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Criteo’s Campaign API allows you to retrieve information about the current configuration of your advertising Ad Sets. This API allows you to create adSets, search for Ad Sets based on filters, start and stop Ad Sets, and update your Ad Sets’ names, start and end dates, bid amounts, frequency capping, and other targeting controls.

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Ad Set Example

The following is an example of the JSON data structure of an Ad Set. Additional details about the individual attributes of Ad Sets can be found below.
Example Ad Set
{
  "data": {
    "type": "ReadAdSet",
    "id": "123467",
    "attributes": {
      "name": "Campaign A",
      "advertiserId": "12345",
      "objective": "conversions",
      "destinationEnvironment": "app",
      "mediaType": "Display",
      "datasetId": "6789",
      "campaignId": "1485",
      "schedule": {
        "startDate": "2018-07-04T00:00:00Z",
        "endDate": "2018-07-26T00:00:00Z",
        "activationStatus": "on",
        "deliveryStatus": "live"
      },
      "bidding": {
        "bidAmount": 0.9,
        "costController": "MaxCPC",
      },
      "targeting": {
        "frequencyCapping": {
          "frequency": "hourly",
          "maximumImpressions": 3
        },
        "geoLocation": {
          "countries": {"values": ["FR"], "operand": "in"},
          "subdivisions":  {"values": ["FR-01", "FR-38"], "operand": "notIn"},
          "zipCodes":  null
        },
        "deliveryLimitations": {
          "devices": ["mobile", "tablet"],
          "operatingSystems": ["ios"],
          "environments": []
        }
      },
      "budget": {
        "budgetStrategy": "capped",
        "budgetRenewal": "daily",
        "budgetDeliverySmoothing": "accelerated",
        "budgetDeliveryWeek": "mondayToSunday",
        "budgetAmount": {"value": 123.45}
      },
      "attributionConfiguration": { 
        "attributionMethod": "criteoAttribution", 
        "lookbackWindow": null 
      } 
    }
  },
  "warnings": [],
  "errors": []
}

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Ad Set Attributes

name
The Ad Set name, set by the advertiser. destinationEnvironment
Read-only. The environment that an ad click will lead a user to. objective
The intended optimization for the Ad Set. Can be customAction, clicks, conversions, displays, appPromotion, revenue, storeConversions, value, reach, visits or videoViews (only when mediaType is set to Video) mediaType
The type of media the ad set will deliver on. Can be Display or Video datasetId
Data Set Id associated with the specified advertiser ID. See Datasets for how to find datasets associated to advertisers. campaignId
Id of the marketing campaign associated to the ad set. See Search for Campaigns for how to search for campaigns.

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Ad Set Schedule

schedule.startDate
ISO 8601 format. It must always be earlier than the schedule.endDate. It’s a mandatory parameter of the Schedule object. This condition applies only if an endDate is defined. schedule.endDate
ISO 8601 format. null by default. (null is a valid value.) schedule.activationStatus
Can be on or off. off by default. Set by the advertiser, this represents the intent to deliver ads. See Start and Stop Ad Sets for how to change this value. schedule.deliveryStatus
Can be draft, inactive, live, notLive, pausing, paused, scheduled, ended, notDelivering, or archived. The initial value for a newly created Ad Set is draft. This is a computed value and is read-only.
activationStatus vs deliveryStatusdeliveryStatus is a computed value. It is affected by factors other than the value of activationStatus, such as budget consumption, start date, and end date.

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Ad Set Bidding

bidding.bidAmount
Decimal value target relating to the objective specified. May be null for strategies that do not require a target value. bidding.costController
How spend is controlled and optimized. Can be COS (Cost of Sale), MaxCPC (Cost per Click), CPI (Cost per Install), CPM (Cost per Mille), CPO (Cost per Order), CPSV (Cost per Site Visit), CPV (Cost per View), targetCPM or dailyBudget.

