Ad operations
Campaign pacing and makegood register
A clean campaign is not only launched correctly. It also needs a mid-flight record that shows whether delivery is pacing against the approved package, which exceptions changed the inventory, what the buyer was told, and how any makegood should be interpreted in the final report.
Use this register for contextual display, direct sponsorship, and private marketplace packages after launch approval and before the final readout. It keeps delivery operations, buyer communication, and measurement language in one lane without turning underdelivery, overdelivery, or replacement inventory into a performance claim.
When to open the register
Open a pacing and makegood register as soon as a campaign has a signed package, approved creative, live placements, and a reporting field dictionary. The register should be short enough for weekly review and specific enough to reconcile with trafficking, analytics, invoice, and renewal records.
| Trigger | Record immediately | Why it matters later |
|---|---|---|
| Launch day | Campaign ID, package ID, deal key, planned dates, booked impressions, placement mix, device eligibility, and primary reporting owner. | Creates the baseline for pacing, delivery exceptions, and final report reconciliation. |
| Mid-flight pacing check | Booked, expected-to-date, delivered, viewable, blocked, paused, and remaining impressions by placement and device. | Separates normal delivery variance from an exception that needs buyer notice or makegood planning. |
| Creative or destination change | Creative ID, destination ID, change reason, approval owner, start time, and fields affected. | Prevents one total from pooling unlike messages, pages, or tracking states. |
| Placement exception | Placement ID, page group, device, size, ineligible reason, substitute inventory, and buyer approval status. | Shows whether replacement delivery stayed inside the purchased reader context. |
| Makegood proposal | Shortfall source, proposed replacement, date window, field impact, buyer notice, and strongest allowed readout language. | Keeps delivery repair separate from claims about campaign quality or lift. |
Pacing states
Pacing language should be operational and modest. A campaign can deliver perfectly and still fail to create qualified response; it can also need a makegood for reasons that say little about the audience or creative.
| State | Use when | Next action | Readout boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| On pace | Delivery is within the agreed tolerance by package, placement, and device. | Continue monitoring quality fields and outcome status. | On-pace delivery supports contract delivery, not business impact. |
| Slightly behind | Delivery is recoverable within the current flight and eligible inventory remains available. | Watch daily, check creative approval, device mix, and ad-server eligibility. | Do not mention makegood unless recovery fails or the buyer decision depends on timing. |
| Materially behind | The campaign is unlikely to meet booked delivery without a scope, timing, or inventory adjustment. | Name the shortfall reason, owner, buyer notice, and approved repair path. | Final language should separate original package delivery from repaired delivery. |
| Overdelivering | Delivery is running ahead of plan or a placement is concentrating impressions unexpectedly. | Check caps, device mix, placement eligibility, and whether overdelivery changes reader experience. | Extra impressions are not extra value unless quality and context rules still hold. |
| Paused or constrained | Creative, destination, category, tracking, seller-path, or page-state issues limit delivery. | Record the pause window, affected placements, owner, and restart condition. | Exclude or label constrained windows before interpreting response trends. |
Makegood decision rules
A makegood is a delivery repair, not proof that the buyer received the same evidence as the original package. The repair should preserve the reader task, placement quality, device rules, and reporting grain as closely as possible.
Same context first
Offer replacement inventory inside the same package, page group, placement family, and device class before expanding to adjacent contexts.
Show the substitution
Report original delivery and makegood delivery separately when the replacement changes placement, device, creative size, page group, or date window.
Name the cause
Separate inventory shortage, creative delay, destination outage, tracking issue, buyer pause, seller-path issue, and page-state changes.
Protect reader experience
Do not add intrusive units, excessive refresh, or crowded placements simply to chase a delivery total.
Update the claim limit
If the repair changes context or timing, final language should say delivered with replacement inventory rather than delivered as originally scoped.
Keep approval visible
Record who approved the replacement, when the buyer was notified, and whether the final report should include an exception note.
