As streaming services have become widely adopted and methods for consuming TV content have drastically changed, the terms OTT and CTV have become exceedingly popular in the advertising world. But with this growing popularity the terms have become ambiguous as players in the industry began to use them interchangeably and the lines between them became blurred. This guide is intended to provide clarity into the industry definitions, Pontiac terminology, and best practices for implementing both CTV and OTT campaigns through the Pontiac Platform.

CTV vs OTT vs Video

• OTT (Over-the-Top) is TV content delivered to a device via an internet connection. OTT is defined as a delivery method and content type (premium TV content delivered via internet) and can be streamed on any device type: smart TVs or mobile devices or desktops. OTT is considered premium digital video, and it is the highest-quality format available programmatically, with completion rates as high as 90%. For example, this could be a user watching Hulu on their phone, desktop, OR on their Smart TV.

• CTV (Connected TV) is a sub-set of OTT Video, where the OTT content is delivered specifically on TELEVISIONS connected to the internet. CTV is defined by the device type and includes – Device types: smart TVs, gaming consoles, and set-top boxes. An example of this would be a user watching Hulu on their TV.

• Video is the creative type for all OTT and CTV. All OTT and CTV campaigns are Video, but not all Video is OTT or CTV. Online Video (OLV) can also run across other websites and apps within content that is not considered OTT and on devices that are not considered CTV. For example, a video ad in the Candy Crush app on a mobile device.

Despite the technical definitions above, it is commonly understood in the industry that CTV refers to any OTT across TVs, and ‘OTT’ is typically used to refer to other ‘non-CTV’ OTT content. For this reason and for the purposes of the Pontiac Platform, ‘CTV’ refers to OTT content that runs across connected television devices – Smart TVs, Game Consoles, and Set Top Boxes. The ‘Inventory Type’ ‘OTT’ will refer to all other OTT content that is not CTV, that being content streamed on other devices – Mobile Phones, Tablets, Desktops and Laptops.

Please see the following page for more information on CTV, OTT, and OLV best practices for setups: Best Practices

This guide walks through the full process of launching a campaign in Pontiac, from setting up your Advertiser and Creatives to creating, launching, monitoring, and optimizing your Campaign and Lines. Links to the full documentation for each step are included throughout the guide for additional setup details and instructions.

1. Set Up Your Advertiser
   • The Advertiser represents an individual brand, product, or client in Pontiac. It serves as the parent level for everything associated with that advertiser, including Campaigns, Lines, Creatives, Pixels, and Audiences.
     • Create an Advertiser
2. Upload Your Creative
   • Upload the creative assets or third party tags that will be used in your campaign. Creatives are created and managed at the Advertiser level and can then be assigned at the Campaign and/or Line level.
     • Creative Upload Process
3. Create Your Campaign
   • Create the Campaign that will house your Lines and define the overall Campaign settings, including dates, budget, Flights (if applicable) and other Campaign level controls.
   Best Practices:
   • Use Campaign level targeting only for settings that should apply universally across all Lines.
   • Use Line level targeting for strategy-specific targeting and optimization.
   • Apply targeting at one level whenever possible, unless the intent is to intentionally narrow eligible inventory through intersection filtering.
     • Campaigns
     • Flights
4. Create Your Line
   • Lines control how your campaign buys media. This is where you will configure settings such as inventory, targeting, bid price, budget, dates, Creatives, and other strategy specific controls.
     • Lines
5. Review Before Launching
   • Review your Campaign and Line settings to confirm that budgets, dates, targeting, Creatives, and other required settings are configured correctly. Use the Line level Performance tab troubleshooting checks to identify any setup or delivery issues.
     • Line Level > Performance Tab Troubleshoot Checks
   • From the Advertiser level, download the full campaign setup to review Campaign, Flight (if applicable), and Line configurations before launch.
     • Download Campaign Setup
   • Confirm that your Creatives meet the specifications for the publishers you plan to target using Creatives > Publisher Spec Eligibility.
     • Publisher Specs Eligibility
6. Launch and Monitor
   • Once your setup has been reviewed, activate your Campaign and Lines and begin monitoring delivery and performance. Use the Pacing tab, reporting tools, and Line level troubleshooting checks to monitor campaign activity and identify issues that may affect delivery.
     • Pacing Tab
     • Reporting
     • Line Level > Performance Tab Troubleshoot Checks
7. Optimize Performance
   • Once your campaign has collected enough performance data, use the Pontiac Analytics suite to identify opportunities for optimization. Run Targeting, Audience, or Incrementality analyses to better understand performance across different variables and audiences. You can also create and upload a User Defined Model to apply your own scoring strategy to campaign optimization.
     • Pontiac Analytics Suite
     • User Defined Models
     • Model Association

Overview

The Pontiac Intelligence DSP offers a wide variety of granular targeting tools that enable Advertisers to better reach their target Audience and subsequently maximize their ad spend. Given how different types of inventories, data, and media interact, there are some complexities as to how targeting parameters and features can be combined and layered on a Campaign and/or Line Item (Inventory, Geo, Audience Targeting). The following Strategies Guide provides insight into creating intelligent and functional targeting on your Line Items according to your media type and KPIs.

Core Framework

Strategies by Media Type

Strategies by Inventory Type

Web Inventory

In-App Inventory

Streaming/CTV In-App Inventory

Combined Inventory

The Pontiac premium video deal catalog can be found in the ‘Inventory’ tab of the platform, under ‘Deals’. When selecting deals that best align with your campaign goals, it is recommended to review all columns in this table to ensure your creatives meet specs, approval processes are completed, and campaigns are correctly configured to drive success. You may also want to review the Deal Landscape Tool, to understand the level of transparency in data shared by each Deal. Sample logs and forecasting reports are also available for each Deal in the ‘ART’ tab.

• ID: The Deal ID assigned from Pontiac.
• Name: The Deal Name that the importer assigns to the Deal.
• Avails: The approximate number of available requests for that deal. This changes based on the Reporting Interval: Yesterday, 7 Days, or 30 Days.
• Deal Provider: The entity with a direct relationship with Pontiac and supplies the external deal ID used to import the deal.
• Brand: The brand or publisher of the content in the deal.
• Content Type: The category of content being streamed when the ad is shown. Run of Network (RON) means all inventory from the publisher or deal provider.
• Media Type: The type of media: Streaming/CTV (TV placements), OLV (online video – in-app/web, not streaming TV), Combined Video, Audio, Display.
• Exchanges: The SSP or platform the deal provider uses to send bid requests to Pontiac.
• Floor Price: The minimum bid price (CPM) required to enter the auction. Hover over the price to see Min, Max, Avg, and Median for Bid insight.
• Recommended Bid: Suggested bids based on factors like inventory variation and competition.
• Livestream: The percentage breakdown of sample requests across live content, video on demand (VOD) content, or unknown environments.
• Duration: Allowed ad unit durations; multiple durations show the percentage of requests for each.
• Sizes: The allowed ad unit sizes; hovering over the size tool shows request percentages per size.
• Auction Type:
  • First Price: The winning bid is the price the advertiser pays.
  • Second Price Plus: The advertiser pays $0.01 above the second-highest bid.
• Device Types: The devices where impressions are served, including Connected Device, Connected TV, Set Top Box, Personal Computer, Phone, and Tablet.
• Countries: The Countries that the Deal is seeing bid requests from.
• Permitted Sensitive Categories: Deals that allow sensitive content to be served.
• Publisher Approval Required: Deals requiring publisher approval for each ad before launch. Submit ads for approval through the Help Center.
• Notes: Any additional deal requirements, restrictions, inventory, or targeting.
• Start Date: When the Deal is eligible.
• End Date: When the Deal is no longer eligible.
• Last Served Date: The most recent date that impressions were served through the Deal.
• Action: Request access to public Deals if needed. Note that all deals will be approved within 24 hours after being requested.
• Creative Types: Shows which creative formats are seen in the bid requests for a specific Deal.
• Inventory Type: Shows what type of inventory is seen in the bid requests for a specific Deal.

Negotiated Deals

If you can’t find the deal you need in the catalog, reach out through the Help Center. The Pontiac Partnership team may be able to negotiate a deal for you or you can bring over your own negotiated deals. Any programmatic guaranteed deals or deals negotiated for a specific advertiser will appear under the ‘Negotiated Deals’ section in the ‘Inventory’ tab. See how to import your own deals documentation here: Import Deal

The Deal Landscape tool provides transparent insights into the data available for targeting and reporting across the accessible Deals through the Bidder. With great inconsistencies in the information shared by each media owner across the industry, this tool can be leveraged in the research and planning process to align campaign goals and expectations with available targeting and reporting capabilities.

For full documentation, see here: Deal Landscape Tool

Transparency Report

The Transparency Report aggregates bid request data to show how much information each deal provides, including fields such as Title, Series, Channel, Network, and Full IP.

This allows you to understand exactly what data is available for targeting and reporting.

• View all bidder-specific deals your account has access to
• Sort by any field to evaluate transparency levels
• Download the full dataset using the arrow next to the search bar
• Share results via a public link (valid for 30 days)

Deal Sample Logs

Click the Deal Name to view sample logs and see exactly what data is being passed.

This allows you to:

• Analyze content details such as publisher, network, channel, series, and title
• Optimize targeting based on real inventory signals

Custom Reporting

The Custom Reporting tool allows you to generate sample request logs for deeper analysis across one or multiple deals.

1. Navigate to the Custom Reporting section
2. Click New Custom Report
3. Select your deal(s), date range, and dimensions
4. Generate the report

Use the Deal Landscape Tool to understand inventory, evaluate transparency, and make smarter, data-driven decisions before and during campaign execution.

The Inventory Availability Tool is a forecasting tool that provides directional guidance in Campaign planning. If your report returns no data, reach out through the Help Center for more information on the feasibility and potential scale for the selected targeting. By leveraging historical data, delivery trends, sample log data, and Pontiac’s proprietary forecasting formula, the tool helps advertisers:

• Create and refine Inventory targeting lists.
• Assess the feasibility of targeting parameters.
• Optimize bid strategies.
• Estimate potential scale for Campaign planning.

Create an Inventory Availability Report

1. Switch to the ‘ART’ section using the toggle in the top right corner.
   • If the ‘ART’ button is unavailable, contact Pontiac Support via the Help Center.
2. Navigate to the ‘Inventory Availability’ tab.
3. Click ‘New Report’.
4. The start date and end date default to 30 days before today’s date.
5. Select how the report is built:
   • User Defined: Configure the report from scratch. This is great for when you’re gather precampaign insights.
   • Existing Line: Configure the report based on an existing line that is already set up. This is helpful for QAing campaign set up and delivery issues. When selected, the report is generated using the line’s current configuration, including:
     • Inventory type
     • Creative type
     • Advertiser
     • Campaign
     • Line
     • Effective targeting (Intersection of the Campaign and Line)
     • Audiences (only Line level)
       • If audiences are applied to the Campaign level, users can manually add an additional group and then run the report, but it will not be automatically included.
6. Select Inventory Type: In App, Web or Combined.
7. Select the Creative Type: Video, Audio, or Banner.
   • Only one creative type can be selected per report. If you need to run the same report for different creative types, clone the original report and update the creative type.
8. Add Targeting parameters by the follow two methods
   • Edit Targeting: Select parameters for forecasting.
     • Available targeting options for In App include:
       • Deals
       • Exchanges
       • Geo (Country, Regions, DMAs)
       • Zip Codes
       • Livestream
       • App Lists
       • Apps
       • Device Types
       • Channel
       • Network
       • Publisher
       • Genre
       • Series
       • Title
       • Multi Field
     • Available targeting options for Web include:
       • Deals
       • Exchanges
       • Geo (Country, Regions, DMAs)
       • Zip Codes
       • Livestream
       • Publisher
       • Site Lists
       • Sites
       • Device Types
     • Available targeting options for Combined include:
       • Deals
       • Exchanges
       • Geo (Country, Regions, DMAs)
       • Zip Codes
       • Livestream
       • Publisher
       • Deal Lists
       • Device Types
       • Site Lists
       • Sites
       • App Lists
       • Apps
       • Channel
       • Network
       • Publisher
       • Genre
       • Series
       • Title
       • Multifield
   • Inventory Discovery: Due to the inconsistency in how inventory information is structured across the CTV landscape, this tool helps advertisers create well-informed targeting lists and identify variations in formatting for the desired inventory.
     • Search and click to add fields to targeting for the forecast report.
9. Associate Audience Segments
   • Custom Audiences
   • Third Party Audiences
   • Contextual Audiences
   • ART Audiences
   • See Boolean Logic for more details on any and all logic for targeting between groups.
10. Run the report and wait a couple of minutes for results to populate.

Understanding the Results

Summary Metrics

• Forecasted Available Daily Impressions: Range of estimated daily impressions available.
• Total Impressions: Estimated total impressions available over a 30-day period.
• Avg Floor CPM: The average floor CPM for the inventory included in the report.
• Unique IFAs: The estimated number of unique device identifiers available.
• Unique IPs: The estimated number of unique households available, based on IP address.
• Top Networks: Pie chart showing the most popular networks. Hover over each section to view the number of impressions over the 30-day period.
• Top Publishers: Pie chart showing the most popular networks. Hover over each section to view the number of impressions over the 30-day period.
  Top Channels: Pie chart showing the most popular channels. Hover over each section to view the number of impressions over the 30-day period.

The report includes individual sections for the following:

• Exchanges
• Deals
• Channel
• Network
• Publisher
• Genre
• Series
• Titles
• Apps
• Device Types
• Livestream
• Zip Codes
• Sample Requests: Provides deeper insights into impression-level parameter combinations.
  • For example:
    • If a specific Deal ID is selected, charts will display available Networks and Channels.
    • Sample logs will illustrate how specific networks grant access to certain channels within that deal.

Exchanges

This section shows the exchanges included in the Inventory Availability report. It provides exchange-level details for Total Impressions, Avg Floor CPM, Unique IFAs, and Unique IPs.

The chart compares total impressions and average floor CPM by exchange. Hover over the chart to view the exchange name, total impressions, and average floor CPM. The table below provides the same exchange-level data in table format and can be downloaded as a CSV for further investigation.

Deals

This section shows the deals included in the Inventory Availability report. It provides deal-level details for Total Impressions, Avg Floor CPM, Unique IFAs, and Unique IPs.

The chart compares total impressions and average floor CPM by deal. Hover over the chart to view the deal name, total impressions, and average floor CPM. The table below provides the same deal-level data in table format and can be downloaded as a CSV for further investigation.

Networks

This section shows the networks included in the Inventory Availability report. It provides network-level details for Total Impressions, Avg Floor CPM, Unique IFAs, and Unique IPs.

The chart compares total impressions and average floor CPM by network. Hover over the chart to view the network name, total impressions, and average floor CPM. The table below provides the same network-level data in table format and can be downloaded as a CSV for further investigation.

Channels

This section shows the channels included in the Inventory Availability report. It provides channel-level details for Total Impressions, Avg Floor CPM, Unique IFAs, and Unique IPs.

The chart compares total impressions and average floor CPM by channel. Hover over the chart to view the channel name, total impressions, and average floor CPM. The table below provides the same channel-level data in table format and can be downloaded as a CSV for further investigation.

Publishers

This section shows the publishers included in the Inventory Availability report. It provides publisher-level details for Total Impressions, Avg Floor CPM, Unique IFAs, and Unique IPs.

The chart compares total impressions and average floor CPM by publishers. Hover over the chart to view the publisher name, total impressions, and average floor CPM. The table below provides the same publisher-level data in table format and can be downloaded as a CSV for further investigation.

Series

This section shows the series included in the Inventory Availability report. It provides series-level details for Total Impressions, Avg Floor CPM, Unique IFAs, and Unique IPs.

The chart compares total impressions and average floor CPM by series. Hover over the chart to view the series name, total impressions, and average floor CPM. The table below provides the same series-level data in table format and can be downloaded as a CSV for further investigation.

Titles

This section shows the titles included in the Inventory Availability report. It provides title-level details for Total Impressions, Avg Floor CPM, Unique IFAs, and Unique IPs.

The chart compares total impressions and average floor CPM by title. Hover over the chart to view the title name, total impressions, and average floor CPM. The table below provides the same title-level data in table format and can be downloaded as a CSV for further investigation.

Genre

This section shows the genres included in the Inventory Availability report. It provides genre-level details for Total Impressions, Avg Floor CPM, Unique IFAs, and Unique IPs.

The chart compares total impressions and average floor CPM by genre. Hover over the chart to view the genre name, total impressions, and average floor CPM. The table below provides the same genre-level data in table format and can be downloaded as a CSV for further investigation.

Livestream

This section shows the livestream categories included in the Inventory Availability report. It provides livestream-level details for Total Impressions, Avg Floor CPM, Unique IFAs, and Unique IPs.

The chart compares total impressions and average floor CPM by livestream category. Hover over the chart to view the category name, total impressions, and average floor CPM. The table below provides the same livestream-level data in table format and can be downloaded as a CSV for further investigation.

Apps

This section shows the App Bundle ID and Name included in the Inventory Availability report. It provides app-level details for Total Impressions, Avg Floor CPM, Unique IFAs, and Unique IPs.

The chart compares total impressions and average floor CPM by app. Hover over the chart to view the app name, total impressions, and average floor CPM. The table below provides the same app-level data in table format and can be downloaded as a CSV for further investigation.

Device Types

This section shows the device types included in the Inventory Availability report. It provides device type-level details for Total Impressions, Avg Floor CPM, Unique IFAs, and Unique IPs.

The chart compares total impressions and average floor CPM by device type. Hover over the chart to view the device type, total impressions, and average floor CPM. The table below provides the same device type-level data in table format and can be downloaded as a CSV for further investigation.

Zip Codes

This section shows the zip codes included in the Inventory Availability report. It provides zip code-level details for City, State, Total Impressions, Avg Floor CPM, Unique IFAs, and Unique IPs.

The map displays inventory availability by zip code, with higher-density areas highlighted. Use the map controls to zoom, adjust the view, or reset the map. The table below provides the same zip code-level data in table format and can be downloaded as a CSV for further investigation.

Sample Requests

This section shows the Deal level Sample Requests included in the Inventory Availability report. It provides Deal Name, Publishers, Network, Channel, Series, Title , Genre, Exchange, Livestream, App Bundle, App Name, Device Type, Zip Code, and Impressions.

The table can be downloaded as a CSV for further review or investigation.

Locate & understand the highest value users to your brand by utilizing the traffic on your website, or a list of U.S. zip codes, to create detailed insight reports, and leverage look-a-like modeling to find new targets that share key characteristics with your existing audience. For more information, please see the full ART Audience Research Tool documentation.

Create your target Audience profile from the desired demographic variables to discover new zip code targets with the highest propensity match to your desired Audience profile. Leveraging the correlation between zip codes and demographics, ADT uses US Census Data to find the zip codes with the largest deviation from the US mean across the selected variables. Leveraging impression data and deep contextual analysis, interest categories can also be evaluated for each zip code to find areas that are over-indexing in content consumption for the selected topics. Audience Discovery data can be exported for targeting across all channels and media types. Additionally, browse our public reports to see if there is a report that fits your campaign needs already. For more information, please see the full ART Audience Discovery Tool documentation.

Pontiac Analytics Suite Overview

Understand > Activate > Prove

Insights are only as powerful as your ability to act on them. With Pontiac’s Analytics Suite, you can move from analysis to optimization instantly by applying model outputs directly to your campaigns with no manual translation or workflow gaps.

No complex integrations. No big lift. Just seamless activation within the same platform where you run your campaigns.

Deep Dive

• Analytics Documentation: Deep dive into each pipeline and how to generate reports
• Audience Documentation: Learn how to understand your audience, build personas, and identify high-value and lookalike segments
• Targeting Documentation: Explore how to identify performance drivers and apply optimizations to campaign delivery
• Incrementality Documentation: Understand lift measurement, control vs exposed methodology, and true performance impact
• Full Analysis Documentation: Learn how to combine all pipelines into a single, unified view of campaign performance

No black boxes. No guesswork. Just transparent models, seamless activation, and results you can stand behind.

What is the Analytics Suite?

The Pontiac Analytics Suite is built around three core pipelines that cover the full campaign lifecycle:

• Audience: Know who converts, what defines them, and where to find more of them before you spend a dollar.
  • Builds personas using privacy-safe, census-based data
  • Identifies high-value ZIP codes and lookalike expansion opportunities
  • Helps guide targeting and messaging strategy
• Targeting: Activate and optimize performance in-flight
  • Surfaces key performance drivers across geo, device, content, time of day, and more
  • Applies insights directly to bidding and delivery
  • Reduces waste and improves efficiency with no manual breakouts
• Incrementality: Prove the true impact of your media
  • Compares exposed vs control groups to isolate true lift
  • Calculates real CPA and statistically validated performance
  • Identifies where to scale, test, or reduce spend, with the ability to automatically apply those optimizations
• Full Analysis: The complete picture
  • Combines Audience, Targeting, and Incrementality
  • Delivers end-to-end campaign intelligence in one report
  • Eliminates the need to piece together insights manually

Every model is fully transparent, showing exactly how decisions are made. And when you’re ready to act, applying those insights takes just a few clicks.

From Analysis to Activation

The Analytics Suite doesn’t just generate insights, it enables immediate action. Follow these simple steps:

1. Generate a Targeting, Audience, Incrementality, or Full Analysis report
2. Navigate to the Targeting section at the Campaign or Line level
3. Select the Custom Model tab
4. Enable Use Custom Models
5. Choose your model from the available list

Once enabled, your model is applied directly to Campaign and or Line delivery.

Bid Recommendations by Media Type

CTV

The typical prices for CTV placements range from $28-40, with premium inventory available at prices over $40. If you are targeting a CTV deal you will be given the CPM floor. We recommend setting your maximum bid at least $3-$5 above the minimum. CTV placements on the Open Exchange may sell at a lower CPM, but we recommend using PMP’s as they guarantee fraud-free inventory. 

OTT

 The PMPs are real-time bidding environments with a specified price floor as defined by the publisher. This is the minimum CPM bid required to enter the auction. These auctions can be very competitive and typically PMPs will clear somewhere between 40-80% higher than the Deal Price Floor. Closing CPMs are on average in the $20-40 range. However, this will vary greatly according to the caliber of publishers and inventory selected, where the PMP falls in the publisher waterfall, the level of competition, the format (Live, Short Form etc), the time of year and more. In general, we recommend using the price floors for guidance and adding an additional 40-50% to start the bidding. If you are not achieving the desired scale, continue to increase bids.

OLV

Bids vary for video inventory and deal, but we recommend a bid structure of at least an $6-$8 base bid. Run an Inventory Availability report to see average CPM based on your campaign targeting.

Audio

Audio can be bought either through the Open Exchange, or via PMPs. Bids on the Open Exchange typically clear between $10 and $13, whereas PMP Deals are often in the $18 – $25 range. Each PMP will have specific bid recommendations.

Display

Display Bid Prices vary with targeting and Audience data. The standard recommendation for display is a bid between $2-4, but this will increase as targeting becomes more granular.

How Audience and Attribution Fees Affect Cost

Audience, data, and attribution fees do not need to be added to the Line bid. The Line’s bid represents the amount Pontiac will bid for the media itself.

For example, if a Line has a $2.50 bid and targets a third-party Audience with a $1.50 CPM data cost, Pontiac will still bid up to $2.50 CPM for the media. The $1.50 Audience fee is applied separately and is included in the Line’s Total Cost and Total Cost CPM.

As a result:

• Bid Price / Media Cost CPM reflects the cost of the media.
• Total Cost / Total Cost CPM reflects the media cost plus applicable Audience, data, attribution, and other platform fees.

Third-Party Audience Fees

Third-party Audiences may have an associated CPM data cost. This fee is applied separately from the media bid and is included in Total Cost.

Examples of third-party Audience costs include:

• LiveRamp CRM segments: Associated Audience CPM
• TransUnion CRM segments: Associated Audience CPM
• OnSpot / Geoframed segments: Associated Audience CPM
• Other Third-Party Audiences: Associated CPM displayed for the Audience

Depending on the Audience and seat configuration, additional data commissions may also be included in Total Cost.

Contextual AI and ART Audience Fees

Contextual AI and ART Audiences may also have associated data fees. These fees are applied separately from the media bid and included in Total Cost.

If no applicable third-party Audience fee is present:

• A targeted Contextual AI Audience may apply the seat’s configured Contextual fee.
• A targeted ART Audience may apply the seat’s configured ART fee.

Foot Traffic Attribution Fees

Foot Traffic Attribution fees are also applied separately from the media bid and included in Total Cost. They do not need to be added to the Line’s bid recommendation.

Applicable CPM fees are:

• Banner, Native, Audio, and Video: $1.50 CPM
• CTV: $4.00 CPM

For example, a CTV Line with a $15.00 media bid and Foot Traffic Attribution enabled will continue to bid up to $15.00 CPM for media. The applicable Foot Traffic fee is added separately when calculating Total Cost.

Bid Types

In the Pontiac Platform, you have full control over bidding for all your campaigns. When setting up a Line Item, you can define a Basic Bid, Bid at Floor Price, and Advanced Bid Controls for your media. Closing bids reflect the total cost, including any applicable Audience fees or Foot Traffic fees. 

• Basic Bid: Standard bid price applied across all inventory. If the final clearing price is lower than the base bid, the system will adjust and bid one cent above the next highest bid to secure the impression efficiently.
• Bid at Floor Price: Allows Pontiac to bid based on the CPM floor provided in the bid request, up to the configured Max Bid Price.
  • Bid at Floor Price Plus: When Bid at Floor Price is selected, you can optionally increase the bid above the provided floor to improve competitiveness while still respecting the Max Bid Price.
    • Add CPM: Adds a specified CPM amount to the bid floor.
    • Add Percentage: Adds a specified percentage of the bid floor.
  • To configure Bid at Floor Price:
    • Edit the Line and set Bid Type to Bid at Floor Price.
    • Enter the desired Max Bid Price. You will never bid above this price.
    • Select the arrow next to Max Bid Price to display the Bid Floor Plus options.
    • Enter either a static CPM or percentage to add to the floor price.
  • We generally recommend bidding above the exact floor when greater auction competitiveness is desired. For example, adding 10% prevents the Line from always bidding exactly at the floor.
  • Example: If the Max Bid Price is $15.00, Bid at Floor Price Plus is set to 10%, and the bid floor is $14.00:
    $14.00 × 1.10 = $15.40
    • Because $15.40 exceeds the configured Max Bid Price, Pontiac will bid the $15.00 Max Bid Price.t Floor Price: The maximum bid price and CPM floor allowed for an auction.

• Advanced Bid Controls: This feature allows you to set a Maximum Bid Price (overall cap) and customize Bid Prices by Deal. Access Bid Controls by selecting the arrow next to the Max Bid Price field.
  • Default Bid Price: This is the default bid price for deals where a bid price is not defined for a specific deal. This is usually used when a new deal is added to the line and the bid prices are not explicitly set.
  • Max Bid Price: This is the maximum bid price that this line will bid and overrides bids set on each deal. If a deal’s bid price is higher than the max bid price this line will not bid on that deal.
  • Deal-Specific Bids: For each Deal targeted at both the Campaign and Line level, you can set a unique Bid Price, giving you greater control over bid adjustments and spending limits.
  • If you target Deals at either the Campaign level or the Line level and you only use one level, all of those Deals will be visible in the Advance Bid Controls.
  • If you set Deals at both levels, only the overlap (intersection) of the Campaign Deals and Line Deals will appear in Advanced Bid Controls. This ensures you’re only adjusting bids for Deals that are active at both levels.
  • See screenshot below of the Advanced Bid Controls popup window.

Example Scenarios

Scenario 1: Max Bid Price is higher than all Deal Bid Prices

• Default Bid Price = $10.00
• Max Bid Price = $20.00

All Deals being targeted in the above scenario have bid prices lower than the Max Bid Price. This means that the Line will be able to bid on all the deals. If a new deal is added to this list in the targeting section, then the default bid for the new deal will be $10.00 (until updated) and would automatically be eligible to bid on the inventory through the new deal since $10.00 < $20.00.

Scenario 2: Max Bid Price is higher than some Deal Bid Prices

• Default Bid Price: $10.00
• Max Bid Price: $13.00

Only Deal IDs: 15 and 23 being targeted in the above scenario have bid prices lower than the Max Bid Price. This means that the Line will only be able to bid on inventory through Deal IDs: 15 and 23 and will not bid on inventory through Deal IDs: 20, 21, and 22. If a new deal is added to this list in the targeting section, then the default bid for the new deal will be $10.00 (until updated) and would automatically be eligible to bid on the inventory through the new deal since $10.00 < $13.00.

Deal Floor Price Tooltip

In the Advance Bid Controls popup window, users can now hover over the question mark icon to reveal bid floor prices from the previous day’s sample request.

Here users can find the following bid insights:

• Min: The lowest observed floor price
• Max: The highest observed floor price
• Avg: The average floor price for the previous day
• Media: The median floor price for the previous day

This tooltip provides users with quick visibility into the range and distribution of floor prices for each deal. It helps buyers understand the competitiveness of the deal and adjust bidding strategies accordingly.

The Help Center is the primary way to contact the Pontiac team for platform support, troubleshooting, account questions, and feature requests.

Use the Help Center to submit a support ticket, provide relevant campaign or account details, attach screenshots or videos, and track responses from the Pontiac team in one place.

For the fastest response, include as much relevant information as possible when submitting your ticket, such as applicable IDs, names, screenshots, error messages, and a clear description of the issue.

Create a Support Ticket

Step 1: Navigate to the Help Center

You can access the Help Center in two ways:

1. From anywhere in the platform, select the Messages icon in the top navigation to open the Help Center.
2. Or, navigate to Admin > Help Center.

Step 2: Select Start New Conversation

Then select Start New Conversation to open the support ticket form and submit a new request to the Pontiac team.

1. Click on the Help Center tab.
2. Click the Start New Conversation button to open the support ticket form.
   • Here you will be able to submit a support ticket and the Pontiac team will efficiently and happily assist you with a variety of issues and questions.

Step 3: Fill Out the New Conversation Form

The following fields will appear:

• Title: Provide a brief summary of the issue or request.
• User: Your user name which will be auto-filled.
• Date: The date of submission which will be auto-filled.
• Urgency: Indicate how critical the issue is. Select Normal or Uber Important.
• Status: Current status of the ticket. This is set to Open by default. Once the issue is resolved you or a Pontiac team member will change the status to Resolved to close out the ticket.
• What can we help with?: Select the category that best matches your issue:
  • Product Support: Questions or issues related to the platform’s functionality.
  • Creative Issues: Problems related to creative (incorrect category, upload issue, macro questions, etc.).
  • Audience Onboarding: Requests or questions about importing or targeting audience segments (Liveramp or Transunion account set up, lookalike audience questions, creating custom pixel audiences, etc.)
  • Reporting: Questions or issues with analytics, metrics, or data exports.
  • Billing: Questions related to margin, invoicing, spend, or payment issues.
  • API: Issues or questions about API access, endpoints, or integrations.
  • White Label Issues: Problems specific to branded or custom instances of the platform.
  • Platform Suggestions: Requests for feature enhancements, improvements, or general feedback.
• Message: Provide a detailed description of the issue or question. To help the Pontiac team respond as quickly as possible, include all relevant IDs and/or Names where applicable. Examples include: User ID, the Advertiser ID and Name, Campaign ID and Name, Line ID and Name, Creative ID or Name, Pixel ID or Name, etc. The more specific information you provide, the faster and more accurately the support team can address your request.
• Additional Recipients: Email addresses of anyone who should receive update notifications for this conversation. Important: All responses must be made through the Help Center ticketing interface, not via the email notification, to ensure your updates are properly logged and tracked.
• Attachments: Upload screenshots or videos to support your ticket. This is especially useful for bug-related issues, as visual evidence can help the support team diagnose and resolve problems more quickly.

Step 4: Submit or Save

• Click Save to submit the ticket to the Pontiac team.
• Click Cancel if you do not want to submit.

The Pontiac team will review your ticket and provide assistance as quickly as possible.

View and Manage Support Tickets

After a ticket has been submitted, you can return to the Help Center at any time to view the conversation, review responses from the Pontiac team, provide additional information, or update the ticket status.

