When selecting screens to book a campaign (see Create a Digital Line Item), screen availability is crucial information to have.
The key pieces of screen availability are:
- Avail % Column – This column displays the percentage of time a screen is free for advertising. For example, an Avail % of 80% indicates that the screen is open for bookings for 80% of the time, while the remaining 20% might be reserved due to factors like blocking day parts or pre-existing bookings.
- Avail Slots Column – This column shows the number of advertising slots or opportunities on each screen within a specific time frame. It helps you gauge how many ads you can potentially book on a particular screen.
- Fill Rate Column – This column represents the percentage of available slots already occupied by booked advertisements. It reflects how efficiently the screen's advertising space is being utilized. For example, a Fill Rate of 70% signifies that 70% of the available slots are currently booked.
Let's see how they work.
Avail% Column
Guaranteed Campaigns
The Avail % column is a crucial indicator of screen or screen group availability for creating advertising proposals.
- It reflects the percentage of time available for booking a specific screen or screen group, influenced by factors like the chosen Ad Length, Flight, and Type of Buy.
- It highlights screens or screen groups with potential scheduling conflicts due to blocking day parts, signifying partial or complete unavailability. To assist in identifying screens with potential delivery risks, users have the option to sort them based on their Avail %, facilitating more informed decision-making during proposal creation.
Tip: The system calculates the time used by a dynamically paced campaign in our Content and Network Management solution by using the campaign's maximum saturation, not the dynamically adjusted value. This approach provides a pessimistic but safe view of the campaign's inventory pressure. For this reason, when using the Guaranteed Campaigns module, it's recommended to avoid dynamically paced campaigns in favor of the Play Goal Type of Buy.
Tip: See How is the Avail % Calculated? for more details on how the Guaranteed Campaigns module calculates that value.
Color Scheme
The Avail % column uses a color scheme to represent availability percentages:
| Avail % | Color Description |
|---|---|
|
Green – The screen or screen group is between 90% and 100% available to book. Screens with availability between 90% and 99.99% will be shown as green even if they might be partially bookable when performing the availability check. A lock icon indicates that a portion of the day is unavailable for the selected flight duration. This is visually represented as a blocked time period on the screen. Deselecting the screen or screen group prevents potential under-delivery, ensuring that your campaign reaches its intended audience. |
|
Amber – The screen or screen group is partially available to book (between 10% and 89.99%). A lock icon indicates that a portion of the day is unavailable for the selected flight duration. This is visually represented as a blocked time period on the screen. Deselecting the screen or screen group prevents potential under-delivery, ensuring that your campaign reaches its intended audience. |
|
Red – The screen or screen group is unavailable to book (between 0% and 9.99%). It is possible for a screen to exist in your inventory, but be down for repair, for example. A lock icon indicates that a portion of the day is unavailable for the selected flight duration. This is visually represented as a blocked time period on the screen. Deselecting the screen or screen group prevents potential under-delivery, ensuring that your campaign reaches its intended audience. |
Fixed Slot Duration
If a screen has a fixed slot duration value, that value is considered in the availability calculation. For example, if the specified slot duration is 20 seconds, but the screen has a fixed slot duration of 10 seconds, the availability check is based on the 10-second fixed slot duration. For more information, see Screens and Fixed Slot Duration.
Blocking Day Parts (Temporary Out-of-Charge Screens)
Blocking Day Parts
Guaranteed Campaigns
In our Content and Network Management solution, day parts are defined as specific time blocks within a screen or screen group, each having its own playback characteristics (frame layout, hours of operation, etc.). For more information, see Day Parts in the Content and Network Management documentation.
Blocking day parts are used to specify when a screen is temporarily unavailable for advertising. This unavailability can arise from various reasons such as:
- Roadworks
- Accidental damage
- Planned maintenance
- Screen blackouts
- Uncommissioned screens
Impact on Availability
The presence of a blocking day can be visualized in the Guaranteed Campaigns module.
- When the blocking day part's duration exceeds the line item's time frame, then the system displays the screen as unavailable.
- When the blocking day part is shorter than the line item's time frame, then the system displays the screen as either unavailable or partially available. This depends on whether existing bookings overlap with the requested time frame within the selected flight duration. A lock icon appears on the screen to indicate a conflict with the blocked time period.
While this might not pose a major issue for certain campaign types like goals-based ones (Average Share of Voice, Plays, Impressions, and Budget), it can be problematic for Frequency and Fixed Share of Voice campaigns. In such cases, some screens may underdeliver significantly compared to expectations.
Note: The lock icon serves as a warning that the screen has a blocked time period ("blocking day part"). However, the screen's availability is determined solely by existing bookings, not by the blocking day part. If you see a lock icon, you must manually deselect the screen to avoid booking conflicts. Failure to do so may result in scheduling errors.