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Ad Set Targeting

targeting.frequencyCapping.maximumImpressions
Integer value. The maximum impressions allowed for the specified frequencyCapping.frequency. targeting.frequencyCapping.frequency
The period by which the maximum impression limit is calculated. Can be hourly, daily, or lifetime. advanced is available for special Criteo-configured setups, but cannot be selected or set manually. targeting.geoLocation.countries
Contains an array of values, two letter country codes, ISO-3166 format. Also specifies an operand which can be in or notIn depending on the desired behavior for the values. targeting.geoLocation.subdivisions
Contains an array of values, geographical subdivisions following ISO-3166 format. Also specifies an operand which can be in or notIn depending on the desired behavior for the values. targeting.geoLocation.zipCodes
Contains an array of values, zip codes. Also specifies an operand which can be in or notIn depending on the desired behavior for the values.
Geolocation TargetingGeolocation settings do not support an empty array for their values. If a geolocation setting like geoLocation.countries is null, then the filter is inactive. Otherwise, the filter is active and must have a non-empty list for values.
targeting.deliveryLimitations.devices
List of device types that the Ad Set should target. Can contain desktop, tablet, mobile and other. targeting.deliveryLimitations.operatingSystems
List of operating systems that the Ad Set should target. Can contain android, ios, and other. targeting.deliveryLimitations.environments
List of display environments that the Ad Set should target. Can contain inApp and web.

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Ad Set Budget

budget.budgetStrategy
Whether budget is capped or not. Can be capped or uncapped. Currently read-only. budget.budgetRenewal
The cadence of budget reneweal. Can be daily, weekly,monthly, lifetime, or undefined. Currently read-only. budget.budgetDeliverySmoothing
The pace at which budget can be spent. Can be accelerated or standard. Currently read-only. budget.budgetDeliveryWeek
The seven day period for budget delivery. Can be mondayToSunday, tuesdayToMonday, wednesdayToTuesday, thursdayToWednesday, fridayToThursday, saturdayToFriday, or sundayToSaturday. Currently read-only. budget.budgetAmount
A decimal value showing the remaining budget value for Ad Sets with Capped budget strategies. For uncapped budgets, the value will be null.

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Ad Set Attribution Configuration

attributionConfiguration.attributionMethod The attribution method that defines how sales will be attributed to the marketing campaign. Can be CriteoAttribution, GoogleAnalyticsLastClick, GoogleAnalyticsDataDriven, LastClick, PostClick. attributionConfiguration.lookbackWindow The lookback window specifies the time frame during which purchases are attributed to an ad interaction. Can be 30M (Same Session), 24H, 7D, 30D. It is filled when the PostClick or LastClick attribution method is selected, or else it should not be filled, and would return an error.

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Searching Ad Sets

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Retrieving Ad Sets by Filtering

Ad Sets can be retrieved by specifying filters to apply to the set of all Ad Sets in your portfolio. Current available filters are adSetIds (which allows you to specify a list of Ad Set IDs to retrieve), campaignIds (which allows you retrieve Ad Sets belonging to a list of Campaigns) and advertiserIds (which allows you retrieve Ad Sets belonging to a list of Advertisers). For example, to retrieve two existing Ad Sets in your portfolio, filter by adSetIds: 
{
    "filters": {
        "adSetIds": ["12345", "67890"] 
    }
}
The API will return an array of Ad Sets that match the provided filters:
Sample Response
{
    "data": [
        {
            "type": "ReadAdSet",
            "id": "12345",
            "attributes": { ... }
        },
            "type": "ReadAdSet",
            "id": "67890",
            "attributes": { ... }
        }
    ],
    "errors": []
}
The response above is truncated for clarity. Note: the type field is the type of entity e.g. ReadAdSet and the id field is the unique id of the Adset

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Retrieving All Ad Sets

When no filters are specified in the JSON payload, all Ad Sets in your portfolio will be returned, as in the example below: 
{
    "filters": {}
}

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Retrieving One Specific Ad Set

You can also fetch the details for a single Ad Set using a GET request: The response data will be a single object containing the Ad Set details.
Sample Response
{
    "data": {
        "type": "ReadAdSet",
        "id": "12345",
        "attributes": { ... }
    },
    "errors": []
}