View a Response

When the Pontiac team responds to a ticket, the response will be added to the existing Help Center conversation.

1. Open the Help Center by selecting the Messages icon in the top navigation or navigating to Admin > Help Center.
2. Select the conversation you want to review.
3. Review the latest response and the previous conversation history.
4. Add a new response if additional information or follow-up is needed.

If email notifications are enabled for you or any Additional Recipients, an email may also be sent when the conversation is updated. All responses should still be made through the Help Center, rather than replying directly to the notification email, so the complete conversation remains logged in the ticket.

Close a Ticket

Once the issue or request has been resolved, the ticket can be closed by updating the Status from Open to Resolved. Either you or a Pontiac team member may mark the conversation as Resolved once no additional assistance is needed.

Resolved conversations remain available in the Help Center so you can refer back to the discussion if needed.

Reopen a Ticket

If additional assistance is needed after a ticket has been resolved, reopen the existing conversation by changing the Status from Resolved back to Open and adding a new response with any relevant details.

Whenever possible, reopen the existing ticket when your question relates to the same issue. This keeps the previous troubleshooting history, attachments, and responses together and gives the Pontiac team helpful context.

For a new or unrelated issue, select Start New Conversation and create a separate support ticket.

Bid Metrics

Bid metrics are displayed on the Advertiser, Campaign, and Line details pages to provide insight into the bid funnel, real-time delivery, and potential issues that may be affecting delivery.

• Time Frame: Select a time frame such as 15 minutes, 1 hour, 12 hours, or 1 day. Data is displayed in 5-minute intervals.
• Eligible Requests: Bid requests that meet the targeting criteria for the Line or Campaign, including settings such as deals, geo targeting, inventory targeting, audiences, and other targeting restrictions. If there are no eligible requests, the selected targeting criteria may be too restrictive or there may be no available inventory matching all criteria. See the Blockers graph and Troubleshooting delivery section below for more information.
• Bids: Bids placed on eligible requests. If a Line or Campaign has eligible requests but is not bidding, additional requirements or settings may be preventing bids from being placed. See the Troubleshooting delivery section below for more information.
• Imps: Confirmed impressions served by the Line or Campaign after winning an auction.
• Confirmed Spend:Confirmed spend generated by impressions served during the selected time frame.
• Avg Eligible Lines: Shows how many lines on average across the platform compete for impressions available to this line. Higher numbers indicate a lot of compeition of eligible inventory.
• Competitive Position: Shows how competitive is this line in the platform. Higher numbers near 1 means that this line’s bid price is very competitive.

Bid/Imp Ratios

Below the Bid Data section there is the Bid/Imp Ratios data.

• Time Frame: Select different time options such as 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, and 48 hours.
• Imps to Bids Ratio: The ratio of impressions delivered to the number of bids placed. This provides insight into how frequently submitted bids result in won impressions.
  • A higher ratio indicates that a larger share of bids are winning and converting into impressions.
  • A lower ratio indicates that many bids are being submitted without winning, which may point to factors such as an uncompetitive bid price, auction competition, or deal/inventory conditions.
• Bids to Eligible Bids Ratio: The ratio of bid requests seen which match targeting to the number of bids placed. This provides insight into how frequently the platform bids after a request passes targeting eligibility.
  • A higher ratio indicates that the platform is bidding on a larger share of eligible requests.
  • A lower ratio indicates that requests are passing targeting eligibility but are frequently being filtered out before a bid is placed. This may point to additional serving requirements such as budget or pacing constraints, creative eligibility, frequency caps, bid requirements, or other bidder-level restrictions. If delivery is being limited by pacing or budget allocation, increasing the Budget Multiplier or enabling Catch Up ASAP may help increase bid volume.

Blockers

This horizontal bar graph shows the percentage of bid requests blocked by each category before the requests become eligible. Category percentages are calculated independently, so the chart is not a step-by-step funnel and the same request may be counted in more than one category.

Hover over a category to view its Blocked %, which represents that category’s share of all blocked counts across the categories shown. All category percentages sum to 100%. Total Blocked shows the total number of bid requests blocked by that category. Click a category in the legend to hide or restore it; the chart will automatically rescale based on the visible categories.

Troubleshoot Feature

On the Line level in the Performance tab, below the Bid Data section, there is the Troubleshoot section that runs a series of checks to help identify delivery blockers related to creatives, targeting, deals, bidding, and auction performance.

Checks

• Advertiser, Campaign, and Line Status: Confirms that the advertiser, campaign, and line are all active.
  • Pass: The Advertiser, Campaign, and Line are all active.
  • Fail: The following are inactive: {Object Name} (ID: {object_id}). To resolve this issue, set the inactive object(s) to active.
    • The failure message lists only the inactive objects and includes each object’s name and ID.
• Associated Audience Valid Records: Confirms that the effective audiences associated with the line have valid records available for targeting.
  • Pass: The associated audience(s) have valid records available for targeting: {audience_1} has {audience_1_records} valid records {audience_2} has {audience_2_records} valid records
  • Warning: The associated audience(s) have partially invalid record availability. The associated audience(s) have valid records available for targeting: {audience_1} has {audience_1_records} valid records. The associated audiences have 0 valid records and will not serve: {audience_2}, {audience_3}. These may limit overall delivery.
  • Fail: All associated audiences have 0 valid records and will not serve: {audience_1}, {audience_2}, {audience_3}
• Auction Win Validation: Confirms the line is winning impressions
  • Pass: The line is successfully winning auctions.
  • Fail: The line is not winning impressions. If recently launched and targeting Index inventory, there may be a review period of up to 24 hours.
  • Tooltip: Checks for impressions served in the last 48 hours. Recently won impressions may appear in Bid Data before this check updates. For the most current impressions served and confirmed spend activity, refer to the Bid Data section.
• Bid Price vs Deal Floor Validation: Ensures bids meet deal floor requirements
  • Pass: Bid price meets or exceeds the floor price requirements for targeted deal(s).
    Fail: The line is not bidding because bid price is below deal floor. Deal {deal_name} ({deal_id}): Deal Floor {floor_price}, Current Bid {bid_price}
  • Note that even if this test passes, you may need to increase bids to win more auctions.
• Creative Active Status: Ensures at least one creative is active
  • Pass: At least one creative associated with the line is active and eligible to receive bid requests.
  • Fail: The line is not showing eligible requests because there are no active creatives associated.
• Creative Approval Status: Ensures at least one creative is approved
  • Pass: At least one creative associated with this line is approved and eligible to receive bid requests.
  • Fail: The line is not showing eligible requests because the creative(s): {creative_ids} are not approved.
• Creative Duration Compatibility: Validates duration support for video/audio creatives
  • Pass: At least one creative duration(s) is supported by the targeted deal(s).
  • Fail: The line is not showing eligible requests because creative durations are not supported by the targeted deal(s).
• Creative Size Compatibility: Validates creative size against deal requirements
  • Pass: At least one creative size is supported by the targeted deal(s).
  • Fail: The line is not showing eligible requests because creative sizes are not supported by the targeted deal(s).
• Creative Sensitive Category Compatibility: Validates category compatibility
  • Pass: Creative sensitive category is compatible with at least one targeted deal.
  • Fail: The line is not showing eligible requests because the creative(s): {creative_ids} must target a deal that allows for the creative’s sensitive category. If a creative has a sensitive category, it is not eligible to run on the open exchange.
• Daily Budget: Confirms that the line’s calculated daily budget is greater than $0.
  • Pass: The line has a daily budget of {line_daily_budget} and is eligible to spend.
  • Fail: The line is not eligible to spend because its calculated daily budget is $0.
    • The message identifies the applicable budget setting or settings that may need to be updated.
    • Depending on the line’s budget configuration, this may include:
      • Line Budget Allocation Weight
      • Line Budget Multiplier
      • Current Flight Budget
      • Current Flight Line Budget Allocation Weight
      • Current Flight Line Budget Multiplier
    • Only settings applicable to the line’s current budget and flight configuration are included.
    • The check will also fail when the campaign, flight, or line has no remaining budget.
      • Remaining Budget Fail: The line is not eligible to spend because the remaining budget is $0. If the line should continue delivering, increase the applicable campaign, flight, or line budget.
• Dayparts Status: Confirms whether the line is currently eligible to serve based on its configured dayparting schedule.
  • Pass: The line is currently inside its active daypart window and is eligible to serve based on its dayparting schedule.
  • Fail: The line is currently outside of its active daypart window and is not eligible to serve based on its configured dayparting schedule.
    • A failed result reflects the line’s eligibility at the time the check is run. The line may become eligible when its next active daypart window begins.
• Deal Bid Request Availability: Confirms targeted deals are sending requests
  • Pass: Targeted deal(s) are actively sending bid requests and eligible inventory is available.
  • Fail: The line is not showing eligible requests because the deal(s): {deal_ids} are not sending bid requests.
• Deal Device Type Compatibility: Validates device targeting matches deal traffic
  • Pass: At least one targeted device type is compatible with device types observed in the targeted deal(s).
  • Fail: The line is not showing eligible requests because the deal(s): {deal_ids} do not support the targeted device types.
• Deal Exchange Compatibility: Ensures exchange alignment with deals
  • Pass: At least one targeted exchange aligns with exchanges serving the targeted deal(s).
  • Fail: The line is not showing eligible requests because the deal(s): {deal_ids} and targeted exchanges are not aligned.
• Deal Inventory Type Compatibility: Validates that the line’s selected Inventory Type is compatible with the inventory type of its targeted deal(s). A line only needs one compatible targeted deal for this check to pass.
  • Pass: At least one targeted deal matches the line’s selected Inventory Type, and the line is eligible to receive bid requests.
  • Pass – Deal Inventory Type Undefined: The targeted deal(s): {deal_ids} do not have an Inventory Type defined. Compatibility with the line’s Inventory Type: {line_inventory_type} cannot be confirmed. Please review manually.
  • Fail: No targeted deals match the line’s current Inventory Type: {line’s inventory type}. Update the line’s Inventory Type or target compatible deals to enable delivery.
  • Line Inventory Type and Compatible Deal Inventory Type
    • Web: Web or Combined
    • In App: In App or Combined
    • Combined: Web, In App, or Combined
• Deal Media Type Compatibility: Confirms creative type matches deal media type
  • Pass: At least one creative type is compatible with the targeted deal(s).
  • Fail: The line is not showing eligible requests because the deal(s): {deal_ids} have media types that do not match the associated creatives.
• Deal Publisher Approval Status: Verifies publisher approval requirements
  • Pass: At least one targeted deal has satisfied publisher approval requirements and is eligible for bidding.
  • Fail: The line is not showing eligible requests because the deal(s): {deal_ids} require publisher approval.
• Deal Required Field Presence: Ensures required fields are present in requests
  • Pass: At least one targeted deal is passing the required field(s) in bid requests and is eligible for delivery.
  • Fail: The line is not showing eligible requests because the deal(s): {deal_ids} do not pass the required field(s) in bid requests. Deal {deal_id}: Missing {field_name}
• Deal Targeting Intersection: Ensures campaign and line deal targeting overlap
  • Pass: Campaign and line deal targeting settings intersect.
  • Fail: Campaign and line deal targeting parameters have no intersection. Ensures that when targeting is applied to both levels that they match or have an intersection.
• Device Targeting Intersection: Confirms device targeting alignment
  • Pass: Campaign and line device targeting settings intersect.
  • Fail: Campaign and line device targeting parameters have no intersection. Ensures that when targeting is applied to both levels that they match or have an intersection.
• Exchange Targeting Intersection: Confirms exchange targeting alignment
  • Pass: Campaign and line exchange targeting settings intersect.
  • Fail: Campaign and line exchange targeting parameters have no intersection. Ensure that when targeting is applied to both levels that they match or have an intersection.
• Geo Targeting Intersection: Confirms geo targeting overlap
  • Pass: Campaign and line geo targeting settings intersect.
  • Fail: Campaign and line geo targeting parameters have no intersection. Ensure that when targeting is applied to both levels that they match or have an intersection.
• Microsoft Creative Audit Approval: Validates Microsoft exchange approval (if applicable)
  • Pass: At least one creative is approved for the Microsoft exchange and eligible to receive bid requests.
  • Fail: The line is not showing eligible requests because the creative(s): {creative_ids} are not approved for Microsoft.

Additional Notes

• If no deals are targeted (open exchange), all deal-related checks pass with: No deals targeted; check not applicable for open exchange.

Inventory Availability

The Line Performance tab now includes an Inventory Availability section. This section appears near the top of the Performance tab, under the pacing bars, and allows users to run and review Inventory Availability reports directly from the Line.

Select Run Report to generate a new Inventory Availability report for the line.

The report is generated using the line’s current configuration, including:

• Inventory type
• Creative type
• Advertiser
• Campaign
• Line
• Effective targeting (Intersection of the Campaign and Line)
• Audiences (only Line level)
  • If audiences are applied to the Campaign level, users can manually add an additional group and then run the report, but it will not be automatically included.
  • See Boolean Logic for more details on any and all logic for targeting between groups.

After a report is submitted, it appears in the Inventory Availability report table for that line.

The table includes:

• Report Status: Shows whether the report is processing, complete, or has an issue
• Report ID
• Report Name: Generated using the line name and date. When users click on the name, they are taken to the full report.
• Date Submitted

Reports are ordered by Date Submitted, with the newest reports shown first.

Results

Once the Report has finished processing, click on the Report Name to see the results. See the documentation here for a deep dive into Inventory Availability Reports: Inventory Availability Tool

Additional Manual Checks and Considerations

1. Are there any eligible requests? If no, here are some steps to troubleshoot the lack of eligible requests:
   • Check the creative audit status on your ads, this can be seen in the Advertiser screen next to the creative ID.
     • If the status is ‘pending’ (yellow caution symbol) there cannot be eligible requests until your ads are audited by the Pontiac audit team. Keep in mind that the audit process may take up to one business day.
     • If your creative is rejected, it will not be able to serve on the Pontiac platform. Review our creative acceptance policy for more information on prohibited content.
   • Run an Inventory Availability Report with the selected targeting parameters applied. If there are no estimated daily impressions available or the estimate is very low, your targeting may be too restrictive and should be expanded to find eligible impressions that meet your requirements.
   • Ensure that your Line’s Inventory Type: Web, In-App, Or Combined is aligned with your Media Type: Audio, Display, OLV, Streaming/CTV, Device Type: PC, Phone, Tablet, Connected TV, Connected Device, Set Top Box, and Creative Type: Display, Native, HTML5, Audio, Video.
   • Check your Campaign and Line set ups to verify that there are no conflicting targeting parameters. For example, if the Campaign was set to target the state of Florida and the Line set to target the state of Alabama, the Line would not be able to serve. An impression must meet the targeting criteria of both the Line and Campaign to be eligible.
   • Check sample logs on the Deal for publisher b-cats and any specific creative requirements such as duration, bitrate, etc. Verify that your creative meets all platform and publisher specs. For more information and guidance on this, refer to the Publisher Specs & Approval Process.
   • If your Inventory Type is set to App, you should not target any Contextual AI segments. Contextual AI is only available when the Inventory Type is set to Web or Combined because it works by analyzing text heavy content of web pages to determine the context of the ad placement. Since mobile apps do not have web page content for the AI to analyze, Contextual AI cannot classify them, and targeting these segments on App inventory will result in no eligible bids.
   • If you have content level targeting lists applied, check the Deal sample logs to verify that these values are correctly formatted and in the correct field. Values in these lists will need to be exact matches to the values in the bid request (except for capitalization).
   • If you have ‘Require X’ applied on content level fields (require network, require channel, etc), check the deal sample logs for the deals targeted to see if they are passing values in these fields. If they are not populating these fields, you will need to select other deals that pass this info, or remove this setting from targets.
   • Check the Deals table in the ‘Inventory’ tab for the ‘last served’ date on the Deals being used. If this date is not current, it is possible the Deal has expired, but has not yet been removed from the system. Reach out via the Help Center for assistance with this Deal.
   • Check the Deal’s sample logs of the Deal being targeted in the ‘Inventory’ tab to ensure that the correct creative sizes, duration, bitrate, deal bid floor, etc. are all aligned with the setup.
2. If there are eligible requests, are there bids being placed? If no, here are some steps to troubleshoot the lack of bids:
   • Check the Deals table for ‘publisher approval’ required column. If the Deal requires approval, you will need to submit a request via the Help Center to start the approval process for that deal. Once your creative is approved, this will appear below the creative preview in the section ‘Approved for: ‘ with the publisher name. You can find more info on this here: Creative Audit
   • Check for ‘sensitive categories allowed’ on the targeted Deals if your creative has been flagged as sensitive. These creatives will only be eligible to run on deals that have explicitly been marked this category as accepted. You can find more information on this here: Sensitive Creatives
   • Reach out through the Help Center for further technical assistance if you try the above recommendations and are still not seeing bids on eligible impressions.
   • Ensure that you are bids are set up correctly.
     • When using Basic Bids, ensure that the Bid Price is higher than the Deal(s) that you are targeting. If targeting multiple Deals on one Line, use Advance Bid Controls to set a bid for each Deal independently. In order to be eligible to bid on every Deal that is appended to your Line, you must set your Max Bid Price higher than the floor of the most expensive deal to bid on all Deals. Otherwise, you will only bid on deals with inventory that is at or below your Max Bid Price.
3. If there are bids being placed, are there impressions being won? If no, here are some steps to troubleshoot the lack of wins:
   • Remove bid at floor price – if you are bidding higher than the floor but have this feature enabled, you will only be bidding at the floor and may be missing out on impressions that could’ve been winning with your max bid.
   • If you do not have ‘bid at price floor’ applied, you may still want to test incremental increases in the bid to see if more impressions can be won at a higher price point and kick start delivery.
   • The publishers targeted may have additional specs or creative requirements that are blocking your creatives from serving. In most cases the specs can be found on the publishers website. The sample logs on the CTV landscape report also provide insight into requirements such as bit rates, video protocol (vast version) & more.
   • Reach out out through the Help Center for further technical assistance if you have tried the above recommendations and are still unable to see impressions won.
4. If there are impressions being won, but the Line or Campaign is not meeting expectations for delivery, the following are suggestions to increase scale/pacing:
   • Run an Inventory Availability Report on the Line and ensure that there are estimated daily impressions based on your set up. If there are no estimated daily impressions available or the estimate is very low:
     • Run the report again without selected deals to identify other deals with available inventory that align with the campaign’s targeting.
     • Your targeting may need to be expanded to allow the Line to serve. Can you add additional inventory, expand the geo or audience size, etc.?
     • The Inventory Availability Report will also provide insight into the bid floors across the inventory within a deal, geo, etc.
   • Increase the Budget Multiplier. Note that this should be inline with how the Line is pacing.
   • Increase the Budget Allocation Weights: Allocate more budget to Lines that are pacing well and have capacity to scale.
   • Apply ‘Catchup ASAP’ in the Pacing section to either the Campaign or specific Lines.
   • Increase Frequency Caps
   • A low win rate is most likely due to the bid on the Line, test incremental increases to see how this affects Line delivery.

Targeting settings in Pontiac can be applied at either the Campaign level and/or the Line level. Understanding how these interact is key to ensuring your impressions remain eligible.

The Intersection Rule

• Campaign level targeting acts as a global filter for all line items under that campaign.
• Line level targeting applies only to the specific line.
• When targeting is applied at both levels, the effective targeting is the intersection of the two:
  • Effective Targeting = Campaign Targeting ∩ Line Targeting
• This means an impression must satisfy all conditions applied at both levels in order to be eligible.
  

Best Practices

• Use campaign level targeting when the parameter applies universally to all lines (e.g., every line must serve only in the US).
• Use line level targeting when the parameter is unique to a strategy (e.g., one line targets ZIPs in California, another in New York).
• Apply settings at one level only whenever possible, unless the intent is to explicitly restrict eligible inventory via intersection.

The IAB category assigned to your creative can be found by clicking on the creative name to open the creative details window. This field is displayed below the creative in the ‘Creative Category’ field:

These categories come from the Open RTB Specs, that can be found here in table 5.1 ‘Content Categories’: Open RTB Specs v2.5

If you believe your creative has been assigned an incorrect IAB category, please submit a ticket through the Help Center. Be sure to include the Advertiser Name and ID associated with the creative in question so we can assist you promptly.

Creative audit results will be displayed under ‘Audit Status’ next to the name of the Creative, in the ‘Creatives’ section of the Advertiser, Campaign, or Line. If your Creative is rejected, a red box will appear here. Hover over this symbol to view additional information about the audit status. Pontiac Intelligence is unable to change the audit results of Xandr/AppNexus & RiskIQ. 

Audit results can only be changed by resolving the issue that caused the Creative to be rejected. If you think your Creative was rejected incorrectly, reach out to the Pontiac Team through the Help Center.

• Rejected, Does not display properly: First check to see if there is a preview of the Creative in the green preview box in Pontiac and verify that the Creative fits in the designated area. If it does not fit correctly in the box you may have chosen the incorrect Creative size. You can edit the size then select ‘Save’. The Creative will be sent to audit and this process may take up to one business day to complete.
• Rejected, Fails to render: If you are using an ad server tag, verify that the code you uploaded in Pontiac renders on your end. Check with your ad server that the tag is active and available. Email your Account Manager or reach out through the Help Center for additional help.
• Rejected, Creative brand does not match Creative landing page: The brand displayed in the ad should match the brand of the website that the ad is driving users to. In order for this Creative to be accepted, you must change the brand displayed in the Creative, or change the Click URL to drive to this brand’s website. If you are driving to a third-party marketplace or other page that does not depict your branding, such as Amazon, check the ‘Use Alternative Mobile Click Url’ and enter a URL that contains the same branding represented in your ad. The audit team will use this URL to validate the branding represented in the creative. This will not be used as the landing page for the creative. Once you have edited the Creative details, ‘Save’ and close the Creative upload window. The Creative will be sent to audit and this process may take up to one business day to complete
• Rejected, Creative does not click through properly: Your Creative will be rejected if the Creative is clicked and does not open a landing page, if the Creative is clicked and a landing page opens, but no content loads or if the Creative is clicked and a landing page loads, but an error keeps any content from being displayed. In any of these cases you must either update the landing page and then click ‘Reaudit’ or change the Click URL for the Creative and click ‘save’. The Creative will be sent to audit and this process may take up to one business day to complete.
• Rejected, Malicious: Your account will be suspended, you will be notified in writing and an investigation will take place within three business days. Pontiac clients who upload ads deemed malicious will lose access to the platform and forfeit deposited funds.

What is Pontiac MCP?

Pontiac MCP (Model Context Protocol) is a secure integration that allows ChatGPT and Claude Code to connect directly to the Pontiac DSP platform.

It enables users to:

• View and manage advertisers, campaigns, and lines
• Pull performance data and pacing insights
• Create and update campaigns, creatives, and targeting
• Explore inventory, deals, and audiences

In short: it lets you operate Pontiac using natural language inside ChatGPT or Claude Code instead of navigating the UI manually.

Once connected, you can ask ChatGPT things like:

• “Show me campaigns that are under pacing”
• “Create a new CTV campaign for $10K in California”
• “What’s my spend this week by campaign?”

This turns ChatGPT into a hands-on campaign management assistant.

What is the MCP Best Used For?

Pontiac MCP is most powerful when used to speed up workflows, reduce manual effort, and surface insights instantly.

Campaign Management

• Quickly create, update, or duplicate campaigns without navigating multiple UI pages
• Make bulk edits or adjustments using simple prompts

Performance Monitoring

• Instantly check pacing, spend, and performance across campaigns
• Identify underperforming or overspending campaigns in seconds

Troubleshooting & Optimization

• Diagnose delivery issues (e.g., under pacing, no eligible bids)
• Quickly adjust targeting, budgets, or creatives

Data Exploration

• Pull reports and break down performance without building manually in the interface
• Ask questions and get answers in real time instead of digging through dashboards

Operational Efficiency

• Reduce time spent on repetitive tasks
• Minimize context switching between tools
• Enable faster decision-making and execution

MCP turns Pontiac into a conversational interface for campaign management, helping you move faster, work smarter, and focus on strategy instead of manual setup.

Follow the instructions below to connect to the Pontiac MCP through ChatGPT:

1. Go to ChatGPT
2. Open ChatGPT Settings
   • Click your profile (bottom left)
   • Select Settings

3. Navigate to Apps / Connectors

4. Select Advance Settings > Create App

5. Input the following information:

• Give the app a name: For example Pontiac DSP
• Enter the MCP Server URL: https://ai.pontiac.media/mcp
• Check the I understand and want to continue checkbox
• Click Create.

6. The screen will then take you to the Pontiac login console page. Enter your Username and Password as normal. Click Login.

7. Ensure MCP connection.

8. Start playing around! Some examples to kick off with:

Connection

Check on active advertisers

Get information about specific advertisers: Number of Lines

This guide covers installing Claude Code on Windows and connecting it to the Pontiac MCP server for programmatic campaign management and data access.

1. Install Claude Code
   • Run in PowerShell: irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex
   • Install location: C:\Users\.local\bin\claude.exe
2. Configure PATH
   • Add your User PATH: C:\Users\.local\bin
   • Restart PowerShell
   • Verify installation: claude –help
     • Expected output: CLI help output with commands like mcp, agents, auth, etc.
3. Add Pontiac MCP Server
   • Run: claude mcp add –transport http pontiac https://ai.pontiac.media/mcp
   • Verify MCP registration: claude mcp list
     • Expected output: pontiac: https://ai.pontiac.media/mcp (HTTP) – Needs authentication
4. Launch Claude Code
   • Run: claude
   • Initial setup:
     • Select a theme
     • Confirm workspace access
5. Authenticate Pontiac MCP
   • Inside Claude Code run: /mcp
   • Select pontiac
   • Complete authentication via browser or provided link and enter your pontiac username and password as normal
   • Return to Claude Code
6. Confirm Connection
   • Run: /mcp
   • Expected output:

7. Run prompts to interact with the Pontiac MCP to manage campaigns.

Below are some example natural language prompts to easily start using the Pontiac MCP!

Connection

Prompt: check pontiac dsp connection

Example response:

Please note that periods of inactivity will require you to reconnect and reauthenticate.

ChatGPT Reconnection Steps:

1. Navigate to account settings on the bottom left corner.
2. Select Apps.
3. Click the three dots next to disconnect.
4. Click the Reconnect button.
5. Use Pontiac credentials to authenticate.

Active Advertisers

Prompt: check all active advertisers

Example response:

Creatives Check

Prompt: what type of creatives are uploaded to the papaya king advertiser?

Example Response:

Prompt: what creatives under rock hard ads have been approved?

Performance

Prompt: break down performance by exchange / device / geo for {insert campaign name here}

Example Response:

A Seat is the top level account structure within Pontiac. It represents the primary workspace through which users access and manage Advertisers, Audiences, account settings, and other platform functionality.

Seat level settings determine items such as:

• Users and access permissions
• Seat timezone and preferences
• LiveRamp and TransUnion addendum acceptance
• GDPR eligibility and configuration
• Access to Sub Seats, when enabled

Advertisers are created within a Seat and contain the Campaigns, Lines, Creatives, and Pixels used for campaign setup and delivery. Audiences are managed at the Seat level and can be applied to eligible Campaigns or Lines.

Seat Hierarchy

For a standard Seat, the Pontiac hierarchy is:

Seat
├── Audiences
└── Advertisers
    ├── Creatives
    ├── Pixels
    └── Campaigns
        └── Lines

Users and Seat level preferences are managed through Admin > Seat Settings and control access and configuration for the Seat.

Master Seat and Sub Seat Hierarchy

Some accounts may be configured as a Master Seat with one or more associated Sub Seats. This allows users to access and manage multiple Seats through one central Master Seat.

Master Seat
├── Audiences
└── Sub-Seats
    ├── Audiences
    └── Advertisers
        ├── Creatives
        ├── Pixels
        └── Campaigns
            └── Lines

Audiences created at the Master Seat level may be made available to associated Sub Seats for targeting while remaining managed by the Master Seat. Sub Seats can also maintain their own audiences.

For more information, see the Sub Seats section below.

Create New Users

1. Navigate to Admin and then to the Seat Settings tab.
2. Click ‘Create New User’ to add a new user.
3. Input the user’s Name and Email.
4. Check the Read-Only box to give the user view-only access, or leave it unchecked to grant full access.

Edit Seat Users

1. Navigate to Admin and then to the Seat Settings tab.
2. Click the ‘Edit’ button on the far right to edit the user’s role.
3. Choose the appropriate role:
   • Seat-admin
   • User
   • Read-only.
   • Note that if user roles are changed, the user will have to log out and log back in before the new role changes take effect.

Special Cases

• If a user is deleted, a new user cannot be added with the same email address as the deleted user.
• If you need to change a username or re-enable a previously deleted user, please create a ticket in our Help Center, and our engineering team will assist with the request.

In order to create new users, the user must be an Admin. Reach out to your Account Manager or through the Pontiac Help Center if you need additional assistance.

Users can accept the LiveRamp and TransUnion addendums here.

Users must sign the applicable agreement before uploading, distributing, or using customer targeting data through LiveRamp or TransUnion in the Pontiac platform.

This ensures the user has confirmed they have the necessary legal rights, permissions, consent, and privacy compliance before Pontiac or the data partner processes the data on their behalf.

Liveramp

Pontiac requires users to confirm they have the legal rights, permissions, consent, and privacy compliance needed before Pontiac or LiveRamp can process customer targeting data on their behalf.

Signing this agreement is required for users who want to upload or distribute customer targeting data through LiveRamp using the Pontiac platform.

Transunion

Pontiac requires users to confirm they have the legal rights, permissions, consent, and privacy compliance needed before Pontiac or TransUnion can process customer targeting data on their behalf.

Signing this agreement is required for users who want to upload or distribute customer targeting data through TransUnion using the Pontiac platform.

Choose your Seat’s timezone, which defines when the seat’s day starts and ends and establishes day boundaries across the platform. Campaign pacing and delivery are controlled separately at the campaign level and may use a different timezone. Download all timezones here and in platform:

We are live with the Bidder in Europe. Due to EU/UK privacy restrictions, all data must be kept in the EU/UK. Therefore, you must register for a separate EU/UK seat to launch campaigns in Europe. Please reach out through the Help Center or to your account executive with questions.

For seats with GDPR enabled, the default country in the targeting section will now be set to United Kingdom (UK) instead of United States (US).

This applies to the country targeting field in both:

• Campaign targeting
• Line targeting

Users can still update the country targeting as needed, but for GDPR-enabled seats, the default selection will be United Kingdom.

The following are the countries that are restricted by GDPR and are only available in GDPR compliant seats.

In the edit Pixel dialog box, two optional GDPR query string macros are available:

• GDPR: GDPR
• GDPR Consent: GDPR_CONSENT

These GDPR macros are also supported as Creative macros where applicable. For the full list of supported Creative macros, see the documentation here: Supported Macros

Work with your web developer to ensure these placeholders are implemented with the appropriate values for your integration.

When adding a third-party tag, Pontiac validates the macros included in the tag before it can be saved. This helps prevent tags containing unsupported or incorrectly formatted macros from being added to a Creative.

1. General Macro Validation

• If a third-party tag contains an unsupported macro:
  • The tag cannot be saved.
  • A warning message is displayed in red beneath the tag field indicating that an unsupported macro was detected.

2. GDPR Macro Handling

• The following GDPR macro formats are supported in third-party Creative tags:
  • ${GDPR}
  • ${GDPR_CONSENT_X}
    • For ${GDPR_CONSENT_X}, the trailing value represents the applicable vendor ID and is dynamic. For example:

If a GDPR macro does not follow a supported format, the tag cannot be saved and a validation message will be displayed. Please contact us through the Pontiac Help Center.

For the full list of supported macros, see Supported Macros

If Sub Seats are enabled for a Master Seat, they can be accessed through the Master Seat. This allows Master Seat users to view, manage, and switch into associated Sub Seats from one central account.

To learn more about enabling Sub Seats for your account, contact your Account Manager or submit a request through the Pontiac Help Center.

