Buyer readiness
Private marketplace buying terms guide
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About 14 min read
A private marketplace buy is easier to price, traffic, and read when the buyer and publisher use the same terms before the campaign starts. Use this guide to translate package language into a clean proposal brief.
The terms below are written for buyers who need a practical handoff, not a platform-specific integration manual. They keep package scope, deal setup, creative assets, destination readiness, reporting cadence, and performance language in separate lanes.
Imagine the proposal review is happening two days before launch. Sales has promised a premium measurement package, operations has a deal key, the buyer has sent two creative files and a landing page, and analytics is asking which fields will survive into the final report. The page can still launch, but only if those pieces become one shared record instead of four loose conversations.
What this guide can decide: whether the commercial terms are specific enough to price, traffic, and report. It cannot establish that a package caused incremental demand. Treat delivery, contextual fit, and response as different evidence layers until a comparison design supports a stronger conclusion.
Term sheet
Use the term sheet before pricing or trafficking. Every field should be specific enough that an operations team can implement the buy and a reporting team can interpret it later.
In plain language, a term is buyer-ready when it tells the next person what to do without a meeting. A package ID should tell traffickers which context is eligible. A deal key should identify the exact commercial lane. A floor should explain the price guardrail without promising lift. A readout boundary should say how strong the final campaign sentence is allowed to be.
| Term | Buyer-ready meaning | What to lock before launch |
|---|---|---|
| Package ID | The stable name for the reader context being bought. | Desk, guide group, case-study group, included URL patterns, excluded contexts, and package reporting key. |
| Deal key | The private marketplace identifier used to connect buying, trafficking, and reporting records. | One deal key per package lane, with the buyer name, quarter, campaign objective, and package ID preserved in the campaign name. |
| Placement ID | The specific ad slot or sponsored module eligible for the package. | Placement list, accepted sizes, device eligibility, refresh status, and whether native is included. |
| Floor | The minimum price needed to preserve package quality and opportunity cost. | Context scarcity, forecastable supply, exposure quality, buyer fit, sell-through state, and whether the floor is test, renewal, or always-on. |
| Flight window | The active campaign dates and delivery pacing plan. | Start date, end date, pacing target, blackout dates, makegood rule, and report cadence. |
| Creative handoff | The final assets and click instructions that can be approved for traffic. | Creative IDs, sizes, file type, brand name, message theme, click URL, UTM values, backup mobile asset, and acceptance status. |
| Destination readiness | The landing page state that makes downstream response interpretable. | Landing page URL, page speed, message match, form fields, source capture, consent state, redirects, and lead-routing owner. |
| Reporting cadence | The schedule for delivery checks and final readout. | Launch QA date, mid-flight delivery check, post-flight data close, buyer-side status deadline, and final readout date. |
| Readout boundary | The strongest claim the report can support. | Descriptive delivery, directional comparison, matched-baseline estimate, or designed lift result. |
Choose the commercial lane before writing the brief
Private marketplace language is not interchangeable. Google Ad Manager describes Preferred Deals as non-guaranteed deals with a fixed CPM and Private Auctions as non-guaranteed deals with a floor price. The IAB OpenRTB specification also treats the private-marketplace object as a container for direct buyer-seller deals, with deal identifiers and deal-level pricing fields. Name the lane first so a fixed price, floor, invitation, or deal key does not become an ambiguous promise in the proposal.
| Lane | Use when | Lock in the brief |
|---|---|---|
| Preferred Deal | The publisher and buyer have agreed a non-guaranteed fixed price and the buyer needs a named proposal path. | Deal ID, fixed CPM, eligible inventory, buyer seat, flight dates, and what delivery is not guaranteed. |
| Private Auction | Specific invited buyers compete against a stated floor for non-guaranteed inventory. | Deal ID, floor currency, invited buyer scope, eligible placements, bid-response rule, and pacing/reporting boundary. |
| Other or unclear | The proposal uses “PMP” without identifying the transaction type or platform record. | Pause the commercial wording until the seller or buyer names the transaction type, identifier, price rule, and reporting source. |
Terms readiness score
Score the proposal before the package is sold as ready. The point is not to make the terms bureaucratic. The point is to find which missing field will create the first trafficking, billing, or readout problem.