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Create an Ad Set

A new ad set can be created for a specific advertiser by making a POST call to the ad set endpoint. The request body should specify the type (Adset) and the ad set attributes.
The following attributes are required to create a new Ad Set: name, campaignId,objective, datasetId, targeting, budget, schedule, bidding
For example, the following call would create a new Ad Set targeting lookalike audiences: 
{
  "data": {
    "type": "AdSet",
    "attributes": {
      "name": "API created Ad Set",
      "datasetId": "56789",
      "objective": "conversions",
      "campaignId": "12789",
      "mediaType": "Display",
      "schedule": {
        "startDate": "2018-07-04T00:00:00Z",
        "endDate": "2018-07-26T00:00:00Z"
      },
      "bidding": {
        "bidamount": 0.9,
        "costcontroller": "MaxCPC"
      },
      "targeting": {
        "frequencyCapping": {
          "frequency": "daily",
          "maximumImpressions": 3
        },
        "geoLocation": {
          "countries": {
            "values": [
              "FR"
            ],
            "operand": "In"
          },
          "subdivisions": {
            "values": [
              "FR-01",
              "FR-38"
            ],
            "operand": "NotIn"
          },
          "zipCodes": {
            "values": [],
            "operand": "NotIn"
          }
        },
        "deliveryLimitations": {
          "devices": [
            "Mobile",
            "Tablet"
          ],
          "operatingSystems": [
            "iOS"
          ],
          "environments": []
        }
      },
      "budget": {
        "budgetStrategy": "Capped",
        "budgetRenewal": "Daily",
        "budgetDeliverySmoothing": "Accelerated",
        "budgetDeliveryWeek": "MondayToSunday",
        "budgetAmount": 123.5
      },
      "attributionConfiguration": {
         "attributionMethod": "PostClick",
         "lookbackWindow": "24H"
       }
    }
  }
}
The API will return an array of the ID and attributes of the new ad set. The ad set attributes include the name, data set ID, campaign ID, advertiser ID, destination environment, activation status, delivery status, bid strategy and cost controller. If attributionConfiguration is not filled, then a default value of attributionMethod: CriteoAttribution, will be set. 
{
  "data": {
    "type": "AdSet",
    "id": "987634",
    "attributes": {
      "name": "API created Ad Set",
      "objective": "conversions",
      "datasetId": "56789",
      "campaignId": "12789",
      "advertiserId": "456",
      "destinationEnvironment": "web",
      "schedule": {
        "activationStatus": "off",
        "deliveryStatus": "draft"
      },
      "bidding": {
        "costController": "MaxCPC"
      }
    }
  },
  "errors": [ ],    /* omitted if no errors */
	"warnings": [ ]    /* omitted if no warnings*/
}

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Ad Set General Info

At the creation, additional attributes are required: trackingCode
Required. Click URL parameters. Query string syntax without ”?” (eg. utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=mycampaign)
Ad Set AudiencesNewly created Ad Sets will not be linked to any audience. To create an audience, refer to the Create an Audience guide. You can link existing audiences following the steps in the Update Ad Set Audience guide.

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Update Ad Sets

The fields of one or more Ad Sets can be updated by making a PATCH call to the Ad Sets endpoint. The payload should be an array of partial or whole Ad Sets, each specifying the fields to be modified. For example, the following call would update the name, startDate, endDate, bidAmount and frequency capping settings of an existing Ad Set: The bid amount value supports a maximum of 4 decimal digits. If more digits are provided, the amount will be rounded. 
{
    "data": [
        {
            "type": "PatchAdSet",
            "id": "12345",
            "attributes": {
              	"name": "Updated Ad Set Name",
                "scheduling": {
                    "startDate": { "value": "2021-01-19T10:18:28.632Z" },
                    "endDate": { "value": "2021-01-20T10:18:28.632Z" }
                },
                "bidding": {
                    "bidAmount": { "value": 0.9 }
                },
              	"frequencyCapping": {
                    "frequency": "hourly",
                    "maximumImpressions": 12
                },
                "attributionConfiguration": { 
                    "attributionMethod": "LastClick", 
                    "lookbackWindow":  "30D" 
                } 
            }
        }
    ]
}
The API will return an array of Ad Sets that have been updated successfully in the response data. These will contain only two parameters, type and id.
Sample Response
{
    "data": [
        {
            "type": "AdSetId",
            "id": "12345"
        }
    ],
    "errors": [],
    "warnings": []
}
Ad Set Patch LimitNote that there is a limit of 50 ad sets per single request. If you are updating more than 50 ad sets, please split them into chunks of 50 and make multiple requests.

