Downloading Ads report with includeZeroImpressions = false still downloads the creative with impression = 0

[Kain]

Hi,

I have a question with regard to the behavior of using ReportDefinition and ReportDownloader from package com.google.api.ads.adwords.lib.utils.v201809.

So I want to download the ad report WITHOUT the object of impression = 0. Here is the observation when I did my test.

Case 1:

* set includeZeroImpressions = false

* Specify couple ad fields like Headline, Id, AdGroupId, CampaignId, etc, but NO "Impressions" field.

In the report, my creative of impression = 0 appears.

Case 2:

* set includeZeroImpressions = false

* Specify couple ad fields together with "Impressions" field.

In the report, my creative of impression = 0 doesn't appear.

Case 3:

* set includeZeroImpressions = true

* Specify couple ad fields together with "Impressions" field.

In the report, my creative of impression = 0 appears.

From the above test result. I have a feeling that in order to exclude the object with impression = 0 in the report, besides setting includeZeroImpressions = false, we also need to include the "Impressions" field into the report download request. So is this expected? 

In Case 1, actually I'm expecting the creative with impression = 0 should NOT appear in the report.

If this is expected, besides "Impressions" field, is there any other fields having the similar behavior that affect the report?

Thank you,

Kain

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi Kain,

Thank you for posting your concern.

> From the above test result. I have a feeling that in order to exclude the object with impression = 0 in the report, besides setting includeZeroImpressions = false, we also need to include the "Impressions" field into the report download request. So is this expected? 

Could you confirm if you are using any metric fields in the SELECT clause? If yes, could you also confirm if the values for the metric fields have zero values? If the values aren't zero, this is the expected behavior. Please note that excluding zero impressions with includeZeroImpressions = false has a side effect in that rows are excluded only if all specified metric fields in the query have zero values.

> In Case 1, actually I'm expecting the creative with impression = 0 should NOT appear in the report.
If this is expected, besides "Impressions" field, is there any other fields having the similar behavior that affect the report?

If you have any other metric fields in the SELECT clause in your query and if they have values, they will affect the report.

You may refer to this guide for more details about zero Impression.

If this doesn't help to resolve your issue, so I can further investigate, could you provide the complete report definition together with your Client customer ID?

Regards,
Hiroyuki
Google Ads API Team

ref:_00D1U1174p._5001UHEJrK:ref

[Kain]

Hi Hiroyuki,

Thank you for your reply.

Yes I understand the point that when setting includeZeroImpressions = false, "Impressions" is not the only field that adwords api checks if it's 0 or not, couple more fields also matter.

But in my Case 2 above, I set includeZeroImpressions = false (same as Case 1), and I included the "Impressions"(together with "Cost","Clicks") field in my report download request (which is the only difference from Case 1). But in case 2, in the report, this creative does not show up (meaning the impression and all related metric fields are actually 0), but in Case 1, it shows up in the report.

My client cusomter id is "212-438-1568". The creative id is 378574373950.

Here is the report definition in Case 1, that the creative with impression = 0 shows in report. 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <reportDefinition xmlns:ns2="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/v201809"> <ns2:selector> <ns2:fields>Headline</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>HeadlinePart1</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>HeadlinePart2</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Description</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Description1</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Description2</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>AdType</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Status</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>DisplayUrl</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Path1</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Path2</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>CreativeUrlCustomParameters</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>CreativeTrackingUrlTemplate</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>CreativeFinalUrls</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>CreativeFinalMobileUrls</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>DevicePreference</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>ImageCreativeImageWidth</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>ImageCreativeImageHeight</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>ImageAdUrl</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Id</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>AdGroupId</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>CampaignId</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>ResponsiveSearchAdPath1</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>ResponsiveSearchAdPath2</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>ShortHeadline</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>LongHeadline</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>MarketingImageHeadline</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>MarketingImageDescription</ns2:fields> <ns2:predicates> <ns2:field>CampaignId</ns2:field> <ns2:operator>IN</ns2:operator> <ns2:values>6455474065</ns2:values> </ns2:predicates> <ns2:predicates> <ns2:field>AdType</ns2:field> <ns2:operator>NOT_IN</ns2:operator> <ns2:values>SHOWCASE_AD</ns2:values> </ns2:predicates> <ns2:dateRange> <ns2:min>20190814</ns2:min> <ns2:max>20190821</ns2:max> </ns2:dateRange> </ns2:selector> <ns2:reportName>AD_STRUCTURE</ns2:reportName> <ns2:reportType>AD_PERFORMANCE_REPORT</ns2:reportType> <ns2:dateRangeType>CUSTOM_DATE</ns2:dateRangeType> <ns2:downloadFormat>GZIPPED_CSV</ns2:downloadFormat> </reportDefinition>

