Often, advertisers need creative rows in the feed to rotate at a percentage of the overall campaign as a result of budget or cost allocations. Some uses of weighted rotation include:
- Allocation of budgets between brands
- Ability to spot-check results by brand and adjust settings quickly
- Allocation of budgets/impressions based on availability of inventory
- Simplification of creative rotation that is handled by Campaign Manager 360
Weighted rotation allows you to enter creative weight as an additional column in the feed. The rows will be selected according to their proportional weight. For example, if there are three rows in a feed - rows A, B, and C - and they are weighted 10, 40, 50, respectively: row A will show 10% of the time; row B, 40% of the time; and row C, 50% of the time (over a large number of impressions).
Feed setup
Fill out the feed: Follow these general feed instructions to begin populating the feed.
Add a "Weights" column: After following the general feed instructions, make sure to add one column for weights. The column should be called "Weights", or any other name that clearly indicates its purpose. For each cell in this column, enter the appropriate weight at which you want that row to be served. The cells within this column cannot be left blank.
Studio profile setup
After uploading the feed to the Studio profile, follow the below steps that are specific to using weighted rotation:
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Navigate to Step 2: Manage Data. In the Date types and filters section, select the "Weight" field type for the weights columns in the feed.
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In Step 3: Manage Rules, select "Weighted" from the Rotation dropdown.
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In Step 4: Generate Code, the dynamic code is generated. Copy the dynamic code into your creative files and upload the final assets to Studio.
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In Step 5: Preview, preview the creative. Entering the appropriate parameters and click Apply.
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Publish your profile.
Each creative iteration (row in the feed) will serve according to the weight specified in the feed.
Best practices
- When the feed is open (i.e. no filtering), weighted rotation is better suited for smaller feeds.
- When the feed is filtered, weighted rotation is better suited for larger feeds.
- Weights need not add up to 100. If the total of the weights assigned to each row does not add up to 100, then each row will be weighted according to the percentage of the weight for that row over the total.
- It is best if advertisers set up non-overlapping rules for filtered weighted rotation.
Frequently asked questions
Can the cells in the weighted rotation column be left blank?No, the cells in the weighted rotation column must have a whole number value present. If there is no value, there will be feed transformation errors.
Yes, the default content row must be populated with a whole number also. It is just a dummy value and will not factor into the weighting of the content to be served.
No, the feed can only contain one weight column. If you attempt to assign the weight field type within the Studio UI more than once, you will receive an error. If a row has multiple weights, combine them by multiplying them together.