Overview

Bid and delivery modifiers are objects that play a crucial role in optimizing campaign performance and managing ad spend efficiently. This is done by giving the object certain modification values that can then be applied to line items or campaigns to help optimize the behavior and performance of the already existing strategy set on line items or campaigns. Alternatively, advertisers may create and select bid and delivery models to use as modifiers, instead of selecting specific modifier terms in the UI. These models are data tables that are created offline that define a set of criteria for bidding and delivery behavior, and then get uploaded to Beeswax for use as modifiers.

Bid modifiers specifically control bid prices by determining when to modify them and by what factor and can be associated with any line item or campaign. They allow advertisers to implement sophisticated bidding strategies without the need for a separate bidding agent. For instance, advertisers can set a base bid and apply multiplier factors to adjust bids for different target segments like device models, geographic locations, user segments, custom lists, or ad sizes. These modifiers can increase or decrease bid prices after targeting criteria are applied.

In addition to manual creation in the UI, advertisers can utilize bid and delivery models as modifiers. These models are data tables created offline, defining criteria for bidding and delivery behavior. Once uploaded to the account, these models are used to automatically adjust bids and optimize delivery based on predefined rules and metrics. This approach offers flexibility and scalability in managing bidding strategies across various advertising contexts.

Using Bid Modifiers on Beeswax Default (Hexbid) Bidding Strategies

Bid Modifiers can be used with the following line item bidding strategies:

• Flat CPM

• CPC Goal

• VCR Goal

Using Bid Modifiers with a Custom Bidding Agent

Bid Modifiers are able to be used in conjunction with a custom bidding agent. Beeswax will pass the bid modifier product to the bidding agent, which may be optionally incorporate into a model. The final modifier product is passed through in the following field:

optional float bid_modifier_multipliers_product = 6 [default = 1.0];

The bid modifier will otherwise not be applied to the bid with which the bidding agent responds.

Accessing Modifiers

To access the Modifiers page, navigate to Trafficking > Modifiers at the top of the screen in Beeswax.  Additionally, Modifiers may be created by clicking the button, then clicking Bid or Delivery Modifier at the top right of the UI.

Modifiers List View

List View Fields

Create a Bid or Delivery Modifier

Bid Modifier

1. To create a bid modifier, navigate to Trafficking > Modifiers > New Modifier > Bid Modifier. Additionally, bid modifiers may be created by clicking the button, then clicking Bid Modifier at the top right of the UI.
   
   

2. A creation screen will appear with the following fields to complete:
   *Required

   Field Name	Description
   Name*	Type a name for the bid modifier.
   Advertiser*	Select either an advertiser to associate the modifier to, or set as an account level modifier to apply to all line items and campaigns.
   Bid Model	If using a bid model, select via dropdown. Matching bid model’s values will be multiplied with bid modifier terms.
   Alternative ID	Custom alternative ID that may be used for separate reporting needs.
   Notes	Any desired notes about the modifier.
   Add Bid Modifier Terms	Click this field to select the desired targeting fields that will apply to this modifier. Clicking the star to the left of the field name in this screen will save it as a favorite.

   
   

3. Click Save Bid Modifier.

Delivery Modifier

1. To create a delivery modifier, navigate to Trafficking > Modifiers > New Modifier > Delivery Modifier. Additionally, delivery modifiers may be created by clicking the button, then clicking Delivery Modifier at the top right of the UI.
   
   

2. A creation screen will appear with the following fields to complete:
   *Required
   

   Field Name	Description
   Name*	Type a name for the delivery modifier.
   Advertiser*	Select either an advertiser to associate the modifier to, or set as an account level modifier to apply to all line items and campaigns.
   Modifier Type	Either With Terms or With Model. If using terms, they will need to be selected manually. Models may be selected via dropdown.
   Delivery Model* (Displays if using Model).	A Delivery Model can be used in place of Modifier Terms. Select a model via dropdown.
   Fallback Weight* (Displays if using Model).	For every Delivery Modifier, a Fallback Weight value is required, which will be the weight that is associated with any auctions that matched targeting but do not necessarily match a row in the model or delivery modifier terms (similar to a Default Bid for Bid Models and Modifiers). It is recommended to set the default to 1 in order to fulfill the budget. The Fallback Weight Value can be set as "0" to ensure auctions outside of the model/modifier terms will not be bid on, but doing this may increase the likelihood of under-delivery.
   Notes	Any desired notes about the modifier.
   Alternative ID	Custom alternative ID that may be used for separate reporting needs.
   Add Delivery Modifier Terms	Click this field to select the desired targeting fields that will apply to this modifier. Clicking the star to the left of the field name in this screen will save it as a favorite. A delivery modifier with a model cannot have terms.