The Seat Settings page covers:

• Users
  • Creating and managing Seat users
  • Admin, User, and Read-Only roles
  • User access and special cases
• Addendums
  • LiveRamp and TransUnion addendums
• Preferences
  • Seat timezone configuration

For additional information on Seat Settings, including creating and editing users, user roles, LiveRamp and TransUnion addendums, and Seat-level timezone preferences, see the full Seat Settings documentation here: Seat Settings

The Help Center allows users to submit support tickets and communicate directly with the Pontiac team.

Users can access the Help Center by either:

• Clicking the Messages icon from anywhere in the platform
• Navigating to Admin > Help Center

The Help Center documentation covers:

• Creating a new support ticket
• Selecting urgency and issue type
• Providing relevant Advertiser, Campaign, Line, Creative, Pixel, or User details
• Adding recipients and attachments
• Viewing responses and continuing support conversations
• Closing resolved tickets
• Reopening tickets when additional assistance is needed
• Tracking ticket status and conversation history

For additional information on submitting and managing support tickets, see the full Help Center documentation here: Help Center

The Notifications section displays messages from the Pontiac team that may relate to campaign recommendations, account issues, or other important information.

When there is an active notification, a bell icon will appear in the Admin navigation between the Help Center Messages and Assistant options. This lets users know there is a notification available to review.

Users can open Notifications by either:

• Clicking the bell icon
• Navigating to Admin > Notifications

Use the Filter Status options to toggle between:

• Open: Currently active notifications that may require review or action.
• Dismissed: Notifications that have already been dismissed.
• All: Displays both open and dismissed notifications.

Review this section regularly to stay informed about recommendations, account-related issues, and other updates from Pontiac.

Selecting the Wiki tab will bring you to Pontiac Intelligence’s Full Wiki documentation.

The Wiki is organized into sections so users can browse documentation by topic, including:

• Bidder Documentation
• Platform Updates
• DOOH Documentation
• ART Documentation
• Analytics Documentation
• API Documentation
• Product Offerings
• Video Tutorials
• Case Studies
• Industry Education
• Partnership Programs
• Pontiac Partners
• Pontiac Resellers
• About Pontiac

Select View all pages within any section to browse the articles available in that category.

Search Bar

If you are looking for something specific, use the Search bar at the top of the Wiki and enter relevant keywords, such as campaign setup, creative upload, reporting, or pixels.

Search results will display articles containing those keywords and highlight the matching terms, making it easier to quickly find the most relevant documentation.

Explore the different sections or use Search whenever you need more information about a feature, setup workflow, troubleshooting question, or Pontiac product.

An Audience is a group of users, devices, locations, or content that can be used to refine who or what a Campaign or Line is eligible to target.

Audiences are managed at the Seat level, rather than within an individual Advertiser. Once an Audience is available to the Seat, it can be associated with eligible Campaigns or Lines for targeting or anti-targeting.

The Audiences section is organized into the following categories:

• Custom Audiences: First-party audiences created directly in Pontiac using data such as IP Ranges, Zips, IFAs, Hashed IPs, Pixel IPs, or Full URLs.
  • Pixel IP Audiences: Remarketing audiences automatically created from qualifying Pontiac Pixels added as a Creative Impression Tracker and displayed within Custom Audiences.
• Contextual AI: Content-based audiences created from example URLs, descriptive text, or Pontiac-curated contextual segments.
• ART Audiences: Public ART Audiences or ART audiences created from Audience Research or Audience Discovery reports.
• Third Party Audiences: Audiences provided through external data partners and integrated audience sources.
  • Third Party: Third-party data segments available through the TransUnion Data Marketplace.
  • Onboarded / CRM Audiences: First-party customer data onboarded through integrations such as LiveRamp or TransUnion.
  • Geo Fencing: Location-based audiences created using visitation data for defined geographic areas. Geo fences can be configured using a custom Geo Fence Shape or a Latitude/Longitude Radius.

Audience availability, supported inventory, pricing, and setup requirements may vary by Audience type.

Audience Hierarchy

For a standard Seat, Audiences are managed alongside Advertisers at the Seat level:

Seat
├── Audiences
└── Advertisers
    ├── Creatives
    ├── Pixels
    └── Campaigns
        └── Lines

Audiences can then be associated with a Campaign or Line depending on the desired targeting strategy.

For accounts using a Master Seat and Sub Seats:

Master Seat
├── Audiences
└── Sub-Seats
    ├── Audiences
    └── Advertisers
        ├── Creatives
        ├── Pixels
        └── Campaigns
            └── Lines

Audiences created at the Master Seat level may be made available to associated Sub Seats for targeting while remaining managed by the Master Seat. Sub Seats can also create and manage their own Audiences.

The sections below explain each Audience type, how it is created or onboarded, and how it can be used for Campaign or Line targeting.

Custom Audiences are first-party audiences created or generated within Pontiac using data available to the Advertiser or Seat. They can be used to target users, devices, geographic areas, or specific web content.

Custom Audiences are managed under Bidder > Audiences > Custom and can be associated with eligible Campaigns or Lines for targeting or anti-targeting.

Custom Audiences include:

• IP Ranges
• Zips
• IFAs
• Hashed IPs
• Full URLs
• Pixel IP Audiences

Custom Audiences expire 180 days after they are created. The expiration date is displayed in the Audiences tab. An expired audience can be reactivated by opening the Audience, selecting Active, and clicking Save.

If an Audience appears in gray and cannot be associated, it may be expired or incompatible with the selected creative or inventory type.

Create a Custom Audience

1. Navigate to Audiences > Custom.
2. Select New Custom Audience.
3. Give the Audience a name.
4. Select the applicable Audience type.
5. Enter the Audience data using the required format.
6. Save the Audience.

The following Custom Audience types can be created manually:

• IP Ranges: An IP address audience uses a list of IPs or IP ranges to target devices.
  • Line Format: [IP] or [Start IP],[End IP]
  • Line Example: 63.148.81.24 or 234.123.0.13,234.123.10.15
• Zips: A Zip Code Audience leverages the national postal code system to target a specific geographical area. This Audience has a limit of 100,000 Zips per list. Enter the Zip Code followed by a comma and the Country Code with each entry on an individual line. If the country code is not entered, it will default to US.
  • Line Format: [Zip Code],[Country Code]
  • Line Example: 03102,US
  • Note that if the country code is omitted the US is used by default.
• IFA: The IFA is a device ID sanctioned for advertiser use, these can be found in Pontiac log files from previous campaigns. Enter each IFA on a new line.
  • Line Format: [Device IFA]
  • Line Example: 735612e1-d4b9-40ec-83da-9ea0d3c5ceb3
• Hashed IPs: Enter the hashed IPs from log files, IP conversion pixel reports, or other custom reports downloaded from Pontiac to create an audience for targeting on bidder campaigns. Target converted IPs (IP Path to Conversion report), IPs that saw ads from previous campaigns (Log Level Report), or IPs that have visited a site where an IP pixel is placed (IP Pixel Page Visits Report). Note: these must be IPs that were hashed by Pontiac.
  • Line Format: [IP Hash]
  • Line Example: 225f334d5db5e4c824d49cd7b03fc73ae21d1c715573a7c1a86abb7a11a80364
• Full URL: A Full URL Audience allows for targeting site lists that contain the full URL pathway to place ads on specific articles. These can be used for OLV campaigns serving on web inventory. Enter the Full URL in the text box, will each entry on a new line. The URL should not include the scheme.
  • Line format: [Full URL]
  • Example: www.viki.com/videos/1153464v
  • Note that the URL should not include the scheme.

Enter the Audience data according to the indicated format. These Audiences will automatically be available to associate to any Campaign. To learn how to associate Custom Audience Segments to a Campaign or Line, continue to the following documentation: Campaign Audiences and Line Audiences

Pixel IP / Remarketing Audiences

Pixel IP Audiences are remarketing audiences automatically generated from qualifying Pontiac Pixels and displayed under Audiences > Custom.

They can be built from different types of exposure:

• Website activity: Place a Pontiac Pixel on an Advertiser’s website, such as the homepage, product page, or checkout page, to build an Audience of qualifying visitors.
• Creative exposure: Add a Pontiac Pixel to a Creative as an impression tracker to build an Audience of users exposed to that Creative. These users can later be retargeted, including through a different media type as part of a cross-channel strategy.

Create a Pixel IP Audience

When creating or editing a Pontiac Pixel, the following Audience settings are available:

• Create Custom Audience: Creates a Pixel IP Audience from qualifying Pixel fires.
• Days to Live: Determines the number of days each record remains active in the Audience.
  • The default value is 180 days. Common windows include 30, 60, or 90 days.
  • Updating the Days to Live value applies only to future records added to the Audience.

Once generated, the Audience automatically appears under Audiences > Custom using the associated Pixel name and ID. The Audience begins populating as qualifying Pixel activity is recorded.

When viewing the Audience, the displayed IP list is limited to a sample of 30,000 records, while the Records field displays the total Audience record count.

Pixel Placement

The Pixel can be implemented in one of two ways:

• Website Remarketing: Place the Pixel on the desired page of the Advertiser’s website. For example, a thank you page, homepage, etc.
• Creative Exposure Remarketing: Add the Pixel to a Creative as an Impression Tracker.
  1. Navigate to the applicable Advertiser.
  2. Open the Pixel and copy the desired Pixel Image URL, for example, using Pixel ID 1720: https://pix.pontiac.media/pixel?id=1710&type=2
  3. Open the applicable Creative.
  4. Switch to the Trackers tab.
  5. Add the Pixel URL as an Impression Event Tracker.
  6. Save the Creative.

Once the Pixel begins firing through either method, the resulting Pixel IP Audience will populate under Audiences > Custom, and the Records count will begin increasing as qualifying activity is captured.

Associate the Pixel IP Audience to Your Campaign or Line

To use the Pixel IP Audience for targeting:

1. Navigate to the applicable Campaign or Line.
2. Enter Edit mode.
3. Select Associate Segments.
4. Search for the Pixel IP Audience by name or ID.
5. Select Add New Group and drag the Audience into the targeting group.
   • Select the green plus (+) to target the Audience.
   • Select the red minus (–) to anti-target the Audience.
6. Close the dialog and select Save.

Contextual AI is an AI-based, custom targeting solution that performs deep content analysis to find the best contextual placements for your ads. Contextual AI uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to digest the content of articles across the web and understand the text the way a human would. By processing entire websites of content, the AI overcomes the ambiguities in language that over-simplified tools such as keywords can overlook, accurately assigning meaning to the words in context. (For example, does the word ‘Apple’ in this article refer to a company or a fruit?). A neural network produces an embedding vector of the content, allowing full webpages to be indexed for contextual relevance.

Leveraging this rich contextual analysis, Advertisers can build custom lookalike segments from a few sample articles or select from our list of curated contextual segments for over 300 IAB content categories. These segments have an additional cost of a $0.25 CPM that will be added to the all-in cost of media. Note that Contextual AI segments can only be used to target Web and Combined inventory types.

To create a Custom Contextual Audience, go to the ‘Audiences’ tab and select ‘New Contextual Audience’. Give the Audience a name and select one of the Input Types:

• URLs: Enter source sites below that represent your brand’s target content, this should be the Full URL including the scheme, subdomains, and all subdirectories. Sites should be text rich and not behind a paywall. Enter each URL on a new line.
  • Aim for a minimum of 3-5 example pages per contextual segment. Closer to 10 may provide good results depending on the subject.
  • Choose the number of examples based on how broad or narrow you want to match. If you want to go for something really broad (for example, “current events”, an IAB category), you’ll want a number of examples covering many aspects of such a broad subject (in December of 2022 I might include examples covering inflation, the Ukraine war, midterm elections, twitter, gpt-3, Donald Trump, Joe Biden and the World Cup for example). On the other hand, if you want to get very precise, for example “1960s muscle cars” you can get away with fewer examples.
  • Look for pages that are text-heavy with at least 5 sentences. Low quality pages (e.g. infinite scroll, interactive, or image heavy pages) will have lower performance in the matching process. News articles, blog posts, how-to articles, etc will provide more accurate matches.
• Text: Enter a descriptive paragraph of text about the topic of interest to build a list of contextually relevant URLs for targeting. Text should have a minimum of 50 words and maximum of 500.

To learn how to associate Contextual AI Audience Segments to a Campaign or Line, continue to the following documentation: Campaign Audiences and Line Audiences

IAB Curated Contextual Segments

In the ‘Audiences’ tab you will find over 300 Contextual AI segments curated by the Pontiac Team for each of the IAB categories. If you click on the name of the segment, you can see the input and the sample output for this segment. The ‘Site List’ section displays the articles that were used to ‘define’ the desired content for the category. The ‘Example Audience Data’ below shows a sample of the matched articles where the ads would serve if this Audience is targeted. This is a sample and not the complete list of URLs contained in the Audience.

Note, these IAB Category segments cannot be edited and they are already available for use across all of your Advertisers at a $0.25 CPM. These can be added in the ‘Associate Segments’ section of the Line Item, under ‘Contextual’.

The first step to create a Custom ART Audience is to build out an ART report in the ‘ART’ section of the platform under ‘Audience Research’ or ‘Audience Discovery’. Create a lookalike model from an existing audience or build a new audience according to desired demographics or interests. Once the ART Report is created and pushed, it will appear in the Custom Audiences dropdown.

Build an ART Report:

To create an ART audience, first generate an ART report in the ‘ART’ section under Audience Research or Audience Discovery.

1. Audience Research Audiences:
   • Select an existing audience to source key demo & interest data to build custom lookalike models. The existing audience data can be pulled from a Pontiac IP Conversion Pixel placed on the Advertiser’s website, or select key geos to build a lookalike model from the demographics & interests of the selected area.
2. Audience Discovery Audiences:
   • Select key demo & interest categories to define, locate & build your brand’s ideal target audience. Create the ‘ideal’ user profile for your brand, then locate key target markets to reach this demographic.

Note that on the ART Report, the field ‘Auto Refresh’ will determine the cadence at which the report data will refresh. Interest & Inventory data are updated every 30 days and new data may change report results. If a report is set to auto refresh and the matched zip codes in the results of the report are updated, this will automatically update any published audiences associated to the report.

Publish the ART Audience

Once you’ve created an Audience Research or Audience Discovery report, you can publish it as a Custom Audience for cookieless targeting across Pontiac Campaigns.

1. Open the ART report and select the ‘Publish Audience’ button.
2. Select the threshold for matched zip codes, choosing from:
   • All results
   • Top 10%
   • Top 20%
   • Top 50%
3. Give the Audience a name.
4. Click the ‘Save’ button.

To view Pontiac ART Public Audiences, expand the Public Audiences tab.

Select these audiences in the ‘Associate Segments’ section of a Campaign or Line Item, under ‘ART Audiences’ and navigate to ‘Public Audiences’.

To learn more, see the following documentation: ART Documentation and Campaign Audiences

Third Party Audiences include audience segments provided through external data partners as well as first-party CRM audiences that have been onboarded for targeting in Pontiac.

These audiences can be used to extend targeting beyond data created directly within Pontiac and may include demographic, behavioral, interest, lifestyle, purchase, household, and other audience attributes.

Within this section, users can:

• Browse and activate prebuilt audiences from the TransUnion Data Marketplace
• See onboarded first-party CRM data through TransUnion
• See onboarded first-party CRM data through LiveRamp
• Review onboarding requirements, file formats, processing timelines, and audience availability

Once processed, applicable audiences become available under Audiences > Third Party and can be associated with eligible Campaigns or Lines for targeting.

Third-party Audience fees are applied as a CPM and included in the Line’s Total Cost. If multiple paid Audiences are targeted or anti-targeted on the same Line, only the CPM of the highest-priced segment is applied.

TransUnion Data Marketplace

The TransUnion Data Marketplace provides prebuilt third-party audience segments that can be associated with eligible Campaigns or Lines.

Available audiences span categories such as:

• Demographics
• Interests and lifestyles
• Purchase behavior
• Auto intenders
• Political and consumer attributes
• Other behavioral and household characteristics

For assistance finding or activating a TransUnion Audience, reach out through the Pontiac Help Center.

CRM / Onboarded Audiences

Clients can also onboard their own first-party CRM data to create targetable audience segments. Once processed, these audiences appear under Audiences > Third Party and can be associated with eligible Campaigns or Lines. CRM audiences may be onboarded through integrations such as TransUnion or LiveRamp, depending on the desired workflow.

For CRM onboarding, processing requirements and timelines vary by provider. TransUnion onboarding is typically completed within 3–5 business days, while LiveRamp workflows may require additional time for upload, mapping, distribution, and matching.

TransUnion CRM Onboarding

1. Email formatted file to protected@pontiac.media.
   • We cannot handle CRM data in any way other than in this protected inbox.
   • Files must be at minimum 1,000 customer contacts otherwise the segment cannot be created, and will not be accepted.
2. The Pontiac team will upload the file to TransUnion, receive the matchback, and push the resulting segment into Pontiac.
3. Once available, the Audience will appear under Audiences > Third Party.

The typical processing time is 3–5 business days, but we encourage early activation so the segment is ready well before the launch date.

Files should be formatted according to the required TransUnion structure:

LiveRamp

LiveRamp is a data management platform (DMP) that allows you to upload personally identifiable information (PII) that you have about your audience. This can include:

• Name and postal addresses (NAP)
• Email addresses
• Phone numbers
• Client customer IDs (your internal customer IDs)
  • This functions as an audience key that allows LiveRamp to delete duplicates in an uploaded file. If there is no customer ID, LiveRamp will use either the email addresses or NAPs provided.

Turn your CRM data into targetable audience lists in the Pontiac platform to digitally reach users from previous email lists and/or mailing campaigns on the open web.

MEDIA TYPE:
Banner, Video

INVENTORY TYPE:
Web, Mobile-Web, Mobile In-App

DEVICE TYPES:
Desktops & Laptops, Mobile Phones, Tablets

PRICING:
$2.00 CPM for Audience Data

You can upload a csv, tsv, or txt file containing information into LiveRamp, which will match the submitted information with cookies and allow you to target these individuals across the Internet through Pontiac.

We recommend clients allow for a two-week lead time when working with LiveRamp. The maximum number of records allowed per seat at any given time is 300,000. Please do no not send any files or screenshots of files containing PII through the Help Center or to anyone on the Pontiac team. 

Estimated Schedule:

• 1-2 days to upload the files:
  • Once you upload the file there will be a delay in this file showing up in the Audience folder, it may take up to 48 hours to appear.
• 5-8 days for the files to be mapped:
  • This is a manual process, so this stage can take some time. Typically, this takes 5-8 days for the first file in an Audience, but it is usually quicker for subsequent files.
• 1-2 days for distribution to Microsoft:
  • Once mapping is completed you will get a notification email to distribute the audience. Select the file(s) that you wish to send to Microsoft. After you have selected your desired files, select ‘Add to Distribution’ at the bottom of the page and notify your Account Manager. It will take 1-2 days for the segment to appear in Microsoft.
• 1-2 days for the file to be onboarded, matched & fully populated in Pontiac:
  • Once the segment appears in Xandr, your Account Manager will onboard the audience to Pontiac. While the audience will be available to associate to a Line, it may still be in the matching stage and could take an additional 1-2 days to fully populate in Xandr/Pontiac.

Terminology

• File: A set or list of PII uploaded to LiveRamp as a CSV, TSV or TXT file. Each file uploaded will be converted into an Onboarded audience in Pontiac.
• Audience: In the LiveRamp dashboard, an ‘Audience’ is a folder to which files with the same type of PII and column headers can be uploaded. Your first Audience folder will be created for you when the account is created. The folder will be ‘mapped’ based on the column headers of the first file uploaded. All subsequent files uploaded to an Audience will need to contain the same column headers. Notify your Account Manager if you need a new Audience folder created for a different type of data.
• Mapping: This process is done manually by the LiveRamp team to determine which PII identifiers are in each column of the file, allowing the data to be properly ingested.
• Matching: The process of matching personally identifiable information (PII) to the cookies for that individual, allowing them to be targeted on the open web.
• Distribution: The publishing process through which data is delivered to Xandr and subsequently made available for targeting in Pontiac.
• Records: The number of unique individuals in a file. There is a maximum of 300,000 distributed records per LiveRamp account at any given time.

Account Setup

1. To start using a LiveRamp account, all Pontiac users will need to sign a LiveRamp user agreement. This agreement can be found in the ‘Admin’ tab under ‘Seat Settings’ in the ‘Addendum’ section. To sign this agreement, check the ‘Accept LiveRamp Addendum’ box at the bottom of the contract and click ‘Submit’. By checking this box, you are agreeing to the terms of the agreement.
2. Once you have completed these steps, reach out through the Help Center with the email address you would like to be used for the account. The Pontiac Team will create an account on your behalf using the email address provided.  Once your account is set up, you will receive an email from LiveRamp asking you to follow a link for creating a Password. After establishing your Password, you will be able to sign into LiveRamp with your email address and new password.

You can download and review the LiveRamp addendum here: LiveRamp Addendum

File Format

Files uploaded to LiveRamp must be 500MB or smaller and a CSV, TSV or TXT with no spaces in the File Name. There are 3 types of PII that can be uploaded:

1. Emails
2. Phone numbers
3. Name and Postal address

You can include one, two, or all three of these. But if you want to use Name and Postal address you must include all of the columns listed under ‘Name and postal address’ below (full name and full address).
Use the following column headers to identify the type of PII in your file:
Name and postal address:

• FIRSTNAME
• LASTNAME
• ADDRESS1
• ADDRESS2 (optional)
• CITY
• STATE
• ZIP
• ZIP4 (optional)

Plaintext email address:

• EMAIL1
• EMAIL2
• EMAIL3

MD5 hashed email address:

• MD5EMAIL1
• MD5EMAIL2
• MD5EMAIL3

SHA-1 hashed email address:

• SHA1EMAIL1
• SHA1EMAIL2
• SHA1EMAIL3

SHA-256 hashed email address:

• SHA256EMAIL1
• SHA256EMAIL2
• SHA256EMAIL3

Plaintext phone number:

• PHONE1
• PHONE2
• PHONE3

SHA-1 hashed phone number:

• SHA1PHONE1
• SHA1PHONE2
• SHA1PHONE3

Customer ID (used to de-duplicate rows):

• CCID

See a sample 100 rows of fake data here: Sample File

Uploading Files to LiveRamp

(1-2 Days)

1. Once you have signed into your account, you should be brought to this page:

2. You are now ready to upload data files into the audience your AM created for you. From the Homepage (which you can access by clicking on the triangle symbol next to ‘Connect’ in the upper-left corner, pictured above), select ‘Upload a File’ and follow the prompt.
3. Within the File Upload page, select the name of your audience from the drop-down ‘Upload to an Audience’ menu. Your first Audience folder will be created for you when the account is created. Each file uploaded to an Audience must contain the same data columns, as this is mapped for matching with the first file. If you need to upload files with different columns, your Account Manager can create additional Audience folders for you.

4. Once you have selected the audience, a box will appear prompting you to either drag in or select the appropriate file. You should proceed to upload the desired csv, tsv, or txt.
5. Once you select your file, click ‘Upload File’ in the ‘Upload Status’ window to begin processing.
6. Once ‘Upload Status’ says the file upload is complete, you will have the option to select a button that says, ‘Go to Audience’. If you click this immediately after uploading, another tab will open in your window to bring you to the ‘Manage’ page for that audience. You will likely not see any segments listed within the audience as can take 24-48 hours for the newly uploaded segment to appear.

Mapping Process

(5-8 Days)

The first file uploaded to each audience is mapped to determine which data points are in each column of the document so that the PII can be properly ingested. This is a manual process completed by LiveRamp and it can take up to 5-8 days.

LiveRamp will send you an email when your file has been mapped and is ready for distribution. If you see delays in this process that exceed 8 days, let your Account Manager know and they will contact LiveRamp support to try to expedite this process.

Distributing Files to Xandr

 (1-2 Days)

1. In order to publish your segment(s), you must configure Xandr as a destination. This only needs to happen once.  From the menu, select ‘Data Out  – ‘Active Destinations’ ‘New Destination Account’.
2. You will be brought to a page listing many possible destinations. Use the search bar to look up ‘Xandr Invest’.

3. When you hover over the icon, you will be prompted to ‘Activate’ the destination.

4. You will be brought to a page titled ‘Configure Properties’. In the ‘Destination Specific Settings’, enter the client ID ‘3344’.
5. After you have set up Xandr as a destination, you will be able to push your audience segment to distribution. Select ‘Active Destinations’ from ‘Data Out’ in the sidebar.

6. Select ‘Manage’ from within the Xandr box
7. Select the file(s) that you wish to send to Xandr. After you have selected your desired files, select ‘Add to Distribution’ at the bottom of the page. From distribution, it will take 1-2 days for the segment to appear in Xandr.

Audience Onboarding & Matching

 (1-2 Days)

1. Once you have added a segment to distribution for Xandr, reach out to the Pontiac Team through the Help Center to say that you have pushed a segment. Please provide the segment name.
2. The Pontiac Team will inform you when the file has been onboarded to your Pontiac seat.
3. You will now have access to your audience Segment within the Pontiac console. Your audience will be located within the Audiences tab under ‘On Boarded.’

Note, while the segment may be available in Pontiac rather quickly, the file may still be in the matching process and the segment may take 1-2 days to fully populate in Xandr/Pontiac.

Removing Segments that are no longer in use

Any segments that are no longer being used in the Pontiac console or in LiveRamp should be removed from distribution. Your Account Manager will send a friendly reminder at the end of each month, reminding you to remove the segments that are no longer being used. The maximum number of records allowed per seat at any given time is 300,000.

To remove the segments from distribution, click on the out section in LiveRamp, and then click the ‘Manage’ button in Xandr Invest. There you will see all your segments that have been uploaded. Click the box next to the segment that you wish to remove from distribution. At the bottom, there will be a green button that states, remove from distribution. Once you click ‘remove,’ the process will be complete.

Geo Fencing Audiences allow users to build location-based audiences using visitation data from defined geographic areas. These audiences can be used to reach users who have visited specific locations and are available under Audiences > Third Party Audiences > Geo Fencing.

Geo Fencing Audiences can be created using one of two location targeting methods:

• Geo Fence: Draw a custom geographic shape directly on the map.
• Lat/Long: Define a location using latitude, longitude, and a radius in meters.

Both targeting methods support Rolling and Static audience types.

From the Geo Fencing section, users can view existing audiences and review:

• Name
• Record Count
• Start Date
• End Date
• Expiration Date
• Type: Rolling or Static

Create a Geo Fencing Audience

1. Select New Geo Fence to create a new audience.

2. Enter the audience Name.
3. Select one of the following audience types:
   • Rolling: A Rolling audience continuously refreshes based on a selected lookback period.
     • Lookback: Select a lookback period of up to 90 days. The default value is 30 days.
     • Refresh: Choose whether the audience should refresh weekly or monthly.
     • The audience will be updated as new qualifying location data becomes available.
   • Static: A Static audience is created using a fixed date range.
     • Start Date
     • End Date: Must be on or before yesterday (UTC); ex. if today is 2025-05-08 the end date must be on or before 2025-05-07.
     • Static audiences expire 90 days after they are created.
4. Enter your Lookback window: the number of days of historical location data to include. The maximum lookback is 90 days.
5. Define the Geo Fence Audience.
   • Geo Fence Shape
   • Lat Long

Geo Fence Shape

• Geo Fence is selected by default and allows users to define a custom geographic area by drawing a shape on the map.
• To define the Geo Fence:
  • Use the Search bar to enter a location name or address.
  • Use the map controls to draw the boundaries of the desired area.
  • If needed, use the delete shape option to clear the current shape and start over.
  • Once the desired area has been defined, select Submit.
• The Audience will then be submitted for processing using the selected shape and Rolling or Static settings.

Latitude / Longitude Radius Geo Fencing

• The Lat/Long option allows users to define a geographic area using a specific latitude, longitude, and radius instead of drawing a custom shape.
• When Lat/Long is selected, the map shape controls are replaced with the following fields:
  • Latitude: Decimal latitude value, for example 40.7128
  • Longitude: Decimal longitude value, for example -74.0060
  • Radius in Meters: The radius around the selected coordinate, for example 250
• Latitude and longitude accept decimal values, and the radius is entered in meters.
• The selected coordinates, radius, Audience type, and other settings are saved with the Audience and used when it is submitted for processing.

6. Associate the Geo Fencing Audience: After the Audience has been created and processed, associate it with the applicable Advertiser before using it for Campaign or Line targeting.
   • Select the desired Advertiser.
   • Enter Edit mode.
   • Click Associate Segment.
   • Search or Navigate to your Geo Fence Audience by name or ID.
   • Select Add New Group and drag the Audience into the targeting group.
     • Select the green plus (+) to target the Audience.
     • Select the red minus (–) to anti-target the Audience.
   • Close the dialog and select Save.

The Geo Fencing audience is now applied to your Campaign or Line.

If you are targeting multiple Audience segments they can be layered together in groups through Boolean logic. To choose ‘Any’ or ‘All’ between groups read the following descriptions of each.

‘All, between segment groups’

If you only have one segment group, the internal group logic will default to OR, meaning that if ANY of the conditions within the group are met the impression will be eligible to serve. For example, below is targeting users found in the ‘Female’ Audience OR ‘Age 20 to 30′.

If you have created multiple segment groups, the intergroup logic will automatically default to AND, meaning that at least one condition must be met in ALL segment groups. For example, below a user would need to be found in one of the two segments in the first grouping AND would need to be found in one segment in each of the other segment groups associated.

‘Any, between segment groups’

If you only have one segment group, the internal logic will default to AND, meaning that ALL the conditions within the group must be met for the creative to be eligible to serve. For example, a user must be found in ‘Female’ AND ‘Age 20 to 30’ for an impression to be served.

If you have created multiple segment groups, the intergroup logic will automatically default to OR, meaning that the conditions of one segment group are to be met OR the conditions of the second group are to be met.

Anti-Targeting: ‘All, between segment groups’

By selecting the ‘All’ between segment groups and using the ‘exclude’ feature with multiple Audiences the internal group logic will default to OR. For example, below an impression could server to any user found in the ‘Female’ OR NOT FOUND in the ‘Age 20 to 30’ Audience 

Anti-Targeting: ‘Any, between segment groups’

By selecting the ‘All’ between segment groups and using the ‘exclude’ feature with multiple Audiences, the internal logic will default to AND, meaning that ALL the conditions within the group must be met for the creative to be eligible to serve. For example, a user must be found in ‘Female’ AND NOT FOUND in ‘Age 20 to 30’ to be served. 

An Advertiser represents an individual brand, product, or client within Pontiac. It serves as the primary organizational level for the campaigns and advertising assets associated with that brand or client.

Within an Advertiser, users can:

• Create and manage Campaigns and Lines
• Upload and manage Creatives
• Create and manage Pixels
• Review Advertiser-level delivery and performance
• Access detailed Campaign, Line, Creative, Pixel, and reporting information

In the Pontiac hierarchy, the Advertiser sits between the Seat and Campaign levels:

Seat
└── Advertiser
    ├── Creatives
    ├── Pixels
    └── Campaigns
        └── Lines

After creating an Advertiser, select its name to open the Advertiser Setup and Advertiser Performance tabs, where you can manage setup and review performance from one centralized location.

The Advertiser level in the Pontiac platform represents an individual brand, product or client. This Advertiser will house all of the Campaigns and Line Items for this brand or product and the associated Creatives, Pixels and Audiences. Follow the steps to below to create a new Advertiser.

1. On the Bidder tab > Advertisers tab > Select the New Advertiser button.

2. Name: Give the Advertiser a name.
3. Active: The ‘Active’ box will be selected by default, setting the Advertiser as live. Unselect this box if you want to create the Advertiser with an Inactive status.
4. Advertiser Margin: Enter the desired Advertiser Margin (or fee) percentage at the Advertiser level. This is typically a percentage of the total ad spend to cover costs and profit.
5. Advertiser URL: Add the URL of the Advertiser’s website. The Google Privacy Sandbox will track visits to this URL if the pixel is implemented on the site.
6. Code: This is optional and used for reporting purposes only.
7. Political Content: Choose ‘No’ or ‘Yes’ depending on whether the Advertiser is running ads related to any elections, ballot initiatives, or political candidates in the United States.

Once you have created an Advertiser, you can click on it’s name to open the Advertiser menu. This is where you will be able to upload Creatives, create Pixels, and create Campaigns and Line Items.

