DV360 vs Google Ads | Which is Better?

4 years ago -

Programmatic Display (Google Ads vs dv360) is one of the fastest-growing online marketing channels; programmatic advertising is when you use intelligent software to buy digital advertisements automatically. Digital advertising reaches potential customers including those without direct contact with your product/brand. It activates unreachable needs & builds brand preference. But how do you know which platform to choose from? – Google AdWords Vs Display and Video 360 (Google Ads vs dv360).

As a Google-centric marketer who works in the programmatic world, we often run into a question from a client are like:

What’s the difference between DV360 and Google ads?
Why should I pay extra for DV360 access?
What result does it bring?
Aren’t they technically the same platform since both are owned by Google?

Although they both are great platforms to make your business grow and allow you to buy display campaigns; Display and Video 360 are almost always the superior choices for anyone looking to take their programmatic efforts to the next level.

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads allows to purchase display campaigns that are only run on Google’s services- Google Display Network (GDN). It is the best option for newer and smaller-sized advertisers who do not want to invest heavily in programmatic display ads. Google Display Ads (GDA) access by Google AdWords accounts to generate incremental reach in search activity. GDA is easy to generate and access campaigns, budgets, and reporting within the same environment.

What is Display and Video 360?

Connected TV (CTV) refers to televisions connected to the internet, allowing users to stream video content through apps or web browsers than traditional broadcast methods like cable or satellite. This enables access to streaming platforms like Netflix, YouTube, Hulu and more. Advertisers can target audiences watching content on Connected TV platforms, offering a more personalized advertising experience similar to digital platforms.

DV360 (Display & Video 360) is Google’s demand-side platform (DSP) that allows advertisers to manage and optimize their digital advertising campaigns across multiple channels, including display, video, mobile, and native formats. Integrates with various Google products and third-party inventory to provide complete programmatic advertising solutions.

It targets more than capabilities, more reach, better creative options, better brand safety settings, and frequency management. It is too complex for smaller advertisers.

Display and Video 360 (DV360) vs. Google Ads

Impressive Reach

DV360 is superior to Google Ads when it comes to reaching. You can reach more users across a wider range of sites; and get over 80 mobiles. Desktop, and connected TV (CTV)/ Over-The-Top (OTT)/ Linear TV ad exchange networks that cover 90% of the web. In addition, Google ads are all for basic display ads, retargeting and some video placements; whereas DV360 provides CTV/OTT video buys, TV commercials, audio choices, and access to YouTube inventory.

Targeting Opportunities

Dv360 has all of the targeting options that are available in the Google display network such as Google In-Market and Affinity audience segments. DV360 allows you to target your campaigns more extensively than Google ads. An additional option is to determine what percentage of the ad impressions should be displayed to page visitors.

We can say that without targeting, there is no guarantee that an ad will ever be shown to a visitor, but can load at the bottom of the site which the visitor will never navigate to, yet it is counted as an ad impression in ad management systems. This cannot be analyzed and controlled by Google Ads.

Third-party data

Google ads offer only Google’s own targeting data whereas there are a lot of third-party providers accessible via DV360 that enable you to drop down your audience targeting.

Deals

Google ads cannot take advantage of deals even with publishers using GDN. DV360 offers to create deals with publishers. For example, to access lower or fixed ad display prices, access ad inventory that is not sold at all in an open auction, and pre-purchase before the general auction.

Bidding Options

DV360 provides more algorithmic automated machine buying capabilities than Google ads. You can independently optimize your manual purchase more widely in DV360 than Google ads. It automatically adjusts your bid based on your set performance goals which are based on Google’s Algorithm. That reduces the manual optimization work and improves your time management.

Video Exchanges

Google ads and Dv360 are used to purchase video ads on YouTube. In Google Ads, you can buy a possible format i.e. in-stream, in-search, and in-display, whereas DV360 has in-stream and in-display formats. Also, to YouTube, DV360 allows you to purchase video inventory from over 35 ad auctions at affordable prices and a larger selection of premium sites.

Data Management Platform (DMP) Integration

To those advertisers who want to take one step ahead in targeting opportunities, the Google Marketing Platform Campaign Manager and DV360 provide DMP integration that enables you to combine your first-party and third-party into customized audiences. These audiences can help to get more targeted campaigns that give better results.

Comparison between DV360 (Display & Video 360) and Google Ads are:

Feature	DV360 (Display & Video 360)	Google Ads
Platform Type	Demand-Side Platform (DSP) for programmatic advertising	Display, Search, Video, Shopping, and App ads
Ad Inventory	Access to Google’s inventory + third-party exchanges	Google Search Network, Display Network, YouTube
Targeting Options	Advanced targeting (audiences, contexts, devices)	Basic to intermediate (keywords, interests, demographics)
Audience Segmentation	Building using first-party data	Based on Google’s data
Campaign Types	Display, Video, Mobile, Native, CTV, and Audio ads	Search, Display, Shopping, Video, App
Creative Tools	Advanced creative options (dynamic creatives, HTML5)	Standard display and video creative formats
Bid Optimization	Algorithmic bid strategies with machine learning	Manual and automated bidding options
Reporting and Insights	In-depth reporting with custom metrics	Standard Google Ads reporting tools
Brand Safety	Third-party integrations for fraud detection and brand safety	Google’s built-in brand safety tools
Cost Structure	Flexible bidding across multiple ad exchanges	CPC (Cost-per-Click), CPM (Cost-per-Thousand), CPA (Cost-per-Acquisition) models
Integration	Google Marketing Platform (e.g., Google Analytics 360, Search Ads 360)	Google Analytics and other Google tools

Why Choose Connected TV DV360 over GDN?

DV360 is a Google Display Network with stronger Campaign setups, additional layers to brand safety, better scale, and better insights & management. It offers the ability to gain better and more impactful results.

Google Ads is best for those advertisers with smaller budgets. It offers a basic and sufficient opportunity to dabble in the world of programmatic display, just looking for a presence on the web. This is why it is first important to know your client’s end goal.

If your client has a larger budget and looks for more reach, scale, strategic, and control options to expand their presence across the web ecosystem, the DV360 platform might be the best option.

What Is The Google Display Network (GDN)? Where Ads Run

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Ruby is an IT Engineer | Blogger | Digital marketer who offers Copywriting, ghostwriting, and blogging services to provide digital marketing content that gains social media attention and increases search engine visibility.

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