Forecasting Inventory

Overview

In selling your inventory, it's important that you can predict how many impressions you can delivery, based on time frame and targeting permutations.

Our Forecasting tools provide just that! This helps with building media plans.

Below is instructions using the Web UI. You can also pull forecast reports with our Forecasting API.

Running a Forecast Report

1. Click the "Forecasting" link underneath the Sales tab.
2. Enter the Start and End Date of the forecast.
3. You can limit your forecast by Ad Type, Channel, Country, Metro Area, Site, or Zone. Choose these 4. rom the dropdowns on the left.
4. If you want to forecast on keyword-based inventory, enter the keyword in the Keywords field and click the plus sign. Separate keywords by commas if you need to enter multiple keywords.
5. Click "Generate this Forecast".

👍

You can delete criteria from the forecast by clicking the X next to the criterion name. You can clear all criteria by clicking the "Clear All" button.

What Report Includes

The forecasting report will show impressions from flights that are currently serving, as well as impressions reserved by line items in the sales process. It states the total number of impressions in the time period, as well as the total available impressions.

The line items in a media plan will be included in a forecast report if its status is:

• Pitched
• Reserved
• Approved

A media plan will NOT be included if its status is:

• Trafficked
• ClosedLost

We calculate the forecast based on ad serving data from the past 28 days. For example, if you run a forecast for the next 90 days, we will use reporting data from the previous 28 days to predict the future period.

You can check and uncheck flights and line items to re-adjust the number of available impressions. If you are serving flights of house or remnant ads, you can uncheck these so they don't appear to compete with your line items. The forecasting report lists flights by Priority to help you with this.

If the available impressions are negative, this means that you have overbooked, and should readjust your line items to match your inventory. Also, double check that your line items are not competing with house ads.

Forecasting a Line Item

To run a forecast for an individual line item:

1. Navigate to the settings page of the line item's media plan.
2. Hover over the Tools icon next to a line item's name.
3. Click "Forecast Line Item

This report will automatically include the time frame and channel of that line item, so you can judge its available inventory.

Creating a Line Item from a Forecast

You can reserve the available impressions in a forecast for the line item of your choice:

1. Choose a line item from the Export dropdown.
2. Click "Export to Line Item".
3. The line item will now be filled with the criteria from the forecast.