Register fields
These fields are intentionally plain. They should be easy to copy into an order note, campaign ticket, spreadsheet, or reporting export without changing the meaning.
| Field | What to record | Final-report use |
|---|---|---|
| register_id | Stable row ID for each pacing issue, pause, exception, or makegood. | Lets renewal notes cite the exact operational row. |
| campaign_id | Campaign identifier shared across proposal, trafficking, analytics, invoice, and readout. | Prevents rows from drifting across similar campaign names. |
| package_id | Package ID, deal key, and package reporting key. | Shows whether the issue belongs to the sold package or an added support lane. |
| placement_scope | Placement ID, page group, format, device class, accepted sizes, and refresh rule. | Separates original inventory from replacement or excluded inventory. |
| delivery_state | On pace, slightly behind, materially behind, overdelivering, paused, constrained, repaired, or closed. | Explains why totals changed across dates or placements. |
| delivery_counts | Booked, expected-to-date, delivered, viewable, blocked, shortfall, makegood, and remaining impressions. | Reconciles delivery without hiding quality or eligibility differences. |
| root_cause | Inventory, creative, destination, tracking, buyer pause, seller-path, page-state, forecast, or reporting issue. | Prevents operational causes from being misread as audience response. |
| buyer_notice | Date, channel, contact, decision needed, and approved repair path. | Shows whether the buyer accepted a changed scope or timing. |
| readout_note | Sentence that should appear in the final report if the issue affects interpretation. | Keeps the final narrative aligned with the operational record. |
Weekly review cadence
| Review moment | Check | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Creative renders in eligible placements, click URL works, package and placement fields appear in reports. | Keep live, fix field, or pause before bad rows accumulate. |
| 25% through flight | Expected delivery by placement and device, early viewability, invalid-traffic flags, and destination errors. | Continue, tune eligibility, notify buyer, or open makegood row. |
| 50% through flight | Shortfall risk, overdelivery concentration, creative fatigue, lead-status capture, and comparison-rule integrity. | Approve recovery path or narrow the final claim boundary. |
| 75% through flight | Remaining eligible supply, replacement inventory quality, buyer notice status, and final readout note. | Close as on pace, execute makegood, or prepare exception language. |
| Closeout | Final delivery, makegood rows, excluded windows, buyer approvals, quality fields, and renewal limits. | Move rows into the package performance readout and renewal scorecard. |
Example register rows
The examples below show the level of specificity needed. They are not performance benchmarks.
| Register ID | State | Issue | Owner | Buyer note | Readout note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pace-01 | Slightly behind | Mobile inline delivery is 9% behind expected-to-date because one creative size was not approved for two mobile placements. | Ad operations | No buyer notice yet; recoverable after backup creative approval. | No exception if recovered by the next weekly check. |
| pace-02 | Materially behind | Desktop rail is 31% behind because eligible guide pages underdelivered against forecast. | Sales and ad operations | Buyer approved same-package article-inline makegood for the final week. | Report rail delivery and inline makegood separately; do not pool placement response. |
| pace-03 | Paused | Destination form stopped capturing source fields for one business day. | Buyer destination owner | Buyer notified; paid traffic paused until source fields were restored. | Exclude the pause window from lead-quality interpretation or label affected rows. |
Safe final language
Fulfilled as scopedThe campaign delivered within the approved package, placement, device, and date boundaries. Delivery quality and response should still be interpreted separately from causal lift.
Fulfilled with replacement inventoryThe campaign reached the delivery goal after buyer-approved replacement inventory. The final report should separate original and makegood rows when context, placement, device, or timing changed.
Under-delivered with visible causeThe campaign did not meet the booked delivery target. The report should state the operational cause, excluded windows, buyer notice, and whether renewal evidence is still usable.
Pair with
Use this register after the campaign readiness dashboard, private marketplace deal review checklist, and creative asset acceptance checklist. Use it with the ad yield and deal-readiness checklist for supply and floor decisions, the private marketplace reporting field dictionary for export fields, the package performance readout for final buyer language, the campaign issue log and renewal register for unresolved weak lanes, and the campaign renewal evidence archive before a follow-up flight inherits the same assumptions.