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Create a Guaranteed Delivery Line Item (GDALI)

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This page explains how to create a guaranteed delivery line item to meet delivery goals and serve budgets evenly and in full.

You can create a new guaranteed delivery augmented line item (GDALI) from the Line Items screen (for more information, see Monitor Line Items):

  1. On the Line Items screen, click the +New drop-down and select Line Item menu.

  2. On the Create New Line Item screen, select Guaranteed Delivery Line Item.

  3. In the Advertiser drop-down, select an appropriate advertiser.

  4. In the Insertion Order drop-down, select an appropriate insertion order if one is not already selected.

    Note

    GDALIs can only be associated with Seamless Insertion Orders. You can associate only one insertion order to a GDALI.

  5. Click Next to open the Create New Guaranteed Delivery Line Item screen.

Basic settings

You can set the name, state, and ad type of the GDALI from the Basic Settings section. You can also optionally assign an external code.

  1. Insertion Orders: You can change the associated insertion order to the line item by doing the following:

    1. Click the pencil icon above the existing insertion order that displays. A list of corresponding insertion orders (if any) displays automatically.

    2. Search for the appropriate insertion order you want to select.

    3. Select the corresponding check marks to associate the insertion order with the line item.

      Note

      Only seamless insertion orders with impression or flexible budget types and no budget on the insertion order level can be associated to a GDALI. When creating an insertion order, select Seamless in the Create Insertion Order screen for a faster workflow that's compatible with GDALIs and PG line items. We recommend using Seamless insertion orders with budget type set to Flexible for GDALIs so you can associate both impression-based and revenue-based line items to the same insertion order. You won't be able to select a particular insertion order for GDALIs if its billing periods overlap or conflict with the billing periods of the insertion order that was previously associated to the line item.

    4. Click Save.

  2. Name: Enter the name that you will use to search for and report on the line item.

    Note

    The name of the line item must be unique per advertiser.

  3. External Code: (Optional) Click +External Code and enter a code if you want to report on a line item using your own code (rather than the internal ID that Microsoft Advertising assigns automatically). External codes must follow these guidelines:

    • They can only contain alphanumeric characters, periods, underscores or dashes.
    • Codes are not case-sensitive (uppercase and lowercase characters are treated the same).
    • No two objects can use the same code per advertiser. For example, two line items cannot both use code "ABC."

  4. State: Set the line item state to Active or Inactive. We recommend that you set the state to Inactive until everything for the line item has been set up and verified.

  5. Ad Type: Select one or more appropriate ad types for the line item.

    The ad type must match the creative types that you will associate with the line item and will also be used to improve forecasting accuracy.

  6. Delivery Type: Select a line item delivery type:

    • Impressions - this delivery type has an impression-based goal and typically has priorities that range from 11-17.
    • Exclusive - this delivery type has a percentage-based (or "share-of-voice") goal and typically runs at higher priorities that range from 18-20.

  7. Priority: Set a priority for the line item in the Priority drop-down. Flexible priorities allow users to manage delivery across line items. To optimize yield, it's recommended that you consolidate GDALIs within a single priority tier below the reselling priority (your reselling priority is indicated to the right of the Priority drop-down).

    Note

    The default priority depends on the delivery type:

    • Impressions delivery types have a default priority of 14.
    • Exclusive delivery types have a default priority of 19.

  8. Allow RTB Competition: If you have assigned the Impressions delivery type to the line item, the Allow RTB Competition feature is enabled by default. When enabled with a priority below reselling priority, a guaranteed line item will compete with Open Market (or RTB) demand to maximize yield while ensuring full delivery of the budget (for more information, see Open Dynamic Allocation and Flexible Priorities). Although not recommended, disabling Allow RTB Competition will restrict competition in the auction to only direct line items.

    Note

    Disabling Allow RTB Competition can negatively affect your overall yield. Allow RTB Competition is not available for line items with Exclusive delivery type. Line items with Exclusive delivery type take precedence over Open Market (or RTB) demand.

  9. Roadblocking: You can enable roadblocking to serve multiple creatives together on the same page. In cases where managed publishers are using Seller Tags (AST) to conduct a single auction for multiple ad slots on a page (or using video tags for ad pods), you can serve multiple linked creatives by enabling Roadblocking for the line item.

    One creative for each size must be eligible to serve on the page. All creatives will serve if ad slots are available. If more than one creative per size exists, creatives will rotate through a single slot.

    Delivery of the Master Creative is used for pacing and budgeting. Defining Master Creative and Companion Creative sizes is used for forecasting and reservation purposes. Roadblock delivery is based on the creatives associated with the line item. For more information, see Target Your Inventory with Roadblocking.

