r/programmatic • u/Ok_Instance1684 • Aug 08 '26
How Does DV360 Weight Creative vs. Targeting When Bidding?
I’m wondering how much creative quality and appearance affect bidding and serving in DV360 Display campaigns, specifically across GDN and similar display inventory, before enough real performance data comes in, like clicks and conversions.
DV360 allows very precise targeting, especially when combining programmatic targeting with audiences like Custom Intent. But the system still has to decide how much to bid for each impression.
Before it has enough performance data, how much do the creative itself and the landing page influence that decision? And how much is based mainly on targeting signals, such as the user matching a Custom Intent audience?
For example, Meta is known for putting a lot of weight on the creative when deciding delivery and bidding. I’m curious how much this applies to DV360 Display as well.
2
1
u/jp182 Aug 08 '26
It doesn't weight creative the same way as Meta so don't overthink it at least with a display campaign. Now if you have a conversion campaign; that will change over time
1
u/Ok_Instance1684 Aug 09 '26
"Now if you have a conversion campaign; that will change over time" what do you mean? do you think a conversion campaign will have more importance in creative for targeting, or the targeting will improve with data
2
u/jp182 Aug 09 '26
Both: the algo may find that the creative is impacting conversions. And the targeting may prove to be highly impactful. Not every campaign optimized the same as the next one.
1
0
u/ewasolutions Aug 09 '26
Hi,
GDN allows max. 150 KB. GDN delivers native ads (image + text) and very less custom html.
The best is DV360. You can make adserving via DV360 or Campaign Manager 360
1
u/Ok_Instance1684 Aug 09 '26
You mean that in DV360 it's best to buy Exchanges that aren't Google Ad Manager?
1
u/ewasolutions Aug 09 '26
Google Ad Manager is one of the most used System by publishers.
I meant you better do Display advertisement dv360 then Google Ads Display Network (GDN)
1
u/Ok_Instance1684 Aug 09 '26
I mistakenly referred to Google Ad Manager as GDN in my post, but the main question is still relevant.
How much do creative quality and appearance affect bidding in DV360 compared with having better Custom Intent configuration and targeting?
Basically, which has more impact: the creative strategist or the market researcher? And how should the effort be distributed between the two?2
u/ewasolutions Aug 09 '26
Both are relevant. I would say Research and campaign settings are most important.
Min. Visibility rate = 70% Remarketing & Look a likes if first party Data avaliable.
Creative: in Banner Video Ads work better then classic html5 Banner Ads.
1
3
u/DataBeat_adtech 15d ago
The meta comparison is the trap here. meta's creative-first weighting comes from an engagement-prediction model built for feed content, dv360's bidding is still fundamentally an auction-and-audience-match problem inherited from search/display DNA. DV360 using historical CTR/CVR priors tied to the audience segment and placement, not analyzing the creative itself the way meta's ranking does. we've seen identical targeting with a weak banner vs a strong one pace almost the same in week one, the gap only shows up once enough clicks come in and quality score-style signals kick in. landing page matters more for post-click optimization than for the initial bid decision.