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titleView FreeWheel Academy Instructional Video
urlhttps://academy.freewheel.com/learn/course/1151/cpa-bidding-strategy-overview?generated_by=16316&hash=2925dc67167ba2a42540ad2dba0c991a75d3715e

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urlhttps://hub.freewheel.tv/category/academy



Overview

When creating a Line Item, a bidding strategy must be selected to apply to the line item, and one strategy may be used per line item. There is an additional option to use Beeswax's default bidding strategies, or, create a custom bidding strategy in conjunction with a Bidding Agent. To determine how the line item budget is spent through the life of the campaign, a type of Pacing must also be selected, and is applied separately from the bidding strategy. 

The below table summarizes the default bidding strategies available. These strategies are set at the line item level under General > Essential Settings.

Info

If using a custom bidding strategy, it will appear in the same drop down as the other bidding strategies.

Bidding Strategies

Strategy

Behavior

Flat CPMThis bidding strategy will always bid the CPM entered in the UI whenever it receives an ad requests that matches the line item targeting. 
CPC Goal

This bidding strategy will optimize towards an eCPC goal set at the line item level, as well as stay within the parameters of a max CPM bid set at the line item level.

Note

This does not take companion ad clicks into consideration. CPC bidding strategy functions exclusively for Banner and Native ads.


Video Completion Rate Choose a target Video Complete Rate for a video Line Item, and the Beeswax algorithm will aim to hit that target rate for the given CPM. This algorithm will not take delivery into account, so if the target rate is set too high (90%+), delivery may be significantly reduced. VCR bidding strategy is only effective for Video line items. 

Anchor
CPA
CPA

CPA Goal (Cost per Acquisition)

The CPA bidding strategy uses machine learning to train a model on data generated from a specific event created within Beeswax to optimize toward the desired CPA goal. The Event to optimize towards can be selected from the CPA Event dropdown in Essential Settings after choosing CPA Goal as the bidding strategy.

Note

Only Events that have enough attributed conversion data (at least 1,000 500 Beeswax-attributed conversions in the past 30 days) will be selectable. 

When selecting CPA Goal, a CPA Event must also be selected. The Events will be available via dropdown, and each event will display a status that represents the stage of the model training. This status will be automatically updated as the training progresses. It is important to understand the training will begin once the line item has been saved.

Below are the definitions of each status:

  • No Status: The model has not started training on this event. This event is selectable for CPA model training.

  • Pending: Model training has started; training should be complete within 60 minutes on average. 

  • Trained: The model training is complete, and the model performance is promising. The line item will automatically start bidding once this status has been reached.

  • Insufficient Data: If the conversions are less than 1000 500 and more than one, Beeswax will display this status for the event. If this event is applied to the CPA line item, an error message will display.

  • Failed: The model training was unsuccessful. If this status displays, please reach out to your Beeswax account representative, as this issue will need further investigation.

The model will take roughly one hour to be trained once the line item has been saved. The line item will automatically start bidding once the CPA Event status reaches "Trained" (provided all other setup components of the line item are complete and correct).

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titleCPA FAQ

Q: Can the CPA bidding strategy be used for multiple types of attribution?

A: Yes, it can be used for all types of attribution when developing the model (including IP conversions, postbacks, etc.). Advertisers do not need to select an attribution type; all conversion types will automatically be used to train the model.


Q: How can advertisers ensure the CPA bidding strategy is performing as intended?

A: Advertisers can pull a Performance Report for the line item ID and event ID, and include Spend and Conversions. Then, divide spend by conversions to get the CPA. 


Q: How does the CPA model adjust for deals with bid floors or fixed pricing when determining the ideal bid price?

A: If the CPA bidding strategy determines it should bid below the deal floor or fixed price, it is because the model predicts the value of the deal floor/fixed price would not generate the target CPA. As a result, Beeswax will bid below the floor/price, which would result in no bid being submitted.


Q: Can the maximum bid price be lower than the CPA target?

A: Yes. However CPA algorithm may predict a higher bid price than max bid, but it will be capped at the set price. This limitation has the potential to impact performance, leading to reduced impressions, a lower conversion rate, and an overall increase in CPA.


Q: Can advertisers use the CPA bidding strategy in conjunction with bid shading, bid/delivery modifiers, or bid/delivery models?

A: No. Please note, an error will occur if there is an attempt to apply both the CPA bidding strategy and a model/modifier. When the CPA bidding strategy is selected, the Bid Shading toggle disappears.