Proposal line items are added to a programmatic proposal and are similar to delivery line items in Ad Manager. They contain delivery details, including information like impression goal or quantity, start and end times, and targeting.
If you're familiar with line items, then you'll recognize the many of the features in proposal line items. Proposal line items contain additional features to assist in programmatic transactions. Learn more about the steps involved in adding proposal line items.
This article provides details about some of the proposal line item settings:
- Creative requirements
- Ad type
- Rate
- Billing threshold per day (for Sponsorship CPD campaigns)
- Contracted quantity (for Standard CPM campaigns)
- Impression limit (for Sponsorship CPM campaigns)
- Internal notes
- Additional terms
- Targeting set by buyer
Creative requirements
Creatives are usually hosted in a demand-side platform (DSP) by the buyer, though there is an option to have publisher-managed creatives for Programmatic Guaranteed.
Determine your buyer's creative requirements before adding a proposal line item. The creative is the central and most important piece of any advertiser's or buyer's campaign, and the proposal line item should be configured to align with those creative requirements.
As the first step of adding a proposal line item, you need to choose either the Display or Video or audio ad type. For advertiser-provided creatives, ad type indicates what creatives the buyer should upload later to Display & Video 360 or another DSP.
Ad type
Identifies the kind of creative that should serve. Every proposal line item must indicate an ad type. Ad types include:
- Display
- Standard
- Master/companion (for publisher-managed creatives only)
- Video or audio
Rate
Cost negotiated with buyer, either CPM or CPD depending on line item type. Viewable and negotiable by buyers. Learn more about the quantity entered for each rate type.
- Sponsorship CPD
- Sponsorship CPM
Provides a direct correlation between spend and number of impressions. The buyer is billed based on actual impression delivery over the date range, up to an agreed upon limit. - Standard CPM
The CPM rate when calculated against quantity reflects potential earnings for a line item before gross revenue is calculated and your net payments are issued.
- Preferred Deal CPM
- If changes are made to the CPD rate of a delivering programmatic line item, the new rate takes effect on the day on which a buyer accepts the change. For example, if a change is made today, but the buyer accepts tomorrow, the rate is effective tomorrow.
- For Programmatic Guaranteed sponsorships (CPM or CPD), check the “Breakdown by targeting” section in the forecast to ensure the buyer uploads a creative that’s valid on all impressions. If you see a significant number of NPA (non-personalized ad) impressions under “Creative restrictions,” encourage the buyer to upload a non-third party creative so the deal is eligible to serve on all potential impressions, especially if the deal is 100% share of voice.
Billing threshold per day (for Sponsorship CPD campaigns)
Billing threshold is the minimum impressions that must be exceeded each calendar date for you to earn revenue on any given day of delivery. A calendar date is 12:00 am to 11:59 PM (in the publisher's time zone) on a given day of delivery.
A campaign must deliver at least one impression above minimum, even if it serves only part of the calendar date. If the campaign fails to deliver this minimum:
- The advertiser is not billed.
- You won't be compensated for delivery for that day.
Billing threshold protects advertisers against paying CPD flat fees for line items that fail to meet an agreed minimum.
Good to know about CPD Sponsorships
- CPD Sponsorships do not 100% guarantee that buyer's ads will be the only ads that appear during the time period.
- In rare cases, Ad Manager may be unable to serve the buyer's creative—for example, the creative isn't supported by the user's browser. Ad Manager nonetheless ensures your impression is fully monetized by serving a contending ad instead. While this occurrence is the exception, for this reason CPD Sponsorships should not be sold as a 100% Share of Voice guarantee.
- CPD sponsorships must meet or exceed the billing threshold on a given day of ad delivery in order for the advertiser to be billed and for you to be compensated for delivery for a given day. However, billing and compensation is not based upon impressions served but upon the agreed CPD rate.
Contracted quantity (for Standard CPM campaigns)
The scheduled quantity of impressions reserved for the buyer under the dates and terms of a specific campaign
The deal aims to stop serving once the contracted quantity or end date is reached, whichever comes first. A line item’s delivered impressions total might exceed the contracted quantity by a small amount due to delayed impression counting or simultaneous requests that occur as the cap is reached. If this happens:
- The buyer receives a few more impressions than contracted and pays for them.
- The publisher can choose to return money back to the buyer directly.
- The publisher can also choose to do nothing, as the buyer received the benefit of the extra impressions.
Avoid delivery pacing issues
Impression limit (for Sponsorship CPM campaigns)
This limit is represented as a negotiation field on the deal and specifies the maximum lifetime number of impressions on the sponsorship that the Display & Video 360 buyer is willing to pay for.
The deal aims to stop serving once the limit or end date is reached, whichever comes first. A line item’s delivered impressions total might exceed the lifetime cap by a small amount due to delayed impression counting or simultaneous requests that occur as the cap is reached. If this happens:
- The buyer receives a few more impressions than contracted and pays for them.
- The publisher can choose to return money back to the buyer directly.
- The publisher can also choose to do nothing, as the buyer received the benefit of the extra impressions.
Programmatic Guaranteed CPM sponsorships are for Display & Video 360 and other demand-side platforms that have integrated.
Tips for setting an impression limit
Set a limit that considers both a buyer’s total budget and publisher inventory forecasts:
- Make sure your buyers are aware this is a secondary goal. Buyers are buying a sponsorship at the share-of-voice percentage specified under "Goal"; they should be prepared to buy that percentage of impressions at the agreed upon rate. The impression limit is intended as a safeguard to prevent unexpected, runaway spend.
- To make it more likely the deal continues to deliver, we recommend setting a limit above the forecast. However, if you do this, make sure the buyer is aware and that the resulting spend will still fall within their budget.
- During negotiation, propose a limit and let your buyer know that some adjustments may happen as flight dates approach, and even when campaigns are in flight.
- Once the deal is approved, and even when it begins delivering, continue to check forecasts regularly and adjust the limit as needed, keeping the buyer updated on expected spend.
- Consider using a CPD sponsorship if:
- A buyer wants to ensure they get every impression for a set time period.
- A buyer has a hard daily budget cap.
Internal notes
Can only be seen by people in your Ad Manager network and not by buyers. Notes here appear in the corresponding order for this proposal as read-only information.
Additional terms
Specifies the further conditions to which you and the buyer must adhere.
Targeting set by buyer
Buyers can target/exclude by audience lists, affinity lists, InMarket profiles, and demographics (targeting only) in proposal line items. Once the buyer has accepted a proposal, this targeting associated with proposal line items can’t be changed unless you reopen the proposal.
The “Targeting set by buyer” section indicates if the buyer has added any of this targeting.
- Ad Manager doesn’t display details about buyer-set targeting, and you can’t change or remove it. If you want any of the targeting updated, please discuss it directly with the buyer.
- Check forecasting to ensure there’s enough inventory to satisfy the buyer’s target.
Buyers can also add this targeting to an RFP (request for proposal). When they do, every proposal line item added to a proposal automatically includes the targeting.