| Score | Condition | Buyer-facing decision |
|---|---|---|
| 4 - ready | Package ID, deal key, placements, creative fields, destination fields, cadence, and readout boundary are complete and internally consistent. | Proceed to pricing or activation with the term record attached to the proposal. |
| 3 - fixable before launch | The package and buyer fit are sound, but one owner must close a named gap such as missing backup mobile creative or an unresolved UTM value. | Proceed only after the owner updates the record and the launch note names the fix. |
| 2 - risky readout | The campaign can be trafficked, but the reporting cadence, source fields, or buyer-side status path is incomplete. | Keep performance language descriptive until the missing reporting fields are supplied. |
| 1 - hold | The deal key, package scope, placement set, or destination state cannot be tied to the proposal promise. | Hold the package out of market or rewrite the proposal around the narrower record that can be supported. |
Source-to-decision handoff
The source trail below is useful because each reference changes a different part of the buyer record. It does not turn platform documentation into evidence that a package will fill, perform, or create incremental demand.
| Verified source finding | Field or decision it changes | What it does not prove |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ad Manager distinguishes Preferred Deals as non-guaranteed fixed-CPM proposals and Private Auctions as non-guaranteed floor-price invitations. | Choose the transaction lane before writing price, buyer eligibility, and delivery language; record the fixed CPM or floor explicitly. | Neither lane guarantees impressions, clicks, qualified response, or lift. |
| Google's Deal ID field identifies a deal between buyer and publisher in reporting and shows zero when no listed deal applied. | Keep the platform Deal ID in the proposal, trafficking record, export, and reconciliation key; treat a missing or zero value as a join failure to investigate. | A Deal ID alone does not prove that an impression delivered or that the buyer's outcome was caused by the package. |
| IAB OpenRTB 2.6 models PMP as a container for direct deals and gives a Deal its ID, bid floor, currency, buyer-seat, and advertiser-domain fields; required and recommended attributes are not the same thing. | Lock the fields the supply and demand sides actually support, identify the eligible seat/domain scope, and document any exchange-specific mapping before activation. | The specification is an interoperability contract, not a forecast of fill, quality, or commercial value. |
| Google Ad Manager prohibits passing information that can be recognized as personally identifiable information in parameters or key-values. | Use campaign-, package-, placement-, or content-level values only; reject email addresses, usernames, and other person-level values before the request is built. | A privacy-safe key does not establish consent, identity quality, or outcome measurement. |
Decision rule: approve a proposal as terms-ready only when each source-backed field has a named owner, a versioned record, and a reporting location. If the lane, Deal ID, supported field mapping, buyer scope, or privacy boundary is unresolved, label the package revise or hold and keep the eventual readout descriptive.
Reproduction rule: preserve the proposal version, platform deal record, export field names, eligible placement and buyer scope, creative and destination versions, key-value allowlist, review timestamp, and score rows together. Rerun this handoff after a deal type, floor, seat, placement, destination, or reporting contract changes.
When a valid deal still does not deliver
A ready term sheet is not proof that a deal will win an impression. Google Ad Manager's troubleshooting path separates an eligible request, a buyer response using the deal ID, filtering, and competition. Use the observed state below before lowering a floor or describing the package as weak.
