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GAM Line Items for Header Bidding

For header-bidding demand to compete inside Google Ad Manager, GAM needs a set of price-priority line items that translate each bid price into something GAM can rank against your other demand. Building these by hand is the step publishers find most error-prone — hundreds of line items, each targeting a narrow price band.

Anima builds them for you. This page explains what gets created in your GAM network, what you agree on beforehand, and what not to touch afterward.

Anima does this — you don't

This setup runs from Anima's side during onboarding, not from a button in your portal. Your part is granting the right access and agreeing on the price buckets. There's nothing to click in the app.

Why GAM needs these line items​

When a bid comes back from the wrapper, its price is written into a GAM targeting key (a key-value like hb_pb = 1.50). GAM can't bid on a raw number — it serves whichever line item targets that key-value at the highest priority and rate. So header bidding needs one line item per price point you want to compete at, each targeting its own slice of the price key.

That's why the count gets large: a $0–$20 range at 10-cent granularity is 200 line items. Anima generates the whole ladder from a compact price bucket definition.

What Anima creates in your GAM​

Running the setup creates, in your GAM network:

ObjectWhat it is
Advertiser (a GAM Company)The advertiser all header-bidding activity is booked under, named from your Advertiser Name.
Orders — one per price bucketEach price bucket becomes its own GAM order, named from your Prebid Order Name.
Price-priority line itemsWithin each order, one line item per price step across that bucket's range, targeting the price key at that value.
CreativesPrebid creatives attached to the line items so the winning bid's ad can render. Several copies are attached so multiple ad slots on one page can each serve.

The line items target the key-value pair driven by your Targeting Key Prefix — the same key the wrapper writes bid prices into.

This is the one time Anima writes to your GAM

Everything else Anima does with GAM is read-only — importing ad units, sizes, and key-values, and reading orders and line items for reporting (see Connecting GAM). This line-item setup is the exception: it creates objects in your network. That's why it needs an Administrator role on the service account, not just Trafficker.

Price buckets: the input you agree on​

You don't specify individual line items. You specify price buckets, and Anima expands each into the line-item ladder. A bucket has four numbers:

FieldMeaning
FloorBottom of the price range this bucket covers.
CeilingTop of the range. Must be greater than the floor.
StepPrice granularity — how finely bid prices are captured against the price key.
Line item stepHow finely line items subdivide the range. Must be a whole-number multiple of Step. A larger line item step means fewer line items.

You can define several buckets to use fine granularity where most bids land and coarser granularity higher up — for example, 5-cent steps from $0 to $5, then 50-cent steps from $5 to $20. The buckets must tile the range with no gaps and no overlaps: each bucket's floor equals the previous bucket's ceiling. The portal enforces this when the buckets are entered.

The line-item-count limit​

GAM caps line items per order (Anima targets a ceiling of 450 per order). Because each bucket is its own order, and line items in a bucket = its range ÷ line item step, a wide range at a fine line item step can exceed the cap. If it would, the setup stops and reports which bucket is too dense — the fix is a larger line item step or a narrower bucket range. This is a guardrail, not something you'll normally hit with sensible buckets.

What you need to do​

Your side of this is short:

  1. Grant Administrator access to the Anima service account in GAM (see Connecting GAM → Step 3). Trafficker is enough for import and reporting, but line-item creation needs write access.
  2. Confirm the naming and price buckets with your onboarding specialist — the advertiser name, order name, targeting key prefix, and the bucket ranges/steps that fit your typical bid distribution.
  3. Verify the network first. Setup only runs once the connection is verified and the required GAM permissions check out.

Your onboarding specialist runs the setup and confirms it completed. After that, the header-bidding line items are live in GAM and your wrapper's bids can win against your other demand.

After setup: what you'll see, and what not to touch​

  • A new advertiser, one order per price bucket, a large set of line items, and creatives will appear in your GAM network.
  • Don't hand-edit or delete these. They're generated as a matched set keyed to your wrapper configuration. Editing prices, targeting, or creatives by hand will desync them from what the wrapper sends, and bids may stop clearing.
  • Re-running is safe. If buckets change later, the setup re-runs and reconciles — it reuses objects that already exist rather than duplicating them. Changes to your price buckets are applied by re-running the setup, not by editing GAM directly.
  • These line items are separate from your own direct-sold and house line items, which Anima never touches.

Troubleshooting​

SymptomLikely cause
Header-bidding bids never win in GAMLine items not set up yet, or the wrapper's targeting key prefix doesn't match the line items' key. Confirm setup ran and the prefixes agree.
Some price points win, others never doA bucket gap, or a price range not covered by any bucket. Bids above your highest ceiling have no line item to match.
Setup reported a line-item limit errorA bucket's range ÷ line item step exceeds 450. Widen the line item step or split the bucket.
Bids clear but no ad rendersCreative issue on the line items — raise it with your onboarding specialist rather than editing creatives by hand.

For connection and import problems, see GAM sync and mapping.