See the following links to learn more about these topics: Creatives, Pixels, Campaigns, and Lines.

1. On the Bidder > Advertisers tab > Select the Advertiser’s name that you would like to edit.
2. Next to Advertiser Details, click the ‘Edit’ button.

3. Make edits to the following:
   • Name
   • Active Status
   • Advertiser Margin
   • Advertiser URL
   • Political Content
4. Click the ‘Save’ button to apply the edits.

By default, the Advertiser tab displays a list of all Active Advertisers, ordered by Advertiser ID. Users can customize their view using the following filers:

• Filter Status: Display All, Active, or Inactive Advertisers.
• Page Size: Select how many advertisers to display per page, from 5 to 500.
• Total Items: Shows the number of advertisers currently displayed on the page.
• Page: Shows the current page number and the total number of available pages.
• Reporting Interval: Set to Yesterday by default and affects the metrics shown in the table. Users can select different time ranges, including Today, Yesterday, 7 Days, 30 Days, or Lifetime.
  • All intervals with the exception of yesterday include metrics from today. Today’s metrics update hourly and have a 3 hour delay.

To change the sorting order of the Advertiser list, users can click on any column heading. Clicking once sorts in ascending order, while clicking twice sorts in descending order. This functionality applies to all column headers. For example, to sort Advertisers by number of Lines in descending order, users should click the Lines column heading twice.

Under the Advertiser tab you will see a list of all of the Active Advertisers in your seat with their associated quick metrics. Metrics are displayed in seat timezone. To see Inactive Advertisers filter status to All or Inactive. These metrics are updated hourly, with a 3 hour delay, except for the IP Convs, which are updated once a day for the previous day.

Choose your Reporting Interval and evaluate the following metrics at a glance:

• Lines: The number of Lines associated to the Advertiser.
• Campaigns: The number of Campaigns associated to the Advertiser.
• Imps: The number of impressions served under this Advertiser during the selected Reporting Interval.
• Total Cost: The total dollar amount this Advertiser has spent across all Campaigns and Lines during the selected Reporting Interval.
• Revenue: The total dollar amount this Advertiser has generated across all Campaigns and Lines during the selected Reporting Interval.
• IP Convs: The number of conversions registered by the IP Conversion Pixel across all Campaigns and Lines during the selected Reporting Interval. Note that IP Conversion data is not available for the ‘Today’ interval. This metric is updated once a day for the previous day.

Overview

The Advertiser Setup tab provides a centralized view of everything associated with an Advertiser. From this page, users can review advertiser-level settings and performance, manage Campaigns and Creatives, create and monitor Pixels, and access reporting metrics across each section.

Users can also create new Campaigns, Creatives, and Pixels directly from the Advertiser, edit existing configurations, activate or deactivate Campaigns and Creatives, and use reporting intervals, filters, searches, and customizable table columns to review performance and manage setup from one place.

Advertiser Tiles

After selecting an Advertiser, users can adjust the Reporting Interval to update the summary metrics displayed at the top of the page. Select from today, yesterday, 7 days, 30 days, month to date, last month, lifetime, or input a custom range.

The following metrics are available:

• Report Date
• Impressions
• Total Cost
• Revenue
• Total Cost CPM

Advertiser Details

Users can view the following Advertiser settings:

• Name
• Active Status
• Advertiser Margin
• Advertiser URL: The URL of the Advertiser’s website. The Google Privacy Sandbox will track visits to this URL if the pixel is implemented on the site. The URL must be secure (https://).
• Political Content:
  • No, I am not running ads related to any elections, ballot initiatives, or political candidates in the United States.
  • Yes, I am running ads related to an election, ballot initiative, or political candidate in the United States.

Advertiser Edit Button

Users are brought into edit mode and can change the following Advertiser settings:

• Name
• Active Status
• Advertiser Margin
• Advertiser URL: The URL of the Advertiser’s website. The Google Privacy Sandbox will track visits to this URL if the pixel is implemented on the site. The URL must be secure (https://).
• Political Content:
  • No, I am not running ads related to any elections, ballot initiatives, or political candidates in the United States.
  • Yes, I am running ads related to an election, ballot initiative, or political candidate in the United States.

Campaigns

The Campaigns section allows users to create, import, view, and manage campaigns associated with the Advertiser.

New Campaign

Select New Campaign to create a campaign from scratch.

Campaign Templates

Saved Campaign Templates are displayed here and can be used to create a new campaign using previously configured settings. Select the desired template to begin campaign creation.

For more information, see Campaign Templates.

Plan Import

Select Import to create a campaign from a media plan generated using the Planning tool.

For more information, see Planning.

View and Manage Campaigns

The Campaigns table allows users to search, filter, download, and customize campaign information and performance metrics.

Use the Search bar to find campaigns by keyword or ID. Select the Download button to export the table as a CSV.

• Filter Status: Toggle between Active, Inactive, and All Campaigns.
• Page Size: Adjust the number of campaign rows displayed on each page.
• Total Items: Displays the total number of campaigns included in the current view.
• Page: Displays the current page and total number of available pages.
• Reporting Interval: Updates the performance metrics displayed in the table. All reporting intervals except Yesterday include data from the current day. Today’s metrics update hourly and are subject to an approximately three-hour reporting delay.
• Columns: Select the three-line menu to choose which columns are displayed in the table and customize the view based on your needs.

Campaign Table Columns

The Campaigns table can include the following campaign settings and performance metrics:

• Status: The current active or inactive status of the Campaign.
• ID: The unique Pontiac Campaign ID.
• Name: The Campaign name.
• Pacing: Indicates how the Campaign is pacing against its expected budget delivery based on the Campaign’s dates and pacing settings.
• Start Date: The Campaign start date.
• End Date: The Campaign end date.
• Budget: The Campaign’s configured budget.
• Budget Type: Indicates whether the Campaign budget is based on spend or impressions.
• Line Count: The number of Lines associated with the Campaign.
• Clicks: The number of recorded clicks during the selected Reporting Interval.
• CPC: Cost per Click, calculated using Total Cost divided by Clicks.
• Imps: The number of confirmed impressions served during the selected Reporting Interval.
• Total Cost: The total cost incurred during the selected Reporting Interval and includes all fees.
• Revenue: The total cost plus advertiser margin generated during the selected Reporting Interval.
• Total Cost CPM: Total Cost per 1,000 impressions.
• IP Convs: The number of attributed IP-based conversions during the selected Reporting Interval.
• CTR: Click-Through Rate, calculated as Clicks divided by Impressions.

Campaign Edit Button

Enter Edit mode and quickly activate or deactivate campaigns quickly using the status checkbox and then submitting the changes.

Creatives

The Creatives section allows users to upload new creatives and view, edit, and manage existing creatives associated with the Advertiser.

New Creative Button

Users can upload new first-party creative assets or add third-party creative tags to the Advertiser. Once created, creatives can be associated with Campaigns or Lines for delivery.

For more information on supported creative types, specifications, and the upload process, see the Creative Upload Process.

View and Manage Creatives

The Creatives table allows users to search, filter, download, and customize creative information and performance metrics.

Use the Search bar to find creatives by keyword or ID. Select the Download button to export the table as a CSV.

• Filter Status: Toggle between Active, Inactive, and All Creatives.
• Page Size: Adjust the number of creative rows displayed on each page.
• Total Items: Displays the total number of creatives included in the current view.
• Page: Displays the current page and total number of available pages.
• Reporting Interval: Updates the performance metrics displayed in the table. All reporting intervals except Yesterday include data from the current day. Today’s metrics update hourly and are subject to an approximately three-hour reporting delay.
• Columns: Select the three-line menu to choose which columns are displayed in the table and customize the view based on your needs.

Users can select an existing creative to view or edit its configuration.

Creative Table Columns

The Creatives table can include the following creative settings and performance metrics:

• Status: The current active or inactive status of the Creative.
• Audit Status: The Creative’s current audit or approval status.
• ID: The unique Creative ID.
• Name: The Creative name.
• Creative Type: The format and hosting type of the Creative, such as hosted or third-party video, display, audio, or native.
• Sizes: The creative dimensions associated with the Creative.
• Weight: The Creative’s configured delivery weight when multiple creatives are eligible to serve.
• Imps: The number of confirmed impressions served during the selected Reporting Interval.
• Clicks: The number of recorded clicks during the selected Reporting Interval.
• CPC: Cost per Click, calculated using Total Cost divided by Clicks.
• Total Cost: The total media cost associated with the Creative during the selected Reporting Interval.
• Revenue: The total advertiser revenue associated with the Creative during the selected Reporting Interval.
• Flights Enabled: Indicates whether the Creative uses scheduled flights or is always available to serve.
• CTR: Click-Through Rate, calculated as Clicks divided by Impressions.
• Tag: The third-party creative tag associated with the Creative, when applicable.
  • Only available when the table is downloaded.

Pixels

The Pixels section allows users to create new pixels and view and manage existing pixels associated with the Advertiser. Pixels are used to track site activity and conversions and can support campaign optimization, measurement, attribution, and audience creation.

New Pixel

Select New Pixel to create a new pixel for the Advertiser. Pixels can be used to track actions on the Advertiser’s site, measure campaign performance, attribute conversions, build audiences, and provide conversion data that can be used to optimize campaign delivery toward desired outcomes.

For more information, see Pixels.

View and Manage Pixels

The Pixels table allows users to search, download, and review pixel information and performance metrics.

Use the Search bar to find pixels by keyword or ID. Select the Download button to export the table as a CSV.

• Page Size: Adjust the number of pixel rows displayed on each page.
• Total Items: Displays the total number of pixels included in the current view.
• Page: Displays the current page and total number of available pages.
• Reporting Interval: Updates the performance metrics displayed in the table. All reporting intervals except Yesterday include data from the current day. Today’s metrics update hourly and are subject to an approximately three-hour reporting delay.
• Columns: Select the three-line menu to choose which columns are displayed in the table and customize the view based on your needs.

Users can select an existing pixel to view or edit its configuration.

Pixel Table Columns

The Pixels table can include the following pixel information and performance metrics:

• ID: The unique Pixel ID.
• Name: The Pixel name.
• Attributed Imps: The number of impressions attributed to conversions recorded by the Pixel during the selected Reporting Interval.
• Total Convs: The total number of conversions recorded by the Pixel during the selected Reporting Interval.
• Total Loads: The total number of times the Pixel loaded during the selected Reporting Interval.
• Uniques: The number of unique users or devices recorded by the Pixel during the selected Reporting Interval.

Overview

Switching to the Advertiser Performance tab, you can filter the Reporting Interval to adjust the top tiles section. Note that all intervals with the exception of yesterday, include metrics from today. Today’s metrics update hourly and have a 3 hour delay. The metrics include:

• Report Date: Shows the selected report date or date range.
• Impressions: The total number of impressions Advertiser served within the selected reporting interval.
• Total Cost: The total Advertiser spend, including media costs and any applicable fees.
• Revenue: The total Advertiser cost plus any additional advertiser margin.
• Total Cost CPM: The total cost per thousand impressions for the Advertiser, calculated as (Total Cost / Impressions) x 1,000.

This tab provides dropdown insights into Bid Data, Campaign Performance, Advertiser Daily Performance, and Completion Events. See the sections below for more details on each.

Advertiser Tiles

After selecting an Advertiser, users can adjust the Reporting Interval to update the summary metrics displayed at the top of the page. Select from today, yesterday, 7 days, 30 days, month to date, last month, lifetime, or input a custom range.

The following metrics are available:

• Report Date
• Impressions
• Total Cost
• Revenue
• Total Cost CPM

Full Report Link

The Full Report link opens the Reporting > Standard Reporting section and automatically populates the report with the Advertiser you are currently viewing. This allows users to quickly access more detailed reporting for that Advertiser without manually selecting it again.

For more details, see Standard Reporting

Bid Metrics

Bid metrics are displayed on the Advertiser, Campaign, and Line details pages to provide insight into the bid funnel, real-time delivery, and potential issues that may be affecting delivery.

• Time Frame: Select a time frame such as 15 minutes, 1 hour, 12 hours, or 1 day. Data is displayed in 5-minute intervals.
• Eligible Requests: Bid requests that meet the targeting criteria for the Line or Campaign, including settings such as deals, geo targeting, inventory targeting, audiences, and other targeting restrictions. If there are no eligible requests, the selected targeting criteria may be too restrictive or there may be no available inventory matching all criteria. See the Blockers graph and Troubleshooting delivery section below for more information.
• Bids: Bids placed on eligible requests. If a Line or Campaign has eligible requests but is not bidding, additional requirements or settings may be preventing bids from being placed. See the Troubleshooting delivery section below for more information.
• Imps: Confirmed impressions served by the Line or Campaign after winning an auction.
• Confirmed Spend:Confirmed spend generated by impressions served during the selected time frame.
• Avg Eligible Lines: Shows how many lines on average across the platform compete for impressions available to this line. Higher numbers indicate a lot of compeition of eligible inventory.
• Competitive Position: Shows how competitive is this line in the platform. Higher numbers near 1 means that this line’s bid price is very competitive.

Bid/Imp Ratios

Below the Bid Data section there is the Bid/Imp Ratios data.

• Time Frame: Select different time options such as 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, and 48 hours.
• Imps to Bids Ratio: The ratio of impressions delivered to the number of bids placed. This provides insight into how frequently submitted bids result in won impressions.
  • A higher ratio indicates that a larger share of bids are winning and converting into impressions.
  • A lower ratio indicates that many bids are being submitted without winning, which may point to factors such as an uncompetitive bid price, auction competition, or deal/inventory conditions.
• Bids to Eligible Bids Ratio: The ratio of bid requests seen which match targeting to the number of bids placed. This provides insight into how frequently the platform bids after a request passes targeting eligibility.
  • A higher ratio indicates that the platform is bidding on a larger share of eligible requests.
  • A lower ratio indicates that requests are passing targeting eligibility but are frequently being filtered out before a bid is placed. This may point to additional serving requirements such as budget or pacing constraints, creative eligibility, frequency caps, bid requirements, or other bidder-level restrictions. If delivery is being limited by pacing or budget allocation, increasing the Budget Multiplier or enabling Catch Up ASAP may help increase bid volume.

Campaign Performance

The Campaign Performance section provides a campaign-level view of delivery, performance, costs, conversions, and fees for the Advertiser. Use the Reporting Interval to adjust the time period reflected in the table.

Use the Search bar to find campaigns by keyword or ID. Select the Download button to export the table as a CSV.

• Filter Status: Toggle between Active, Inactive, and All Campaigns.
• Page Size: Adjust the number of campaign rows displayed on each page.
• Total Items: Displays the total number of campaigns included in the current view.
• Page: Displays the current page and total number of available pages.
• Reporting Interval: Updates the performance metrics displayed in the table. All reporting intervals except Yesterday include data from the current day. Today’s metrics update hourly and are subject to an approximately three-hour reporting delay.
• Columns: Select the three-line menu to choose which columns are displayed in the table and customize the view based on your needs.

Campaign Performance Table Columns

The Campaign Performance table can include the following campaign information and performance metrics:

• Status: The current active or inactive status of the Campaign.
• ID: The unique Pontiac Campaign ID.
• Name: The Campaign name.
• Imps: The number of confirmed impressions served during the selected Reporting Interval.
• Media Cost: The cost of media purchased during the selected Reporting Interval, excluding additional fees.
• Total Cost: The total cost incurred during the selected Reporting Interval, including applicable fees.
• Total Cost CPM: Total Cost per 1,000 impressions.
• IP Conversions: The number of conversions attributed using IP-based attribution during the selected Reporting Interval.
• Chrome Convs: The number of Chrome-attributed conversions recorded during the selected Reporting Interval.
• Clicks: The number of recorded clicks during the selected Reporting Interval.
• CTR: Click-Through Rate, calculated as Clicks divided by Impressions.
• CPC: Cost per Click, calculated using Total Cost divided by Clicks.
• Transparency Score: The Campaign’s transparency score for the selected Reporting Interval.
• Foot Traffic ‘Attributed Visitors’: The number of visitors attributed to campaign exposure through Foot Traffic measurement.
• Revenue: The Total Cost plus Advertiser Margin generated during the selected Reporting Interval.
• Media Cost CPM: Media Cost per 1,000 impressions.
• Data Cost: Costs associated with data used for campaign targeting.
• Foot Traffic Cost: Costs associated with Foot Traffic measurement.
• Credit Card Fee: Credit card processing fees associated with campaign spend, when applicable.
• Hosting Fee: Costs associated with creative hosting, when applicable.
• ART Fee: Costs associated with ART audience usage, when applicable.
• Contextual Fee: Costs associated with contextual targeting, when applicable.
• Chalice Fee: Costs associated with Chalice optimization, when applicable.
• VCR: Video Completion Rate, representing the percentage of video impressions that were viewed to completion.

Advertiser Daily Performance

The Advertiser Daily Performance section provides a day-by-day view of the Advertiser’s delivery, performance, costs, conversions, and fees. Expand the section to view both the Daily Performance Chart and Daily Performance Table.

Daily Performance Chart

The chart allows users to compare two selected performance metrics over time to identify trends and changes in Advertiser performance.

Use the metric dropdowns in the upper-right corner of the chart to select the two metrics you want to compare.

The chart can also be filtered by:

• Only Days with Data: Displays only dates where performance data was recorded.
• All Days: Displays all dates within the selected Reporting Interval, including dates with no recorded activity.

Daily Performance Table

The Daily Performance table provides the same Advertiser performance data broken out by individual day.

Select the Download button to export the table as a CSV.

• Page Size: Adjust the number of daily performance rows displayed on each page.
• Total Items: Displays the total number of dates included in the current view.
• Page: Displays the current page and total number of available pages.
• Columns: Select the three-line menu to choose which columns are displayed in the table and customize the view based on your needs.

Daily Performance Table Columns

The Advertiser Daily Performance table can include the following daily performance metrics:

• Date: The date associated with the performance metrics.
• Imps: The number of confirmed impressions served on that date.
• Media Cost: The cost of media purchased on that date, excluding additional fees.
• Total Cost: The total cost incurred on that date, including applicable fees.
• Total Cost CPM: Total Cost per 1,000 impressions.
• IP Conversions: The number of conversions attributed using IP-based attribution.
• Chrome Convs: The number of Chrome-attributed conversions recorded.
• Clicks: The number of recorded clicks.
• CTR: Click-Through Rate, calculated as Clicks divided by Impressions.
• CPC: Cost per Click, calculated using Total Cost divided by Clicks.
• Transparency Score: The Advertiser’s transparency score for that date.
• Foot Traffic ‘Attributed Visitors’: The number of visitors attributed to advertising exposure through Foot Traffic measurement.
• Revenue: The Total Cost plus Advertiser Margin generated on that date.
• Media Cost CPM: Media Cost per 1,000 impressions.
• Data Cost: Costs associated with data used for campaign targeting.
• Foot Traffic Cost: Costs associated with Foot Traffic measurement.
• Credit Card Fee: Credit card processing fees associated with spend, when applicable.
• Hosting Fee: Costs associated with creative hosting, when applicable.
• Art Fee: Costs associated with ART audience usage, when applicable.
• Contextual Fee: Costs associated with contextual targeting, when applicable.
• Chalice Fee: Costs associated with Chalice optimization, when applicable.

Completion Events

The Completion Events dropdown section provides detailed completion performance for video and audio campaigns with creatives that have a duration. The table shows how users progress through the creative, from the start through completion, and can be used to evaluate engagement and completion efficiency.

Select the Download button to export the table as a CSV.

• Page Size: Adjust the number of rows displayed on each page.
• Total Items: Displays the total number of rows included in the current view.
• Page: Displays the current page and total number of available pages.
• Columns: Select the three-line menu to choose which columns are displayed in the table and customize the view based on your needs.

Completion Events Table Columns

• Date: The date associated with the completion event metrics.
• Imps: The number of confirmed impressions served.
• Spend Per Complete: The average spend for each completed creative.
• Starts: The number of times the creative began playing.
• 25% Complete: The number of plays that reached 25% of the creative duration.
• 50% Complete: The number of plays that reached 50% of the creative duration.
• 75% Complete: The number of plays that reached 75% of the creative duration.
• 100% Complete: The number of plays that reached the end of the creative.
• Completion Rate: The percentage of started plays that reached 100% completion.

On the Advertiser Details screen, below the Setup and Performance subtabs, the Download Campaign Setup button allows you to export the advertiser’s active campaign, flight, and line configurations into an Excel workbook.

The export provides a consolidated view of campaign setup information, making it easier to compare configurations, audit campaign launches and settings, and perform QA.

Downloading the Campaign Setup

1. Navigate to the applicable Advertiser Details screen.
2. Locate Download Campaign Setup below the Setup and Performance subtabs.
3. Click Download Campaign Setup to download the Excel workbook.

The workbook includes all active campaigns under the advertiser and their active lines.

Export Structure

Depending on the advertiser’s campaign configurations, the workbook contains the following tabs:

• Campaigns: Includes one row for each active campaign and its applicable campaign level settings, including budget, pacing, frequency, targeting, creatives, audiences, pixels, and other configured controls.
• Flights: Included when one or more active campaigns have Enable Flights enabled. This tab displays the campaign’s flights and the lines associated with each flight, including flight dates, budgets, rollover settings, and line budget allocation information.
• Lines: Includes one row for each active line and its applicable line level settings, including inventory type, dates, budgets, bid settings, frequency, targeting, creatives, audiences, pixels, and other configured controls.

Columns that are not applicable to the configurations included in the export are omitted to keep the workbook focused on relevant setup information.

Campaign Managed Settings

When a setting is managed at the campaign level, the applicable configuration is displayed on the Campaigns tab rather than repeated for each line.

For example, if Manage Dayparts is enabled for a campaign, the applicable pacing and daypart settings are included on the Campaigns tab and are not repeated on the Lines tab. If the setting is managed independently by each line, the applicable values are instead included for the individual lines where they are configured.

Flight Based Line Settings

For campaigns using flights, certain line settings can vary by flight, including:

• Budget Allocation Weight
• Budget Multiplier

The Flights tab provides the values associated with each campaign flight and line combination. The Lines tab displays the effective value based on the current active flight. If there is no active flight, the next upcoming flight is used. If there is no upcoming flight, the most recently completed flight is used.

A Creative is the advertisement asset or third-party ad tag that is served as part of a Campaign. Creatives are created and managed at the Advertiser level and can then be associated with eligible Campaigns or Lines for delivery.

Pontiac supports creatives across multiple media types, including:

• Banner / Display
  • Hosted Banner
  • Third-Party Banner
  • HTML5
• Native
• Audio
  • Hosted Audio
  • Third-Party Audio
• Video
  • Hosted Video
  • Third-Party Video / VAST

Creatives can be uploaded by navigating to the applicable Advertiser and selecting New Creative. Creative settings can only be edited from the Advertiser level.

Once saved, Creatives are submitted through the applicable creative audit process before they are eligible to serve. Creatives may also be subject to additional SSP, publisher, media owner, or other third-party approval requirements depending on the inventory being purchased.

The sections below cover supported Creative types, technical specifications, upload and configuration workflows, macros, trackers, auditing, and other Creative-related features.

Creative Hierarchy

Creatives are owned and managed at the Advertiser level:

Seat
└── Advertiser
    ├── Creatives
    ├── Pixels
    └── Campaigns
        └── Lines

Although Creatives belong to the Advertiser, they can be associated with a Campaign or Line depending on how Creative management is configured.

Advertiser
└── Creative
    ├── Campaign Association
    └── Line Association

When Creatives are managed at the Campaign level, the Campaign’s associated Creatives are inherited by its Lines. When Creative management is handled independently at the Line level, eligible Creatives can be associated directly with individual Lines.

This allows a single Advertiser to maintain a centralized Creative library while controlling which assets are eligible to serve across different Campaigns and Lines.

For setup instructions, see:

• Campaign Creatives
• Line Creatives

The Creatives documentation itself confirms that Creatives are managed at the Advertiser level and then used at Campaign or Line level.

Creatives can be uploaded in the Advertiser details screen by selecting the ‘New Creative’ button. At this time the platform supports the following Creative Types:

• Banner/Display:
  • Banner: Hosted
    • First Party Banner
  • Banner: 3rd Party
    • Ad Server Tag Banner
  • HTML5
• Native
• Audio
  • Audio: Hosted
    • First Party Audio
  • Audio: 3rd Party
    • Ad Server Tag Audio
• Video
  • Video: Hosted
    • First Party Videos. Pontiac hosting fee will be applied and VAST tag will be created using Kevel.
  • Video: 3rd Party
    • Ad Server Tag Video (VAST) tags from reputable Ad Servers

For a comprehensive walkthrough of each creative type, see here: New Creative Tab

Creatives Table

On the Advertiser, Campaign, and Line level, users can download the Creatives table. By default the following columns are included:

• Status: Active or Inactive
• Audit Status: Approved, Pending, or Rejected
• ID: Creative ID
• Name: Creative Name
• Creative Type: The creative’s type: Banner: Hosted, Banner: 3rd Party, Native, Audio: Hosted, Audio: 3rd Party, Video: Hosted, and Video: 3rd Party.
• Weight: The creative’s weight.
• Imps: The amount of Impressions the creative has served and is dependent on the selected Reporting Interval.
• Clicks: The number of Clicks the creative has and is dependent on the selected Reporting Interval.
• Total Cost: The total cost of serving the creative and is dependent on the selected Reporting Interval.
• Revenue: The total cost, including any of the advertiser’s margin, of serving the creative and is dependent on the selected Reporting Interval.
• Flights Enabled: Always on or the flights that the creative is active for.
• CTR: The click through rate of the creative and is dependent on the selected Reporting Interval.
• Tag: The creative’s tag

Creatives can be uploaded in the Advertiser details screen by selecting the ‘New Creative’ button. At this time the platform supports Video: 3rd Party (VAST tags from reputable Ad Servers), Videos: Hosted, Audio: 3rd Party, Audio: Hosted, Banner: 3rd Party, Banner: Hosted, HTML5, and Native (Format A) creatives. If you do not have access to an ad server to create VAST tags, Pontiac Bidder offers hosting services at an additional charge via Kevel. This additional CPM fee is applied to the Line Item for each impression served and is a part of the total line and campaign budgets. Reach out through the Help Center or your account manager for more information.

To upload a Creative, go to the Advertisers tab and click on the name of the Advertiser under which you would like to upload the Creative. Select ‘New Creative’ and select the type of Creative that you will be uploading. A preview of the Creative should appear in the green ‘Preview’ box. Ensure that the Creative does not extend outside this preview box and loads as expected. Complete all relevant fields, then click ‘Save’.

Please note that Creatives can only be edited at the Advertiser Level. Please navigate to the Advertiser Level to modify your creatives.

For detailed documentation, see here: New Creative Tab

Please thoroughly review all Creative Policies before uploading Creative. All Creative units uploaded will be subject to the Pontiac Intelligence creative audit process as well as any additional SSP, publisher, media owner or other creative approval processes that may apply in the acquisition of ad space.

Pontiac Intelligence reserves the right to reject any creative unit at its discretion, and subsequently suspend the account without advanced warning. If your account is suspended, you will be notified in writing and an investigation will take place within three business days.  If at any point your ad tags are flagged as malicious, your account balance will be forfeited to Pontiac and will not be refundable.

In addition to Pontiac Intelligence’s content policies, certain sellers have additional policies that apply to buyers of those sellers’ inventory and certain data providers have additional policies that apply to buyers of those data providers’ data. Pontiac Intelligence clients wishing to purchase such inventory or data are responsible for understanding and adhering to any such additional policies. Pontiac shall have no liability or responsibility of any kind if a third-party declines to serve any Ads proposed by a Pontiac user, regardless of whether the ads meet the Pontiac Ad Standards or are approved by Pontiac, and users agree to indemnify and hold harmless Pontiac from any losses arising from a third-party’s decision not to serve a user’s ads. 

Creatives are managed on the Advertiser level. Navigate to the desired Advertiser and select the New Creative button to upload and configure creatives across video, display, audio, and native formats.

Getting Started

1. Click New Creative.
2. Select a Creative Type:

• Banner/Display:
  • Banner: Hosted
    • First Party Banner
  • Banner: 3rd Party
    • Ad Server Tag Banner
  • HTML5
• Native
• Audio
  • Audio: Hosted
    • First Party Audio
  • Audio: 3rd Party
    • Ad Server Tag Audio
• Video
  • Video: Hosted
    • First Party Videos. Pontiac hosting fee will be applied and VAST tag will be created using Kevel.
  • Video: 3rd Party
    • Ad Server Tag Video (VAST) tags from reputable Ad Servers

4. Enter a Creative Name.
5. Set the creative to Active or Inactive (default is Active).

Continue below for detailed setup instructions and examples for each creative type.

Video: Hosted

Upload Steps:

Start by clicking New Creative, then:

1. Select Creative Type: First Party Video
2. Name the creative.
3. Choose Active or Inactive. Creatives are automatically set to Active.
4. Select the creative’s duration. The default value is 30 seconds.
   • Supported Durations:
     • 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90.
5. Select the creative’s weight. The default value is 1.
6. Click URL: The Click URL will automatically populate with the Advertiser’s URL. The field remains editable if it needs to be edited.
   • If previously audited, editing the Click URL will force a reaudit of this creative and the creative will stop serving until the reaudit is completed.
7. Select the Aspect Ratio: 16:9 is selected by default.
   • 16:9 is the most common aspect ratio for CTV video creatives. When selected, the uploaded creative will serve to standard sizes like 1920×1080 and 1280×720, along with additional sizes sharing the same aspect ratio.
   • All Supported Aspect Ratios:
     • 16:9: Best for CTV and most desktop/mobile video placements. Standard for long-form and streaming content.
     • 1:1: Square and common for feeds and mobile as it takes up more screen space than horizontal video.
     • 9:16: Ideal for mobile, full screen experiences and OLV placements.
     • 4:5: Common for mobile feeds.
8. Serve to all sizes with similar aspect ratio (recommended, enabled by default): When enabled, creatives run across more placements that support the same aspect ratios, increasing available inventory and campaign scale without distortion or cropping.
9. Click the Choose File button and upload the creative video file.
10. Preview the creative to ensure it is rendering correctly and there are no issues.
11. Click Save, which will send the creative to audit.

Banner: Hosted

Upload Steps:

Start by clicking New Creative, then:

1. Select Creative Type: First Party Banner
2. Name the creative.
3. Choose Active or Inactive. Creatives are automatically set to Active.
4. Select the creative’s weight. The default value is 1.
5. Click URL: The Click URL will automatically populate with the Advertiser’s URL. The field remains editable if it needs to be edited.
   • If previously audited, editing the Click URL will force a reaudit of this creative and the creative will stop serving until the reaudit is completed.
6. Select the Size: 300×250 is selected by default.
   • Common sizes: 300×250, 728×90, 160×600
   • Supported Banner Sizes:
     • 88×31, 120×24, 120×60, 120×90, 120×160, 120×240, 120×600, 125×60, 125×125, 160×600, 180×150, 180×500, 200×200, 250×250,250×300, 300×50, 300×60, 300×100, 300×200, 300×250, 300×300, 300×400, 300×600, 300×1050, 320×50, 320×100, 320×250, 320×320, 320×360, 320×400, 320×480, 336×280, 400×300, 414×125, 468×60, 468×80, 580×400, 600×315, 600×600, 640×480, 640×720, 728×90, 728×200, 728×300, 732×610, 750×750, 900×1600, 930×180, 960×1200, 960×1600, 970×90, 970×250, 980×120, 980×150, 980×300, 980×500, 980×600, 1024×768, 1080×1080, 1080×1920, 1200×600, 1200×628, 1200×675, 1200×1200, 1280×720, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
7. Click the Choose File button and upload the creative banner file.
8. Preview the creative to ensure it is rendering correctly and there are no issues.
9. Click Save, which will send the creative to audit.

Audio: Hosted

Upload Steps:

Start by clicking New Creative, then:

1. Select Creative Type: First Party Audio
2. Name the creative.
3. Choose Active or Inactive. Creatives are automatically set to Active.
4. Select the creative’s duration. The default value is 30 seconds.
   • Supported Durations:
     • 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90.
5. Select the creative’s weight. The default value is 1.
6. Click URL: The Click URL will automatically populate with the Advertiser’s URL. The field remains editable if it needs to be edited.
   • If previously audited, editing the Click URL will force a reaudit of this creative and the creative will stop serving until the reaudit is completed.
7. Click the Choose File button and upload the creative audio file.
   • MP3 audio file
8. Preview the creative to ensure it is rendering correctly and there are no issues.
9. Click Save, which will send the creative to audit.