    To enable Roadblocking for line item with other ad types (non video):

    1. Click Enable Roadblocking to the on position.
    2. Select a Master Creative size from the dropdown.
    3. Select a Companion Creative size from the dropdown.
    4. (Optionally) Click + Add Companion to include additional Companion Creative sizes.

    To enable Roadblocking for line item with video ad type:

    1. Click Enable Roadblocking to the on position.
    2. Select a Master Creative Slot Position from the dropdown. You can select one of these options: Intro Bumper, Outro Bumper, First Slot, or Last Slot. This is a mandatory field for line item with video ad type. Video roadblock line items are identified by the slot position and not the ad size of the master creative. This is because the ad size is automatically set to 1x1 for all videos.

  10. Ad Size: When you first create a GDALI, it's possible that you won't have creatives available for it yet. To enable you to forecast on your line item before you have available creatives, you can use the Ad Size field to identify the size (or sizes) of the impression you intend to deliver on. Forecasts (displayed in the forecasting footer at the bottom of the Create New Guaranteed Delivery Line Item screen) will take into account the Ad Size specified here, as well as the sizes of any actual creatives associated with the line item. By default, this field displays "Any Size", indicating that the line item may forecast and reserve inventory based on all ad sizes.

    The Ad Size values you choose are added to your targeting profile.

    Warning

    The values you enter here could have an impact on delivery if they do not match the creatives associated to the line item. When you select ad sizes under Ad Size, you're targeting impressions of those sizes. If you then add creatives that don't match the Ad Size values you entered, you may be preventing your line item from serving. For example, if you select 300 x 250 as the line item’s ad size and then add a "300 x 600" creative to the line item, the ad call must contain both 300 x 250 and 300 x 600 as available Ad Size values on the ad call for your line item to be eligible to serve. To be eligible, the ad call must satisfy the targeting of the line item which includes both the ad size(s) and the creative size(s).

    If you enable Roadblocking, the Ad Size field will no longer be displayed and Master Creative and Companion Creative sizes selected under Roadblocking will be used instead of Ad Size values. Forecasting on roadblocks will check availability for each of the Master Creative and Companion Creative sizes and return the value of the impression availability for the creative size with the lowest availability.

    To add ad size values:

    1. Click in the Ad Size field, scroll or search for sizes, and select appropriate sizes (you can select more than one size at a time). You can also add more values to the list of Selected Sizes by clicking in the Ad Size field and selecting additional sizes.
    2. (Optional) To add custom ad sizes, click + Add Custom Size, enter appropriate values for Width and Height, and click + Add.

Budgeting & scheduling

The Budgeting & Scheduling section defines your financial relationship with an advertiser, including:

  • Budget - How much the advertiser has allocated for you to spend (in impressions or percentage).
  • Revenue Type - The way the advertiser has agreed to pay you (CPM, Viewable CPM, or Fixed Fee).
  • Pacing - How the budget is allocated over the duration of the advertising campaign.

Depending on the configuration of the parent insertion order, different configuration options will be available to you here. You can view the settings inherited from insertion order(s) in the panel to the right. This includes the Budget Type, Currency, Total Lifetime Budget, Pacing, Start Date, and End Date. If you have multiple insertion orders associated with a line item, use the arrows to scroll through them.

To set up line item budgeting and scheduling:

  1. Revenue Type: Select a Revenue Type to define how the advertiser has agreed to pay you:

    Option Description
    CPM Select this revenue type if the advertiser will pay you a flat amount per thousand impressions. Enter the amount that the advertiser will pay you per thousand impressions in the Revenue Value field.
    Viewable CPM Select this revenue type if the advertiser will pay you a flat amount per thousand viewable impressions. Only measured viewable impressions will be counted, according to Microsoft Advertising viewability measurement. Enter the amount that the advertiser will pay you per thousand viewable impressions in the Revenue Value field.
    Fixed Fee Select this revenue type if the advertiser will pay you a fixed amount on a specified allocation date. That date can be daily (Cost per day) or at the end of the flight (One time allocation). If you pay managed publishers a percentage of your revenue, their share will be paid out on the allocation date, after which the line item will no longer be editable. Note that the fixed fee will not be booked on the allocation date unless the line item has served at least one impression. If you select a revenue type of Fixed Fee, you will need to select one of the following:
    - Cost per day - the advertiser will pay a flat fee each day throughout the flight. The specified daily revenue value will not be allocated on any day that the line item has not served at least one impression. Enter the amount an advertiser will pay you each day in Revenue Value per Day.
    - One time allocation - the advertiser will pay out the full amount of the fee on the end date of the flight. Revenue will be allocated proportional to impression delivery throughout the line item’s flight.
    Note: The end date must be within one month (30 days) of the start date.
    Enter an amount an advertiser will pay in Revenue Value and select a date in Allocation Date. The allocation date must be after the end date of the flight.

