Bulk Upload Campaigns via Excel

The Outbrain Excel Uploader lets you prepare and launch multiple campaigns at once without going through the UI one by one. You define everything — targeting, budget, bidding, and creatives — in an Excel file and submit it through TheOptimizer. You can start from a blank Google Sheets template, or download a pre-filled Excel directly from any existing campaign — ideal when you’re launching variations of setups you already run.

How It Works

Get Your Template

Open Campaign Creator in TheOptimizer and click the Outbrain card. Choose Bulk Upload (Excel) from the options shown.

New Outbrain Campaign — choose Create Manually or Bulk Upload (Excel)

You then have two ways to get your template:Option A — Download pre-filled from an existing campaign (recommended)In the Reference campaign dropdown, select an existing campaign. TheOptimizer will pre-fill the template columns and settings from that campaign. Download the pre-filled Excel file and use it as your base — duplicate rows, update creatives and headlines, and adjust settings as needed.

Outbrain Bulk Upload modal — Reference campaign dropdown, Copy template button, and file upload area

This is the fastest approach when you’re launching campaigns similar to setups you already run.Option B — Start from the empty Google Sheets templateIf you’re setting up a new campaign type from scratch, click Copy template to clone the empty template into your Google account:Clone the Outbrain Google Sheets Template →The template contains:

A main sheet with one row per ad (campaign settings + creative in each row)
Auxiliary sheets with reference data: Countries, Locations, Browsers, IAB Categories, and more
Column notes on every column header — hover over the column name to see the accepted values and format

Fill in Your Campaigns

Each row in the main sheet represents one ad. To create a campaign with multiple ads, add one row per ad keeping all campaign-level columns identical, and vary only the ad-level columns (image URL, headline, CTA, etc.).Key things to note:

Columns marked 🚩 REQUIRED must be filled in — the upload will fail if they’re missing
Columns marked 🟡 are conditionally required (e.g. End Date is only needed if Run Forever is set to FALSE)
Use the auxiliary sheets to look up valid values for locations, languages, IAB categories, etc.

Upload Your File

If you used Option B (Google Sheets template), first export your sheet: in Google Sheets, go to File → Download → Microsoft Excel (.xlsx).Back in the modal, drag and drop your .xlsx file into the upload area or click to browse for it. Then click Upload Campaigns to submit.

Check Your Email for Confirmation

After submitting, TheOptimizer processes the file and sends you an email:

✅ Successful upload — your campaigns are queued and being created on Outbrain. Track progress from the Campaign Creator page.
⚠️ Upload failed — the email will include a new Excel file with all error cells highlighted. Download it, fix the issues, and re-upload.

Column Reference

The table below describes every column in the Outbrain Excel template.

Column	Description
Traffic Source Account ID	🚩 REQUIRED. The Outbrain account ID from TheOptimizer where campaigns will be uploaded. Find it under Traffic Sources in the left menu.
Campaign Name	🚩 REQUIRED. The name of the campaign.
Objective	🚩 REQUIRED. `Awareness`, `Traffic`, `AppInstall`, or `Conversions`.
Budget	🚩 REQUIRED. Minimum budget is $20. The maximum you want to spend per day, month, or campaign.
Budget Type	🚩 REQUIRED. `DAILY`, `MONTHLY`, or `CAMPAIGN`.
Budget Pacing	🚩 REQUIRED. `AUTOMATIC` — even pacing. `SPEND_ASAP` — spend as fast as possible. `DAILY_TARGET` — fixed daily amount from monthly/campaign budget.
Budget Daily Target	🟡 Required if Budget Pacing is `DAILY_TARGET`. Daily spend target.
Start Date	🚩 REQUIRED. Campaign start date in `YYYY-MM-DD` format.
Start Hour	🚩 REQUIRED. Campaign start hour (e.g., `7` or `22`).
Run Forever	🚩 REQUIRED. Whether the campaign runs continuously (`TRUE` or `FALSE`).
End Date	🟡 Required if Run Forever is `FALSE`.
Selected Locations	Comma-separated locations to target (e.g. `Italy, France, United States`). See Locations sheet.
Excluded Locations	Locations to exclude from targeting. Comma-separated. See Locations sheet.
Platform	🚩 REQUIRED. Platforms to target. Values: `DESKTOP`, `MOBILE`, `TABLET`. Comma-separated for multiple.
Operating System	🚩 REQUIRED. OS to target. Values: `Android`, `Ios`, `MacOs`, `Windows`. Comma-separated for multiple.
Browsers	Browser targeting. Leave empty to target all browsers.
Exclude Ad Block Users	🚩 REQUIRED. Whether to exclude adblock users. Values: `TRUE` or `FALSE`.
Msn Exclusive	🚩 REQUIRED. Run on Microsoft News (MSN) only. `TRUE` or `FALSE`.
High Impact Placements	🚩 REQUIRED. Whether to include high-impact MSN placements. Values: `TRUE`, `FALSE`.
Optimization Type	🚩 REQUIRED. `TARGET_CPA_FULLY_AUTOMATED` or `TARGET_ROAS_FULLY_AUTOMATED`.
Creative Format	🚩 REQUIRED. `Standard`, `Clip`, or `Carousel`.
Scheduling on air days	Day/hour schedule if you want the campaign to run only at specific times. Example: `FRI-0-23,SAT-0-23`.
Target CPA	🟡 Required if Optimization Type is `TARGET_CPA_FULLY_AUTOMATED`.
Target ROAS	🟡 Required if Optimization Type is `TARGET_ROAS_FULLY_AUTOMATED`.
Conversions	🟡 Required if Objective is `Conversions` or `AppInstalls`, or if Optimization Type is CPA/ROAS automated. Enter conversion name as shown in Outbrain.
Audience Targeting	🚩 REQUIRED. `ALL`, `IAB`, or `INTERESTS`.
IAB or Interests Categories	🟡 Required if Audience Targeting is `IAB` or `INTERESTS`. See IAB Categories sheet.
IAB or Interests Operation	🟡 Required if Audience Targeting is `IAB` or `INTERESTS`. `include` or `exclude`.
Suffix Tracking Code	URL parameters appended to landing page URLs for external tracking.
CPC	🚩 REQUIRED. Default cost per click at campaign level.
Language	🚩 REQUIRED. Language targeting.
Target URL	Target URL of the ad (leave empty if using Media Manager Ads).
Image URL	🚩 REQUIRED (unless using Media Manager Ads). Ad image URL.
Headline	🚩 REQUIRED (unless using Media Manager Ads). Max 100 characters (90 recommended).
Description	Optional ad description. Max 150 characters.
Site Name	🚩 REQUIRED. Your brand or website name displayed below the ad.
Call to Action	🚩 REQUIRED. Call-to-action for the ad.
Media Manager Ads	Reference a saved Ad group from Outbrain’s Media Manager instead of providing individual image/headline/URL fields.
Rules	Comma-separated Rule IDs from TheOptimizer to attach to the campaign after creation.
Rule Groups	Comma-separated rule group names from TheOptimizer to attach after creation.

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Bulk Upload Campaigns via Excel

How It Works

Column Reference

​How It Works

​Column Reference

How It Works

Column Reference