Video: 3rd Party

Upload Steps:

Start by clicking New Creative, then:

1. Select Creative Type: Ad Server Tag Video (VAST)
2. Name the creative.
3. Choose Active or Inactive. Creatives are automatically set to Active.
4. Select the creative’s duration. The default value is 30 seconds.
   • Supported Durations:
     • 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90.
5. Select the creative’s weight. The default value is 1.
6. Enter the Video VAST Tag URL
   • VAST 2, 3, and 4 are currently accepted
7. Select how the creative’s sizes are uploaded:
   • Automatically Detect Sizes
     • All sizes detected from the VAST tag will populate the box.
   • Manually Set Sizes
     • Select sizes from the right hand side drop down menu.
8. Serve to all sizes with similar aspect ratio (recommended, enabled by default): When enabled, creatives run across more placements that support the same aspect ratios, increasing available inventory and campaign scale without distortion or cropping.
9. Preview the creative to ensure it is rendering correctly and there are no issues.
10. Click Save, which will send the creative to audit.

Audio: 3rd Party

Upload Steps:

Start by clicking New Creative, then:

1. Select Creative Type: Ad Server Tag Audio
2. Name the creative.
3. Choose Active or Inactive. Creatives are automatically set to Active.
4. Select the creative’s duration. The default value is 30 seconds.
   • Supported Durations:
     • 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90.
5. Select the creative’s weight. The default value is 1.
6. Enter the Audio VAST tag URL: Vast versions 2, 3 and 4 are currently accepted.
7. Preview the creative to ensure it is rendering correctly and there are no issues.
8. Click Save, which will send the creative to audit.

Banner: 3rd Party

Upload Steps:

Start by clicking New Creative, then:

1. Select Creative Type: Ad Server Tag Banner
2. Name the creative.
3. Choose Active or Inactive. Creatives are automatically set to Active.
4. Select the creative’s weight. The default value is 1.
5. Select the Size: 300×250 is selected by default.
   • Common sizes: 300×250, 728×90, 160×600
   • Supported Banner Sizes:
     • 88×31, 120×24, 120×60, 120×90, 120×160, 120×240, 120×600, 125×60, 125×125, 160×600, 180×150, 180×500, 200×200, 250×250,250×300, 300×50, 300×60, 300×100, 300×200, 300×250, 300×300, 300×400, 300×600, 300×1050, 320×50, 320×100, 320×250, 320×320, 320×360, 320×400, 320×480, 336×280, 400×300, 414×125, 468×60, 468×80, 580×400, 600×315, 600×600, 640×480, 640×720, 728×90, 728×200, 728×300, 732×610, 750×750, 900×1600, 930×180, 960×1200, 960×1600, 970×90, 970×250, 980×120, 980×150, 980×300, 980×500, 980×600, 1024×768, 1080×1080, 1080×1920, 1200×600, 1200×628, 1200×675, 1200×1200, 1280×720, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
6. Enter the Third-Party HTML Tag.
7. Preview the creative to ensure it is rendering correctly and there are no issues.
8. Click Save, which will send the creative to audit.

Native: Format A

Upload Steps:

Start by clicking New Creative, then:

1. Select Creative Type: Native
2. Name the creative.
3. Choose Active or Inactive. Creatives are automatically set to Active.
4. Native Creative Type: Format A is selected by default and currently the only supported version.
5. Enter Alternative Brand URL for Audit (if applicable): Applicable if you are using a Click URL to a site that does not represent your branding, such as Amazon, enter a URL that contains the same branding represented in your ad. The audit team will use this URL to validate the branding represented in the creative. This will not be used as the landing page for the creative.
6. Creative Specs: Expand this section to view the Native Format A requirements.
   • Title: 25 Character Maximum
   • Body: 140 Character Maximum
   • Icon: 1:1 aspect ratio, at least 50×50 pix, no more than 200×200
   • Image: width cant exceed 1200 and aspect ratio has to be 1:1, 4:3 or 1.91:1
   • Click URL: URL to the page you are driving to (matches “sponsored by” brand)
   • Sponsored By: 25 Character maximum (Brand of advertisement)
   • Format A placements excel on the following exchanges: Triplelift, Sharethrough, Microsoft
   • 200kb max file size, overage fees will apply for larger files
7. Enter the required fields: Title, Sponsored By, Call to Action, and Body.
8. Click URL: The Click URL will automatically populate with the Advertiser’s URL. The field remains editable if it needs to be edited.
   • If previously audited, editing the Click URL will force a reaudit of this creative and the creative will stop serving until the reaudit is completed.
9. Upload the Icon.
10. Upload the Image.
11. Preview the creative to ensure it is rendering correctly and there are no issues.
12. Click Save, which will send the creative to audit.

Example Preview:

HTML5

Upload Steps:

Start by clicking New Creative, then:

1. Select Creative Type: Html5
2. Name the creative.
3. Choose Active or Inactive. Creatives are automatically set to Active.
4. Select the Size: 300×250 is selected by default.
   • Common sizes: 300×250, 728×90, 160×600
   • Supported Sizes:
     • 88×31, 120×24, 120×60, 120×90, 120×160, 120×240, 120×600, 125×60, 125×125, 160×600, 180×150, 180×500, 200×200, 250×250,250×300, 300×50, 300×60, 300×100, 300×200, 300×250, 300×300, 300×400, 300×600, 300×1050, 320×50, 320×100, 320×250, 320×320, 320×360, 320×400, 320×480, 336×280, 400×300, 414×125, 468×60, 468×80, 580×400, 600×315, 600×600, 640×480, 640×720, 728×90, 728×200, 728×300, 732×610, 750×750, 900×1600, 930×180, 960×1200, 960×1600, 970×90, 970×250, 980×120, 980×150, 980×300, 980×500, 980×600, 1024×768, 1080×1080, 1080×1920, 1200×600, 1200×628, 1200×675, 1200×1200, 1280×720, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
5. Click URL: The Click URL will automatically populate with the Advertiser’s URL. The field remains editable if it needs to be edited.
   • If previously audited, editing the Click URL will force a reaudit of this creative and the creative will stop serving until the reaudit is completed.
6. Enter Alternative Brand URL for Audit (if applicable): Applicable if you are using a Click URL to a site that does not represent your branding, such as Amazon, enter a URL that contains the same branding represented in your ad. The audit team will use this URL to validate the branding represented in the creative. This will not be used as the landing page for the creative.
7. Creative Specs: Expand this section to view the html5 requirements.
   • Hosted HTML5 (Gif):
   • URL to the page you are driving to
   • Upload the entire zip file
   • Cannot animate after the 3rd rotation, and cannot exceed 30 seconds
   • 150kb max file size, overage fees will apply for larger files
   • Sufficient branding
8. Click Choose File to upload the zip file.
   • The zip file must contain an index.html, specifically called index.html, which much reside in the root of the zip file and not in a subfolder. Index.html should be complete and valid HTML document and not an HTML fragment. All external resources must be secure (https).

9. Preview the creative to ensure it is rendering correctly and there are no issues.

10. Click Save, which will send the creative to audit.

1×1 third party trackers can be added to creatives in Pontiac on upload or in the edit creative screen. In the creative window, open the Tracker tab and click Add New Tracker to enter the third-party tracking URL.

Pontiac supports the following tracker types:

• Impressions
• Start
• First Quartile
• Second Quartile
• Third Quartile
• Completion

Supported Tracker Types:

• Image (Img): For image pixel tracker URLs.
  • Example: https://pix.pontiac.media/pixel?id=18419&type=2
  • Image trackers are simple pixel URLs that fire when the creative loads. They are usually preferred because they are lightweight, broadly compatible, and less likely to be blocked by creative environments.
• JavaScript (JS): For script based tracker URLs.
  • Example: https://pix.pontiac.media/js-pixel?id=1516&type=2
  • JavaScript trackers are used when the tracking provider requires script logic to run, such as setting additional parameters, firing multiple calls, or supporting more complex measurement behavior.
• For most standard impression tracking, Image is the better default.

Additional Information:

• Banner ads support impression trackers only.
• Video and audio ads support all tracker types.
• Third-party click trackers should be configured in your ad server as the creative’s click URL.
• Please refer to the Pontiac Macros here: Creative Macros which can be used to pass additional information when the tracker fires.
• Pontiac macros must be implemented using the exact macro format within the tracker URL to pass data correctly. Incorrect formatting will result in missing data.
• For additional assistance, please reach out to your account manager or the Help Center.

Using Trackers for Audience Building:

In addition to measurement, trackers can be used to support audience creation.

By adding a Pontiac pixel img as a tracker to a creative, you can capture exposed users and automatically build a custom audience based on IP data when the tracker fires.

Follow the following setups:

1. Create a pixel and check the Create Custom Audience feature and set days to live.

2. Add the Pixel URL Img to your desired creative (CTV, Display, Audio, etc.) to the trackers tab as an impression tracker.

3. Check that the audience has started collecting records in the Audience tab > Custom section. If there are records proceed to the next step. If not, ensure that the campaign has been live long enough to collect data.

4. On the Campaign or Line level associate the custom audience.

This enables workflows such as:

• Building audiences from users exposed to ads
• Applying those audiences to future campaigns
• Retargeting across different media types (e.g., video, display, audio)

This approach allows you to extend campaign impact across channels and scale retargeting strategies.

The Specs tab displays technical details for supported creative types, including creative size, bit rates, MIME type, aspect ratio, and duration where applicable.

Creative types without a Specs tab

The following creative types do not have a Specs tab because their details are available in the main creative dialog window:

• Banner: Hosted
• Banner: 3rd Party
• HTML5
• Native

Video: 3rd Party

• Size
• Bit Rate (Video and Audio Combined)
• Mime
• Aspect Ratio

Video: Hosted

• Size
• Bit Rate (Video)
• Audio Bit Rate
• Mime
• Aspect Ratio

Audio: 3rd Party

• Bit Rate (Audio)
• Mime
• Duration

On the Flights tab, choose to have the Creative Always On or Active for a specific Flight.

Flight dates can be applied on each creative to easily schedule and facilitate creative swaps on a Line or Campaign. For example, if you have a new creative for each week of a Campaign, you can associate all of the creatives to the Campaign, and set flight dates accordingly so that you do not have to edit the Campaign and swap creatives each week. The creative will only be eligible to serve during the date intervals selected unless the creative is set to ‘Always On’, in which case it will be eligible to serve whenever it is assigned to a Line or creative with current flight dates.

In the creative upload or edit window, under the ‘Flights’ tab, you can change the creative dates setting to ‘Flights’ then configure the dates when you would like the creative to serve. To add multiple flights, select the ‘Add Flight’ button.

To remove a flight, click the red circle next to the selected dates. If a creative is switched from ‘Flights’ to ‘Always On’, all existing flights will be removed.

The Publisher Specs Eligibility tab is available in the Creative window for:

• Video: Hosted
• Video: 3rd Party
• Audio: Hosted
• Audio: 3rd Party

This tab evaluates whether a hosted creative appears to meet the technical requirements of supported publishers and SSPs.

Publisher Specs Eligibility is a technical specification check only. A Pass result means the creative appears to meet the listed requirements, but it does not indicate final approval by Pontiac, the publisher, or the SSP. Publisher requirements are controlled by each publisher and are subject to change. Audio bitrate cannot be validated for 3rd party video creatives. Contact your ad server to confirm that the audio bitrate meets the publisher’s specifications.

For more information about publisher specific approval processes, contact your Account Manager or reach out through the Help Center.

Video Tests Check the Following:

• Aspect Ratio
• Duration
• Sizes
• Video Bitrate
• Audio Bitrate (except 3rd party videos unable to check automatically and must be checked manually)

Video Publisher Test Requirements:

• Disney
  • Disney+, DisneyXP, Hulu
    • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
    • Duration: 6, 15, or 30 seconds
    • Sizes: 1920×1080 (preferred) or 1280×720
    • Video Bitrate:
      • Minimum Bitrate: 10,000 Kbps
      • Maximum Bitrate: 40,000 Kbps
    • Audio Bitrate: 192 Kbps or higher
  • ESPN
    • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
    • Duration: 15 or 30 seconds
    • Sizes: 1920×1080 and 1280×720 required
    • Video Bitrate:
      • 1920×1080: Minimum Bitrate: 10,000 Kbps and Maximum Bitrate: 40,000 Kbps
      • 1280×720: Bitrate: 1,500 Kbps or less
    • Audio Bitrate: 192 Kbps or higher
  • ABC News
    • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
    • Duration: 6, 15, or 30 seconds
    • Sizes: 1920×1080 and 1280×720 required
    • Video Bitrate:
      • 1920×1080: Minimum Bitrate: 10,000 Kbps and Maximum Bitrate: 40,000 Kbps
      • 1280×720: Bitrate: 1,500 Kbps or less
    • Audio Bitrate: 192 Kbps or higher
• NBCU
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Duration: 6, 15, 30, 45, or 60 seconds
  • Sizes: All sizes required in the VAST tag
    • Mezz – 1920×1080 HD
    • High – 1920×1080 HD or 1280x 720 HD
    • Medium – 960×540 or 640×480
    • Low – 640×360 or 416×234
  • Video Bitrate
    • Mezz – 10,000-30,000 Kbps
    • High – 3,250-5,000 Kbps
    • Medium – 1,000-1,500 Kbps
    • Low – 340-460 Kbps
  • Audio Bitrate
    • Mezz – Minimum 192 kbps
    • High – Minimum 96 kbps
    • Medium – Minimum 96 kbps
    • Low – Minimum 96 kbps
• Paramount
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Duration: 15, 30, 60, or 90 seconds
  • Sizes: All sizes required in the VAST tag
    • 1920×1080
    • 1024×576
    • 960×540
    • 768×432
    • 640×360
  • Video Bitrate
    • 1920×1080:10,000 Kbps – 40,000 Kbps
    • 1024×576: 2,100 kbps +/- 50 kbps
    • 960×540: 1,500 kbps +/- 50 kbps
    • 768×432: 750 kbps+/- 50 kbps
    • 640×360: 375 kbps+/- 50 kbps
  • Audio Bitrate: 192 Kbps or higher
• WBD
  • CNN, League Sports, MLB, NHL
    • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
    • Duration: 15 or 30 seconds
    • Sizes: All sizes required in the VAST tag
      • Mezz – 1920×1080
      • High – 1280x 720
      • Medium – 854×480
      • Low – 640×360
    • Video Bitrate
      • 1920×1080: 15,000-30,000 Kbps
      • 1280×720: Less than 15,000 Kbps
      • 854×480: Less than 1,500 Kbps
      • 640×360: Less than 1,000 Kbps
    • Audio Bitrate: 192 Kbps or higher
  • NCAA
    • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
    • Duration: 15 or 30 seconds
    • Sizes: 1920×1080
    • Video Bitrate: 18,000 – 30,000 Kbps
    • Audio Bitrate: 192 Kbps or higher
  • TBS, TNT, truTV
    • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
    • Duration: 15, 30, or 60 seconds
    • Sizes: All sizes required in the VAST tag
      • Mezz – 1920×1080
      • High – 1280x 720
      • Medium – 854×480
      • Low – 640×360
    • Video Bitrate
      • 1920×1080: 15,000-30,000 Kbps
      • 1280×720: Less than 15,000 Kbps
      • 854×480: Less than 1,500 Kbps
      • 640×360: Less than 1,000 Kbps
    • Audio Bitrate: 192 Kbps or higher
  • Discovery
    • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
    • Duration: 6, 15, 30, or 60 seconds
    • Sizes: All sizes required in the VAST tag
      • Mezz – 1920×1080
      • High – 1280x 720
      • Medium – 854×480
      • Low – 640×360
    • Video Bitrate: 10,000 Kbps minimum
    • Audio Bitrate: 192 Kbps or higher
  • HBO Max, WBD Stream
    • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
    • Duration: 15, 30, 45, or 60 seconds
    • Sizes: All 5 sizes required in the VAST tag
      • Mezz – 1920×1080 x 2 (2 1920×1080 sizes present in VAST tag)
      • High – 1280x 720
      • Medium – 854×480
      • Low – 640×360
    • Video Bitrate: 10,000 Kbps minimum
    • Audio Bitrate: 192 Kbps or higher

Audio Tests Check the Following:

• Format
• Audio Bitrate
• Duration

Audio Publisher Test Requirements:

• Triton
  • Format: MP3, MPEG, WAV
  • Audio Bitrate: 128 kbps minimum
  • Duration: up to 60 seconds
• Spotify
  • Format: 3MPEG or MP3
  • Audio Bitrate: 192 kbps minimum
  • Duration: up to 30 seconds
  • Note: All elements within VAST must make secure calls via https. All third-party tags and tracking URLs need to be in HTTPS format. Javascript, OMID, and VPAID are not supported. Serves on desktop, mobile, and tablet. Ads may serve on connected devices and CTV, but these platforms cannot be targeted at this time, only excluded.

Failed checks will display the identified value in the creative and then the requirement for that test for easy comparison and updating.

This page outlines the technical requirements for creatives across all supported media types in Pontiac and general recommendations.

Pontiac Hosted Creatives

Video: Hosted

Video Hosted 16:9 Kevel Template Specs

• 1920 × 1080 at 20,829 Kbps
• 1920 × 1080 at the original uploaded media file bitrate if it is less than 20,829 Kbps and not already included.
• 1920 × 1080 at 19,963 Kbps
• 1920 × 1080 at 15,000 Kbps
• 1920 × 1080 at 10,000 Kbps
• 1920 × 1080 at 4,006 Kbps
• 1280 × 720 at 10,000 Kbps
• 1280 × 720 at 5,000 Kbps
• 1280 × 720 at 1,994 Kbps
• 1280 × 720 at 1,000 Kbps
• 1024 × 576 at 2,100 Kbps
• 1024 × 576 at 1,799 Kbps
• 960 × 540 at 1,219 Kbps
• 854 × 480 at 714 Kbps
• 768 × 432 at 750 Kbps
• 720 × 406 at 486 Kbps
• 640 × 360 at 1,101 Kbps
• 640 × 360 at 907 Kbps
• 640 × 360 at 397 Kbps
• 640 × 360 at 300 Kbps
• 480 × 270 at 390 Kbps

The platform does not upscale uploaded video files. If the original uploaded media file does not meet a listed size and bitrate combination, that rendition will not be generated or included.

For example, if a 1920 × 1080 video with a bitrate of 6,000 Kbps is uploaded, the 1920 × 1080 at 4,006 Kbps rendition can be generated, but the 10,000 Kbps, 15,000 Kbps, and higher-bitrate 1920 × 1080 renditions will not be included.

Banner: Hosted

For additional macros see here: Creative Macros

Audio: Hosted

HTML5

Native: Format A

General Recommendations

Ad Server Tag

CTV

OTT

VPAID is not supported for OTT placements, and FLV, WebM and VPAID media types will not be eligible to serve on OTT inventory.

Spotify Audio File

Specs may vary by publisher & media owner. Sample bid requests that contain the min & max duration, bit rate and other creative requirements can be found in the Deal Landscape report by Deal. Click on the Deal name to review this information for 50 sample impressions.

At this time all creatives are required to be uploaded as VAST tags. If you do not have access to an ad server to host your creatives, Pontiac offers hosting via DCM at an additional cost. Reach out via the Help Center for more information.

Creative Rotation on Tags Ad Tags

Tags uploaded to the Pontiac platform must not rotate brands or advertisers. Tags may rotate through various ads for the SAME brand, but all creative attributes (size, duration, brand), must be the same for all versions of the creative.

We automatically search each tag for malicious activity (including for malware and other viruses that can be distributed through ad tags), but you are solely responsible for any tags that you upload or any damage that they cause. If at any point your ad tags are flagged as malicious, your account will be suspended pending an investigation and the remaining account balance will be forfeited to Pontiac and will not be refundable.

Overview

The Creative audit process takes one business day from the time you upload a Creative. Before uploading any Creatives read the Pontiac Intelligence Creative Acceptance Policy here: 

Pontiac Intelligence reserves the right to reject any Creative unit at its discretion, and subsequently suspend the account without advanced warning. If your account is suspended, you will be notified in writing and an investigation will take place within three business days. Pontiac Intelligence is unable to change the audit results of Xandr/AppNexus & RiskIQ. Audit results can only be changed by resolving the issue that caused a Creative to be rejected or flagged as sensitive.

Audit Status

Creative audit results will be displayed under ‘Audit Status’ next to the name of the Creative, in the ‘Creatives’ section of the Advertiser, Campaign or Line. Audit status will be indicated by a symbol; a yellow triangle for ‘audit pending’, a green check box for ‘passed audit’, a green triangle for ‘marked as sensitive’ and a red box for ‘rejected’. Hover over this symbol to view additional information about the audit status.

More Resources

For more information about Creative issues see the below links:

• Sensitive Categories
• Creative Flagged as Sensitive
• Rejected Creatives
• Creative Re-Audit

Pontiac Intelligence reserves the right to reject any Creative unit at its discretion, and subsequently suspend the account without advanced warning. If your account is suspended, you will be notified in writing and an investigation will take place within three business days. Audit results can only be changed by resolving the issue that caused a Creative to be rejected or flagged as sensitive.

Audit Status

Creative audit results will be displayed under ‘Audit Status’ next to the name of the Creative, in the ‘Creatives’ section of the Advertiser, Campaign or Line. Audit status will be indicated by a symbol; a yellow triangle for ‘pending’ audit, a green check box for ‘approved’, a green triangle for ‘marked as sensitive’ and a red box for ‘rejected’. Hover over this symbol to view additional information about the audit status.

At the Advertiser, Campaign, and Line levels, the Creatives table displays all creatives associated with that level, along with their current audit status.

When a creative is rejected, users can hover over the Audit Status to view the rejection reason. This allows users to quickly understand why the creative did not pass audit.

In the Creative audit process, all ad units uploaded to the Pontiac platform will be assigned an IAB category and a brand using the Advertiser’s web domain or click URL if applicable. Both parameters are used by the publishers in the bid request to control the types of ads.

The IAB category assigned to your creative can be found by clicking on the creative name to open the creative details window. This field is displayed below the creative in the ‘Creative Category’ field:

These categories come from the Open RTB Specs, that can be found here in table 5.1 ‘Content Categories’: Open RTB Specs v2.5

If you believe the incorrect IAB category has been assigned to your creative, create a ticket in the Help Center for assistance.

Creatives that are flagged as ‘Sensitive’ will display a green triangle in the ‘Audit status’ column. Hover over this symbol to review the sensitive category the creative was assigned to. You can also see the category and sensitive attributes by opening the creative window. These are also displayed under the preview of the creative:

Permitted Sensitive Categories by Deals

Sensitive creatives will only be allowed to run on the platform through deals that explicitly accept content in the specified sensitive category. In the ‘Deals’ section of the ‘Inventory tab’ there is a column that lists sensitive categories that are accepted on each deal.

For inquiries regarding inventory that may be available for a sensitive category search here or reach out to our team through the Help Center.

List of Allowed Sensitive Categories

The following sensitive categories are allowed on the Pontiac platform, but ads will be restricted to deals, exchanges, and publishers or venues that have explicitly approved this content. Pontiac makes no guarantee that inventory will be available for any of the following categories or that creatives will be approved by SSP or publisher partners. As a platform user, it is your sole responsibility to ensure compliance with all applicable local and national laws, restrictions, or regulations, including licensing and/or registration and targeting requirements in each market where the content is serving.

• Political
• Gambling
• Religion
• Pharma
• Liquor
• Beer & Wine
• Cannabis
• CBD
• Tobacco
• Firearms & Weapons
• Lawyer Advertising

Political

Political advertisements require additional actions as prompted within the platform. When creating an Advertiser ensure that for the Politicial Content field: Yes, I am running ads related to an election, ballot initiative, or political candidate in the United States is selected and the following information is filled out.

Cannabis

Index Exchange has the following cannabis specific creative guidelines. Cannabis ads are required to meet the following standards to be eligible to participate on the exchange. Their specialized quality control team will review all cannabis ads against these standards, and will reject any advertisements that contain prohibited content.

Cannabis-related advertisements are prohibited from containing the following content:

• Depictions or promotion of underage consumption of cannabis
• False, misleading or deceptive content
• Medical claims;
• Depictions or promotion of excessive consumption
• A design, representation, picture or illustration that is obscene or indecent

Applicable laws, rules, and regulations may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Each Advertiser is responsible for ensuring compliance with the laws, rules and regulations of the jurisdictions in which it chooses to serve cannabis-related advertisements.

Lawyer Advertising

This sensitive category is blocked by Paramount and NBC.

All Political Creatives must run under an Advertiser with the ‘Political’ box checked and the disclosure form completed. If the disclosure form has not been filled out and a creative is marked as political in the audit, the Advertiser and all associated Campaigns will be disabled until the required information has been entered.

Pontiac Intelligence permits political advertising on the Bidder platform (advertising relating to elections, ballot initiatives, or political candidates) in the United States, but requires that such advertising comply with applicable law. We also require that you certify certain information about the ads and the political organization that purchased them for certain political advertising on the state or local level, as legally required.

All necessary information must be entered directly into the Pontiac platform when creating the Advertiser. The platform will guide you through a series of questions. The below exemplifies the nature of the information that must be provided, but is subject to change. Failure to supply all applicable information into the platform could prevent your ads from serving.

Political creatives will only be allowed to run on the platform through deals that explicitly accept political content. Depending on the Partner or Publishers, there may also be additional creative approval processes in order to run on these deals.

This information can be found in the ‘Deals’ section of the Inventory Tab. Deals that allow political content will have ‘Political’ listed in the ‘Permitted Sensitive Categories’. If additional publisher approvals are required, this will be noted in the ‘Publisher Approval Required’ field. To request publisher approval for a deal, reach out through the Help Center.

The following content is prohibited across all Pontiac products. Any ad unit flagged under one of these categories will be blocked from serving on the platform and may result in account suspension or forfeiture.

• Profanity, Hate Speech or Defamatory Language
• Graphic or excessive violence
• Pornography, Nudity, Obscenities, or other ‘Adult’ Content
• Inappropriate content (at our discretion)
• Sale of, or instructions for creating, guns, bombs, ammunition, or weapons
• Discussing or promoting sale of federally illegal drugs, including marijuana, illegal pharmaceuticals, and other schedule 1 drugs.
• Malware, privacy and security violations
• Broken Ads or blank creative
• Enabling or Permitting Piracy
• Charging for government forms and services
• Misappropriation of Copyright, Trademark, Trade Secret, or Patent
• Executes or Downloads Files without User Interactions
• Causing degradation of site performance (ex: excessive animation, weight)
• Illegal Material or Content
• Misleading or sensationalized messaging, content, or images
• Pop ups or any ad or landing pages that spawn them.
• Content that intends to, or does, induce user action through misleading appearance or behavior, including, but not limited to, creatives that mimic video players, functional buttons, errors or warnings about viruses, missing codecs, and corrupt disks.
• Displaying fake errors to induce user action, or messaging that implies knowledge of a user’s computer or operating system.
• Creatives must not rotate brands or advertisers.
• The landing page must match brand of the advertisement.
• The landing page must contain a privacy policy.

All creatives uploaded to the CTV platform, and advertiser landing pages when applicable, are subject to the Pontiac audit process. This process may take up to 1 business day and Pontiac reserves the right to deny any creative, even if they are compliant with listed standards and policies. Any ads deemed malicious or inappropriate at Pontiac’s discretion will result in your account being suspended.

Pontiac macros can be used in supported third-party Creative tags and tracker URLs to dynamically pass available Campaign, Line, Creative, inventory, device, geographic, content, and auction data.

Macros must be implemented using the exact supported format. Incorrect formatting may prevent the macro from being replaced or result in missing data. Macro values are populated when the applicable data is available for the request.

Third Party Creative Example

Creative Tracker Example

See the complete list of available supported macros and descriptions here: Supported Macros

For additional assistance, contact your Account Manager or the Help Center.

Creative Macro Implementation Recommendations & Examples

Click Tracking: For Pontiac to track clicks properly when utilizing third-party creative tags, the Click Macro will need to be properly inserted into the tag. Below are examples for the common ad servers. If your ad server is not included here, contact your third-party server for the location where the macro should be placed. The macro is either ${CLICK_URL} or ${CLICK_URL_ENCODED}.

Pontiac Commonly Uses:

• DCM Example:
  • data-dcm-click-tracker=’${CLICK_URL_ENCODED}’>
• Kevel Example:
  • setRedirectUrl(‘${CLICK_URL}’)

Cache-busting: ${CACHEBUSTER} inserts a unique value into the request to help prevent a cached ad response from being reused. This helps ensure that a new request is made to the third-party ad server for each eligible ad serve and can help reduce reporting discrepancies.The required placement of ${CACHEBUSTER} varies by ad server and tag format. Confirm the appropriate placement with the provider that generated the tag.

Third-party ad server requirements may change. The examples below were provided by Xandr or Pontiac clients and are included for reference only. Pontiac cannot guarantee that they reflect the current implementation required by each third-party provider. Confirm macro placement, encoding requirements, and tag syntax with the applicable third-party ad server before implementation.

