Please review basic line item setup to make sure you have covered the minimum requirements for running a line item.
There are many reasons why a line item may not be delivering as expected. These range from incorrect AIP settings to competing line items to insufficient inventory. This guide will take you through the main things to look out for when investigating why a line item might not be delivering as many impressions as expected.
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Ensure your line item is set up to deliver as intended.
- Series: Ensure the intended series are added to the line item, and that they are 'Active'.
- Positional Targeting: Ensure that the intended positional targets are set up on the Line Item-Series detail pages. To do this scroll down to the Series card on the main line item page, click into your Series, and then scroll down to 'Positional Targeting'. Do not use the Positional Targeting Defaults on the main line item page, as these may differ from the series-level settings. Series-level line item settings always override defaults.
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Ads: Ensure your ad(s) is uploaded and active, and that it doesn't exceed the Max Total Time set in the AIPs (see below).
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Check line item targeting.
Targeting reduces the amount of inventory for your line item to serve into. Remove any unnecessary targeting restrictions to ensure maximum line item delivery.
Check Episode Targeting on the Line Item-Series detail pages, i.e.:- Geo-targeting
- Frequency capping
- Device/Platform Targeting
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Episode Targeting
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Ensure your targeted AIPs in your episodes are set up as intended.
- Ensure Priorities are as intended. In most situations, you want it to be “All Live Reads & Spots.”
- Ensure all episodes have the intended markers. For example, if there are no mid-rolls marked in the episodes, no campaigns can deliver into mid-rolls.
- Ensure your Max Total Ads is set up as intended.
- Ensure your marker Max Total Time settings match your ad length. For example, if your Max Total Time for a marker is 60 seconds, and your ad is 90 seconds long, the ad will not be inserted.
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Check that your series downloads match the inventory you've sold.
Impressions require downloads, so it can be that you don't have enough series downloads to meet your impression goal. An impression occurs when a line item successfully delivers an ad into the AIP in an episode download. To estimate available inventory, look at historical downloads in the series for the same length of time as the flight and multiply that by the AIPs you are targeting. If your line item goal is 10,000 impressions in one month, but the series typically gets 2,000 downloads a month, it will likely underdeliver. Keep in mind that competing line item (see below) as well as the AIP settings in the episodes also impact available inventory.
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Check for other line items that might be inhibiting delivery.
Blocked delivery can happen when other campaigns are targeted at earlier positions, or at higher priority.
- Frequency: Line Items default to a Brand Max of 1 per download. If there are other line items of the same brand running simultaneously that might affect delivery.
- Exclusivity: If a sequential exclusive line item is selected for a download, no other line items will be inserted. If any other campaign has been selected, an exclusive line items will not be inserted.
- Competitive Separation: Campaigns can apply competitive separation, so that once that line item is selected, no line items on its “block” list of brands or industries will be inserted. Check to see if any active line items are blocking your desired line item via campaign separation.
- Pacing: If you have multiple line items using “Evenly” for pacing, the line items that is furthest behind in delivery will be prioritized. Check to see if any other “Evenly” paced line items might be interfering.
- You can check how this line item's frequency and competitive separation matches up against other line items by downloading a CSV of the line item list, filtered on line items that are targeting the same series over the same timeline.
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Adjust line item delivery tools.
To learn more about how line items are prioritized for delivery, read our Ad Selection Guide.
- Priority: Line items with a higher priority deliver over line items with a lower priority. You can raise the priority of the line item in the line item Information card, so it will be delivered over other competing line items.
- Pacing: When using “Evenly” the system will attempt to deliver the line item evenly over it’s flight. If you are using “Daily Goal”, the line item will stop delivering once it hits that daily goal. You can switch to “As Fast As Possible” to speed-up delivery. Please note that a Paced line item that is under-pacing will be delivered over “As Fast As Possible” line items of equal priority, regardless of CPM.
- CPM: Line Items with higher CPMs deliver over line items with lower CPMs. CPM behavior can be controlled for each series on the line item. Again, a Paced line item that is under-pacing with a lower CPM will be delivered over a line item with a higher CPM of equal priority.
- Fill Rate: Make sure Fill Rate is set to 100%.
- You can check how this line item's priority matches up against other line items by downloading a CSV of the line item list, filtered on line items that are targeting the same series over the same timeline.
FAQs:
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Is there a better time of day to review and adjust underdelivering line items?
For maximum impact, you want to want to adjust a line item before it receives a lot of its impressions. Considering that many apps auto-download new episodes at midnight, you may see the biggest results from your changes around then. For line items that target a specific re-occurring series, try to make changes before the next episode drops to see the greatest impact. -
Do we have an average response time for the ad picker when changes are made to line item settings?
Changes to the line item are applied immediately. However, it takes about an hour for any download to be recorded. Thus, we recommend waiting at least in hour to check for differences in line item delivery.