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Update AdSet Audience

Use this endpoint if you want to link an Audience to an AdSet. Both need to exist beforehand.
Link and Audience, not an Audience SegmentAudiences are made out of Audience Segments, and only Audiences can be linked to AdSets.If you have created an Audience Segment and would like to link it to an existing AdSet, first include it within an Audience, and later use that Audience with this endpoint.
{
    "data": {
        "id": "1001",
        "type": "AdSetAudience",
        "attributes": {
            "audienceId": "9876"
        }
    }
}

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Start an Ad Set

One or more Ad Sets can be set to start delivery by making a POST call to the Start Ad Sets endpoint shown below. The payload should be an array of Ad Sets, specifying their type and id: 
{
    "data": [
        {
            "type": "AdSetId",
            "id": "12345"
        },
      	{
            "type": "AdSetId",
            "id": "67890"
        }
    ]
}
The API will return an array of Ad Sets representing those Ad Sets which were started successfully:
Sample Response
{
    "data": [
        {
            "type": "AdSetId",
            "id": "12345"
        },
        {
            "type": "AdSetId",
            "id": "67890"
        }
    ],
    "errors": [],
    "warnings": []
}

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Stop an Ad Set

Similarly, one or more Ad Sets can be set to stop delivery by making a POST call to the Stop Ad Sets endpoint shown below. The payload should be an array of Ad Sets, specifying their type and id: 
{
    "data": [
        {
            "type": "AdSetId",
            "id": "12345"
        }
    ]
}
The API will return an array of Ad Sets representing those Ad Sets which were stopped successfully:
Sample Response
{
    "data": [
        {
            "type": "AdSetId",
            "id": "12345"
        }
    ],
    "errors": [],
    "warnings": []
}

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Partial Success / Partial Failure

Each Ad Set update is processed individually and can succeed or fail without impacting other updates in the same payload. As a result, those Ad Set updates processed successfully will be returned in the data array of the response, while Ad Sets updates that have failed will return as an entry in the errors array of the response.
HTTP Response CodesAs a result of this individual processing, the API may respond with a 200 HTTP response code, but the result of its processing may have one or more failures.
For instance, for this payload which intends to update two Ad Sets: 
{
    "data": [
        {
            "type": "PatchAdSet",
            "id": "12345",
            "attributes": {
                "bidding": {
                    "bidAmount": { "value": 0.9 }
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "PatchAdSet",
            "id": "67890",
            "attributes": {
                "bidding": {
                    "bidAmount": { "value": -2 }
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}
The response might look like:
Sample Response
{
    "data": [
        {
            "type": "AdSetId",
            "id": "12345"
        }
    ],
    "errors": [
        {
            "traceIdentifier": "56ed4096-f96a-4944-8881-05468efe0ec9",
            "type": "validation",
            "code": "campaign--ad-set-update-check--invalid-bid-amount",
            "instance": "@data/1",
            "title": "Invalid bid amount",
            "detail": "The bid amount value is invalid: either it's an adaptative cost controller and it must be null, or it's not the valid interval of values."
        }
    ],
    "warnings": []
}
Error instanceThe instance field for validation errors will specify the index of the related update, beginning with index 0. For the example above, @data/1 refers to the second requested update in the request’s data array.
A full list of error codes can be found in the next section.

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Validation Errors and Warnings