    Warning: Guaranteed delivery line items with a Fixed Fee revenue type must have a start date time of 12:00 AM.

  2. Flight: Set up a flight by specifying its start and end dates, budgeting, and pacing. Flights are subject to the following constraints:

    • Each line item must have a single flight.
    • Flight dates must fall inside the billing period dates of the parent insertion order(s).

    To set a flight, enter a start and end date, and adjust the start and end time as required. Both a start and end date are required for GDALIs.

    To set flight budgeting, enter a budget in the Budget field:

    • For Impression delivery type, budgets are based on Impressions or Viewable Impressions based on the Revenue Type selected.

      Warning

      GDALIs are designed to deliver their budgets evenly across their flight dates. Although budgets of any size may be configured on the line item, setting daily impression budgets of 1,000 impressions or less may result in the line item spending its lifetime budget prior to its designated end date.

    • For Exclusive delivery type, delivery is based on a percentage (%) of targeted impressions. Input the integer value from 1-100 in the appropriate field.

    Pacing: Set the flight pacing by entering a value in the Pacing field. Pacing percent determines how your flight budget is delivered over the lifetime of your flight as follows:

    • If the pacing is equal to 100%, the budget is split evenly over every day in the flight.
    • If the pacing is higher than 100%, the flight spends more per day at the beginning of the flight and less at the end.
    • If the pacing is lower than 100%, the flight spends less per day at the beginning of the flight and more at the end.

    The Pacing value may be 50-150 and defaults to 105% to assist delivery of GDALIs.

    Budget Overview: Once a flight is configured, the Budget Overview chart provides a visualization of how the pacing percent is expected to impact delivery.

    For more information on flight pacing, see Guaranteed Delivery Pacing.

  3. Underspend Catch-Up: Select an option:

    • Evenly: Unspent daily budget will be distributed evenly throughout the remainder of the flight.
    • ASAP (default): Unspent daily budget will be spent as quickly as possible based on your line item settings to ensure the highest probability of delivering your budget in its entirety.

  4. Daypart: Add any necessary settings to target users based on the day and time when they see impressions. For more information, see Daypart Targeting.

Inventory and environment targeting

  1. Device Type: GDALIs target the following device types by default:

    • Desktops
    • Tablets
    • Mobile
    • CTV

    You can narrow the device types you are targeting by unchecking any device type you do not want to target.

  2. Inventory Type: Select an inventory type from the Inventory Type drop-down:

    • App & Web - Runs on both inventory types (default setting).
    • App Only - Runs in applications installed on mobile tablets, phones, and Windows 8 devices.
    • Web Only - Runs on standard websites and those optimized for browsers on mobile devices.

  3. Inventory: You can target or exclude the following inventory:

    • Universal Categories: These are defined by Microsoft Advertising. When Microsoft Advertising reviews inventory, we apply these categories based on the inventory's content. For example, a car dealership placement group would be assigned to the "Autos & Vehicles" category. Sellers can apply universal categories when self-reviewing inventory as well.

      Note

      When targeting more than one universal category, the categories have an OR relationship. For example, if you target the "News" and "Finance" categories, you will bid on inventory that is in either category. The inventory does not need to be in both categories.

    • Custom Categories: These are defined by sellers. Sellers create these and apply them to slices of their inventory to package their inventory for specific buyers to target. Manage your member’s custom categories in the Network tab (for more information, see Manage Custom Content Categories).

      Note

      When targeting more than one custom category, the categories have an OR relationship. For example, if you target two custom categories, you will bid on inventory that is in either category. The inventory does not need to be in both categories.

    • Direct Inventory: You can narrow your targeting to include or exclude specific managed publishers, placement groups (sites), or placements. Select Browse to search by name or ID of an object, or Text to paste a list of IDs.

  4. Key/Value: You can configure your own keys and their corresponding values to make full use of publisher data and help advertisers reach their intended audience. Microsoft Advertising allows you to create custom key/value sets that can be used in advertising campaigns to target specific types of customers.

    To edit key/value sets, click the pencil icon next to Key/Value to open the Key/Value Targeting screen. For more information, see Key/Value Targeting.

  5. Video: When the Ad Type (in the Basic Settings section) is Video, the Video option will be available to configure Video Targeting. The default setting for Video Targeting is Any position; any playback method; any player width; any ad pod position. To edit Video Targeting settings, click the icon next to Video to open the Video Targeting screen. For more information on configuring Video Targeting, see Video Targeting.

  6. System: You can target users based on their operating systems, browsers, language, device model, or carrier. To edit system targets, click the pencil icon next to System to open the System Targeting screen. For more information, see System Targeting.

