Determine how many impressions to book
The number of impressions you can book for a prospective line item depends on how willing you are to displace or preempt existing inventory.
First, run a forecast for the prospective line item (Learn how). Remember that your line item's trafficking criteria can greatly affect the number of available impressions.
How forecasting accounts for trafficking criteria
Forecasting takes most trafficking criteria into account when determining available inventory, but there are some details you should keep in mind:Frequency capping
Frequency capping is considered. Because DoubleClick for Publishers uses a 28-day sample, monthly or lifetime frequency caps are not captured as part of the sample data. Consequently, in cases with monthly and lifetime frequency caps, forecasting can overpredict availability.
Forecasting looks at priority to determine the Reserved by same- or lower-priority line items number--the number of impressions a line item can get if you’re willing to take impressions from same- or lower-priority line items. Priority is also taken into account when calculating impressions likely to deliver.
Forecasting ignores this delivery control. Instead, it optimizes delivery the best it can. For example, if a line item is set to deliver evenly, the forecast simulation might allocate impressions on a frontloaded basis. In some cases, this can lead to overly optimistic forecasts.
While cost is not a criteria considered in forecasts, you can view the revenue impact of competing line items.
When you run a forecast on roadblock ads, DoubleClick for Publishers records which impressions occurred together when a page is viewed--this is called page awareness. And forecasting takes into account the type of roadblock you're interested in booking, those set up to work with all of the creatives in the line item, or those that work with master/companion creative sets.
For example, a line item containing one creative that’s 728x90 and one that’s 300x250 has these forecasted page views in the following distribution:
- Page A: the 728x90 creative serves 2 times without the 300x250,
- Page B: the 300x250 creative serves 1 time without the 728x90, and
- Page C: both creatives serve together (the roadblock) 4 times.
If you have an ad with multiple creatives of the same size and you select the As many as possible or One or more setting for displaying creatives, you must enter the number of creatives of each size. Click the Provide some creative details link under the 'Inventory Sizes' field, then entering a number in the 'Count' field. Adding creative sizes and counts allows for better forecasting (more creatives mean more opportunities to serve to a given page), so it's optional, but recommended. If you don't include a creative count for each inventory size, forecasting will assume one creative per size.
Results on the first page of the forecast provide guidance that can help you decide how many impressions to book. You can also gauge and adjust the effect that booking the prospective line item would have on existing line items by clicking the View contending line items link.