A campaign is a structure that holds one or more auto_storiesCreatives. This is the place where you set up targeting rules, flight dates, booked quantities, weights and priorities. A campaign is linked to one or more auto_storiesZones.
Type of campaigns
AdGlare supports the following ad formats:
Display — traditional inline display banners, that can appear in the sidebar, header, footer, etc.
VAST — video ads using VAST XML, to be served by a VAST compatible video player.
Redirect — used for link ads, redirecting the user to the landing page of the creative.
Native — ads in JSON format, to be integrated in the web page or app by the publisher.
Creating a campaign
On the Campaigns page, click the button to add a campaign. Then choose your ad format:
Campaign setup
The Settings tab allows you to configure typical configurations like the schedule, the weight, booked quantity, etc. Let's get into more detail.
Schedule — The start and end dates during which the campaign should be served. If the start date is in the future, make sure to keep the campaign activated - the campaign will only be served after the start date.
Tier — Tiers can be compared to a waterfall: the ad serving engines try to serve a campaign in the highest tier first. If no campaign is eligible (due to flight dates, targeting, etc), campaigns in lower tiers are tested until it finds a campaign that is eligible to be served. Tiers are typically used to prioritize campaigns. As a publisher, you may have direct deals that should override sponsorship-campaigns (or in-house campaigns).
Weight — The campaign weight is applied to all campaign from the same tier. You may have assigned multiple campaigns to a single zone. The engines pick a campaign randomly by weight. Imagine 2 campaigns are eligible to be served in a certain zone: campaign A with a weight of 60, and campaign B with a weight of 80. In this case, campaign A will get 60 / (60 + 80) * 100 = 42.8% of all impressions of that zone, and campaign B will get 80 / (60 + 80) * 100 = 57.1%.
Booked Quantity — For publishers only: the amount of impressions, clicks or conversions your advertiser has booked. It can be either a total or daily amount. You have the option to spread events over time (Spread Evenly) or serve most events in the early stages of the campaign (Frontloaded) to avoid underdelivery.
Pricing Model — Add campaign's pricing model so that the Reports give you an accumulated overview of all costs or revenue. If you don't see this setting, head over to the page Settings => User Interface and set Pricing Models to Campaign Level.
Targeting
The Targeting tab allows you to fine-tune delivery to specific audiences based on some criteria. Targeting can be based on factors like geographical location, device type, browser or language. It allows you to improve the performance of a campaign by serving it to those who are likely most interested.
Geotargeting — Target a campaign to the user's geographical location. Fine-tune by continent, country, region or city. The location is determined by doing a geo-lookup of the user's IP address using MaxMind's database.
Browsers — Target users with a certain browsers. Currently supported: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge and Opera.
Operating Systems — Target users on a certain OS. Currently supported: Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS.
Device Types — Target users on a certain device. Currently supported: Desktop, Tablet, Mobile and VR-Headset.
Keyword Targeting — A simple way to target campaigns based on keywords added to the auto_storiesad tag. If a keyword is present, the campaign is considered eligible.
Key/Value Targeting — Add key/value pairs to the ad tag URL and target campaigns accordingly. This type of targeting allows for operators like: equals, not equals, greater than, less than, etc.
URL Targeting — Serve campaigns only on certain pages. The syntax is simple: add one domain per line.
Languages — Only show the campaign to visitors speaking these languages. Targeting is based on the browser's language.
Dayparting — Only serve the campaign during certain days or hours. The engines use the timezone set in your ad server's Settings.
Frequency Capping — Available for Display Ads only. Limit the number of times a specific ad is shown to a single user within a given time period.
Zone assignments
You can assign a campaign to one or more zones to control where your ads are displayed. To do so:
Click the 'Zones' tab inside a Campaign.
Click the blue icon to manage the connected zones.
Select the zones you want to serve the campaign in, and click Save.
It's important to note that a campaign should match the ad format of a zone.
Tiers & weights
Tiers function as a waterfall to prioritize which campaigns are eligible to be served. When an ad request is made, the server checks the highest tier first for campaigns that meet the targeting criteria. If no suitable campaigns are found, it moves down to the next tier, continuing this process until a campaign is selected. This ensures that top-priority campaigns in higher tiers are served before lower-priority ones.
Within each tier, the Weight determines how often a specific campaign is served among the eligible campaigns. When multiple campaigns in the same tier qualify, the server chooses one based on their weight. Campaigns with higher weights have a greater chance of being randomly selected compared to those with lower weights, giving you control over the distribution of impressions.
Booked Quantity (pacing)
The Booked Quantity setting allows you to manage how impressions are delivered over time. You can choose to spread impressions evenly over a day or across the entire duration of the campaign. It also allows you to set a maximum number of impressions per day or as a total for the entire campaign. This helps avoid overspending or overserving ads in a short period, maintaining balanced ad exposure and better aligning with campaign goals.
Activating / deactivating
To activate or deactivate a campaign, toggle the ON/OFF button at the top right. Only activated campaigns are eligble to be served.
Archiving campaigns
Archiving campaigns is an effective way to manage inactive or completed campaigns. When a campaign is archived, it is no longer eligible to be served, ensuring that only active campaigns participate in the ad-serving process. Archived campaigns are automatically moved to the Archived Campaigns folder and remain there for 365 days before being permanently deleted.
It's highly recommended to archive completed campaigns:
Cleaner User Interface: Archiving helps keep your campaign overview organized by reducing clutter. Instead of seeing all campaigns, you can focus on the active ones, making management easier.
Reduced Database Load: By removing inactive campaigns from the active serving pool, archiving helps to reduce the load on the database, which can lead to faster ad-serving and better system performance.
Access to Reports: Even though archived campaigns are no longer active, you can still access and auto_storiescreate reports for those campaigns. This ensures you retain valuable data for analysis, future reference, or auditing purposes.
To archive a campaign, then click the 'More' icon at the top right. Choose 'Archive'.
Customizing columns
On the campaign overview page, you can customize the columns to suit your workflow by either hiding or adding columns. This allows you to focus on the most relevant data for your campaigns.
Click the 'Columns' icon at the right on the campaigns overview page.
Toggle the columns you wish to see. Drag the handle bars to change the order.
Duplicating a campaign
Duplicating a campaign in an ad server saves time by allowing you to quickly replicate settings like targeting, creatives, and settings without starting from scratch.
Open the campaign, then click the 'More' icon at the top right. Choose 'Duplicate'.
On the campaign list page, click the checkbox in front of the campaign. Then choose 'Duplicate' from the bar at the top.
Removing a campaign
To remove a campaign, either:
Open the campaign, then click the 'More' icon at the top right. Choose 'Remove'.
On the campaign list page, click the checkbox in front of the campaign. Then choose 'Remove' from the bar at the top.
Reach out to emailAdGlare Support in case you need further help. You can expect a reply in less than 24 hours.