Third-Party Banner Tag Examples by Ad Server

AdForm:

<script language="javascript" src="http://track.adform.net/adfscript/?bn=123456;click=${CLICK_URL}"></script>
<noscript>
<a href="${CLICK_URL}http://track.adform.net/C/?bn=123456;C=0" target="_blank">
<img src="http://track.adform.net/adfserve/?bn=123456;srctype=4;ord=${CACHEBUSTER}" border="0" width="930" height="180" alt=""/>
</a>
</noscript>

AdGear:

<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript">
(function() {
ADGEAR_SOURCE_CLICKTRACKER = "${CLICK_URL}";
ADGEAR_SOURCE_CLICKTRACKER_EXPECTS_ENCODED = false;
ADGEAR_SOURCE_CLICKTRACKER_IS_ENCODED = false;
ADGEAR_SOURCE_CLICKTRACKER_IS_DOUBLE_ENCODED = false;
var randomnum = "${CACHEBUSTER}";
var agref = "";
var proto = "http:";
if (!agref.match(/^https?/i)) agref = "";
if (window.location.protocol == "https:") proto = "https:";
if (randomnum.substring(0,2) == "__") randomnum = String(Math.random());
document.writeln('<scr' + 'ipt type="text/ja' + 'vascr' + 'ipt" s' + 'rc="' +
proto + '//d.adgear.com' + '/impressions/ext/p=' +
'1234' + '.js?AG_R=' + randomnum +
(agref === "" ? "" : ("&AG_REF=" + encodeURIComponent(agref))) +
'"></scr' + 'ipt>');
})();
</script>

AdInterax:

<SCRIPT>adx_U_555555="";adx_D_55555="${CLICK_URL}";adx_I_555555="";</SCRIPT>

<SCRIPT
SRC="http://mi.adinterax.com/js/denvernp,atencio_300X_seren,C=XXXXX,P=XXXXX/ad2.js?q=55555555" LANGUAGE="JavaScript"></SCRIPT>

<NOSCRIPT><A HREF="${CLICK_URL}http://tr.adinterax.com/re/denvernp,atencio_300X_seren,C=XXXXXX ,P=XXXXX/0/0/tc,c:noscript/http://www.johnatencio.com/search?q=new+heart&x=16&y=9"><IMG SRC="http://tr.adinterax.com/re/XXXXXX,atencio_300X_seren,C=John_atencio,
P=Scott/0/0/in,ti/http://mi.adinterax.com/customer/XXXXXXX/0/300x250_FL_newart.jpg?adxq=1282775581" BORDER=0></A></NOSCRIPT>

Adition:

<!-- BEGIN ADITIONTAG -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://imagesrv.adition.com/js/adition.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ad1.adfarm1.adition.com/js?wp_id=12345&kid=12345&clickurl=${CLICK_URL}"></script>
<noscript><a href="${CLICK_URL}http://ad1.adfarm1.adition.com/click?sid=12345&ts=${CACHEBUSTER}">
<img src="http://ad1.adfarm1.adition.com/banner?sid=12345&kid=12345&ts=${CACHEBUSTER}" border="0"></a></noscript>
<!-- END ADITIONTAG -->

AdShuffle:

<iframe allowTransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"
marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" width="728"
height="90"
src="http://this.content.served.by.adshuffle.com/p/kl/01/234/r/56/7/8/abdef/ghijkl/view.html?${CACHEBUSTER}&ASTPCT=${CLICK_URL}"></iframe>

Adtech:

<!--IFRAME Tag (General Redirect) // Page: 728x90 //  -->
<IFRAME WIDTH="728" HEIGHT="90" SCROLLING="No" FRAMEBORDER="0" MARGINHEIGHT="0" MARGINWIDTH="0" SRC="http://adserver.adtech.de/adiframe|3.0|1234|1234|0|1234|ADTECH;AdId=1234;BnId=-1;;target=_blank;misc=[timestamp];rdclick=${CLICK_URL}"><script language="javascript" src="http://adserver.adtech.de/addyn|3.0|1234|1234|0|1234|ADTECH;AdId=1234;BnId=-1;;loc=700;target=_blank;misc=[timestamp];rdclick=${CLICK_URL}"></script><noscript><a href="http://adserver.adtech.de/adlink|3.0|1234|1234|0|1234|ADTECH;AdId=9479763;BnId=-1;;loc=300;misc=[timestamp]" target="_blank;AdId=9479763;BnId=-1;"><img src="http://adserver.adtech.de/adserv|3.0|1234|1234|0|1234|ADTECH;loc=300;misc=[timestamp]" border="0" width="728" height="90"></a></noscript></IFRAME>
<!-- End of IFRAME Tag --> 

Atlas (New):

<script src='http://ad.atdmt.com/i/a.js;p=11002201227900;cache=${CACHEBUSTER}?click=${CLICK_URL_ENCODED}'></script><noscript><iframe frameborder='0' scrolling='no' marginheight='0' marginwidth='0' topmargin='0' leftmargin='0' allowtransparency='true' height='250' width='300' src='http://ad.atdmt.com/i/a.html;p=11002201227900;cache=${CACHEBUSTER}?click=${CLICK_URL_ENCODED}'></iframe></noscript>

Previous:

<iframe src="http://view.atdmt.com/CNT/iview/1234567890/direct;wi.160;hi.600/01${CACHEBUSTER}?click=${CLICK_URL}" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"
marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" allowtransparency="true" width="160" height="600">
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"> document.write('<a href="${CLICK_URL}http://clk.atdmt.com/CNT/go/1234567890/direct;wi.160;hi.600/01/"
target="_blank"><img src="http://view.atdmt.com/CNT/view/195860978/direct;wi.160;hi.600/01/${CACHEBUSTER}"/></a>');
</script><noscript><a href="${CLICK_URL}http://clk.atdmt.com/CNT/go/195860978/direct;wi.160;hi.600/01/" target="_blank"><img border="0"
src="http://view.atdmt.com/CNT/view/1234567890/direct;wi.160;hi.600/01/${CACHEBUSTER}" /></a></noscript></iframe>

DoubleClick:

<script language="JavaScript" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/1234.567.890/;net=123456;sz=728x90;click=${CLICK_URL};ord=${CACHEBUSTER}?"
type="text/javascript"></script><noscript><a href="${CLICK_URL}http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/1234.567.890/;net=123456;sz=728x90;ord=${CACHEBUSTER}?"
target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/1234.567.890/;net=123456;sz=728x90;ord=${CACHEBUSTER}?" width="728" height="90" border="0"
alt=""></a></noscript>

DoubleClick (New Ins Tag):

Note: The DoubleClick ‘ins’ type tag will not need the Cachebuster macro.

<ins class='dcmads' style='display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px'
   data-dcm-placement='N3241.163472.EXAMPLEAD/B8852666.112976410'
   data-dcm-rendering-mode='script'
   data-dcm-https-only
   data-dcm-click-tracker=${CLICK_URL_ENCODED}>
 <script src='//www.googletagservices.com/dcm/dcmads.js'></script>
</ins>

EyeReturn:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://voken.eyereturn.com/?144857&click=${CLICK_URL}&params=${CACHEBUSTER}"></script>

Fetchback:

<script language='javascript' type='text/javascript' src='http://imp.fetchback.com/serve/fb/adtag.js?tid=47476&type=widesky&clicktrack=${CLICK_URL_ENCODED}'></script>

Flashtalking:

<script language="Javascript1.1" type="text/javascript">
var ftClick = "${CLICK_URL}";
var ftX = "";
var ftY = "";
var ftZ = "";
var ftContent = "";
var ft160x600_OOBclickTrack = "";
var ftRandom = Math.random()*1000000;
var ftBuildTag1 = "<scr";
var ftBuildTag2 = "</";
var ftTag = ftBuildTag1 + 'ipt language="javascript1.1" type="text/javascript" ';
ftTag += 'src="http://servedby.flashtalking.com/imp/55555;55555;201;js;MediaIQ;Sky160x600/?click='+ftClick+'&ftx='+ftX+'&fty='+ftY+'&ftadz='+ftZ+'&ftscw='+ftContent+'&cachebuster='+ftRandom+'" id="ftscript_160x600" name="ftscript_160x600"';
ftTag += '">' + ftBuildTag2 + 'script>'; document.write(ftTag);
</script>
<noscript>
<a href="${CLICK_URL}http://servedby.flashtalking.com/click/55555;55555;0;209;0/?url=232492" target="_blank">
<img border="0" src="http://servedby.flashtalking.com/imp/55555;55555;205;gif;MediaIQ;Sky160x600/?CB=${CACHEBUSTER}"></a>
</noscript>

Kevel:

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://static.adzerk.net/ados.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
  var ados = ados || {};
  ados.run = ados.run || [];
  ados.run.push(function() {
    /* load placement for account: pontiac-dev,
                          site: Web,
                          ad: Ad_2BrainFreeze-300x250png,
                          size: 300x250 - Medium Rectangle */
    ados_add_placement(11428, 1265459, "azk36943", 5)
      .setFlightCreativeId(964774214).setRedirectUrl('${CLICK_URL}');
    ados_load();
  });
</script>
<div id="azk36943"></div>

MediaPlex:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/js/12345-678901-23456-7?mpt=${CACHEBUSTER}&mpvc=${CLICK_URL_ENC}"></script>
<noscript><a href="${CLICK_URL}http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/nc/12345-678901-23456-7?mpt=${CACHEBUSTER}">
<img src="http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/nb/12345-678901-23456-7?mpt=${CACHEBUSTER}" alt="Click Here" border="0"></a></noscript>
<IFRAME SRC="http://b3.mookie1.com/2/abcdefg/hijkl/123456/Banner/300/1${CACHEBUSTER}@x90" WIDTH=0 HEIGHT=0 MARGINWIDTH=0
MARGINHEIGHT=0 HSPACE=0 VSPACE=0 FRAMEBORDER=0 SCROLLING=no BORDERCOLOR="#000000"></IFRAME>

Open Ad Stream (24/7):

<script LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.1"
SRC="http://oasn04.247realmedia.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_jx.ads/XXXXX/XXXXX/XXXXX/XXXXX/300/1${CACHEBUSTER}@x90?${CLICK_URL}">
</script>

PointRoll:

<script type="text/javascript">
function pr_swfver(){
var osf,osfd,i,axo=1,v=0,nv=navigator;
if(nv.plugins&&nv.mimeTypes.length){osf=nv.plugins["Shockwave Flash"];if(osf&&osf.description){osfd=osf.description;v=parseInt(osfd.substring(osfd.indexOf(".")-2))}}
else{try{for(i=5;axo!=null;i++){axo=new ActiveXObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash."+i);v=i}}catch(e){}}
return v;
}
var pr_d=new Date();pr_d=pr_d.getDay()+"|"+pr_d.getHours()+":"+pr_d.getMinutes()+"|"+-pr_d.getTimezoneOffset()/60;
var pr_postal="";
var pr_data="";var pr_ies="";

var pr_redir="${CLICK_URL}$CTURL$";

var pr_nua=navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase();
var prHost=(("https:"==document.location.protocol)?"https://":"http://");var pr_sec=((prHost=='https://')?'&secure=1':'');
var pr_pos="",pr_inif=(window!=top);
if(pr_inif){try{pr_pos=(typeof(parent.document)!="unknown")?(((typeof(inDapIF)!="undefined")&&(inDapIF))||(parent.document.domain==document.domain))?"&pos=s":"&pos=x":"&pos=x";}
catch(e){pr_pos="&pos=x";}if(pr_pos=="&pos=x"){var pr_u=new RegExp("[A-Za-z]+:[/][/][A-Za-z0-9.-]+");var pr_t=this.window.document.referrer;
var pr_m=pr_t.match(pr_u);if(pr_m!=null){pr_pos+="&dom="+pr_m[0];}}else{if(((typeof(inDapMgrIf)!="undefined")&&(inDapMgrIf))||((typeof(isAJAX)!="undefined")&&(isAJAX))){pr_pos+="&ajx=1"}}}
if(pr_postal!=""){var przipmatch=/^\d{5}$/;if(przipmatch.test(pr_postal)){pr_pos+="&postal="+pr_postal;}}
if((pr_data!="")&&(pr_data.indexOf("&")<0)){pr_pos+="&data="+pr_data;}
if((pr_ies!="")&&(pr_ies.indexOf("&")<0)){pr_pos+="&ies="+pr_ies;}
var pr_s="ads.pointroll.com/PortalServe/?pid=xxxx&flash="+pr_swfver()+"&time="+pr_d+"&redir="+pr_redir+pr_pos+pr_sec+"&r="+Math.random();
document.write("<scr"+"ipt type='text/javascript' src='"+prHost+pr_s+"'></scr"+"ipt>");
</script>

Project Sunblock:

When previewing Project Sunblock tags, please ensure you deselect Serve in iFrame as this will stop the tags previewing in our UI and you will be unable to test click-tracking.

<script type='text/javascript'>
    var _sblq = _sblq || [];
    (function() {
        var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script'), s0 = s[0], adElement = s[s.length-1];
        var sl = Math.random().toString(36).substring(2);
        _sblq.push([sl, 'setClickUrl', '${CLICK_URL}']);
        _sblq.push([sl, 'displayAd', adElement,300, 1234]);
        var sb = document.createElement('script'); sb.type = 'text/javascript'; sb.async = true; sb.defer = true;
        sb.src = ('http:'==document.location.protocol ? "http:" : "https:")+'//js.sblk.io/sb.js';
        s0.parentNode.insertBefore(sb, s0);
    })();
</script>
<noscript><img src='//api.sblk.io/request.gif?campaign_id=000&ad_id=0000' width='1' height='1'></noscript>

SmartAdServer:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.1" SRC="http://ww856.smartadserver.com/call/adj/306890/2591652/CLIENT.campaign/600x300/${CACHEBUSTER}/no?${CLICK_URL}"></SCRIPT>

<NOSCRIPT><a href="${CLICK_URL}http://ww856.smartadserver.com/call/jumpi/306343/2591652/CLIENT.campaign/600x300/${CACHEBUSTER}/no?" target="_blank">
<img src="http://ww856.smartadserver.com/call/adi/306890/2591343/CLIENT.campaign/600x300/${CACHEBUSTER}/no?" border="0"></a></NOSCRIPT>

Trade Doubler:

<script type="text/javascript">
var uri = 'http://impde.tradedoubler.com/imp?type(iframe)g(18906306)a(1838453)preurl(${CLICK_URL})' + new String (Math.random()).substring (2, 11);
document.write('<iframe src="'+uri +'" width="160" height="600" frameborder="0" border="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>');
</script>

Traffiq:

<iframe src="http://ads.traffiq.com/ad.imp?pid=1234&oid=5678&rand=${CACHEBUSTER}/?pclk=${CLICK_URL}" width="728" height="90"
frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" topmargin="0" leftmargin="0"> </iframe>

Weborama:

<a href="${CLICK_URL}http://gae.solution.weborama.fr/fcgi-bin/dispatch.fcgi?a.A=cl&a.si=54&a.te=56&a.ra=__RANDOM__&a.im=1&g.lu=" target="_blank">
<img src="http://gae.solution.weborama.fr/fcgi-bin/dispatch.fcgi?a.A=im&a.si=54&a.te=56&a.he=600&a.wi=160&a.ra=__RANDOM__&a.hr=R" width="160" height="600"></a>

Yield Manager:

<IFRAME FRAMEBORDER=0 MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0 SCROLLING=NO WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 SRC="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=300x250&section=XXXXXXX&pub_redirect_unencoded=1&pub_redirect=${CLICK_URL}"></IFRAME>

Zedo:

<script language="JavaScript" src="http://d7.zedo.com/jsc/d3/fl.js?n=809&c=1839/1740&s=704&d=14&w=728&h=90&l=${CLICK_URL}&z=${CACHEBUSTER}"></script> <noscript><a href="http://yads.zedo.com/ads2/r?n=809;c=1839/1740;s=704;x=3584;u=j;z=${CACHEBUSTER}" target="_blank"><img

 border="0" width="728" height="90" src="http://yads.zedo.com/ads2/x?n=809;c=1839/1740;s=704;x=3584;u=j;z=${CACHEBUSTER}" alt="Click here"></a> </noscript>

To Edit Creatives you must go to the Advertiser Level. Navigate down to the Creatives dropdown and click on the Creative Name that you want tot edit. Note that making changes to the Creative and then selecting ‘Save’ will automatically send the updated Creative to be Re-audit.

Editable Fields on Creative Tab:

• Name
• Duration
• Weight
• Video URL
• Sizes
  • Automatically Detect Sizes
  • Manually Set Sizes
• Serve to all sizes with similar aspect ratio checkbox

Editable Fields on Trackers Tab:

• Add New Tracker

Editable Fields on Flights

• Creative Dates
  • Always On
  • Flights

Edit Click URLs for Hosted Creatives

Users can edit the Click URL for hosted creatives directly from the Advertiser level creative dialog.

This applies to the following Creative Types:

• Banner: Hosted
• HTML5
• Native
• Audio: Hosted
• Video: Hosted

Editing the Click URL replaces the creative’s existing URL and automatically triggers a new creative audit. The creative will stop serving while the audit is pending and will remain ineligible to serve until the reaudit is completed.

Automated Testing is a quality check that evaluates creatives after they have been audited by Pontiac. This process helps ensure that creatives do not contain malicious intent. Testing results are displayed on the creative details view on the Advertiser, Campaign, and Line level under Automated Testing.

• Pass message: Passed automated testing
• Fail message: Failed automated testing
• Not sent for testing: Not tested

Some publishers require advertisers to complete an approval process before their inventory can be targeted. If a deal requires publisher approval, it will be indicated in the ‘Publisher Approval Required’ column within the Deals table under the Inventory tab.

Once a creative is approved for a specific publisher, it will be displayed in the ‘Approved for:’ field

The following sections summarize publisher-specific specification links and approval process when applicable. These requirements are subject to change. Contact your publisher representative for the most current approval requirements and specification guidance. Please review the publisher’s specifications in detail and ensure that all tags and creatives fully comply with the stated requirements.

Disney

For all Disney-owned properties, including ESPN, Disney XP, Disney+, Hulu, ABC & more, an approval process is required before ads can run. This process involves two key steps:

1. Brand Safe-Listing
2. Advertiser and Creative QA conducted by the Disney team to ensure all assets meet the publisher’s specifications.

Ads that do not complete this process will not be allowed to run on these Disney-affiliated deals.

Before initiating the approval, please review the publisher’s specifications in detail and ensure that all tags and creatives fully comply with the stated requirements.

• ESPN: https://files.disneyadvertising.com/MediaKit/ESPN/espn_watch-espn-mid-roll.pdf
• Disney XP: https://files.disneyadvertising.com/MediaKit/Disney-XP/disney-xp_digital-video.pdf
• Disney+: https://files.disneyadvertising.com/MediaKit/Disney-Plus/disneyplus_video.pdf
• Hulu: https://assets.huluim.com/downloads/hulu_ad_specs_quicksheet.pdf
• ABC:
  • https://files.disneyadvertising.com/MediaKit/Disney-Brands/shortformvideo.pdf
  • https://files.disneyadvertising.com/MediaKit/Disney-Brands/longformvideo.pdf

For more information, see Disney Company Ad Specifications page: https://www.disneyadvertising.com/mediakit/

To start the Disney approval process, reach out through the Help Center or your Account Manager with the following information:

• Advertiser URL
• Advertiser Creative Asset
• Advertiser Tags
• Properties you want access to (Disney XP, ESPN, Hulu, etc.)

NBCU

• NBCU: https://nbcuniversal-creative-guidelines.scrollhelp.site/nbcuadspecs/nbcu-programmatic-video-guidelines

Paramount

• Paramount: https://www.paramount.com/sites/g/files/dxjhpe356/files/2023-10/Paramount%20Digital%20Ads_Video_3rd_Party_VAST_Specs.pdf

WBD

• WBD:
  • https://www.wbdadspecs.com/ad-spec/pre-roll-no-skippable/
  • https://www.wbdadspecs.com/ad-spec/mid-roll-no-skippable/

Spotify

Spotify: https://ads.spotify.com/en-GB/ad-specs/audio-ad-specs/

Publisher Specs Eligibility Tests

The Publisher Specs Eligibility tab is available in the Creative window for:

• Video: Hosted
• Video: 3rd Party
• Audio: Hosted
• Audio: 3rd Party

See the full documentation here: Publisher Specs Eligibility Tab

This tab evaluates whether a hosted creative appears to meet the technical requirements of supported publishers and SSPs.

Publisher Specs Eligibility is a technical specification check only. A Pass result means the creative appears to meet the listed requirements, but it does not indicate final approval by Pontiac, the publisher, or the SSP. Publisher requirements are controlled by each publisher and are subject to change. Audio bitrate cannot be validated for 3rd party video creatives. Contact your ad server to confirm that the audio bitrate meets the publisher’s specifications.

Publisher Blocked Categories

For each impression, there is a field called ‘b-cat’ (blocked categories) included in the request that allows the publisher to block creatives with content in certain IAB categories. If the IAB category assigned to your creative in the audit is included in the list of blocked categories, your ad will not be eligible to serve on that inventory. In the CTV landscape report, the request_bcat column can be found in the sample logs for each deal. While this is just a sample and blocked categories could vary for each impression, this provides insight into commonly blocked categories by Deal. If your creative category is blocked in all sample impressions, it is unlikely you will be able to run through the selected deal.

These categories come from the Open RTB Specs, that can be found here in table 5.1 ‘Content Categories’: Open RTB Specs v2.5

Publisher Audits

Certain inventory or deals may require an additional publisher audit for each creative ad unit targeting that inventory. Creatives will not run through Deals that require a publisher audit until they have been approved for this inventory by the publisher and deal provider. For questions regarding the process for these audits, reach out through the Help Center.

Pontiac shall have no liability or responsibility of any kind if a third-party declines to serve any Ads proposed by a Pontiac user, regardless of whether the ads meet the Pontiac Ad Standards or are approved by Pontiac, and users agree to indemnify and hold harmless Pontiac from any losses arising from a third-party’s decision not to serve a user’s ads. 

Pontiac supports dynamic macros and query string parameters that allow additional data to be passed when ads, trackers, or Pixels are served or fired.

These values can be used with supported third-party Creative tags, Trackers, and Pixels for tracking, measurement, attribution, and reporting.

The Macros documentation includes:

• Supported Macros: Complete list of Pontiac-supported macros and the value each macro returns.
• Creative Macros: Guidance and examples for using supported macros in third-party Creative tags and tracker URLs, including click tracking and cache-busting.
• Pixel Macros:Guidance for adding query string parameters to Pontiac Pixels to pass additional conversion and site data, including Order ID, Order Amount, Consumer ID, GDPR values, and Custom Variables.

Availability of values used in Creative tags and trackers may depend on the information provided in the applicable bid request. Pixel query string values must be populated by the website or implementation when the Pixel fires.

The following macros are supported by Pontiac and may be used in applicable third-party tags, pixels, and trackers.

Macros must be implemented using the exact format shown below. Incorrect formatting may prevent the macro from being replaced or result in missing data.

Some macro values depend on information provided by the Exchange, publisher, device, or bid request and may not be available for every impression.

Pontiac IDs

Inventory & Content

Geography

Device

Auction & Deal

Creative, Click & Utility

Page & Referrer

Privacy & GDPR

Pixel Query String Macro Parameters

Pontiac Pixels also support optional query string parameters that can be used to pass additional conversion, visitor, and site data when the Pixel fires. Unlike the Pontiac-populated macros listed above, these values must be populated by the website, tag manager, or other Pixel implementation.

A Pixel is a tracking asset created within an Advertiser that can be used to measure website activity, conversions, and campaign performance in Pontiac. Pixels can be placed on an Advertiser’s website or used with Creatives depending on the desired measurement or audience-building workflow.

Pixels are created and managed at the Advertiser level. Once created, they can be associated with applicable Campaigns and Lines for conversion measurement and reporting.

Pontiac Pixels can support workflows such as:

• Measuring website visits and conversion events
• Attributing website activity to Pontiac Campaigns
• Passing additional conversion information such as Order ID and Order Amount
• Creating Pixel IP Audiences for remarketing or exclusion
• Firing additional third-party measurement through Piggyback Pixels

Pixel capabilities and implementation requirements vary depending on how the Pixel will be used.

Pixel Hierarchy

Pixels are created and managed under an Advertiser:

Seat
└── Advertiser
    ├── Creatives
    ├── Pixels
    └── Campaigns
        └── Lines

Although Pixels belong to the Advertiser, they can be associated with Campaigns and Lines for conversion tracking and reporting.

Overview

With the IP based pixel, a client can place this on their website and attribute online actions (browsing a page, loading the shopping cart, purchases) to CTV, Streaming Audio, and Display campaigns run through the Pontiac platform. Typically, pixels are based on third party cookies which work on browsers, and these do not allow for attribution for CTV and Streaming Audio campaigns. Pontiac IP Conversion Pixels are a proprietary and privacy safe attribution solution for CTV & Streaming Audio that utilizes the user’s IP Address to track website traffic and online purchases driven by your campaigns.

Metrics

At the Advertiser level, IP Conversion metrics will include conversions from ALL Line Items under this Advertiser, even if the pixel was not associated to the Line. If the pixel is associated to a Line Item, you can see metrics for that Line Item by opening the Line. Detailed reporting can be pulled in the Reporting tab under Custom Reports.

IP conversion pixels have a standard lookback of 30 days in the metrics under the Advertiser. This means that the user must complete the desired action within 30 days of seeing the ad for it to count as a conversion. If you would like to pull reporting with a custom lookback window, this can be done in Custom Reporting using the IP Conversion Custom Report. You can select from ‘5’, ‘7’, ’15’ or ’30’ day as the lookback.

• Attributed Imps: The number of impressions served by a Line Item under the Advertiser to users that then converted.
• Total Convs: The number of conversions, or unique actions that were driven by all Line Items under the Advertiser. A conversion event will be defined according to the pixel placement. For example, if the pixel is placed on all web pages, a conversion event would equal a page visit. If the pixel is placed on the ‘Thank you’ page after a purchase, then a conversion event would equal a purchase.
• Total Loads: The Loads will indicate the number of times the pixel has fired on the page. This is the number of users that have visited the page in the selected time interval regardless if the Line Item drove the conversion. If the pixel is showing 0 loads, this may indicate the pixel is not properly placed or firing correctly.
• Uniques: The total number of unique visitors (loads) to the web page where the pixel is placed in the reporting interval selected.

For information about IP Conversion attribution, Lookback Windows, and reporting, see Conversion Tracking.

To create an IP Conversion Pixel, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the applicable Advertiser, or create a new Advertiser if needed.
2. Select New Pixel.
3. Enter a Name for the Pixel.
4. Configure the optional Create Custom Audience setting:
   • Select Create Custom Audience to create a Pixel IP Audience from qualifying Pixel fires for future targeting or exclusion.
   • Days to Live: Determines how long each record remains active in the Audience. The default is 180 days. Common values are 30, 60, or 90 days, with a maximum of 180 days. Users are added to the Audience only from qualifying Pixel activity that occurs after Audience creation is enabled.
5. Create Custom Audience (Optional): Check the box if wanting to create an audience for retargeting or exclusion purposes.
   • Set Days to Live: Set to 180 days by default. Set the number of days to live. Typically 30, 60, 90 days is input here. The maximum is 180 days.
   • Note that users are only added to the audience if they visit the site after the pixel is placed.
6. Select Save.
7. Allow approximately 30–60 seconds for the Pixel to generate.
8. Open the newly created Pixel to view the generated Pixel URLs and additional configuration options.

9. Configure any optional Query String Parameters:
   • Order ID: The unique order ID generated by your site.
   • Order Amount: The total order value associated with the Order ID.
   • Client IP: The visitor’s IP address captured by your site when the Pixel fires.
   • Consumer ID: A unique customer, lead, or visitor ID generated by your site.
   • GDPR Consent: The visitor’s consent string collected by your site.
   • GDPR: A flag (0 or 1) indicating whether GDPR applies to the visitor.
     1. For additional information, see GDPR Query String Macros.
   • Custom Variable 1: Adds var1=VAR1 to the Pixel URL and makes the value available as Custom Variable 1 in Custom Reporting. Additional values can be passed using var2, var3, and var4.
   • When query string parameters are included, work with your web developer to dynamically replace the placeholders with the appropriate values before the Pixel fires.
10. Select the desired Pixel implementation:
    • Pixel URL Img: Recommended for most use cases. Image pixels are widely supported and work reliably across environments.
    • Pixel URL JS: Supports additional functionality and may be used when JavaScript-based tracking is required and supported.
11. Implement the Pixel in the desired location:
    • Website Activity: Place the Pixel on the Advertiser’s website. It can be placed across the site, such as in the header, or on a specific page such as a product, checkout, or confirmation page depending on the activity you want to measure.
    • Creative Exposure: A Pontiac Pixel can also be added to a Creative as an Impression Tracker when Creative exposure tracking or Pixel IP Audience creation is desired.
12. Associate the Pixel with the applicable Campaign or Line where conversion performance should be measured.
    • For association instructions, see:
      • Campaign Creatives
      • Line Creatives

To edit an existing IP Conversion Pixel:

1. Navigate to the Advertiser where the Pixel was created, or search for the Pixel by Name or ID using the main search bar.
2. Select the Pixel you would like to edit.
3. Update any applicable fields:
   • Name: Update the Pixel name.
   • Create Custom Audience: Select or unselect this option to control whether a Pixel IP Audience is created from qualifying Pixel fires.
     • Days to Live: Determines how long each record remains active in the Audience. The default is 180 days. Common values are 30, 60, or 90 days, with a maximum of 180 days. Users are added to the Audience only from qualifying Pixel activity that occurs after Audience creation is enabled.
   • Query String Parameters: Select additional parameters to include in the Pixel URL:
     • Once the pixel has been generated, you can track additional parameters by selecting the corresponding boxes for:
       • Order ID: The unique order ID generated by your site.
       • Order Amount: The total order value associated with the Order ID generated by your site.
       • Client IP: The visitor’s IP address captured by your site at the time of the pixel fire.
       • Consumer ID: A unique customer, lead, or visitor ID generated by your site.
       • GDPR Consent: The visitor’s consent string collected by your site.
       • GDPR: A flag (0 or 1) that indicates whether GDPR applies to the visitor.
         • For more documentation, see here: GDPR Query String Macros
       • Custom Variable 1: This adds var1=VAR1 to the pixel URL and populates Custom Variable 1 in Custom Reporting. To pass additional values, add var2, var3, or var4 using the same format. Work with your web developer to replace the placeholders with the intended values.

When query string parameters are added or changed, work with your web developer to dynamically replace the placeholders with the appropriate values before the Pixel fires.

Update the Pixel Implementation

If an edit changes the Pixel URL or parameters being passed, update the Pixel anywhere it has already been implemented so the revised configuration is used.

This may include:

• Website Activity: A Pontiac Pixel placed on an Advertiser’s website, such as a homepage, product page, checkout page, or other conversion page.
• Creative Exposure: A Pontiac Pixel added to a Creative as an Impression Tracker to measure Creative exposure and, when enabled, build a Pixel IP Audience for future retargeting.

Save the Pixel after completing the desired changes.

Pontiac supports Piggyback Pixels so additional third-party tracking or measurement pixels can fire through a Pontiac JavaScript or Image pixel. The Piggyback Pixels tab is available when creating or editing a pixel, allowing users to add each piggyback pixel and enter its URL.

For JavaScript pixels:

• Up to 10 piggyback pixels can be added.
• When the Pontiac JavaScript pixel fires, it uses document.write to fire the associated piggyback image pixels.

For Image pixels:

• A maximum of 1 piggyback pixel can be added.
• When the Pontiac Image pixel fires, the request redirects to the configured piggyback pixel URL.

After a Pixel has been generated, optional query string parameters can be added to pass additional information with each Pixel fire. When enabled, the corresponding parameters and placeholders are added to the Pixel URL.

Work with your web developer to dynamically replace each placeholder with the appropriate value before the Pixel fires. Values passed through these parameters are available in Custom Reporting and can provide additional insight into campaign-driven conversions.

• Order ID: Passes the unique order or transaction ID generated by your site.
• Order Amount: Passes the value associated with the conversion or order. This can be used in reporting for metrics such as revenue and ROAS.
• Consumer ID: Passes a unique customer, lead, or visitor identifier generated by your site.
• Client IP: Passes the visitor IP address observed by your website when the Pixel fires. This can be useful when the Pixel is implemented through a container or another environment where the IP address detected directly by the Pixel may not represent the visitor accurately. When provided, the Client IP value is used for attribution and reporting.
• GDPR Consent: Passes the visitor’s IAB TCF consent string when applicable. This value should be populated dynamically using consent information collected by the website or Consent Management Platform (CMP).
• GDPR: Indicates whether GDPR applies to the visitor associated with the Pixel fire, typically using 1 when GDPR applies and 0 when it does not.
  • For additional information, see GDPR Query String Macros.
• Custom Variable 1: Adds var1=VAR1 to the Pixel URL and makes the value available as Custom Variable 1 in Custom Reporting. Additional values can be passed using var2, var3, and var4.
  • Applicable Report Types:
    • IP Conversion Pixel: Path to Conversion
    • IP Conversion Pixel: Page Visits
    • Cookies: Path to Conversion

Configure a Custom Pixel Domain

White-label clients can use a branded subdomain for Pontiac pixel URLs so that pixel requests display their own domain rather than the Pontiac domain.

For example, instead of: https://pix.pontiac.media/iap/1234

the pixel can use a custom branded domain such as: https://pixel.yourdomain.com/iap/1234

The underlying pixel functionality remains the same; only the domain displayed in the pixel URL is customized.

1. Choose your custom subdomain.
   Select the subdomain you would like to use for your pixel URLs. For example:
   • pixel.yourdomain.com
   • p.yourdomain.com
   • tracking.yourdomain.com
2. Provide the SSL certificate for the selected subdomain.
   For example, if you choose pixel.yourdomain.com, provide the SSL certificate that covers pixel.yourdomain.com. Pontiac uses this certificate to securely configure the custom hostname for HTTPS requests.
3. Pontiac configures the custom hostname.
   Pontiac will configure the branded hostname to route requests to the Pontiac pixel service. Once configured, requests such as: https://pixel.yourdomain.com/iap/1234 can be processed by the same Pontiac pixel infrastructure as the standard Pontiac pixel URL.
4. Pontiac provides the DNS target.
   After the hostname has been configured, Pontiac will provide the DNS target that should be used for your CNAME record. For example: pixel.yourdomain.com → <Pontiac-provided DNS target>
5. Create the CNAME record with your DNS provider.
   In your DNS provider, such as Cloudflare or AWS Route 53, create a CNAME record for your selected subdomain and point it to the DNS target provided by Pontiac.

Once the SSL, Pontiac configuration, and DNS setup are complete, pixel URLs can continue using the same path structure while displaying your custom branded domain.