   
   

3. Click Save Delivery Modifier.

Adding Modifier Terms

When manually selecting modifier terms instead of using a model, values must be entered to give the term a certain weight, or percentage of priority. 

1. From the modifier creation screen, click Add Bid or Delivery Modifier Terms.
   
   
2. A list of various selectable targeting fields will be available to include.
   
   
3. Once the modifier term for targeting has been selected, a value should be applied to that term. For example, if a delivery modifier term of "Language" was selected, a specific language value such as "Italian" must be applied. See more about modifier targeting on Create a Line Item.
   
   

4. Now that the modifier term has been added, there are fields to complete alongside the term to assign priority. These fields will be different depending on which modifier was selected. Please see them bottom of this section for both term fields. 
   
   

5. Once the desired terms have been selected, and the correct values have been applied, click Save Bid or Delivery Modifier.

Modifier Term Fields

Delivery Modifier Term Fields

*Required

Bid Modifier Term Fields

*Required

Term Field Considerations

User Time of Week

Delivery can be allocated by hour using the User Time of Week targeting key. User Time of Week is compatible with all other Delivery Modifier targeting keys. For example, expressions can be configured like: "Spend 20% of the budget on this Domain List, in this City, during the hours of 3 PM - 10 PM on Saturday and Sunday." The "Any Value" option is not available for User Time of Week, as it may cause overlap issues with other terms. There is a risk of under-delivery if Delivery Modifier terms do not align with a Line Item's flight schedule or User Time of Week configuration. User Time of Week delivery allocation operates independently of flight schedules and User Time of Week targeting. For instance, if targeting or Flights are set to deliver only on Mondays, and Delivery Modifiers are set to deliver only on Fridays, the budget may not be fully spent. As usual, the Fallback Weight will apply. Setting a Fallback Weight greater than 0 allows for some spend outside the defined User Time of Week window in the Modifier.

Types of Bid Modifiers

User-Level Bid Modifiers (also known as User Scoring): These modifiers are applied to bids based on the combination of a user and a segment. To enable this feature, when selecting the segment in the Bid Modifier, the "Dynamic" option must be set to "Yes." The Bid Modifier factor can be sourced from different inputs.

User-Level Bid Modifiers allow the specification of a Bid Modifier at the user level via the ‘value’ field, which can be set using one of the following methods:

1. Segment Upload: The value is provided in the format:
   php

   <user_id>|<segment_id>:<value>

   
   
   

2. Segment Tag in the Query String: A segment tag can be specified as a parameter within the URL query string:
   arduino

   <img src="https://segment.prod.bidr.io/associate-segment?buzz_key=canary&segment_key=canary-1&value=2" height="0" width="0">

   
   

3. Custom Augmentor: The customer's custom augmentor can append data to the bid request in the following message format:
   vbnet

   message Segment { optional string id = 1; optional string value = 2; }

For any user ID that does not have an associated value, the default value will be the one set in the Bid Modifier field.

Segment Recency in Bid Modifiers

Segment Recency enables the application of bid modifiers based on how recently a user was added to a specific first-party segment. For example, if users who visit a brand’s site are placed into a segment called "Auto Intenders" and it is desired to bid higher for users who visited within the last 48 hours, Segment Recency allows for bids to be adjusted based on the time since the user joined the segment. This feature enables more precise bid adjustments depending on segment recency.

List Item Bid Modifiers

List Item Bid Modifiers are applied based on items within a list. To enable this feature, when selecting the list in the Bid Modifier, the "Dynamic" option must be set to "Yes."

List Item Bid Modifiers allow the specification of a Bid Modifier at the list item level via the ‘value’ field. For any list item that lacks an associated value, the default value will be the one set in the modifier field for that particular Bid Modifier.

Boolean Expression

A custom Boolean expression can be used to apply bid multipliers to each clause in the expression. This functionality is applicable only to segments. When using a Boolean expression, only the value entered in the modifier will be applied. If a value is provided in the user-segment association (as described in the User-Level Bid Modifiers section), it will not be respected in this case.