Overview
When Creating a Line Item, one of the most important steps involves applying targeting criteria to the line item. Targeting helps strategically place creatives aimed to deliver advertisements to specific audiences who are interested in the product or service being promoted. By leveraging certain data applied through targeting, the DSP enables advertisers to optimize campaigns and allocate resources efficiently, ensuring advertisements deliver strategically and allocate resources efficiently.
Targeting Categories
App/Site
Inventory targeting is commonly used to optimize performance of the campaigns. In general, the best practice is to EXCLUDE target the inventory that is not performing well. Deal IDs are an exception to this general rule since Deal IDs are typically INCLUDE targeted.
Content
Content targeting is typically used to EXCLUDE particular content categories or content ratings. We do not recommend include targeting content categories or content ratings because these values are often not present from the exchanges.
Environment
This page describes the environment targeting keys and their respective recommendations.
Exchange
This page describes exchange targeting keys and their respective recommendation.
Geo
The DSP augments the auction with geo data from a 3rd party data provider (MaxMind), so geographic data is almost always present for targeting.
Platform
Platform targeting is used to ensure a line item is targeting the desired device or platform, including device types and operating systems.
Time
Time targeting allows the specification of which hours in the week ads should be served to viewers. This can be very helpful when considering how effective ads can be depending on the brand serving ads and the time of day, for example:
- Breakfast/Brunch shops serving ads in the morning
- Bars and restaurants on Thursday and Friday evenings
- App installs ads are more effective in the evenings and at weekends.
Segments
This page details user targeting keys and recommendations for segment targeting. For information on how to properly filter and favorite while searching segments, see Segment Filtering and Favorites.
Audio
This page provides an overview of the available Audio targeting keys in the UI.
Video
This page outlines video targeting keys and their respective recommendations.
Targeting Favorites
Targeting fields can be set as favorites to help reduce clutter and improve the efficiency of targeting adjustments. This feature allows users to focus on the most relevant fields, making it easier to navigate the UI and manage targeting settings.
In the UI, each targeting field has a star ★ icon that can be selected, similar to checking a box. After selecting favorite fields, the “Show ★ and edited only” toggle at the bottom of the module list can be activated. When this toggle is turned on, only fields that are marked as favorites (☆ checked) or that already have values will be displayed. If a module contains no fields matching these criteria, it will be removed from the sidebar. The UI will retain the favorite settings on a per-user, per-account basis, ensuring consistency across different line items’ targeting tabs.
It is important to note that the favorites feature is specific to each user and each account. This means that when switching to a different account, the favorites settings from the previous account will not apply.
Favorites can only be set for entire categories within targeting tabs, such as “App Name” under “App/Site Targeting.” Individual targeting parameters within those categories cannot be favorited. While targeting favorites can streamline the UI, they are specific to the user and account. As a result, they are not applied across multiple accounts, and there is no option to set favorites as a default for all accounts. Additionally, the favorites feature is purely UI-based and has no impact on API usage or functionality.
Excluding or Targeting Unknown Values
In some cases, users may want to exclude or target auctions where a particular field is empty. For example, when the domain field is empty or the app bundle field is empty.
How to exclude/target Unknown values for non-list based targeting keys
For all targeting keys where there is a select menu for targeting values, there is an “Unknown” value in the targeting drop down. In these cases, simply select the “Unknown” option and select "Include" or "Exclude".
How to exclude/target Unknown values for list based targeting keys
There are several targeting keys that use lists, including domain lists, app bundle lists, Site ID lists and more. For all list type targeting keys, add a value of -1 to the list and then either exclude or include target that list according to the specific use case.