Completed Checkout Custom Pixel

A Shopify custom pixel can be used to report completed checkouts to Pontiac. The pixel subscribes to Shopify’s checkout_completed customer event and sends a request to the Pontiac pixel endpoint when an order is completed.

The request can include:

• Pontiac pixel ID
• Event type
• Shopify order ID
• Completed order amount

Shopify typically triggers the checkout_completed event once per checkout on the order confirmation or Thank You page.

Before configuring the custom pixel, confirm that:

• You have access to the Shopify store’s admin settings.
• A Pontiac conversion pixel has been created.
• You know the Pontiac pixel ID that should receive the completed checkout event.

The example below uses Pontiac pixel ID 12345. Replace this value with the applicable Pontiac pixel ID.

Add the Custom Pixel in Shopify

1. Log in to the Shopify admin.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Select Customer events.
4. Open the Custom pixels section.
5. Click Add custom pixel.
6. Enter a name such as: Pontiac Completed Checkout Pixel
7. Paste the completed checkout code into the code editor.
8. Save the pixel.
9. Click Connect to activate it.

The custom pixel must be connected before it can receive customer events.

Locate the Pontiac Pixel Information

The Pontiac img pixel is provided in the following format:

Pixel URL Img: <img src=”https://pix.pontiac.media/pixel?id=12345&type=2″ width=”1″ height=”1″ />

For the Shopify implementation, use only the URL contained in the src attribute: https://pix.pontiac.media/pixel?id=12345&type=2

The URL is separated into the following values in the custom pixel template:

“https://pix.pontiac.media/pixel” + “?id=12345” + “&type=2”

Replace 12345 with the ID from the Pontiac pixel. Do not paste the full HTML <img> tag into the Shopify custom pixel.

Shopify Custom Pixel Code

analytics.subscribe("checkout_completed", (event) => {
  const checkout = event.data?.checkout;

  if (!checkout) return;

  const orderId =
    checkout.order?.id ||
    checkout.order?.name ||
    checkout.id ||
    checkout.token ||
    "";

  const orderAmount =
    checkout.totalPrice?.amount ||
    "";

  const pixelUrl =
    "https://pix.pontiac.media/pixel" +
    "?id=12345" +
    "&type=2" +
    "&order-id=" + encodeURIComponent(orderId) +
    "&order-amount=" + encodeURIComponent(orderAmount);

  fetch(pixelUrl, {
 method: "GET",
 mode: "no-cors",
 keepalive: true
 });
});

Update the Pontiac Pixel ID

In the custom pixel code, locate:

"?id=12345"

Replace 12345 with the applicable Pontiac pixel ID.

For example, if the Pontiac pixel URL is: https://pix.pontiac.media/pixel?id=67890&type=2

the corresponding portion of the Shopify code should be:

"?id=67890" +
"&type=2"

Do not change the type=2 value for a completed checkout conversion pixel unless instructed by Pontiac.

Information Sent to Pontiac

When a checkout is completed, the custom pixel sends:

• id: The Pontiac pixel ID
• type: The Pontiac event type
• order-id: The first available Shopify order or checkout identifier
• order-amount: The completed checkout total

Reach out through the Pontiac Help Center or contact your account manager for additional guidance or questions.

Pontiac provides multiple targeting methods that can be used to control which Impressions are eligible to serve for a Campaign or Line.

Targeting can be applied at the Campaign or Line level depending on the setting. Campaign-level targeting should be used when the targeting criteria apply to all Lines within the Campaign. Line-level targeting can be used to define a more specific strategy for an individual Line.

When targeting is applied at both levels, an Impression must satisfy the applicable Campaign and Line targeting requirements to be eligible to serve.

Some targeting fields support Allow Lists and Block Lists:

• Allow List: Restricts delivery to the selected values.
• Block List: Excludes the selected values from delivery.

Targeting restrictions are cumulative. Adding multiple targeting criteria can reduce the number of eligible Impressions, so review Campaign and Line targeting together when troubleshooting limited delivery.

The Targeting section is available at both the Campaign and Line levels.

Campaign-level Targeting should be used when a setting should apply to every Line within the Campaign. Line-level Targeting can be used for more specific inventory, geographic, device, content, or video strategies.

The Targeting menu is organized into the following sections:

Campaign Targeting is organized into the following sections:

• Inventory
  • Deals
  • Deal Lists
  • Exchanges
  • Sites
  • Site Lists
  • App Bundle
  • App Name
  • App Lists
  • Curation is available under Inventory at the Line level only.
• Location & Device
  • Geo
  • Zip Codes
  • Device Types
  • Browser
  • Operating Systems
• Content
  • Channel
  • Content ID
  • Genre
  • Network
  • Publisher
  • Series
  • Title
  • Multi Field
• Streaming & Video
  • Livestream
  • OLV
• Advanced
  • Custom Model
  • Privacy

Inventory Targeting controls the supply sources, Deals, Sites, and Apps where a Campaign or Line is eligible to serve.

Inventory targeting can be applied at the Campaign or Line level. Campaign-level Inventory Targeting should be used only when the selected inventory requirements apply to every Line within the Campaign.

Available Inventory Targeting includes:

Inventory Type

Inventory Type controls the environment where the Line can serve:

• Web
• In App
• Combined

Web inventory represents requests associated with websites in a browser, while In App inventory represents requests from applications such as mobile or Connected TV Apps.

Supply Source

Campaigns and Lines can use inventory from:

• Open Exchange
• Private Marketplace (PMP) Deals
• Programmatic Guaranteed (PG) Deals

See the Inventory documentation for information about Deals, Exchange eligibility, available inventory, and Deal targeting.

Deals

Use Deals to target individual Deals available to the Seat. Select the applicable Deals to include them in the Campaign or Line targeting configuration.

When Deals are targeted at both the Campaign and Line levels, ensure the selected Deals are aligned. Campaign and Line requirements are evaluated together.

See the Inventory documentation for Deal discovery, access, and additional Deal information.

Deal Lists

Use Deal Lists to apply a reusable group of Deals to a Campaign or Line.

Deal Lists are created and managed under Inventory > Deal Lists and can then be selected within Targeting.

Exchanges

Use Exchanges to control the supply-side platforms through which the Campaign or Line is eligible to purchase inventory.

When using Deals, make sure the selected Exchanges align with the Exchanges associated with the targeted Deals.

Sites

Use Sites to directly allow or block individual website domains without creating a reusable Site List.

Enter the applicable domain values and configure them as an Allow List or Block List.

Site List

Use Site Lists to apply a reusable group of website domains.

Site Lists are created and managed under Inventory > Site Lists and can then be applied as an Allow List or Block List within Targeting.

See the Site Lists documentation for setup details.

App Bundle

Use App Bundle to allow or block inventory based on the App Bundle identifier provided in the bid request.

Because the same App may use different identifiers across devices or operating systems, confirm that the targeted App Bundle values align with the applicable inventory.

App Name

Use App Name to allow or block inventory based on the App Name provided in the bid request.

App naming can vary by publisher or inventory source, so review available inventory or reporting data before applying restrictive App Name targeting.

App List

App Lists can be used to allow or block specific Apps using App Bundle IDs.

Create and manage reusable App Lists under Inventory > App Lists, then apply the applicable list at the Campaign or Line level.

See the App Lists documentation for setup details.

Curation — Line Level Only

Curation is available under Inventory at the Line level only and is not available in Campaign Targeting.

Curation allows supported Line targeting criteria to be used to create a curated Deal through an external curation partner.

Because the curated Deal is based on the Line configuration, make sure the Line’s inventory, geographic, Audience, and other applicable targeting criteria are aligned.

CTV Content Targeting

For CTV inventory, Pontiac supports Allow List and Block List targeting using content and publisher metadata provided in the bid request.

Available fields include:

• Publisher
• Network
• Channel
• Series
• Title
• Genre
• Multi Field

Multi Field: Multi Field can be used when the same value may appear across different supported content fields. For example, a media brand may sometimes be provided as Publisher, Network, or Channel. Multi Field allows the value to be targeted without requiring the user to know which supported field will contain it for every request.

Matching Content Values: Values entered in individual content targeting fields must match the corresponding value provided in the bid request, excluding capitalization. Differences in spaces, underscores, naming conventions, or the field used by a publisher may prevent an Allow List value from matching an Impression. Because content metadata can vary by publisher, SSP, and inventory source, use Pontiac’s inventory research tools and reporting data to review the values available before applying restrictive content targeting.

Location & Device Targeting controls geographic eligibility and the device environment associated with an Impression.

Geo

Use Geo to target or exclude geographic areas using:

• Country
• Region/State
• DMA

Geo targeting supports Allow Lists and Block Lists.

When multiple geographic targeting types are applied, an Impression must satisfy each applicable condition.

For example, targeting Alabama as the only Region while also targeting the Detroit DMA would create conflicting requirements and result in no eligible Impressions.

Zip Codes

Use Zip Codes to allow or block specific ZIP or postal codes.

To configure direct ZIP Code targeting:

1. Select the applicable Country.
2. Enter the desired ZIP or postal codes.
3. Select Validate Zips to confirm the values are formatted correctly.
4. Configure the ZIP Codes as an Allow List or Block List.
5. Save the Targeting configuration.

Important: ZIP Code targeting can be applied in multiple places. Ensure all ZIP Code-based targeting is aligned across the Campaign, Line, Audiences, ART Audiences, and curated Deals to avoid conflicting restrictions or unintended delivery limitations.

Device Types

Use Device Types to restrict delivery based on the device associated with the Impression.

Available Device Types include:

• Computer/Desktop
• Connected TV
• Mobile Phone
• Tablet
• Connected Device
• Set Top Box

If no Device Types are selected, the Campaign or Line is not restricted by Device Type.

Browser

Use Browser to restrict delivery based on the browser identified in the bid request.

Select the applicable Browsers to include or exclude based on the desired strategy.

Operating Systems

Use Operating Systems to restrict delivery based on the operating system identified for the device.

Select the applicable Operating Systems based on the Campaign or Line strategy.

Content Targeting uses publisher and content metadata provided in the bid request to control where a Campaign or Line is eligible to serve.

Available fields include:

• Channel
• Content ID
• Genre
• Network
• Publisher
• Series
• Title
• Multi Field

Where supported, content fields can be configured using an Allow List or Block List.

Channel

Use Channel to target or exclude inventory based on the Channel value provided in the bid request.

Content ID

Use Content ID to target or exclude inventory based on the Content ID provided in the bid request.

Genre

Use Genre to target or exclude inventory based on the Genre metadata provided in the bid request.

Network

Use Network to target or exclude inventory based on the Network value provided in the bid request.

Publisher

Use Publisher to target or exclude inventory based on the Publisher value provided in the bid request.

Series

Use Series to target or exclude inventory based on the Series metadata provided in the bid request.

Title

Use Title to target or exclude inventory based on the Title metadata provided in the bid request.

Multi Field

Multi Field can be used when the same value may appear across different supported content fields.

For example, a media brand may sometimes be provided as Publisher, Network, or Channel. Multi Field allows the value to be targeted without requiring the user to know which supported field will contain it for every request.

Matching Content Values

Values entered in individual content targeting fields must align with the corresponding values provided in the bid request, excluding capitalization.

Differences in spaces, underscores, naming conventions, or the field used by a publisher may prevent an Allow List value from matching an Impression.

Because content metadata can vary by publisher, SSP, and inventory source, use Pontiac’s inventory research tools and reporting data to review available values before applying restrictive content targeting.

Livestream

Enable Livestream to restrict delivery to inventory identified as live-streamed rather than Video on Demand.

Live content can include sports, news, and other live events.

Because Livestream inventory availability varies by publisher and inventory source, review available inventory before applying this restriction.

OLV

Keep the OLV section you already wrote, with:

• Video Playback Type
  • Pre-Roll
  • Mid-Roll
  • Post-Roll
  • Outstream
• Video Player Size
  • Large
  • Medium
  • Small
• Video Playback Method
  • Autoplay with Sound On
  • Autoplay with Sound Off by Default
  • Click to Play
  • Mouse-Over

Custom Model

Use Custom Model to apply an available Custom Model to Campaign or Line targeting.

I would leave this concise for now until we document the exact selectable values/behavior in that UI.

Privacy

The Privacy section controls eligibility for inventory with specific privacy restrictions.

Available options include:

• Serve to COPPA
• Serve to DNT

When these settings apply, certain persistent identifiers or other restricted information may not be available for targeting, macros, or reporting.

Audience Targeting allows users to apply Custom, Third-Party, Contextual, ART, and other supported Audiences to a Campaign or Line.

Select Add New Group to create an Audience Group, then add the applicable Audiences. Multiple Audience Groups can be combined using Boolean logic.

See the Boolean Logic for more information.

A Campaign, or Insertion Order, organizes a group of Lines and strategies under a shared flight and budget. For example, a Pet Supply Advertiser may have separate Campaigns for dog food and cat food, with individual Lines under each Campaign used to divide budget across different inventory, geographic, audience, or other targeting strategies.

All Campaigns must contain at least one Line to deliver impressions. The Campaign can control shared settings and budgets for its Lines, but the Campaign itself does not execute bidding or spend.

Campaign-level targeting should be used for settings that apply universally across all Lines, while Line-level targeting should be used for strategy-specific execution. For example, a Campaign may broadly target the United States, while individual Lines target specific states, DMAs, ZIP codes, audiences, inventory types, or devices. If targeting settings conflict between levels, impressions may become ineligible and delivery may be limited.

Campaign Hierarchy

Campaigns are created under an Advertiser and serve as the parent structure for one or more Lines.

Seat
├── Audiences
└── Advertisers
    ├── Creatives
    ├── Pixels
    └── Campaigns
        └── Lines

Each Campaign belongs to a single Advertiser and contains one or more Lines, which control bidding and delivery. Campaign-level settings establish the overall configuration, while Lines define more specific inventory, targeting, bid, budget, and delivery strategies.

Creatives and Pixels are created and managed at the Advertiser level and can be associated with applicable Campaigns or Lines. Audiences are managed at the Seat level and can also be associated with Campaigns or Lines for targeting or anti-targeting.

Depending on the Campaign Setup, certain settings can be managed centrally at the Campaign level and inherited by its Lines, or managed independently at the Line level for greater control.

Best Practices

• Use Campaign-level targeting only for settings that should apply universally across all Lines.
• Use Line-level targeting for strategy-specific targeting and optimization.
• Apply targeting at one level whenever possible unless the intent is to intentionally narrow eligible inventory through intersection filtering.

Campaign Fields

• Name: Give your Campaign a name.
• Code: The code field is a space that can be used to associate an external ID to your campaigns. This code can be pulled in reporting and allows users to easily tie all campaigns to salesforce IDs, client IO numbers, billing codes etc.
• Active: Must be checked for the campaign to run. Leave unchecked to pause the campaign.
• Start Date: The date the campaign becomes eligible to begin delivering.
• End Date: The final date the campaign is eligible to deliver.
• Budget Type: Set the campaign budget as either a dollar amount or an impression goal.
• Budget: Enter the campaign’s total dollar amount or impression goal based on the selected budget type.
• Daily Budget Cap: This is an optional field to set a cap on total daily spend or impressions for the campaign.
  • If ‘Manage Budgets’ is checked and the pacing time zone is set at the campaign level, this time zone will be used to define the ‘day’ and apply the cap.
  • If ‘Manage Budgets’ is not applied to the campaign and pacing time zone is controlled by the lines, the seat time zone will be used here.
  • When the daily budget cap is reached for the campaign, all lines under the campaign will stop bidding regardless of line budget and pacing. It is not recommended to enable catchup pacing if a daily budget cap is set as this may cause erratic behavior.
• Manage Budgets: When selected, all lines under the campaign will be modified to match the campaign’s start date, end date, and budget type. Budgets must be allocated below using budget allocation weights.
  • If ‘Manage Budgets’ is selected on the campaign, the budget entered at the campaign level will be controlling. The associated line items will inherit the same flight dates as the campaign and Line budgets will be applied as a weight. Changes to the campaign budget or flight dates will automatically update the Line flight dates & budgets accordingly.
    • When budget allocation weights are updated, the system does not immediately rewrite line budgets on save. Instead, the update is queued and processed asynchronously. Budget allocation weights only apply to the remaining campaign budget, not the full campaign budget.
    • When weights are updated, the remaining impressions are redistributed across active lines only, using the allocation weights. New line budget = current lifetime delivered + (remaining campaign budget × allocation weight)
  • If ‘Manage Budgets’ is not applied to a campaign, each line can have a dollar amount or impression budget assigned. Keep in mind your line budgets will not have to equal the campaign budget, so be sure to check the ‘Flight Checks’ section to verify that you have not over or under allocated budget to your lines. Updates to campaign budget and dates will not change associated line settings.
  • Auto Pace: Available when Manage Budgets is enabled. Automatically keeps budgets fluid between Lines and optimizes delivery to pace toward the Campaign goal.
    • Set target allocations to divide the total campaign budget between each line item, then allow the system to optimize according to available impressions and real time delivery to pace towards the over-arching campaign goal.
• Enable Campaign Frequency: Apply frequency and recency caps across all lines under the campaign using the selected identifier.
• Manage Creatives: Associate creatives at the campaign level so they are targeted by all lines under the campaign. For more information about creatives, see here: Campaign Creatives
• Manage Dayparts: Control pacing and dayparting at the campaign level for all associated lines. For more information on setting pacing & dayparts, see here: Campaign Pacing & Daypartsrts
• Manage Pixels: Associate conversion pixels at the campaign level for attribution across all lines under the campaign. For more information about pixels, see here: Campaign Pixels
• Programmatic Guaranteed: Enable for campaigns using a Programmatic Guaranteed deal negotiated directly with a publisher at a fixed rate and committed impression volume. The campaign must target the associated PG deal. Targeting is controlled by the publisher, while the campaign budget and flight dates are used for monitoring only.
  • If you have a programmatic guaranteed deal created for a campaign, this will need to be set up in Pontiac with the ‘Programmatic Guaranteed’ check box applied at the campaign level. This will restrict the targeting and capabilities at both the campaign and line level to respect the parameters of the deal configured with the publisher. The budget and flight dates can be set on the campaign in Pontiac, but these fields are only used for monitoring pacing and campaign progress – they will not be respected by the bidder. Flight dates and budget should be configured on the deal by the publisher.
  • Documentation Links:
    • How to Import your PG deal: Import Deal
    • PG Campaign Setup Guide: Programmatic Guaranteed Setup Guide
• Enable Flights: Used to split the campaign into flight date ranges with separate budgets.
  • Campaign Flights allow users to set different budgets for specific date ranges within the overall Campaign’s date range. This enables more granular control of pacing, spend, and scheduling, helping teams optimize delivery throughout a Campaign’s lifecycle.
    • If ‘Manage Budgets’ is enabled, in the Flights tab > Lines expandable section, users can filter by a selected flight and change the Budget Allocation Weight and Budget Multiplier by Line for each Flight.
    • If ‘Manage Budgets’ is not enabled, in the Flights tab > Lines expandable section, users can filter by a selected flight and change the Flight Budget manually based on impression or spend and Budget Multiplier by Line for each Flight.
    • Rollover Budgets: For each Campaign Flight, Rollover Budgets is an option to move any remaining budget over to another flight. There are two different rollover types:
      • Even: The remaining budget will rollover evenly across the other flights. For example, if remaining impressions are 100 and there are three more flights in the Campaign, then 33 would be rolled over to each flight.
      • Next Flight: The remaining budget will rollover to the next flight. In our above example, 100 impressions would rollover to the next flight and 0 impressions would get rollover to the last two flights.
• Average Bid: The average of the bid values configured across all lines in the campaign. For lines using Basic Bid, the configured bid is included in the average. For lines using Bid at Floor or Advanced Bid Controls, the configured maximum bid is included. This value reflects campaign setup and may not match the actual bid submitted for each impression.
• Pacing Time Zone: Determines the time zone used to define the start and end of each day for campaign pacing.
  • For example, if end date is 1/31 and pacing time zone is EST, the campaign will stop delivering at 11:59:59 pm EST on that date.

Targeting on a Campaign

Campaign-level settings can be used to apply shared Pacing & Dayparts, Frequency & Recency, Targeting, Creatives, Audiences, and Pixels across all Lines in the Campaign.

Use Campaign-level targeting only when the setting should apply to every Line. For example, if all Lines should target the same ZIP codes, those ZIP codes can be configured once at the Campaign level rather than repeated on each Line.

Campaign and Line targeting are evaluated together. An impression must meet the applicable requirements at both levels to be eligible, so overlapping or conflicting targeting can further restrict available inventory and limit delivery.

The Campaign Setup Guides provide recommended configuration and targeting guidance for common media types, geographic strategies, and specialized Campaign workflows in Pontiac. Each guide outlines the Campaign and Line settings, inventory, targeting, Creatives, Audiences, and bidding considerations that are most relevant to that strategy.

If you are new to Pontiac or looking for an end-to-end walkthrough of the Campaign creation process, start with How to Launch Your First Campaign.

Important: Every Campaign must have at least one Line created under it in order to deliver impressions. The Campaign organizes and can control shared settings, but the Line is the object that executes bidding and delivery.

The guides below include setup recommendations for:

• Display
• Native
• CTV
• Audio
• Online Video (OLV)
• OTT
• National US Campaigns
• Canada Campaigns
• Programmatic Guaranteed (PG)
• Sensitive Categories
• Index and Microsoft Curation

Use the guide that most closely matches the Campaign’s media type or strategy. Requirements may vary based on inventory, Deals, publishers, targeting, and Campaign goals. Reach out through the Help Center if you have any further questions.

Display campaigns allow advertisers to serve Banner and HTML5 creatives across supported exchanges: Index Exchange, Microsoft, and Magnite (DV+). Follow the guides below to launch your display campaigns.

Index and Microsoft Display Campaign Setup Using Curate Deal Feature (recommended):

To run a Display Campaign on the Bidder, you can do so by automatically creating an Index Curated Deal, by enabling our Curated Deal (Beta) feature! This helps increase scale. First, start off by following these steps:

1. Upload Creative:
   • If you do not yet have an Advertiser created for this Campaign, first create the Advertiser. Then open the Advertiser and upload one or more of your Display Creatives.
   • The Creative will need to pass the Creative Audit which may take up to 24 hours.
2. Setup a Campaign and then your Line Item:
   • Under the Advertiser, create a Campaign and then Line Item following these recommendations:
   • Inventory Type: Web, Combined, or In App.
     • It is highly recommended to select Web or Combined for the best scale. In App banner inventory can be extremely limited.
   • Start Date
   • End Date
   • Budget Type: Select Spend or Impressions.
   • Bid Type:
     • Basic Bid: Enter the bid price. Default value is $5.11.
     • Advanced Bid Control: Select Advanced Bid Controls and input a Default Bid Price and Max Bid for each Deal associated to the Campaign and Lines. Note that only the intersection of Campaign and Line Deals will be shown. Associate Deals the Campaign and Line in the Targeting section at each level or either (one or the other) to set a custom bid for each selected Deal. When new Deals are added to the Line and a custom bid is not set, the bid price will default to the value set in the Default Bid Price field on the Line.
     • Bid at Floor: Bid at the deal’s floor automatically. This is very helpful when the bid floors are dynamic and change.
       • Bid at Floor Plus: When the Bid at Floor is selected, next to the Max Bid Price (the bid price ceiling) there is an option to add an additional fixed CPM or % to the floor price. This enables you to bid at the floor price plus some extra, so you are not directly competing with those bidding at the floor.
   • Bid Price: In general, we recommend using the price floors for guidance and adding an additional 40-50% to start the bidding. If you are not achieving the desired scale, continue to increase bids.
   • Budget Multiplier: This feature allows the user to specify a multiplier on the daily budget. For example, a 1.1 multiplier will allow the Campaign to adjust the daily budget up to 110% of it’s typical daily budget. The calculation is Budget Multiplier * Daily Budget = New Daily Spend.
   • Enable Foot Traffic Reporting: Optionally, enable Foot Traffic Reporting which allows you to enter specific commercial addresses and track whether users that were served your ads visited those locations. This is available for Banners at a $1.50 CPM, add this additional cost to your bid CPM.
   • Budget Allocation Weight: If Manage Budgets is enabled on the Campaign level, establish the budget allocation weight for each Line that sits underneath the Campaign. If three lines have a weight of 1, the budget will be evenly distributed across all lines to be a 1/3 = 33.33% budget allocation per Line.
3. Targeting and Audiences
   • You must use the Curation tab to curate a display specific deal in order for the curation to work.
   • Index and/or Microsoft must be targeted exchanges.
   • See below for visual reference.
4. Creatives
   • Associate your Display/Banner Creatives. Note that Index and Microsoft must approve creatives in addition to Pontiac Bidder approval, which can take up to an additional 48 hours. Please reach out to the Ticketing Center to expedite the process for a specific Campaign if needed.

This feature enables automatic deal creation in Index and Microsoft Exchange based on a line’s targeting and can be used to run Display Campaigns only. When activated, Pontiac builds a curated marketplace deal in Index that mirrors the line’s targeting parameters and associates it directly with that line automatically.

How to Use the Curation feature:

• In the Targeting dialog box of the Line, a new tab “Curation” is displayed on the left hand side of the window. Here, the section includes the following text and checkbox to enable the curation:
• This will automatically build a curated deal for you in an external platform which meets your targeting criteria. This usually increases scale.
• Requirements:
  • Exchange targeting includes Index and/or Microsoft
  • All creatives associated to the line must be of one media type: display or video
  • Geo targeting must be more granular than Regions or an audience must be attached that pushed to a curation platform.
  • Checkboxes:
    • Use Index Curated Deal: This generates a curated deal through Index.
      • Optional Feature: Use Target CTR
        • When checked, this will attempt to filter inventory to a specific CTR goal and could limit delivery. This will not work with CTV or audio campaigns.
      • Target CTR: Select from the following options:
        • Higher than 0%
        • .01% or Higher
        • .02% or Higher
        • .05% or Higher
        • .075% or Higher
        • .1% or Higher
        • .15% or Higher
        • .2% or Higher
        • .5% or Higher
        • 1% or Higher
      • Note: Higher CTR goals will restrict delivery.
    • Use Microsoft Curated Deal: This generates a curated deal through Microsoft.
• Note that if validation criteria are not met, the line will fail to save and the user will be redirected back to the line setup page.

Index Display Campaign Setup for the Open Exchange:

To run a Display Campaign on Index, follow the same Display campaign instructions as above. Target Index as the exchange, but do not check the Curation feature. Note that Index must approve creatives in addition to Pontiac Bidder approval, which can take up to 48 hours. Reach out to the Help Center to expediate the approval process.

Microsoft Display Campaign Setup for the Open Exchange:

To run a Display Campaign on Microsoft Inventory, you can also do so by selecting Microsoft as the desired exchange. Display can be run on Microsoft open or through Microsoft curated deals. Reach out to your account manager or the help center for more information on how to push curated deals to Pontiac. Note that Microsoft must approve creatives in addition to Pontiac Bidder approval. To check if your creatives have been approved for Microsoft, click your creative name and under the audit checkbox, there will be text that indicates Microsoft approval.

Magnite (DV+) Display Campaign Setup for the Open Exchange:

To run a Display Campaign on Magnite (DV+), follow the same Display campaign instructions as above. Target Magnite (DV+) as the exchange but do not check the Curation feature. Note that Magnite (DV+) must approve creatives in addition to Pontiac Bidder approval, which can take up to 48 hours.

Native campaigns allow advertisers to serve Native format A creatives across supported exchanges: Index Exchange and Microsoft. Follow the guides below to launch your Native campaigns.

To run a Native Campaign on the Bidder, you can do so by following these steps:

1. Upload Creative:
   • If you do not yet have an Advertiser created for this Campaign, first create the Advertiser. Then open the Advertiser and upload one or more of your Native Creatives.
   • The Creative will need to pass the Creative Audit which may take up to 24 hours.
2. Setup a Campaign. If you add any targeting or audiences to this level, ensure that aligns with Native media types.
3. Setup your Line Item:
   • Under the Advertiser, create a Campaign and then Line Item following these recommendations:
   • Inventory Type: In App, Web, or Combined
     • Combined inventory for maximum scale
     • In App for mobile-native strategies
     • Web only when specifically required
   • Start Date
   • End Date
   • Budget Type: Select Spend or Impressions.
   • Bid Type:
     • Basic Bid: Enter the bid price. Default value is $5.11.
     • Advanced Bid Control: Select Advanced Bid Controls and input a Default Bid Price and Max Bid for each Deal associated to the Campaign and Lines. Note that only the intersection of Campaign and Line Deals will be shown. Associate Deals the Campaign and Line in the Targeting section at each level or either (one or the other) to set a custom bid for each selected Deal. When new Deals are added to the Line and a custom bid is not set, the bid price will default to the value set in the Default Bid Price field on the Line.
     • Bid at Floor: Bid at the deal’s floor automatically. This is very helpful when the bid floors are dynamic and change.
       • Bid at Floor Plus: When the Bid at Floor is selected, next to the Max Bid Price (the bid price ceiling) there is an option to add an additional fixed CPM or % to the floor price. This enables you to bid at the floor price plus some extra, so you are not directly competing with those bidding at the floor.
   • Bid Price: In general, we recommend using the price floors for guidance and adding an additional 40-50% to start the bidding. If you are not achieving the desired scale, continue to increase bids.
   • Budget Multiplier: This feature allows the user to specify a multiplier on the daily budget. For example, a 1.1 multiplier will allow the Campaign to adjust the daily budget up to 110% of it’s typical daily budget. The calculation is Budget Multiplier * Daily Budget = New Daily Spend.
   • Enable Foot Traffic Reporting: Optionally, enable Foot Traffic Reporting which allows you to enter specific commercial addresses and track whether users that were served your ads visited those locations. This is available for Banners at a $1.50 CPM, add this additional cost to your bid CPM.
   • Budget Allocation Weight: If Manage Budgets is enabled on the Campaign level, establish the budget allocation weight for each Line that sits underneath the Campaign. If three lines have a weight of 1, the budget will be evenly distributed across all lines to be a 1/3 = 33.33% budget allocation per Line.
4. Targeting and Audiences
   • Target Deals that have Native Creative Type inventory

5. Creatives

• Associate your Native Creatives. Note that Index and Microsoft must approve creatives in addition to Pontiac Bidder approval.

Overview

CTV is a specific subset of OTT, defined as content streamed only on televisions that are connected to the internet via Smart TV apps, Game Consoles, and Set Top Boxes.

The following is an overview of the best practices for setting up a successful CTV campaign on the Pontiac platform:

1. Run through Deals as opposed to the Open Exchange, as this will allow for premium, fraud free placements.
   • Deal access can be requested in the ‘Inventory’ tab, then associated to the Line under ‘Targeting’. Select Deals with ‘Inventory Types’ that are ‘CTV’ or ‘OTT/CTV’.
2. Note that although Frequency Capping is available for CTV Lines, it is often inaccurate and will severely limit scale as many CTV publishers do not consistently pass device IDs and user IDs across platforms.
3. Target ‘Instream’ Inventory by selecting ‘PreRoll’, ‘MidRoll’ and ‘PostRoll’ video playback types.

