# Introduction to App Category targeting

> Implement app category targeting in Unity Ads to include or exclude entire app store categories from your user acquisition campaigns.

Targeting app categories allows you to accomplish several user acquisition goals, such as:

* Deliver your ad to users already engaging with apps like yours
* Deliver your ad to users in popular or high-performing app categories
* Avoid delivering your ad to users in lower-performing app categories

Similar to [App targeting](/grow/acquire/targeting/app/app-targeting.md), this feature allows you allow- or blocklist. Instead of allowing and blocking individual apps, you allow and block whole app categories, allowing you to run a highly-targeted campaign with minimal configuration.

When you open the category targeting settings, there are three groups of app categories to choose from:

* **Game categories**: apps with `Game` as the primary category, and one of the provided subcategories. For example, apps with the primary category `Game` and the subcategory `Action`.
* **Other categories**: apps with a primary category other than games. For example, apps with the primary category `Finance`.
* **Unknown/Null**: apps for which Unity has no category data or the data is recorded as `Null`.

![The app category targeting options in campaign setup.](/api/media?file=/grow/media/images/app-category-targeting-options-in-campaign-setup.png)

## App Category targeting options

Configure App Category targeting in the following ways:

* **Target all categories**: your campaign targets all apps, regardless of category information
* **Select categories**: you choose which app categories your campaign will target
* **Exclude categories**: your campaign targets all categories other than those you choose

Your campaign uses **Target all categories** by default. Review the following tables to understand how the other targeting options, **Select categories** and **Exclude categories**, function in your campaign.

### Select categories

Refer to this table for examples of using **Select categories** to allow-list app categories you want to target in you campaign:

> **Note:**
>
> When choosing a category from the **Game categories** group, you are selecting a subcategory. The primary category for any selection in this list is Game.

| **Categories selected by Advertiser**    | **Apps targeted by the campaign**                                                                                          | **Apps not targeted by the campaign**                                                                                                                                            |
| ---------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Game subcategory: `Puzzle`               | All apps with the primary category `Game` and the subcategory `Puzzle`                                                     | Any apps without the primary category `Game`Any apps with a subcategory other than `Puzzle`Any apps with no subcategory informationAny apps with no primary category information |
| Game subcategory: `Puzzle``Unknown/Null` | All apps with the primary category `Game` and the subcategory `Puzzle`All apps for which Unity has no category information | Apps with the primary category `Game` but a different subcategory than `Puzzle`Any apps with a primary category other than GameAny apps with a subcategory other than `Puzzle`   |

### Exclude categories

Refer to this table for examples of using **Exclude categories** to blocklist app categories you don't want to target in your campaign:

> **Note:**
>
> When you select **Exclude categories**, your campaign targets all categories except for those you select to exclude.

| **Categories excluded by Advertiser** | **Apps targeted by the campaign**                                                                                    | **Apps not targeted by the campaign**                                  |
| ------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Game subcategory: `Casual`            | All apps with the primary category `Game` and a subcategory other than `Casual`All apps with no category information | All apps with the primary category `Game` and the subcategory `Casual` |
| Primary category: `Entertainment`     | All apps with a primary category other than `Entertainment`All apps with no category information                     | All apps with the primary category `Entertainment`                     |