In addition to general API errors , you may encounter validation errors when updating an Ad Set or attempting to start and stop delivery. Below is a list of error codes for Ad Set validation and a more detailed description of their meaning. Ad Set Retrieval Validation Warnings: cannot-expose-specific-adsets
The configuration of the Ad Set prevents the retrieval via this API endpoint. Ad Set Creation Validation Errors:
campaign--ad-set-creation-check--invalid-data
The Ad Set has invalid configuration or is missing required information. campaign--ad-set-creation-check--invalid-geolocation
The geolocation is invalid. campaign--ad-set-creation-check--invalid-os-env-configuration
The configurations of Operating Systems and Environment are invalid. campaign--ad-set-creation-check--start-date-not-valid
The start date must be before the end date. campaign--ad-set-creation-check--end-date-not-valid
The end date must be after the start date. campaign--ad-set-creation-check--invalid-bid-amount
The bid amount value is invalid: either it’s an adaptive cost controller and it must be null, or it’s not the valid interval of values. campaign--ad-set-creation-check--frequency-cappings-not-valid
The frequency capping configuration is not valid. campaign--ad-set-creation-check--invalid-dataset-id
The data set ID is invalid or not associated to your account. See Datasets for how to find ad sets associated to your account. campaign--ad-set-creation-check--invalid-audience-configuration
The Ad Set has invalid audience or audience with missing parameters. See Create an Ad Set for how to configure Ad Set Audience. campaign--ad-set-creation-check--no-audience-config
The Ad Set has no audience configured. See Create an Ad Set for how to configure Ad Set Audience. campaign--ad-set-creation-check--multiple-audience-configs
The Ad Set has multiple audiences configured. Only one audience can be configured per Ad Set. See Create an Ad Set for how to configure Ad Set Audience. campaign--ad-set-creation-check--invalid-audience-id
The Ad set has invalid audience ID(s). To create this Ad Set, get in touch with our support team for assistance. campaign--ad-set-creation-check--invalid-spend-strategy
The Ad Set is configured with an invalid spend strategy. To create this Ad Set, get in touch with our support team for assistance. campaign--ad-set-creation-check--invalid-bidding-configuration
The bidding configuration is not valid with the selected MediaType. campaign--ad-set-creation-check--invalid-attribution-configuration The Ad Set has an invalid attribution configuration set up.
  • Attribution Method should not be null or unknown
  • Lookback window should not be unknown, and it should only be defined for Attribution Methods: PostClick and LastClick
  • When Google Analytics is not configured, it is not possible to select as attribution method: GoogleAnalyticsLastClick, GoogleAnalyticsDataDriven
  • If defined, the lookback window for an Optimum Ad Set must be 30D
Ad Set Update Validation Errors:
campaign--ad-set-update-check--ad-set-invalid-geolocation
The geolocation is invalid. campaign--ad-set-update-check--ad-set-is-archived
This Ad Set is archived and thus can’t be started. campaign--ad-set-update-check--ad-set-invalid-os-env-configuration
The configurations of Operating Systems and Environment are invalid. campaign--ad-set-update-check--ad-set-not-activable
This Ad Set is currently activated. Your change would impact negatively its eligibility to be active, so it has been prevented. campaign--ad-set-update-check--name-is-null
An Ad Set cannot have an empty name. campaign--ad-set-update-check--start-date-is-null
It’s impossible to set an empty start date (though some old Ad Sets could have a null start date). campaign--ad-set-update-check--start-date-not-valid
The start date must be before the end date. campaign--ad-set-update-check--end-date-not-valid
The end date must be after the start date. campaign--ad-set-update-check--invalid-bid-amount
The bid amount value is invalid: either it’s an adaptive cost controller and it must be null, or it’s not the valid interval of values. campaign--ad-set-update-check--frequency-cappings-not-valid
The frequency capping configuration is not valid. campaign--ad-set-update-check--too-many-entities
There are too many ad sets to be updated. A maximum of 50 ad sets can be updated per single request Ad Set Start and Stop Validation Errors:
campaign--ad-set-start-check--cannot-activate-archived-ad-set
This Ad Set is archived and thus can’t be started. campaign--ad-set-start-check--active-ad-sets-limit-reached
This Ad Set cannot be started because you reached the limit on the number of simultaneoulsy activated Ad Sets. campaign--ad-set-start-check--ad-set-with-custom-settings
This Ad Set has some advanced settings and can’t be launched directly through the platform. To launch this Ad Set, get in touch with our support team. campaign--ad-set-start-check--data-set-is-in-creative-ab-test