And here is content in the report (creative shows):

Ad,Headline 1,Headline 2,Description,Description line 1,Description line 2,Ad type,Ad state,Display URL,Path 1,Path 2,Custom parameter,Tracking template,Final URL,Mobile final URL,Device preference,Image Width,Image Height,Image Ad URL,Ad ID,Ad group ID,Campaign ID,Responsive Search Ad path 1,Responsive Search Ad path 2,Short headline,Long headline,Gmail ad marketing image headline,Gmail ad marketing image description

,mpm-1340-head-line-1,mpm-1340-head-line-2,mpm-1340-desc-1,,,Expanded text ad,enabled,,p1,p2, --, --,"[""https://www.powpow.com""]", --, --, --, --, --,378574373950,78915899202,6455474065, --, --, --, --, --, --

Here is the report definition in Case 2, that the creative with impression = 0 does not show in report. The only difference is in Case 2 here, we have 3 more fields requested, "Impressions", "Cost" and "Clicks".

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <reportDefinition xmlns:ns2="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/v201809"> <ns2:selector> <ns2:fields>Headline</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>HeadlinePart1</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>HeadlinePart2</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Description</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Description1</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Description2</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>AdType</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Status</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>DisplayUrl</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Path1</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Path2</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>CreativeUrlCustomParameters</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>CreativeTrackingUrlTemplate</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>CreativeFinalUrls</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>CreativeFinalMobileUrls</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>DevicePreference</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>ImageCreativeImageWidth</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>ImageCreativeImageHeight</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>ImageAdUrl</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Id</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>AdGroupId</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>CampaignId</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>ResponsiveSearchAdPath1</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>ResponsiveSearchAdPath2</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>ShortHeadline</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>LongHeadline</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>MarketingImageHeadline</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>MarketingImageDescription</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Impressions</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Cost</ns2:fields> <ns2:fields>Clicks</ns2:fields> <ns2:predicates> <ns2:field>CampaignId</ns2:field> <ns2:operator>IN</ns2:operator> <ns2:values>6455474065</ns2:values> </ns2:predicates> <ns2:predicates> <ns2:field>AdType</ns2:field> <ns2:operator>NOT_IN</ns2:operator> <ns2:values>SHOWCASE_AD</ns2:values> </ns2:predicates> <ns2:dateRange> <ns2:min>20190814</ns2:min> <ns2:max>20190821</ns2:max> </ns2:dateRange> </ns2:selector> <ns2:reportName>AD_STRUCTURE</ns2:reportName> <ns2:reportType>AD_PERFORMANCE_REPORT</ns2:reportType> <ns2:dateRangeType>CUSTOM_DATE</ns2:dateRangeType> <ns2:downloadFormat>GZIPPED_CSV</ns2:downloadFormat> </reportDefinition>

This is the content in the report (no creative, only headers):

Ad,Headline 1,Headline 2,Description,Description line 1,Description line 2,Ad type,Ad state,Display URL,Path 1,Path 2,Custom parameter,Tracking template,Final URL,Mobile final URL,Device preference,Image Width,Image Height,Image Ad URL,Ad ID,Ad group ID,Campaign ID,Responsive Search Ad path 1,Responsive Search Ad path 2,Short headline,Long headline,Gmail ad marketing image headline,Gmail ad marketing image description,Impressions,Cost,Clicks

By the way this is the report in case 3, where I set includeZeroImpressions = true and includes the Impressions header. You can see in the last 3 fields, all of them are 0, which is expected.

Ad,Headline 1,Headline 2,Description,Description line 1,Description line 2,Ad type,Ad state,Display URL,Path 1,Path 2,Custom parameter,Tracking template,Final URL,Mobile final URL,Device preference,Image Width,Image Height,Image Ad URL,Ad ID,Ad group ID,Campaign ID,Responsive Search Ad path 1,Responsive Search Ad path 2,Short headline,Long headline,Gmail ad marketing image headline,Gmail ad marketing image description,Impressions,Cost,Clicks

,mpm-1340-head-line-1,mpm-1340-head-line-2,mpm-1340-desc-1,,,Expanded text ad,enabled,,p1,p2, --, --,"[""https://www.powpow.com""]", --, --, --, --, --,378574373950,78915899202,6455474065, --, --, --, --, --, --,0,0,0

Thank you,

Kain

[Kain]

Hi Hiroyuki,

Thank you so much for your answer.

Best,

Kain

On Thursday, August 22, 2019 at 12:26:57 AM UTC-7, adsapiforumadvisor wrote: