New Feature: Google Ads Integration To Automatically Fetch Actuals

Release date: May 22, 2025

A key benefit of media planning software is the ability to monitor ad performance by comparing actuals with planned costs, clicks, impressions, etc.

MediaPlanHQ always provided tools to obtain actuals and analyze performance.

But you had to manually input the actuals by filling out a form or importing a spreadsheet.

With this release, you can now connect a Google Ads account, map your MediaPlanHQ media insertions to Google Ads campaigns/ad groups/ads, and automatically fetch actuals.

Let's have a look at how it works...

Existing users: The feature is currently in Beta. You must ask your customer success specialist to activate the integrations feature in your account.

Creating a Google Ads connection

Integrations are managed in the Administration > Integrations module:

Click on the New connection button, and select Google Ads to create a connection to Google Ads:

This will display the Create a Google Ads connection form:

Give the connection a name. Since you can have multiple Google Ads connections,  we recommend appending the platform name with the scope (e.g. "Google Ads | Global" when used globally, or "Google Ads | Client ABC" when used for a specific client) in order to differentiate its source and usage.

The connection now exists in your account, but is not yet "connected" to Google Ads.

Understanding Integration Connections

Before continuing with Google Ads, here are the general concepts of integration connections.

A connection is used to manage the interactions with a 3rd-party platform to support the given media planning workflow capabilities:

1. Booking: Sending insertion orders
2. Delivery: Sending traffic instructions and creatives
3. Actuals: Fetching actuals

The GoogleAds connection, for example, supports the Actuals capability.

To be able to perform its capabilities, each connection has 3 statuses:

1. Connection status: This indicates if the connection handshake with the 3rd party platform is completed with proper authorization to perform its capabilities. Shows "Not supported" when a connection is not required.
2. Configuration status: This indicates whether the connection is configured correctly to perform the capabilities. Each connection type can require its own custom configuration. It shows "Not supported" when a configuration is not required.
3. Synchronization status: This indicates the last synchronization. Shows "Not supported" when a synchronization is not required.

Let's get back to Google Ads integration...

Connecting Google Ads

Notice the "Connection required" status of the "Google Ads | Global" connection...

Let's connect to Google Ads.  Click the Connect button.

This will redirect you to the Google authorization process. First, select the Google account you want to use:

And then click the Allow button to give permission to MediaPlanHQ to access your Google Ads accounts to fetch data:

This will return to the Administration > Integrations module and update the connection status to "Connected":

Configuring Google Ads

Now, notice the "Configuration required" status of the "Google Ads | Global" connection...

Let's configure the Google Ads connection.  Click the Configure button.

This will display the "Connection configuration" form:

Select the Google Ads account and Level to synchronize and click the Save button.  This will update the configuration status to "Configured" and the status to "Ready":

Synchronizing Google Ads

At this point, the system will start synchronizing the Google Ads entities of the configured Google Ads account and level automatically every 24 hours. 

You can click the Synchronize button to force a synchronization. 

This will update the Synchronization status to Queued ... Running .... Success :

Now the Google Ads entities are ready to be mapped to media insertions.

Configuring Media Actuals Method

First, you need to configure your Google Ads aware media to use the "Google Ads" actuals method:

This will inform MediaPlanHQ that media insertions for this media can be mapped to a Google Ads entity in order to fetch its actuals automatically.

Mapping a Media Insertion with Google Ads

Now, we can map a media insertion to a Google Ads entity.  Go to the Insertions module and open a media insertion:

This will display the media insertion view.  Click on the Kpi details tab and click the Map button:

This will display the "Create an integration mapping" form:

Search and select the Google Ads entity you want to map with this media insertion and click the Save button.  This will update the Kpi details tab with the mapping:

The third-party platform mapping displays the connection's name and the Google Ads entity's name (as configured in Google Ads).

Fetching Media Insertion Actuals

At this point, the system will start fetching actuals for this media insertion automatically every hour. 

You can click the Fetch actuals now button to force trigger a fetch actuals:

You can monitor the last fetch actuals (Bullet #1).  The progress (Bullet #2) indicates how many planned run dates have corresponding actuals data. Finally, the status (Bullet #3) indicates if all actuals are available.

Every time actuals are fetched, the system will analyze performance:

#1	Planned measures	The planned measures that you set in the media insertion form before running the ads.
#2	Actual measures	The actual measures that were fetched.
#3	Performance analysis	An analysis of the actuals compared to the planned measures up to the last run date that has actual data. The percentage represents the delta between what was planned and the actuals for the run dates with actuals data. For example, the "Clicks" are "ON TARGET" so far.  With 17% of the actual data, the actual clicks are +3% of the planned clicks. The performance analysis can be: Excellent when the delta exceeds 25% Good when the delta is between 10% and 25% On target when the delta is between -10% and 10% Bad when the delta is between -25% and -10% Poor when the delta is below -25%
#4	Progress	The percentage represents the actuals progress toward reaching the planned measures. For example, the actual 345 clicks are 101% over your planned 340 clicks.

You can view additional details when you mouse over a given KPI metric.

#1	Period navigation	Displays the current period.  Use the < > button to navigate periods or use the dropdown to select a specific period.
#2	Period timeline	The granularity of the period. D - Day W - Week M - Month Q - Quarter Y - Year
#3	Period summary	The Actuals (Bold) and Planned (Muted) measures for the run dates in the selected period.
#4	Total summary	The Actuals (Bold) and Planned (Muted) measures for all the run dates.
#5	Chart	A visual chart displaying the actuals (Blue bar) against the planned (Red line) for the selected period.
#6	Sheet	The daily raw data used for the progress and performance analysis.

The actuals and performance analysis are also available from the media insertions list:

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That's it !  We hope you'll enjoy the Google Ads Integration feature. 

Give it a try, and let us know what you think !

As always, don't hesitate to send us your great feedback or other ideas for new features !

Have a great day,

The MediaPlanHQ team