Campaign Types Explained
When creating a campaign, you must determine the type of campaign. The campaign type affects how the campaign is entered and how it is billed.
There are two different campaign Types.
Performance Campaign
With a Performance Campaign you will bill the Customer based on when the campaign performs. Actual Performance might be actuals, estimates or 3rd party actuals.
Key characteristics
Digital Orders are entered as “Estimates”.
Reports / Forecasts can be run based on the Estimates.
When the Ad has run the actual performance is entered against the order.
GAM orders automatically have the actuals imported into the system and a reconciliation process is run to determine if we are billing on actuals, estimates, or 3rd party numbers. This can come from the client (defaults from client type setup) or override on the order.
Once reconciliation has been completed then billing can commence.
On a Campaign that spans months, billing typically occurs at the end of each month.
Print lines on a campaign do not need to be reconciled and will be billed as run, whether that be daily, weekly, or monthly.
Flexible Campaign
Flexible Campaigns are typically used when the Campaign price is fixed or when you need to create a flexible billing schedule.
Key characteristics
Orders are entered with a fixed billing amount.
Billing is based on the fixed billing amount
A billing schedule must be determined - there are shortcuts where you can easily select to bill at the start, at the end, or in specified increments.
Since billing can occur at any time the system will create Journal Entries to handle the deferred / earned income
Entering actual performance against an order will not affect the order’s price or billing schedule. It may cause adjusting Journal Entries to be made.
Comparison Chart
When would I use it?
When billing is based on actual performance (typically uploaded from an Ad Serving system) For Print, this method is often used for Retail orders
When billing is based on a fixed amount with an agreed billing schedule For Print, this method is often used in classified orders to bill on expiration.
When does billing occur?
Typically, at the end of each month after Actual performance numbers have been uploaded
Based on an agreed billing schedule for the Campaign
Do I have to reconcile Actuals in order to bill?
Yes, unless the campaign is set to bill on estimates, AND in System parameters the setting is enabled to Auto Apply Estimates to Actuals,.
No
Are Journal Entries created for handling Deferred / Earned Income?
No. (Revenue is recognized in the month that it was earned and it is billed in the month it was earned as well)
Yes – when a Campaign is Confirmed
Either type of campaign can be used for tenancy/sponsorship ads or for CPM based ads.
All digital campaigns are assumed to be entered as up-front estimates; actuals may or may not be added depending on the ad as described below.
System assumes you will bill as you perform. For example a campaign that runs in July, August and September will present itself for billing on/after July for what ran in July, in August for what ran in August and September for what ran in September.
System makes no assumption regarding billing. User must enter a billing schedule before confirming the campaign, billing can occur at any time. Only system rule is that billing schedule must equal 100% of campaign total.
If any line items in the campaign are CPM/CPD/CPU actuals must be entered for the lines to be billed. Without actuals being entered/imported from ad server the lines cannot be billed. If the campaign is set to bill on estimates, AND in System parameters the setting is enabled to Auto Apply Estimates to Actuals, then the estimate number is stored as the actual so reconciliation isn't required on estimate lines.
CPM/CPD/CPU lines will bill off the estimates. Actuals can be entered for information purposes or actuals can be left blank. They will not impact billing amounts.
As billing and revenue recognition are concurrent no deferred journal entries are created. Revenue and A/R entries are created for each invoice when it is posted to A/R.
When campaign is confirmed system creates deferred journal entries. Automated journal entries reverse the deferrals according to standard GAAP accounting rules
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