  7. Page Properties: You can target impressions based on the position of the creative tag on the page or based on values passed in the query string of the ad call. To edit page properties, click the pencil icon next to Page Properties to open the Page Properties Targeting screen. For more information, see Page Properties Targeting.

Audience targeting

  1. Geography (Optional): You can target users based on one or more geographic elements such as country, region, city, metro code, or postal code. You may optionally set up other geographic inclusions or exclusions.

    To set up geography targeting:

    1. Click in the Geography field and select any applicable checkboxes for country-level targeting.
    2. (Optional) Click + Additional Geo Restrictions to set up or import additional geographical restrictions if necessary (for more information, see Additional Geo Restrictions).

  2. Audience & Location Segments: You can set up a line item to target segments from third-party data providers or segments you've created. To set up audience and location segments:

  3. Frequency and Recency: To set frequency and recency caps, set Caps to the on position (for more information, see Frequency and Recency Caps):

    • To set Frequency (how many):

      1. Enter a number for imps per (impressions per interval) and select an appropriate interval in the drop-down.
      2. (Optional) Click + Add another cap to add additional frequency caps.

      For more information, see Set a Frequency Cap.

    • To set Recency (how often):

      1. Click + Add another cap.
      2. Enter a whole number after 1 imp per and select an appropriate interval in the drop-down.

      For more information, see Set a Recency Cap.

    • Serve only 1 imp per page: Set this to the on position if you want to limit the number of impressions that an individual advertiser can serve on a page in multi-tag auctions.

    • Include users without cookies: Set this to the on position if you want to serve impressions to unidentified users.

      Note

      Serving to unidentified users ignores frequency and recency caps for those users.

  4. Demographics: Publishers may optionally pass the age or gender of users in the query string of their ad calls. In these cases, you can target users based on this information. To set up demographic targeting:

    1. Click on the pencil icon under Demographics to open the Demographics Targeting screen (the default setting is any age; any gender).
    2. Select appropriate Age and Gender settings (for more information, see Demography Targeting).

Creatives

  1. Creative Rotation: You can set the rotation strategy for multiple creatives of the same size that will be trafficked to the GDALI. Select one of the following options:

    • Auto-optimize creative weight - The creative with the highest click-through-rate (CTR) delivers the most.
    • Evenly weight creatives (default) - Our system will evenly serve creatives of the same size.
    • Manually weight creatives - Rotation is based on a user-supplied weight.

    For more information, see Associate Creatives with a Line Item.

  2. Associated Creatives: You can associate appropriate creatives to the GDALI. For more information, see Associate Creatives with a Line Item.

  3. Landing Page URL: Enter a URL for a landing page that the user will be redirected to upon clicking each creative.

Programmable splits

You can use programmable splits to manage creative allocation across a subset of the line item’s targeted inventory. Splits are recommended if you have sophisticated targeting requirements. For more information, see Working with Programmable Splits.

To set up programmable splits for a line item, see Configure a Programmable Split.

Reporting labels & comments

  1. Reporting Labels: You can optionally assign custom reporting labels (Trafficker, Sales Rep, and Line Item Type) to a line item so that you can create reports tracking metrics across multiple line items, as well as add comments to a line item for your reference.

    To add reporting labels, add the appropriate values for Trafficker, Sales Rep, and Line Item Type in the Reporting Labels section.

    Note

    It will take new labels about 30 minutes to appear in reporting.

  2. Comments: To add comments, add the appropriate text in the Comments field.

    Note

    Comments are for reference only and will not affect delivery. Comments will not appear in reporting.

Forecasting

The forecasting footer displays the Available Impressions and Total Capacity for the line item.

Availability and capacity data automatically refreshes when you populate or edit a field that impacts forecasting. These fields include flight dates, budget, frequency caps, and targeting configuration. To manually refresh forecasting data, click Refresh to the right of the forecasting footer.

Click Show Details to display Contending Line Items and a graph of Availability and Capacity by day over the line item’s flight.

Save the GDALI

To save the GDALI, click one of the following options in the Save and Reserve drop-down (in the upper-right of the Create New Guaranteed Delivery Line Item screen):

  • Save and Reserve (default) – Save the line item settings and reserve the inventory so the impressions cannot be allocated to other line items.
  • Save (Not Reserved) - Save the line item but do not reserve the inventory. If the line item was previously “reserved,” selecting this option will cancel the reservation making the previously reserved inventory available to other line items.
  • Reserve and Duplicate – When this option is chosen, the line item will be saved and reserved, and you will be redirected to a new Create New Guaranteed Delivery Line Item screen with the previous line item's settings pre-populated.
  • Reserve and Create New Line Item - When this option is chosen, the line item will be saved and reserved, and you will be redirected to a new, blank Create New Guaranteed Delivery Line Item screen under the same advertiser.