This Ad Set is configured with a creative A/B test and can’t be launched directly through the platform. To launch this Ad Set, get in touch with our support team. campaign--ad-set-start-check--ad-set-is-in-ab-test
This Ad Set is configured with an A/B test and can’t be launched directly through the platform. To launch this Ad Set, get in touch with our support team. campaign--ad-set-start-check--ad-set-with-revenue-optimizer
This Ad Set is configured with Optimize Revenue. It needs to be switched to Optimize conversions for at least 2 weeks. To edit and launch this Ad Set, get in touch with our support team. campaign--ad-set-start-check--payment-billing-status-declined
We noticed incorrect information in your billing details or payment information. Please get in touch with our support team to update your details. campaign--ad-set-start-check--payment-billing-status-no-details
There’s no payment & billing information attached to this account. Go to payments & billing to add your information. campaign--ad-set-start-check--ad-set-requiring-data-sharing
Your Ad Set can’t be launched because data sharing isn’t activated on your account. Please contact your Criteo representative to activate this feature. campaign--ad-set-start-check--payment-billing-status-no-payment-method
There’s no payment method attached to this account. Go to payments & billing to add your payment details. campaign--ad-set-start-check--advertiser-financial-statuses-not-ok
There are some unpaid invoices. Go to payments & billing to remit your payments as soon as possible or add a new payment method. If the issue persists, get in touch with our support team. campaign--ad-set-start-check--terms-and-conditions-not-accepted
You need to accept our Terms & Conditions to launch this Ad Set. To do so, get in touch with our support team. campaign--ad-set-start-check--ad-set-has-no-remaining-budget
This Ad Set won’t run until you add budget to it. Go to Budgets to increase your budget. campaign--ad-set-start-check--no-inventory-placements-for-ad-set
This Ad Set needs at least one ad placement to get started. Go to Creatives to edit your ad placements. campaign--ad-set-start-check--not-enough-transaction-tag-hits
We advise you to check your transaction tags in Events Tracking before launching your Ad Set. campaign--ad-set-start-check--no-active-catalog-feed
As you’re not using the auto-import feature, we need to resync your catalog to build dynamic ads. Go to Product catalog to start syncing. campaign--ad-set-start-check--no-design-set-found-for-banner-types
This Ad Set needs at least one ad to get started. Go to Creatives to add one. campaign--ad-set-start-check--cannot-activate-ad-set-without-revenue
You didn’t specify any cost controller (bid or target KPI) amount for this Ad Set. Add a value for your bid or your target. If the error persists, get in touch with our support team. campaign--ad-set-start-check--context-zero-no-geoloc-filter
Extensive targeting is enabled on your Ad Set. Reaching too many people could lead to bad performance results. Go to your Ad Set settings to narrow your targeting, by restricting the geolocation to 1 or 2 countries for example. If the error persists, get in touch with our support team. campaign--ad-set-start-check--context-zero-wrong-configuration
The audience of your Ad Set is too broad. Check its configuration or get in touch with your account strategist for assistance. campaign--ad-set-start-check--desktop-device-not-supported-for-app-install
Your Ad Set is missing some required information. Please get in touch with our support team. campaign--ad-set-start-check--data-set-logo-required-for-app-install
Your Ad Set is missing some required information. Please get in touch with our support team. campaign--ad-set-start-check--parallel-click-tracking-incorrectly-set-up
Parallel click tracking is not configured correctly. campaign--ad-set-start-check--ad-set-has-missing-attribution-url
Your Ad Set is missing an attribution URL. campaign--ad-set-start-check--crp-ad-set-should-not-have-smoothing-budget
Your CRP Ad Set should not employ budget smoothing. campaign--ad-set-start-check--misconfigured-ad-set
This Ad Set has invalid configuration or missing parameters. To launch this Ad Set, get in touch with our support team for assistance. campaign--ad-set-start-check--ad-set-requiring-an-audience
This Ad Set is not linked to an audience. Check the section Update Ad Set Audience. campaign--ad-set-update-check--invalid-attribution-configuration This Ad Set has an invalid attribution configuration set up:
  • Attribution Method should not be null or unknown
  • Lookback window should not be unknown, and it should only be defined for Attribution Methods: PostClick and LastClick
  • When Google Analytics is not configured, it is not possible to select as attribution method: GoogleAnalyticsLastClick, GoogleAnalyticsDataDriven
  • If defined, the lookback window for an Optimum Ad Set must be 30D