Google Adsense: Indirect Monetary Items May Now be Offered as Rewards

Google will change the Rewarded Inventory Policy to Policies for Ad Units that Offer Rewards on October 31, 2023. ​

The revised policies permit indirect or non-monetary awards to be given under the following conditions:

• Only products and services offered by the publisher's platform, website, or app may be exchanged for the incentive.
• The reward cannot be transferred.
• Rewards that are a discount or voucher for tangible goods cannot be worth more than 25% of the entire cost of the goods.

​​Direct monetary compensation is never permitted as a reward. In light of the revised policies:

• "Direct monetary items" means any kind of legal tender or other means of payment that can be used to pay for actual goods or services.

For instance, money, digital currency, and gift cards

• The term "Indirect or non-monetary items" refers to anything that has monetary worth but is not a direct form of payment in the real world or anything that does not have monetary value in the real world.

Discounts, points, or awards for loyalty; free delivery or trials; gaming character skins; extra lives for characters in games

• "Non-transferable" refers to a reward that can only be redeemed and used by the original recipient and is not immediately exchangeable for money or items that can be given to a third party.

Examples include a discount coupon, loyalty points, or game item that can only be redeemed and used by a certain user while they are logged in and cannot be used to buy something that can be transferred to another person.

​In addition to the aforementioned, they will also change the policies editorially for enhanced readability and clarity in accordance with Google AdSense.

​Please study the update to see whether your reward-based ad units are affected. You may ask for a review or make an appeal on or after October 31, 2023, if your reward-related ad units were previously rejected but you think they shouldn't be after the upgrade.