In brief, the Programmatic Access Library (PAL) SDK refers to Google’s lightweight library that enables passing targeting and contextual signals alongside ad requests to facilitate programmatic auctions, specifically in Google Ad Manager and AdX.
PAL SDK vs. IMA SDK
The main idea behind PAL SDK is to provide a lightweight alternative to IMA SDK to publishers who work with custom video player configurations and environments, or can’t integrate the latter due to technical limitations or other constraints.
In this respect, while IMA SDK is known to handle a complex set of tasks, from sending ad requests and video ad playback to ad reporting, PAL SDK is specifically designed to pass targeting signals about the viewer and the stream to Google Ad Manager to ensure better programmatic auction quality. This means that PAL SDK doesn’t handle any playback, tracking or measurement aspects, which are in turn run by the video ad server.
Key Technical Specs
The PAL SDK setup is simpler, compared to IMA SDK, which enables reducing operational overhead, while still helping to achieve better video ad performance outcomes.
From the technical perspective, a key technical concept of PAL SDK is “nonce” – a secure, encoded string, added to a VAST ad request URL for each stream.
Note! It’s possible to use the same nonce for several ad requests within one stream.
The flow is rather simple:
1. A NonceRequest object with all selected targeting signals (i.e. player size, content description, PPID, autoplay data, bundle ID, OMID partner details, etc.) is created via PAL SDK.
2. The NonceRequest is passed into a NonceLoader, which then returns a NonceManager object with the generated nonce.
3. This nonce is attached to the VAST ad request URL using the givn= parameter.
PAL SDK Benefits
One of the most obvious benefits of working with PAL SDK is its ability to provide publishers, particularly those working in CTV advertising, with wider contextual data sharing capabilities in programmatic auctions, helping them to maximize video ad relevance, hence improving video ad revenue results without any complex technical setup.
The library also provides publishers with granular controls over which particular signals and data points they wish to pass in their programmatic ad requests, helping them to ensure compliance with relevant privacy laws and regulations.
At the same time, PAL SDK shouldn’t be perceived as a full-fledged alternative to IMA SDK, given that it’s purpose-built for passing targeting and contextual signals, rather than handling video ad serving and playback.