Yahoo Preferred Network (Native) Developer Documentation

Yahoo Ad Tech provides qualifying developers with RESTful access to mobile search and native advertising results with a simple pricing scheme based on usage.

Using the Yahoo Preferred Network (Native) API, you can programmatically buy, manage and optimize mobile search and native advertising for ad campaigns across Yahoo Ad Tech’s mobile inventory.

As an API partner or developer, you’ll work with a set of RESTful objects to create, manage and retrieve advertiser data for your ads, ad groups and campaigns.

yahoo advantage

Migration to Single, Unified Demand Platform

As Mark Meyer, Director of Solutions Engineering for Yahoo Native and Yahoo DSP Ad Platforms, explains:

“Yahoo DSP and Yahoo Native will be merging into a single, unified demand platform. The goal is to provide Yahoo advertisers with a single unified interface that simplifies ad buying and optimization across all media types - e.g., video and native - and across all buy types, including RTB, Yahoo Preferred Network, Reserved and across all supply sources O & O and 3rd party. That means, advertisers, developers and partners will be able to buy both Yahoo O&O Native and DSP more efficiently – and with improved conversion and performance results.”

Navigate to the Yahoo Native to Yahoo DSP API Migration Guide for information about the high-level changes that you need to consider and understand when migrating from Yahoo Native to Yahoo DSP. The guide describes in parallel the RESTful API endpoints and methods, headers and body, Curl and JSON responses for your campaigns when you transition your code base from Native to DSP. Explore the guide for an overview, and resources including migration strategies, how to get started, caveats & considerations, sample code and partner support.

Partner Support

The Yahoo Native API Partner Support page provides you with a quick snapshot of recent and upcoming releases, and is focused on features supported by the API. You’ll also find a summary of supported functionality.

Partner Support includes product bulletins updated on a monthly cadence for Yahoo Native API partners, account managers and developers.

If you’re working with the Yahoo DSP or Yahoo Native API, you can reach out for more information at solutionsengineering@yahooinc.com.

How To Navigate The Yahoo Native API

The Yahoo Preferred Network API documentation is organized around the topics listed in the left rail Table of Contents (TOC).

  1. To begin, explore the section on Navigating the Yahoo Native API, which describes topics dealing with Authentication, Creating a Sandbox Account for API testing, Versioning and API v1 Deprecation.

  2. Next, you’ll want to study and understand the Yahoo Native RESTful API objects – Ad, Ad Extensions, Ad Group, Advertisers, Campaigns, Keyword, Shared Site Link and Targeting Attribute – and their relationships in the v3 Yahoo Native API data model.

  3. Drill down to topics like Audience Management, which enables you to better target your ads by creating audiences from your website, from your mobile app, from your email lists or from your customer lists, and Reporting, which allows you to query cubes, or pre-defined collections of fields that let you define the context of your report.

  4. If you need to work with Bulk operations, for example, the API lets you download and edit all the objects in your advertiser account using a spreadsheet in CSV format and provides you with a Bulk Operations for working with bulk files.

  5. To test and verify the calls you make in the Yahoo Native API, you can set up the Postman HTTP client, which lets you make requests (GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE calls) to the Yahoo Native APIs. Check out the Postman Toolkit documentation for details on working with Postman for optimizing, testing and error-checking your API calls.

Get Started

To get started, you’ll need to apply for access and an API Key. The process is simple and straightforward.

  1. Just fill out the form at Apply for Access.

  2. Once you complete the form, you’ll need to create an app and obtain an API key and secret. See the section on Creating an app and obtaining an API key.

Best Practices

To learn about tips and techniques for working with the API, check out Best Practices. The best practices are grouped into categories that are intended to optimize and advance your efforts in working with the API.

What’s New

To track the latest changes, updates and enhancements to the API, you’ll want to read the What’s New section.

For the latest information, check out the July 2022 Product Bulletin for API partners and developers.

For high-level information about Yahoo Brands and Solutions for advertisers, publishers and partners, be sure to explore Yahoo Ad Tech Advertising.