Announcing v4.1 of the AdSense Host API

We’re happy to announce the release of v4.1 of the AdSense Host API. Don’t let the numbering fool you, this is a major update that provides a ton of new functionality!




The new version is intended as a full replacement of AdSense Host API v3 for ContentAds hosts, with a few extra features. Changes from v4 include added support for:

• Account creation and association with a new publisher signup flow


• Managing URL and custom channels on the host


• Retrieving publisher ad clients


• Creating and managing new publisher ad units, and retrieving ad code for them


• Running publisher-side reports

With this new release, we're also announcing the sunset of version 3 of the Host API, to take place on January 1, 2013. Over the next few weeks, we will be getting in touch with existing hosts and helping them get started with the migration.



If you’re not an AdSense host yet and are interested in joining the program, take a look at our introduction page to find out more about the requirements and how it works.




Let us know if you have any questions!



 - Sérgio Gomes, on behalf of the AdSense API Team

Docs Grow Ears: Google Feedback now in Google Ads Developer Documentation

If you've recently visited any of the Google Ads Developer documentation, you may have noticed a "Feedback on this document" link at the top right corner of a page. That's right—you can now use that link to report errors, comment on existing content, or request further clarification for any of the Google Ads Developer docs:

• Google AdMob Ads SDK


• AdSense APIs


• AdWords API


• DoubleClick Ad Exchange APIs


• DoubleClick for Advertisers API


• DoubleClick for Publishers API


• Interactive Media Ads SDK

In addition to this new channel, you can continue to reach out to us through the developer forums or Google Developers Live events.

Quang Nguyen, Ads Developer Relations Team

OAuth in Ads APIs

Authorization is an important concern when writing software that interacts with Google’s Ads APIs. We’ve recently improved our documentation and published resources documenting how to use OAuth2 with many of our Ads APIs.



OAuth2 is an authorization flow that allows you to direct a user to a specially crafted Google URL where they grant permissions to your software to make changes to their account. With an authorized access token, you can make requests to Ads APIs on the user’s behalf. Benefits include:

• Users don’t need to provide a username and password - they just log into Google.


• No CAPTCHA challenges.


• Limited scope - the user will only be prompted to grant access to a specific part of their account. For example, they could grant access to AdWords without the application being able to see their email or calendar.

OAuth2 is supported by:

• AdWords API


• DoubleClick for Advertisers Reporting API


• DoubleClick for Advertisers Trafficking API


• AdSense Host API (v4)


• AdSense Management API


• DoubleClick for Publishers API


• DoubleClick Ad Exchange Buyer REST API

The Ads API client libraries supported by Google have built-in support for OAuth2. We’ve included examples demonstrating how to use this feature in all client libraries. See your respective product and language product sites for more information on OAuth2.



We’re also hosting a Google Developers Live event covering how to use OAuth2 on August 23rd. This will be recorded if you can’t make it. If you have any questions about OAuth2, please post on the respective product API forums.

 - Kevin Winter, AdWords API Team

Introducing the new Ads Developers Google+ Page

Today we are excited to introduce a new channel for communication - Ads Developers Google+ Page. It's a place to stay informed, engaged and connected on Ads products and developer tools.

Add our Google+ page to your circles for the latest product and feature announcements, best practices, case studies, as well as opportunities to interact with and learn from Google's Ads Developer Relations team and other members of the developer community.

We look forward to having one place to bring timely updates, concise announcements, and to share information in multimedia formats across all Ads products, as well as to listen and respond to your comments.

 - Danial Klimkin, Ads Developer Relations Team.

Next round of Google Ads Developers Live events

Interested in more Google Ads Developers Live (Office Hours) events? We know you are because attendance has been great!



We've scheduled another round of events for AdWords, AdMob, DFP and AdSense APIs. You can view the newly scheduled live events on the Google Ads Developers Live page. Please add the events you are interested in to your calendar. You can follow our schedule by subscribing to the Google Ads Developers Office Hours calendar, which is also linked on this blog’s sidebar.



Just like in previous live events, you can join these hangouts to ask us questions or provide feedback about our products. In response to your request we will be adding AdWords API sessions for the Asia Pacific region and Japan. If you are from Asia Pacific countries or Australia and couldn’t join the hangouts before due to timezone inconvenience, we hope you will find these additional sessions more convenient. The live events in Japan will be in Japanese.



Events will rotate throughout the week to accommodate more people. We are also planning to make some of these events topic-based, where we will introduce you to a new feature of our product and then answer your questions on that topic. The dates and topics for these sessions will be announced in advance in separate blog posts.

In case you haven’t joined us before, you will need 3 things to join the hangout:

• A Google+ account (sign up here)


• The Google voice and video plugin installed on your computer


• A quiet place to hangout so we can hear you

These hangouts are informal and conversational, which make them a great place to ask questions or give us feedback. If you have questions about our office hours, reach out to us on the forums.



 - Anash P. Oommen, Ads Developer Relations Team