| Observed state | Check next | Safe conclusion |
|---|---|---|
| Requests are below expectation | Compare targeting, eligible inventory, ads.txt, and the package's intended page or placement scope with the live request path. | The issue is request eligibility or supply coverage until the request count is reconciled; it is not evidence of buyer rejection. |
| The buyer did not bid | Ask the buyer to confirm region, creative-size, site, budget, frequency, pacing, and Private Auction pre-targeting settings. | No bid is a setup or demand-side signal to investigate, not a quality score for the package. |
| The buyer bid with another source or deal ID | Run a report with the deal ID dimension and reconcile overlapping deals, Open Auction responses, and the intended deal identifier. | Delivery may be occurring through another path; do not attribute it to this deal until the join is clean. |
| The deal bid was filtered or lost | Separate creative approval, URL review, allowed dimensions, floor, competing demand, and deal priority before changing terms. | A filtered or losing bid explains the transaction path; it does not establish poor creative performance, low audience value, or lift. |
Escalation rule: preserve the request total, deal ID, buyer response state, filter or loss reason, creative version, placement, floor, and report timestamp in the exception log. Only after those fields reconcile should the owner revise the package, buyer settings, or commercial terms.
Simulated worked example: one pre-launch decision
This is a simulated worked example, not a report from a real buyer, publisher, or campaign. It shows how to turn the term sheet into a reversible launch decision without inventing delivery or outcome data.
| Gate | Example state | Counts as complete? |
|---|---|---|
| Package and transaction lane | Named package; Private Auction selected; floor currency stated. | Yes |
| Deal identifier | Deal ID is present in the buyer and publisher records. | Yes |
| Placement and device scope | Placement IDs, accepted sizes, device classes, and exclusions are listed. | Yes |
| Creative and destination | Final creative IDs, click URL, source values, backup asset, and destination owner are listed. | Yes |
| Reporting cadence | Launch QA, mid-flight check, data close, and readout dates are listed. | Yes |
| Buyer-side status owner | Lead-status handoff is promised, but no accountable owner or delivery date is named. | No |
| Readout boundary | Standard report is limited to delivery and qualified response; lift requires a separate comparison design. | Yes |
| Privacy-safe source fields | Campaign-level values are allowed; person-level identifiers are excluded from tags and key-values. | Yes |
Calculation: 7 of 8 gates are complete, or 7 ÷ 8 × 100 = 87.5%. This does not average into a “87.5% performance” claim. Because the missing buyer-side owner affects the final readout, the proposal maps to 3 - fixable before launch: name the owner and status deadline, then rerun the check. If that field cannot be supplied, keep the report descriptive and do not imply outcome evidence.
Assumptions and limits: the example treats each gate as pass/fail and gives no partial credit; a real platform may require additional fields; the calculation tests operational readiness, not inventory quality, delivery, conversion, incrementality, or value for money. A changed deal type, placement set, buyer seat, destination, or reporting contract requires a fresh check.
Buying path by question
| Buyer question | Use this page | Decision it supports |
|---|---|---|
| Does this audience fit the offer? | Audience intent map | Choose a reader job and package lane before asking for availability. |
| Which units and sizes can run? | Media kit | Confirm placement IDs, ad-unit paths, creative sizes, and native availability. |
| Can the package be trafficked cleanly? | Inventory readiness matrix | Check package contracts, placement maps, reporting keys, and handoff fields. |
| What must the buyer send? | Creative asset acceptance checklist | Approve display, native, click URL, source trail, and launch fields. |
| Is the landing page ready for paid traffic? | Landing page launch QA worksheet | Check page speed, message match, forms, redirects, source fields, and lead routing. |
| How should results be interpreted? | Reporting field dictionary | Keep package, placement, delivery, quality, outcome, and conclusion fields aligned. |
Floor language
A floor is a pricing guardrail, not a promise of business outcomes. It should be explained from inventory quality and package constraints rather than from unsupported performance claims.
UseThe measurement-science-desk floor reflects limited guide-library supply, high contextual fit, stable pageview-only delivery, and the opportunity cost of reserving upper-body placements.
AvoidThis floor guarantees better leads or incremental demand.
Reporting cadence
Cadence matters because late buyer-side status or unclear source fields can weaken the readout. Set dates before launch so the final report is not forced to use incomplete outcome data.
| Moment | What to check | Useful output |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-launch QA | Package ID, deal key, placement IDs, creative IDs, click URLs, UTMs, destination status, and reporting owner. | Ready, revise, or hold decision before the flight starts. |
| Launch check | Eligible placements render, labels are visible, click URLs resolve, and device behavior matches the size map. | Launch note with any exceptions that should appear in reporting. |
| Mid-flight check | Pacing, measurable impressions, viewability, creative rotation, destination errors, and early quality flags. | Keep running, revise creative, fix destination, or adjust pacing. |
| Data close | Final delivery, invalid-traffic review, qualified visits, buyer-side lead status, missing status, and comparison rule. | Clean export for the final package readout. |
| Readout meeting | Package response, placement response, creative and destination differences, outcome quality, and evidence limit. | Renew, narrow, retest, pause, or design a stronger lift test. |
Creative and destination handoff
A buyer should send one clean record rather than scattered assets and notes. The minimum handoff is final creative, click destination, source values, dates, and owner names.
- Display creative: creative ID, size, file type, landing URL, UTM structure, active dates, backup mobile asset, and any buyer-side tracking tags.
- Native creative: brand name, headline, short body copy, image asset, destination URL, disclosure language, and fallback display size.
- Destination: final URL, message match, primary action, form fields, source capture, consent state, redirect chain, page-speed status, and lead-routing owner.
- Report fields: campaign name, package ID, deal key, placement IDs, creative IDs, device classes, primary signal, comparison rule, and readout boundary.
Privacy check: keep source values and key-values at the campaign or inventory level. Do not put email addresses, usernames, or other information that could identify a person into ad requests or targeting parameters. Google's acceptable key-values guidance explains this restriction.
Clean proposal language
Proposal language should be specific enough to set expectations and careful enough to avoid turning contextual fit into a guaranteed outcome.
| Proposal area | Buyer-ready wording | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Context | This package reaches readers using measurement guides and campaign reporting references. | Names reader task rather than implying broad audience intent. |
| Inventory | Eligible delivery is limited to the named package, placement IDs, device classes, and approved creative sizes. | Keeps run-of-publication delivery separate from contextual delivery. |
| Floor | The floor reflects package scarcity, exposure quality, clean trafficking fields, and direct opportunity cost. | Explains price without claiming lift. |
| Measurement | The standard readout will report delivery quality, qualified traffic, creative response, destination response, and buyer-side status when supplied. | Sets the reporting surface before results arrive. |
| Comparison | Causal language requires a separately designed holdout, matched baseline, or other agreed comparison method. | Prevents a descriptive campaign report from becoming a lift claim. |
Primary source trail and method boundary
These sources support the page's definitions of transaction type, deal identifiers, deal-level price fields, and privacy-safe targeting. They do not provide campaign results for the simulated example or prove that any particular package will deliver.
- Google Ad Manager: Transaction types — distinguishes Preferred Deals from Private Auctions and notes that deal IDs are associated with these transaction types.
- Google Ad Manager: Private Auctions overview — documents invited buyers, targeting, floor prices, expected creatives, and delivery settings.
- Google Ad Manager: Private Auction troubleshooting — separates request totals, buyer response paths, filtered bids, and competing demand.
- IAB Tech Lab: OpenRTB 2.6 specification — documents the private-marketplace object and deal-level bid fields used in interoperable bid requests.
- Google Ad Manager: Use acceptable key-values — warns against passing personally identifiable information in targeting parameters.
Final pre-launch check
- Can the buyer name the package ID, deal key, placement IDs, device classes, and excluded contexts?
- Is the floor tied to supply and package quality rather than promised outcomes?
- Are final display, native, click URL, UTM, backup mobile, and destination fields approved?
- Does the reporting cadence include launch QA, mid-flight check, data close, buyer-side status deadline, and readout date?
- Does the proposal state the strongest allowed readout language before the campaign begins?
Pair with
Use this terms guide with the advertiser FAQ for proposal fields, the media kit for package and placement specs, the inventory readiness matrix for package contracts, the private marketplace package brief template before buyer-facing scope is finalized, the private marketplace deal review checklist before activation approval, the ad yield and deal-readiness checklist before pricing, the private marketplace reporting field dictionary before final reporting, and the package performance readout after campaign exports are complete.