Avail Slots Column
Guaranteed Campaigns
The Avail Slots column displays the average number of integer ‘slots’ available for booking.
Here are some key points regarding the Avail Slots column:
- Calculation Based on Ad Length and Flight – The number of available slots is calculated based on the specified Ad Length and Flight during the search process. This means that the duration of the advertisement and the flight dates play a significant role in determining the available slots on a screen.
- Consideration of Day Parts and Partial Availability – The calculation of available slots takes into account day parts (specific time blocks with defined playback characteristics) and partial availability. It considers when and how a screen can be used, factoring in various constraints and conditions.
- Rounded Down to Whole Numbers – The Avail Slots do not contain decimal values; they are always rounded down to the nearest whole integer. This ensures that the number of slots is a whole, discrete value.
Tip: For more in-depth details on how the Guaranteed Campaigns module calculates the Avail Slots value, refer to How is the Avail Slots Calculated?. This information is essential for understanding how the system determines the available advertising slots on screens, helping you make informed decisions when booking advertisements.
Understanding fill rate is critical when booking campaigns.
Fill Rate Column
Guaranteed Campaigns
Understanding the fill rate is essential for making informed decisions when booking advertising campaigns, as it provides insights into how efficiently the screen's advertising space is being used for the specified time period.
The Fill Rate column expresses, as a percentage, the extent to which the screen or face is currently used for the specified Ad Length and Flight. When you click on the fill rate percentage, a dialogue box opens, displaying a list of proposals that include the screen.
Tip: For more in-depth details on how the Guaranteed Campaigns module calculates the fill rate value, refer to How is the Fill Rate Calculated?.
Decimal values are not used in the fill rate calculation; instead, it is always expressed as a whole integer percentage. Any fractional values are rounded for clarity.
For example, if the fill rate is 25%, it means that the screen is currently filled with content to a quarter of its total capacity. This indicates that there's room for campaigns to occupy up to 75% of the screen's capacity.
If a screen has a fixed slot duration value, the fill rate is calculated based on that value. For more information, see Screens and Fixed Slot Duration.
Note: The Guaranteed Campaigns module does not take into account the Number of monitors setting in the Broadsign Control Player configuration, which specifies the number of monitors connected to the player. For more information, see the Number of Monitors Tab section in the Content and Network Management documentation.
Note: Screen fill rate details will not show any preemptible line items. See About Preemptible Line Items for more details.
The Fill Rate Window is a valuable tool in understanding the utilization of screen or face space in advertising.
The Fill Rate Window provides essential insights for making strategic changes to campaigns, responding to customer requests, and maximizing revenue. It allows Direct Sales Coordinator or Direct Sales users to understand how different line items impact screen availability and make informed decisions accordingly.
Description
Clicking the fill rate percentage of a specific screen displays a window with a list of the line items that include that screen for the selected time period. The maximum display period in this window is six months.
Note: The fill rate campaign list window is not available when the Fill Rate is 0%.
The Fill Rate Window is designed to help Direct Sales Coordinator or Direct Sales users understand the factors contributing to the current fill rate percentage of a screen or face. It enables users to identify which line items are affecting the screen's availability.
The fill rate percentage is broken down per line item, making it easy to pinpoint the sources of screen pressure.
The following details are available for each line item in the list:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Name |
Name of the line item contributing to the fill rate. Clicking the name opens the Campaign Builder. If you do not own a line item, you can review it and contact its owner. If, for example, you have a better deal to propose, you can negotiate with the current owner. |
| Fill % | Percentage of fill for each line item. The total percentage of fill for all items equals the Fill Rate displayed in the Line Item page. |
| Priority | Rebalancing priority of the line item. See Use the Rebalancing Feature for more details. |
| Status | Status of the line item. See Line Item Status for a description of the status available. |
| Start date | Start date of the line item. |
| End date | End date of the line item. |
| Screens | Number of screens in the line item. |
| Price | Price of the line item. |
| Owner | Name of the sales owner of the line item. |
| Company Name | Company name of the campaign to which the line item belongs. |
| Contract ID |
If applicable, the Contract ID of the campaign to which the line item is linked. Your Administrator may have defined the Contract ID as mandatory. |
| Ad Duration | Duration of the advertisement in the line item. |
Customization
You can sort the information in the Fill Rate Window by each column to organize and analyze the data effectively.
You can customize the columns displayed in the window by clicking the Configure Columns button and selecting the desired columns from the drop-down menu.
Consideration of Fixed Slot Duration
The fill rate breakdown takes into account the fixed slot duration, if applicable. This means that the slot duration value plays a role in determining the screen's utilization.
