COUNTDOWN is not possible to create via AdWords API

[bar...@ppcbee.com]

Hello,

I am using AdWords api for more than 8 years and now before christmas our clients wants to setup COUNTDOWNS but by API it is not possible because of some validation of INVALID_AD_CUSTOMIZER_FORMAT or LEGACY_AD_CUSTOMIZER_SYNTAX

I am making normal request to create Responsive search ad:

<operations>

  <operator>ADD</operator>

  <operand>

    <adGroupId>XXXX</adGroupId>

    <ad xsi:type="ResponsiveSearchAd">

      <finalUrls>XXXXX</finalUrls>

      <headlines>

        <asset xsi:type="TextAsset"><assetText>Test RSA with countdown</assetText></asset>

      </headlines>

      <headlines><asset xsi:type="TextAsset"><assetText>{COUNTDOWN(2020-12-25 00:00:01,20} to buy</assetText></asset></headlines>

      <headlines><asset xsi:type="TextAsset"><assetText>20 is number of days</assetText></asset></headlines>

      <headlines><asset xsi:type="TextAsset"><assetText>Before countdown end date</assetText></asset></headlines>

      <descriptions><asset xsi:type="TextAsset"><assetText>This is test</assetText></asset></descriptions>

      <descriptions><asset xsi:type="TextAsset"><assetText>And second description</assetText></asset></descriptions>

      <path1></path1>

      <path2></path2>

    </ad>

  </operand>

</operations>

and I get 

<errors xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:type="AdError">

  <fieldPath>operations[1].operand.ad.headlines[1].asset.assetText</fieldPath>

  <fieldPathElements>

    <field>operations</field>

    <index>1</index>

  </fieldPathElements>

  <fieldPathElements>

    <field>operand</field>

  </fieldPathElements>

  <fieldPathElements>

    <field>ad</field>

  </fieldPathElements>

  <fieldPathElements>

    <field>headlines</field>

    <index>1</index>

  </fieldPathElements>

  <fieldPathElements>

    <field>asset</field>

  </fieldPathElements>

  <fieldPathElements>

    <field>assetText</field>

  </fieldPathElements>

  <trigger>{COUNTDOWN(2020-12-25 00:00:01,20}</trigger>

  <errorString>AdError.INVALID_AD_CUSTOMIZER_FORMAT</errorString>

  <ApiError.Type>AdError</ApiError.Type>

  <reason>UNKNOWN</reason>

</errors>

In Google Ads UI I can see that this is exact way to describe countdown

I have also tried format {=COUNTDOWN(“2020/12/25 00:00:01”,“hr”)} (which was working few weks/months ago - I do not create campaigns so I have no idea when this format stopped working)

Can anyone help me to solve this trouble? 

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi,

Thank you for posting your concern.

I am afraid that implementing countdown in responsive search ads is currently not possible in AdWords API and in Google Ads API as well.

With this, let me raise a feature request to my team for this feature and to have a document about implementation of countdown in responsive search ads using API. This feature request is also subject for review.

For the meantime, you can follow our blog to receive updates and new releases.

Regards,

Ernie John Blanca Tacata Google Ads API Team

ref:_00D1U1174p._5004Q27vVeP:ref

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor Prod]

Hi,

Upon further discussion with the team, we noticed that the COUNTDOWN customizer formula is missing a closing parenthesis.

You may update it from
{COUNTDOWN(2020-12-25 00:00:01,20}

To
{COUNTDOWN(2020-12-25 00:00:01,20)}

Let me know how it goes after trying the provided suggestion.