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DFP Small Business

Forecasting

Check available inventory

The two most common reasons for checking available inventory are:

  • To ensure there’s enough inventory available when creating a new line item, and

  • To confirm a saved line item is slated to reach its goal; and if not, to determine what changes to settings or targeting could increase availability.


Check available inventory for a new line item

  1. In your DFP Small Business account, click the Orders tab, then click Check inventory.

  2. Enter your inventory sizes.

  3. Select the delivery type.

  4. Enter your flight dates.

  5. Select Max available if you don’t have a specific impression or click goal in mind for the prospective line item.
    Why would I do this?
    You might select Max available if, for example, an advertiser asks you how many impressions are available for a campaign it’s contemplating booking with you. You could then view the competing line items screen to gauge how running the campaign at the max number would affect booked inventory, and vice versa.

    or

    Select Goal and enter the number of impressions or clicks you want.
    Why would I do this?
    You might select Goal if, for example, an advertiser asks you if there are 1,000,000 available impressions available for a campaign it’s contemplating booking with you. You could then view the competing line items screen to gauge how running the campaign for 1,000,000 impressions would affect booked inventory, and vice versa.

  6. (Optional) Apply targeting criteria to your forecast.

  7. Click Check inventory.

  8. Click View contending line items to gauge the effect that booking the prospective line item would have on booked line items, and vice versa. Learn more

You can also view your website’s ad units or placements to see what line items are forecasted to deliver to them.

Check available inventory for an existing line item

If a line item’s delivery bar indicates a risk of underdelivery, you can run a forecast to see if inventory will become available at a later date or check what changes to settings or targeting could increase availability.

Example
A standard line item displays a red delivery bar, indicating it’s behind schedule. When you run a forecast on the line item, the results indicate there should be enough inventory available. You look at the competing line items screen and see that a contending 100-weight sponsorship line item is scheduled to stop running in a few days, which will free up sufficient inventory for the standard line item to meet its delivery goals.

To check inventory for an existing line item:

  1. Click the line item for which you want to run a forecast.

  2. Click the Delivery forecast tab. This displays the forecast bar, an analysis of the remaining goal, and a breakdown of contending line items.

  3. If the forecast confirms there’s not enough inventory available, view a list of contending line items to determine if any are contributing to your line item’s underdelivery.

  4. After you review this information, you can edit line item delivery priorities as necessary and run the forecast again.

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