. See the Understanding PPID section below.

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Setup

1

Enable Google Ad Manager Integration

Before setting up YouTube targeting, you must enable the Google Ad Manager integration in the Permutive dashboard. See the Google Ad Manager integration documentation for detailed setup instructions.
2

Enable GAM Activation Sync for Cohorts

Navigate to the cohorts you want to target on YouTube in the Permutive dashboard. Enable the Google Ad Manager Activation Sync for each cohort. This will create targeting key-values in GAM that can be used in Google Audience rules.
3

Create Google Audience Segments

In your Google Ad Manager dashboard, navigate to Audience > Google Audience. You will create a first-party audience segment for each Permutive cohort you want to target on YouTube.Follow Google’s documentation to create each segment:
  1. Click New Audience
  2. Name your segment (recommended: use the same name as in Permutive for consistency)
  3. Set the segment Status to Active
  4. In the Rules section, click Key-values and Audience
  5. Select the permutive key-value
  6. Select the specific cohort ID value that corresponds to your Permutive cohort
  7. Set Page Views to 1
  8. Set Membership Expiration to 90 days (standard setting)
  9. Click Save
Repeat this process for each Permutive cohort you want to target on YouTube.
4

Target Google Audience Segments in YouTube Campaigns

When creating line items in Google Ad Manager for YouTube inventory:
  1. In the Targeting section of your line item, add Audience Segments
  2. Select the Google Audience segments you created that map to your Permutive cohorts
  3. Configure your YouTube inventory targeting as needed
  4. Complete your line item setup and activate
The segments will be matched to signed-in Google users on YouTube based on their activity on your site.
This approach relies on third-party cookie matching between your site and YouTube. Users must be logged into Google and have visited your site for matching to occur. You will not achieve 100% scale compared to on-site targeting.

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Understanding PPID

Publisher Provided ID (PPID) is critical for achieving meaningful audience scale when targeting on YouTube.com. This section explains why PPID matters and how it affects your YouTube targeting.

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Why PPID Matters for YouTube Targeting

Google Audience segments in GAM can be built using key-values from Permutive cohorts. However, the effectiveness of targeting these audiences on YouTube.com depends heavily on whether you have PPID configured.
Without PPID, your Google Audience segments are populated using browser-based identifiers (such as Google’s __gpi cookie). These identifiers have significant limitations:
  • Website-only scope: Browser cookies only identify users on your website
  • No cross-site linking: When users visit YouTube.com, they don’t carry your website’s cookies with them
  • Poor match rates: Google cannot reliably link your website visitors to their YouTube sessions
  • Limited scale: You may see very low “Addressable Users” counts in DV360 for your audience lists
In essence, without PPID, Google Audience segments act as “folders” filled with identifiers that only work on your own properties.
Without PPID, you may technically be able to create Google Audience segments and target them on YouTube, but the actual reach and match rate will be very limited. For meaningful YouTube.com targeting, PPID implementation is strongly recommended.

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Setting Up PPID

PPID configuration is done within Google Ad Manager. For detailed instructions on implementing PPID, refer to Google’s PPID documentation. Key considerations:
  • PPID must be passed consistently in ad requests from your website
  • The same PPID should be used across all platforms where possible for cross-device matching
  • For authenticated users, consider using a hashed login ID as your PPID for the best results

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Data Types

Permutive cohorts are mapped to Google Audience segments in GAM, which can then be targeted on YouTube.com inventory.
Permutive cohorts are mapped to Google Audience first-party segments within GAM for targeting on YouTube inventory.
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string
The name of the Google Audience segment. Recommended to match the Permutive cohort name for consistency.
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targeting rule
The targeting rule that defines membership in the Google Audience segment. Uses the permutive key with a specific cohort ID value.Example: permutive = abc123def456
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number
The number of days a user remains in the audience segment. Standard is 90 days.
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number
The minimum number of page views required for segment membership. Typically set to 1.
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string
The status of the audience segment. Must be set to “Active” for targeting.
When you enable GAM Activation Sync for a cohort in Permutive, the cohort ID is automatically created as a targeting value under the permutive key in Google Ad Manager.
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key
The targeting key used in GAM for all Permutive cohorts.
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value
The unique identifier for each Permutive cohort, created as a value under the permutive key when GAM Activation Sync is enabled.Example: abc123def456

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Troubleshooting

If your Google Audience segments created in GAM are not building membership:
  • Verify key-value configuration: Ensure the segment rule is correctly configured to target the permutive key with the specific cohort ID value
  • Check segment status: Confirm the segment status is set to “Active” in Google Audience
  • Allow time for population: Audience segments may take 24-48 hours to begin populating after creation
  • Verify Permutive cohort is active: Ensure the cohort is active in Permutive and has GAM Activation Sync enabled
  • Check key-value exists in GAM: Navigate to Inventory > Key-Values in GAM and confirm the specific cohort ID value exists under the permutive key
  • Verify site traffic: Google Audience requires sufficient site traffic for meaningful audience building. Check that your site has adequate daily unique users.
If you’re seeing lower-than-expected reach for YouTube targeting:
  • PPID not configured: This is the most common cause of limited scale. Without PPID, Google cannot reliably match your website visitors to their YouTube sessions. See the Understanding PPID section above
  • Audience size minimums: Google Audience segments may have minimum size requirements before they’re eligible for targeting on YouTube
  • Membership expiration: Check your segment’s membership duration setting. 90 days is recommended for sufficient scale
  • Traffic requirements: Ensure your site has sufficient daily traffic for meaningful audience building
  • User sign-in status: Users must be signed into Google for matching to occur—anonymous YouTube viewers cannot be targeted
  • Consider alternative approaches: For better scale, consider using Google Customer Match with CRM data or leveraging Google’s Optimized Targeting features with your first-party segments as a seed
If you cannot find the permutive key or specific cohort ID values in Google Ad Manager:
  • Verify GAM integration is enabled: Check that the Google Ad Manager integration is properly configured in the Permutive dashboard
  • Check cohort activation: Ensure GAM Activation Sync is enabled for the specific cohorts in Permutive
  • Verify GAM permissions: Confirm that dfp@permutive.com has the required permissions in your GAM account (View and Edit key-values)
  • Allow time for sync: After enabling GAM Activation Sync, allow a few minutes for the key-value to be created in GAM
  • Check correct GAM network: Ensure you’re viewing the correct GAM network that’s configured in Permutive
The YouTube.com integration requires Google Ad Manager to be set up first:
  • Prerequisite: Complete the Google Ad Manager integration setup before configuring YouTube targeting
  • Verify GAM connection: In the Permutive dashboard, check that GAM is listed under Integrations and shows as connected
  • Check permissions: Ensure dfp@permutive.com has the required permissions in your GAM account
  • Verify network code: Confirm the correct GAM network code is configured in Permutive
If you cannot target YouTube inventory in your GAM line items:
  • Check ad exchange access: YouTube inventory is typically available through Google Ad Exchange (AdX). Verify your GAM account has AdX access
  • Verify inventory targeting: Ensure your line item targeting includes YouTube placements or uses the appropriate inventory targeting settings
  • Check geographic targeting: Some YouTube inventory may have geographic restrictions. Verify your targeting settings
  • Contact Google support: If YouTube inventory is not appearing, you may need to work with your Google account manager to enable access

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Changelog

For detailed changelog information, visit our Changelog.