Google has revealed significant updates coming to Display & Video 360's brand suitability features in 2025. These changes aim to streamline how advertisers implement their suitability strategies across platforms.
Key Terminology Changes
The platform will undergo several name changes to standardize terminology:
- "Brand safety" on Display & Video 360 and "Category exclusions" on YouTube will be unified under "Brand suitability"
- "Content categories" will become "Inventory modes"
- "Other content types" will be renamed to "Content types"
- "Other verification services" will change to "Third-party verification"
Centralized Control Structure
A major shift in the platform will move most brand suitability controls to the advertiser level. These controls will automatically apply to all line items, with three exceptions that will remain available at both advertiser and line item levels:
- Third-party brand suitability verification
- Keyword exclusions
- Channel or URL exclusions
Enhanced Cross-Platform Integration
The update introduces unified suitability controls across Display & Video 360, YouTube, and Demand Gen inventory. This integration extends "Content categories" and "Excluded content themes" to non-Google owned & operated inventory.
New Features and Sunset Changes
Google is introducing a new bypass control for non-programmatic guaranteed deals on non-Google owned & operated inventory. Additionally, digital content labels and sensitive categories for non-Google owned & operated inventory will be discontinued, with their functionality being absorbed into "Content categories" and "Excluded content themes".
Final Suite of Brand Suitability Controls
The platform will offer five main control categories:
- Inventory modes
- Excluded content themes
- Content types (YouTube and Demand Gen only)
- Third-party verification
- Keywords and Channels & URLs exclusions