CTV Setup Using Deals

1. Select from our Deals or Create or Select a Deal List:
   • The first step in setting up a successful CTV campaign is to select the PMPs or ‘Deals’ that the Line will target. Read more on Deal Inventory here: Open Exchange vs. Deal Inventory
   • For CTV Campaign and Lines, select Deals with the Inventory Type ‘CTV’ or ‘OTT/CTV’. As a best practice we recommend selecting and targeting every Deal that fits your campaign’s needs. There is no limit to the number of Deals that can be associated to the Campaign and Line and due to the premium nature of this inventory the auctions can be very competitive. Selecting many Deals will increase the ability of the Campaign and Line to scale. Additionally, for content that most closely mimics a linear TV experience, we recommend focusing on Deals with the formats ‘Live’ and ‘Long Form’ as this will display your ad either during live shows or full episodes. You can also select from pre-set ‘CTV’, ‘Long Form CTV’ and ‘CTV – Full Episode’ Deals lists or create your own custom Deal List that can easily be added to multiple Campaigns and Lines. In the ‘Inventory’ tab, request access to the Deals you would like to use. Deal access will be approved in 1-2 business days and from there the Deals can be associated with a Campaign or Line Item for targeting.
   • If you would like to upload your own Negotiated Deal, reach out through the Help Center to get the deal available on your seat. Once available, you can target your own Negotiated Deal as well.
2. Upload Creative:
   • If you do not yet have an Advertiser created for this Campaign, first create the Advertiser. Then open the Advertiser and upload one or more Creatives that meet the OTT/CTV Specs, see here: Creative Specs
   • The Creative will need to pass the Creative Audit which may take up to 24 hours.
3. Setup a Line Item:
   • Under the Advertiser, create a Campaign and then Line Item following these recommendations:
   • Inventory Type: In App
   • Start Date
   • End Date
   • Budget Type: Select Spend or Impressions.
   • Bid Type:
     • Advanced Bid Control: Select Advanced Bid Controls and input a Default Bid Price and Max Bid for each Deal associated to the Campaign and Lines. Note that only the intersection of Campaign and Line Deals will be shown. Associate Deals the Campaign and Line in the Targeting section at each level or either (one or the other) to set a custom bid for each selected Deal. When new Deals are added to the Line and a custom bid is not set, the bid price will default to the value set in the Default Bid Price field on the Line.
     • Bid at Floor: Bid at the deal’s floor automatically. This is very helpful when the bid floors are dynamic and change.
       • Bid at Floor Plus: When the Bid at Floor is selected, next to the Max Bid Price (the bid price ceiling) there is an option to add an additional fixed CPM or % to the floor price. This enables you to bid at the floor price plus some extra, so you are not directly competing with those bidding at the floor.
   • Bid Strategy: The PMPs are real-time bidding environments with a specified price floor as defined by the publisher. This is the minimum CPM bid required to enter the auction. These auctions can be very competitive and typically, PMPs will clear somewhere between 40-80% higher than the Deal Price Floor. Closing CPMs are on average in the $30-60 range, with the most premium inventory running between $60-100 CPMs. Closing CPMs will vary greatly according to the caliber of publishers and inventory selected, where the PMP falls in the publisher waterfall, the level of competition, the format (Live, Short Form etc), the time of year and more. In general, we recommend using the price floors for guidance and adding an additional 40-50% to start the bidding. If you are not achieving the desired scale, continue to increase bids.
   • Budget Multiplier: Default value is 1. This feature allows the user to specify a multiplier on the daily budget. For example, a 1.1 multiplier will allow the Campaign to adjust the daily budget up to 110% of it’s typical daily budget. The calculation is Budget Multiplier * Daily Budget = New Daily Spend.
   • Enable Foot Traffic Reporting: Optionally, enable Foot Traffic Reporting which allows you to enter specific commercial addresses and track whether users that were served your ads visited those locations. This is available for CTV at a $4 CPM, add this additional cost to your bid CPM.
   • Budget Allocation Weight: Establish the budget allocation weight for each Line that sits underneath the Campaign.
   • Exchanges: Include the exchanges that are applicable to the deals being targeted and the exchanges that you want to purchase inventory through: Microsoft, Index, Magnite, Freewheel
   • Deals: Select the CTV Deals that you would like to purchase inventory through, or in the ‘Deal List’ tab, add Pontiac Curated Deal Lists or your own Custom Deal List to associated all Deals within that list.
   • Geo Targeting: Zip Code, DMA, State, or Country
   • Device Types: Select ‘Connected TV’, ‘Connected Device’ and ‘Set Top Boxes’.
   • Creative: Associate a Creative that meets the OTT/CTV Specs.
   • Audience Targeting: Associate Segments from Custom or ART Audiences if desired.
   • Pixels: To track online conversions driven by a CTV Line, you can use an IP Conversion pixel. Read more here: IP Conversion Pixels

CTV Setup Using Open Exchange

1. Create an App List (Optional)
   • If you would like to run through the Open Exchange, it is highly recommended that you target an app list to specify the apps/channels where you would like the Line to run. For CTV, if you do not supply an app list, the Line will run may be able to run on TV apps that are not strictly for streaming TV content. For example, TV Weather apps.
   • To create a custom CTV app list, go to the ‘Inventory’ tab and enter the app domains you would like to target. For example, in the Custom App List box enter ‘com.slingtv.ctv.aetv.roku’ to target the Roku A&E app. You must then add the App List to the Line.
2. Upload Creative
   • If you do not yet have an Advertiser created for this campaign, first create the Advertiser. Then open the Advertiser and upload one or more Creatives that meet the OTT/CTV Specs, see here: Pontiac CTV & OTT Specs
   • The Creative will need to pass the Creative Audit which may take up to 24 hours.
3. Setup a Campaign and then your Line Item
   • Under the Advertiser, create a Campaign and then Line Item following these recommendations:
   • Inventory Type: In App
   • Frequency Caps: Frequency-capped CTV video campaigns can be more challenging to scale than desktop and mobile campaigns. For this reason, we recommend setting caps to 0.
   • Bid Strategy: Closing CPMs are typically in the $20-40 range. However, this will vary greatly according to the caliber of the publishers and inventory being targeted. We recommend starting with bids in this range, and if you are not achieving the desired scale, continue to increase bids.
   • Enable Foot Traffic Reporting: This is available for CTV at a $4 CPM, add this additional cost to your bid CPM.
   • Exchanges: Include the Exchanges through which you would like to purchase inventory. Under the ‘CTV/OTT’ Exchange category you will find the predominately CTV based Exchanges. It is recommended to select exchanges from this section.
   • Geo Targeting: Zip Code, DMA, State, or Country
   • App List: If you created an app list to target, associate this list to the Line as an ‘Allow’ list.
   • Device Types: Leave the Device Types set to ‘Connected TV’, ‘Connected Devices’ and ‘Set Top Boxes’.
   • OLV: Select Video Playback types ‘PreRoll’, ‘MidRoll’, and ‘PostRoll’, recommended to include all three. Do NOT select ‘Outstream’.
   • Video Size: Do not select a size.
   • Creative: Associate a Creative that meets the OTT/CTV Specs.
   • Audience Targeting: It is only recommended to use audiences from the providers TruAudience (Tru Optik), Lotame and Comscore. Associate the selected audience to the Advertiser, then to the Line Item under ‘Associate Segments’. Keep in mind that these audiences are intended for CTV, but they may still limit scale.
   • Pixels: To track online conversions driven by a CTV Line, you can use an IP Conversion pixel. Read more here: IP Conversion Pixels

Audio campaigns allow you to serve 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, or 90 second audio advertisements across a variety of audio
streaming services through Audio Deals. These include DAX, Magnite (DV+), Triton (iHeart Media), Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, and SoundCloud, plus additional publisher inventory as Pontiac’s current deal providers and run through Magnite (DV+), Triton, AdsWizz and Microsoft exchanges. Audio delivers a high engagement rate with CTRs between 0.7% -0.9% and over 1% when combined with remarketing. Audio ads are effective for creating brand awareness and driving traffic to sites.

Audio Setup

1. Select from Deals or Run Open on Magnite (DV+), Triton, AdsWizz and Microsoft:
   • The first step in setting up a successful Audio campaign is to select the PMPs or ‘Deals’ that the Line will target.
     • Select them individually or create your own Deal List and target them on your Line.
     • For Audio Campaigns and Lines, select Deals with the Media Type ‘Audio’. To look through all Audio deals, go to the Inventory tab > Deals > and search audio. As a best practice we recommend selecting and targeting every Deal that fits your campaign’s needs. There is no limit to the number of Deals that can be associated to the Campaign and Line. Selecting many Deals will increase the ability of the Campaign and Line to scale.
   • If you would like to upload your own Negotiated Deal, reach out through the Help Center to get the deal available on your seat. Once available, you can target your own Negotiated Deal as well.
   • Users can also audio on the open exchange on: Magnite (DV+), Triton, AdsWizz and Microsoft
2. Upload Creative:
   • If you do not yet have an Advertiser created for this Campaign, first create the Advertiser. Then open the Advertiser and upload one or more Creatives that meet the Audio Specs, see here: Creative Specs
   • The Creative will need to pass the Creative Audit which may take up to 24 hours.
3. Setup a Campaign:
   • The Campaign is used to organize a group of strategies for a set period of time under a single budget. All Campaigns must have at least 1 Line Item created underneath them, or they will not deliver impressions. The Campaign object can control the budget of associated Lines, but it does not execute the Campaign spend.
   • Targeting: The Targeting and Audience sections of the Campaign can be used as an additional filter for all Lines associated. It is recommended to use these sections, only if the targeting parameters apply to ALL Lines. For example, if all of your Lines are targeting the same Geos, these can be applied in the Campaign Targeting section instead of each individual Line. Note that an impression must meet ALL conditions for the targeting applied to both the Campaign and the Line to be eligible.
     • If using Deals, note that only the intersection of Campaign and Line Deals will be shown. Associate Deals to the Campaign and Line in the Targeting section at each level to set a custom bid for each selected Deal.
4. Setup a Line Item:
   • Under the Advertiser and Campaign, create your Line Item following these recommendations:
   • Inventory Type: Select In App, Web, or Combined
   • Start Date
   • End Date
   • Budget Type: Select Spend or Impressions.
   • Bid Type:
     • Advanced Bid Control: Select Advanced Bid Controls and input a Default Bid Price and Max Bid for each Deal associated to the Campaign and Lines. Note that only the intersection of Campaign and Line Deals will be shown. Associate Deals the Campaign and Line in the Targeting section at each level or either (one or the other) to set a custom bid for each selected Deal. When new Deals are added to the Line and a custom bid is not set, the bid price will default to the value set in the Default Bid Price field on the Line.
     • Bid at Floor: Bid at the deal’s floor automatically. This is very helpful when the bid floors are dynamic and change.
       • Bid at Floor Plus: When the Bid at Floor is selected, next to the Max Bid Price (the bid price ceiling) there is an option to add an additional fixed CPM or % to the floor price. This enables you to bid at the floor price plus some extra, so you are not directly competing with those bidding at the floor.
   • Bid Pricing:
     • Deals: Often in the $7 – $20 range, dependent on deal.
       • The PMPs are real-time bidding environments with a specified price floor as defined by the publisher. This is the minimum CPM bid required to enter the auction. If you are not achieving the desired scale, continue to increase bids.
     • Open Exchange: Set a minimum of $13.
   • Budget Multiplier: Default value is 1. This feature allows the user to specify a multiplier on the daily budget. For example, a 1.1 multiplier will allow the Campaign to adjust the daily budget up to 110% of it’s typical daily budget. The calculation is Budget Multiplier * Daily Budget = New Daily Spend.
   • Enable Foot Traffic Reporting (optional): Optionally, enable Foot Traffic Reporting which allows you to enter specific commercial addresses and track whether users that were served your ads visited those locations. This is available for Audio at a $4 CPM, add this additional cost to your bid CPM.
     • Select Foot traffic lookback period.
   • Budget Allocation Weight: Establish the budget allocation weight for each Line that sits underneath the Campaign.
     • If ‘Manage Budgets’ is selected on the campaign, the total budget will be the dollar amount or impression number entered at the campaign level. The budget for each individual line item can be set as a weight. The total campaign budget will be allocated across associated line items according to the weights applied to each Line.
       • If ‘Manage Budgets’ is selected and ‘Auto Pace’ is also applied, the overall campaign budget will remain fluid between the associated line items. Each line item budget will be set as a ‘target’ allocation, but real allocations and daily budgets will shift according to real line pacing and available impressions.
     • If ‘Manage Budgets’ is not applied to the campaign, then each line item can have a fixed budget set as an impression or dollar amount. The budget type will match the budget type that is set on the campaign. Each line will pace according to the individual budget entered on the line as opposed to the over-arching campaign goal.
   • Line Frequency: Not recommended due to frequency capping utilizing IP addresses and can severely limit spend.
   • Targeting Options: Users can either use allow lists or block lists.
     • Deals: Individually select the Audio Deals that you would like to purchase inventory through, or in the ‘Deal List’ tab, add your own Custom Deal List to associated all Deals within that list to the Line.
     • Exchanges: Magnite (DV+), Triton, AdsWizz and/or Microsoft:
     • Geo Targeting: Allow or Block Zip Code, DMA, State, or Country
     • Site or App List: Allow or Block list
     • Device Types: Select any or all ‘Personal Computer’, ‘Phone’, ‘Tablet’, ‘Connected Device’ depending on your strategy.
     • Privacy:
       • Serve to COPPA: If this box is checked inventory regulated “coppa” (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act)) will be purchased.
       • Serve to DNT: If this box is checked users who have elected not to be tracked will be served to.
   • Additional Granular Targeting Options:
     • Channel, Network, Publisher, Genre, Series, and Title Targeting: Look through Deal’s sample bids to see what targetable information gets passed to precisely target the content your audience is interested in and block the inventory that you are not interested in purchasing.
     • Multi Field: The multi-field option enables targeting across multiple fields simultaneously. If content matches any of the selected fields (genre, series, title, etc), ad will be shown to the viewer.
   • Creative: Associate the Creative that was uploaded under the Advertiser and meets the Audio Specs.
   • Audience Targeting: Apply Zip Code Targeting if desired. Run an Audience Research to identify your audience’s key characteristics and find lookalike zip codes that over index for your audiences key characteristics and target those zips.
   • Pixels: To track online conversions driven by an Audio Line, you can use an IP Conversion pixel. Read more here: Pixels

Video environment targeting can be found in the ‘OLV’ tab of the ‘Targeting’ section on both the Campaign and Line Item levels. Video campaigns are an effective strategy to create brand awareness and drive traffic to your site with high
CTRs.

Follow these steps to launch an Online Video (OLV) Campaigns:

1. Select Device Types: Phone, Tablet, Personal Computer
2. Select Exchanges: Microsoft, Index, Magnite (DV+), Freewheel
3. Select Video Playback Type: Recommend selecting PreRoll, but can select MidRoll, and Outsream depending on campaign goals as well.
4. Lastly, select some or all of the OLV Deals that match your targeting goals.

For more details, refer to the below walkthrough.

OLV Setup:

1. Select from our Deals or Create or Select a Deal List:
   • The first step in setting up a successful OLV campaign is to select the PMPs or ‘Deals’ that the Line will target.
   • Select them individually or create your own Deal List and target them on your Line.
   • For OLV Campaigns and Lines, select Deals with the Media Type ‘Online Video’. To look through all OLV deals, go to the Inventory tab > Deals > and search online video. As a best practice we recommend selecting and targeting every Deal that fits your campaign’s needs. There is no limit to the number of Deals that can be associated to the Campaign and Line. Selecting many Deals will increase the ability of the Campaign and Line to scale.
   • If you would like to upload your own Negotiated Deal, reach out through the Help Center to get the deal available on your seat. Once available, you can target your own Negotiated Deal as well.
2. Upload Creative:
   • If you do not yet have an Advertiser created for this Campaign, first create the Advertiser. Then open the Advertiser and upload one or more Creatives that meet the Video Specs, see here: Creative Specs
   • The Creative will need to pass the Creative Audit which may take up to 24 hours.
3. Setup a Campaign:
   • The Campaign is used to organize a group of strategies for a set period of time under a single budget. All Campaigns must have at least 1 Line Item created underneath them, or they will not deliver impressions. The Campaign object can control the budget of associated Lines, but it does not execute the Campaign spend.
   • Targeting: The Targeting and Audience sections of the Campaign can be used as an additional filter for all Lines associated. It is recommended to use these sections, only if the targeting parameters apply to ALL Lines. For example, if all of your Lines are targeting the same Geos, these can be applied in the Campaign Targeting section instead of each individual Line. Note that an impression must meet ALL conditions for the targeting applied to both the Campaign and the Line to be eligible.
     • If using Deals, note that only the intersection of Campaign and Line Deals will be shown. Associate Deals to the Campaign and Line in the Targeting section at each level to set a custom bid for each selected Deal.
4. Setup a Line Item:
   • Under the Advertiser and Campaign, create your Line Item following these recommendations:
   • Inventory Type: Select Combined
   • Start Date
   • End Date
   • Budget Type: Select Spend or Impressions.
   • Bid Type:
     • Deals: Select Advanced Bid Controls and input a Default Bid Price and Max Bid for each Deal associated to the Campaign and Lines. As mentioned above, only the intersection of Campaign and Line Deals will be shown. Associate Deals to the Campaign and Line in the Targeting section at each level to set a custom bid for each selected Deal. When new Deals are added to the Line and a custom bid is not set, the bid price will default to the value set in the Default Bid Price field on the Line.
     • Open Exchange: Basic Bid or Bid at Floor Price
   • Bid Pricing:
     • Deals: Bids vary for video inventory and deal, but we recommend a bid structure of at least an $6-$8 base bid.
       • The PMPs are real-time bidding environments with a specified price floor as defined by the publisher. This is the minimum CPM bid required to enter the auction. If you are not achieving the desired scale, continue to increase bids.
     • Open Exchange: We recommend a bid minimum of at least $6-$8.
   • Budget Multiplier (optional): This feature allows the user to specify a multiplier on the daily budget. For example, a 1.1 multiplier will allow the Campaign to adjust the daily budget up to 110% of it’s typical daily budget. The calculation is Budget Multiplier * Daily Budget = New Daily Spend.
   • Enable Foot Traffic Reporting (optional): Optionally, enable Foot Traffic Reporting which allows you to enter specific commercial addresses and track whether users that were served your ads visited those locations. This is available for Video at a $4 CPM, add this additional cost to your bid CPM.
     • Select Foot traffic lookback period.
   • Budget Allocation Weight: Establish the budget allocation weight for each Line that sits underneath the Campaign.
     • If ‘Manage Budgets’ is selected on the campaign, the total budget will be the dollar amount or impression number entered at the campaign level. The budget for each individual line item can be set as a weight. The total campaign budget will be allocated across associated line items according to the weights applied to each Line.
       • If ‘Manage Budgets’ is selected and ‘Auto Pace’ is also applied, the overall campaign budget will remain fluid between the associated line items. Each line item budget will be set as a ‘target’ allocation, but real allocations and daily budgets will shift according to real line pacing and available impressions.
     • If ‘Manage Budgets’ is not applied to the campaign, then each line item can have a fixed budget set as an impression or dollar amount. The budget type will match the budget type that is set on the campaign. Each line will pace according to the individual budget entered on the line as opposed to the over-arching campaign goal.
   • Line Frequency: Not recommended due to frequency capping utilizing IP addresses and can severely limit spend.
   • Targeting Options:
     • Deals: Individually select the Online Video (OLV) Deals that you would like to purchase inventory through, or in the ‘Deal List’ tab, add your own Custom Deal List to associated all Deals within that list to the Line.
     • Exchanges: Freewheel, Index, Magnite (DV +), Microsoft
     • Geo Targeting: Allow or Block Zip Code, DMA, State, or Country
     • OLV:
       • Video Playback Types: Recommend selecting PreRoll, but can select MidRoll, and Outsream depending on campaign goals as well.
       • Player Size: Select all Large, Medium, Small.
       • Playback Method: Select playback methods if desired.
     • Livestream:
       • Checking the livestream box will filter out any on-demand (VOD) inventory to target only impressions within content being live-streamed. Live content typically includes sports games, news, coverage of live events etc.
       • Not all publishers and streaming platforms contain live content, it is recommended to run an Inventory Availability report to verify if live content is available prior to applying this targeting.
     • Site or App List: Recommended if buying through the open exchange.
     • Device Types: Select any or all ‘Personal Computer’, ‘Phone’, ‘Tablet’ depending on your strategy.
     • Privacy:
       • Serve to COPPA: If this box is checked inventory regulated “coppa” (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act)) will be purchased.
       • Serve to DNT: If this box is checked users who have elected not to be tracked will be served to.
   • Additional Granular Targeting Options:
     • Channel, Network, Publisher, Genre, Series, and Title Targeting: Look through Deal’s sample bids to see what targetable information gets passed to precisely target the content your audience is interested in.
     • Multi Field: The multi-field option enables targeting across multiple fields simultaneously. If content matches any of the selected fields (genre, series, title, etc), ad will be shown to the viewer.
   • Creative: Associate the Creative that was uploaded under the Advertiser and meets the Video Specs.
   • Audience Targeting: Associate Segments from Custom, Contextual, or ART Audiences if desired but can limit the campaign’s ability to serve. Add audience segment associated CPMs to bidding.
   • Pixels: To track online conversions driven by an OLV Line, you can use an IP Conversion pixel. Read more here: Pixels

Once completed, your OLV campaign should be properly configured and ready to run.

OTT is defined here as TV content delivered via an internet connection that is streamed on Mobile, Desktop, and Tablets ONLY.

The following is an overview of the best practices for setting up a successful OTT campaign on the platform:

1. Run through Deals as opposed to the Open Exchange, as this will allow for premium, fraud free placements. Deal access can be requested in the ‘Inventory’ tab, then associated to the Line under ‘Targeting’. To ensure the Line only serves through selected Deals, DO NOT ASSOCIATE ANY EXCHANGES.
2. Do not add frequency caps. Although Frequency Capping is available for OTT lines, it is often inaccurate and will severely limit scale as many OTT publishers do not consistently pass device IDs and user IDs across platforms.
3. Target ‘Instream’ Inventory by selecting ‘PreRoll’, ‘MidRoll’ and ‘PostRoll’ video playback types. Choose according to your Campaign goals.
4. It is only recommended to use audiences from the providers TruAudience (Tru Optik), Lotame and Comscore. While these audiences are intended for OTT, they may still limit scale.

OTT Setup using Deals

1. Selecting Deals for an OTT Campaign
2. Upload Creative
   • If you do not yet have an Advertiser created for this campaign, first create the Advertiser. Then open the Advertiser and upload one or more Creatives that meet the OTT/CTV Specs, see here: Pontiac CTV & OTT Specs
   • The Creative will need to pass the Creative Audit which may take up to 24 hours.
3. Set up a Campaign
   • Under the Advertiser, create a Campaign configured depending on your strategy.
4. Set up a Line Item
   • Under the Advertiser and Campaign, create a Line Item following these recommendations:
   • Inventory Type: Combined
   • Frequency Caps: 
     • The best setting depends on your campaign goals and the types of devices you’re targeting.
     • However, for OTT campaigns, frequency capping is less reliable due to limited user/device identifiers.
     • Because this can limit scale and cause delivery issues, we recommend setting frequency caps to 0 (i.e., no cap) for OTT campaigns to allow for better pacing and reach.
   • Bid Strategy: The PMPs are real-time bidding environments with a specified price floor as defined by the publisher. This is the minimum CPM bid required to enter the auction. These auctions can be very competitive and typically PMPs will clear somewhere between 40-80% higher than the Deal Price Floor. Closing CPMs are on average in the $20-40 range. However, this will vary greatly according to the caliber of publishers and inventory selected, where the PMP falls in the publisher waterfall, the level of competition, the format (Live, Short Form etc), the time of year and more. In general, we recommend using the price floors for guidance and adding an additional 40-50% to start the bidding. If you are not achieving the desired scale, continue to increase bids.
   • Foot Traffic Attribution: This is available for OTT at a $4 CPM, add this additional cost to your bid CPM.
   • Exchanges: Remove ALL Exchanges
   • Deals: Select Deals with the ‘OTT’ or ‘OTT/CTV’ Inventory type that meet your needs.
   • Geo Targeting: Zip Code, DMA, State, or Country
   • Device Types: Select ‘Mobile Phones’, ‘Tablets’, ‘Desktops & Laptops’
   • Video Playback: Select from ‘PreRoll’, ‘MidRoll’,and ‘PostRoll’, recommended to include all three. Do NOT select ‘Outstream’.
   • Video Size: Do not select a size.
   • Creative: Associate a Creative that meets the OTT/CTV Specs.
   • Audience Targeting: It is only recommended to use audiences from the providers TruAudience (Tru Optik), Lotame and Comscore. These can be found by filtering by ‘Provider’ in the Audience tab. Associate the selected audience to the Advertiser, then to the Line Item under ‘Associate Segments’. Keep in mind that these audiences are intended for OTT, but they may still limit scale.
   • Pixel: To track online conversions driven by an OTT Line, you can associate an IP Conversion pixel to the Campaign or Line. Read more here: Pixels

OTT Setup Using Open Exchange

1. Create an App List (Optional)
   • If you would like to run through the Open Exchange, it is highly recommended that you target an App List to specify the apps/channels where you would like the Line to run. For OTT, if you do not supply an app list, the Line will run on ANY mobile/desktop application and will not be restricted to streaming TV content. For example, Mobile Games, Weather apps, News apps etc.
   • To create a custom OTT app list, go to the ‘Inventory’ tab and enter the app domains you would like to target. For example, in the Custom App List box enter ‘571711580’ to target the Apple A&E app. You must then add the App List to the Line.
2. Upload Creative
   • If you do not yet have an Advertiser created for this campaign, first create the Advertiser. Then open the Advertiser and upload one or more Creatives that meet the OTT/CTV Specs, see here: Creative Specs
   • The Creative will need to pass the Creative Audit which may take up to 24 hours.
3. Set up Line Item
   • Under the Advertiser, create a Line Item following these recommendations:
   • Inventory Type: OTT
   • Frequency Caps: Because device IDs and user IDs are not always available, frequency-capped CTV video campaigns can be more challenging to scale than desktop and mobile campaigns. For this reason, we recommend setting caps to 0.
   • Bid Strategy: Closing CPMs are typically in the $15-25 range. However, this will vary greatly according to the caliber of the publishers and inventory being targeted. We recommend starting with bids in this range, and if you are not achieving the desired scale, continue to increase bids.
   • Foot Traffic Reporting: This is available for OTT at a $4 CPM, add this additional cost to your bid CPM.
   • Exchanges: Include the Exchanges through which you would like to purchase inventory.
   • App List: If you created an app list to target, associate this list to the Line as an ‘Allow’ list.
   • Geo Targeting: Zip Code, DMA, State, or Country
   • Device Types: Select ‘Mobile Phones’, ‘Tablets’, ‘Desktops & Laptops’
   • Video Playback: Select from ‘PreRoll’, ‘MidRoll’,and ‘PostRoll’, recommended to include all three. Do NOT select ‘Outstream’.
   • Video Size: Do not select a size.
   • Creative: Associate a Creative that meets the OTT/CTV Specs.
   • Audience Targeting: It is only recommended to use audiences from the providers TruAudience (Tru Optik), Lotame and Comscore. These can be found by filtering by ‘Provider’ in the Audience tab. Associate the selected audience to the Advertiser, then to the Line Item under ‘Associate Segments’. Keep in mind that these audiences are intended for OTT, but they may still limit scale.
   • Pixel: To track online conversions driven by a OTT Line, you can use an IP Conversion pixel. Read more here: Pixels

The following is a walkthrough for setting up a successful United States campaign on the Pontiac platform.

United States Setup

• Enter the Campaign setup fields as usual.
• Pacing Time Zone: Determines the time zone used to define the start and end of each day for campaign pacing.
  • For example, if the end date is 1/31 and the Pacing Time Zone is Eastern Time, the campaign will stop delivering at 11:59:59 pm Eastern Time on that date.
  • For national US campaigns using a single Pacing Time Zone, Central Time is recommended as a practical default, as it provides a more balanced alignment across Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific audiences.
  • The continental US spans four primary time zones: Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific, so a single Pacing Time Zone will not perfectly align pacing with local hours across the entire country.
  • If targeting the broader US, Alaska Time and Hawaii-Aleutian Time should also be considered.
  • For national US campaigns using Primetime pacing, consider using a Custom pacing curve that combines the Primetime curves for the targeted US time zones. This provides broader alignment with local Primetime hours across the country.
    • If Central Time is used as the campaign Pacing Time Zone, an 8pm local Primetime peak corresponds to:
      • Eastern Time (ET): 7pm CT
      • Central Time (CT): 8pm CT
      • Mountain Time (MT): 9pm CT
      • Pacific Time (PT): 10pm CT
    • Rather than producing one sharp Primetime peak, the combined Custom curve can create a broader evening window as Primetime moves across the country.
    • For the most precise local Primetime pacing, campaigns can instead be separated by time zone with corresponding geographic targeting and Pacing Time Zones.

United States Targeting

For US campaigns, users can target at the country, region, DMA, and ZIP code level.

If using a Deal/Deals:

• Deals can be identified in the Inventory tab, then associated with the Campaign or Line under Targeting.
• Filter the Country to USA. Ensure that the Media Type aligns with your Inventory and Device types.

Note that available Deal offerings may change over time.

Country Level

To target an open United States campaign, navigate to the default Geo targeting tab, search for United States as a country, click the green plus button, and save.

Region Level

To target at the regional level, change the top-left dropdown to filter for Regions, then search for United States in the search bar to view the available US regions. Click the green plus button next to the desired region to add it to targeting, then save. This will target the US ZIP codes associated with the selected region. Users can also exclude specific regions using the Block List option. When doing so, ensure that the targeting layers are aligned.

DMA Level

To target at the DMA level, change the top-left dropdown to filter for DMAs, then search for United States in the search bar to view the available US DMAs. Click the green plus button next to the desired DMA to add it to targeting, then save. This will target the US ZIP codes associated with the selected DMA. Users can also exclude specific DMAs using the Block List option. When doing so, ensure that the targeting layers are aligned.

ZIP Code Level

To target US ZIP codes, navigate to the Zip targeting tab. Select United States as the Country and input the desired ZIP code list.

US ZIP codes should be entered in the standard 5-digit format, for example 10001. Select Validate Zips to confirm proper formatting, then save to target the specified ZIP codes. Users can also exclude specific ZIP codes using the Block List option. When doing so, ensure that the targeting layers are aligned.

The following is a walkthrough for setting up a successful Canada campaign on the Pontiac platform:

Canada Setup

• Enter the Campaign setup fields usual normal
• Pacing Time Zone: Determines the time zone used to define the start and end of each day for campaign pacing.
  • For example, if end date is 1/31 and pacing time zone is EST, the campaign will stop delivering at 11:59:59 pm EST on that date.
  • For national Canadian campaigns using a single Pacing Time Zone, Eastern Time is recommended as a practical default, as a large share of the Canadian population is concentrated in the Eastern Time Zone.
  • Canada spans multiple time zones, including Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern, Atlantic, and Newfoundland, so a single Pacing Time Zone will not perfectly align pacing with local hours across the entire country.
  • For national Canadian campaigns using Primetime pacing, consider using a Custom pacing curve that combines the Primetime curves for the targeted Canadian time zones. This provides broader alignment with local Primetime hours across the country.

Canada Targeting

For Canada campaigns, users can target on the country, region, and zip code level.

If using a Deal/Deals:

• Deals can be identified in the ‘Inventory’ tab, then associated to the Campaign or Line under ‘Targeting’.
• Filter the Country to Canada. See the Deals Filtered for Canada screenshot below for reference. Ensure that the Media Type aligns with your Inventory and Device types.

Note that the above data is from February 4th, 2026 and current Deal offerings may differ.

Country Level

To target an open Canada campaign, in the defaulted Geo targeting tab, search for Canada as a country and click the green plus button and save.

Region Level

To target at the regional level, change the top left drop down to filter for Regions and then search for Canada in the search bar to view all available Canada regions. Click the green plus button by the desired region to add to targeting and then save. This will target all Canadian zip codes within the specified region.

Note that users are also able to exclude specific regions using the Block List option. When doing so ensure that the targeting layers are aligned.

Zip Code Level

To target Canada zips, navigate to the Zip targeting tab. Select Canada as the Country and input your zip code list. The accepted Canadian format is a 3-character alphanumeric Canadian postal codes, typically formatted as “A0K” (capitalized letter – number – capitalized letter). Ensure to press the validate zips button to check proper formatting. Save and the specified zip codes with be targeted.

Note that users are also able to exclude specific zip codes using the Block List option. When doing so ensure that the targeting layers are aligned.

Programmatic Guaranteed campaigns can only run Programmatic Guaranteed Deals, which is a direct deal that is created between a publisher and one advertiser with a fixed rate and guaranteed a specified volume of impressions. There is no auction and the advertiser is required to purchase all of the impressions coming through the deal id and all targeting must be applied on the supply-side (SSP).

Once a Programmatic Guaranteed deal has been created for a campaign, it must be imported into Pontiac before it can be targeted. See more information here for detailed instructions: Import Deal. Reach out to your Account Manager or through the Help Center if you have questions.

• Note: Importing the deal before it shows up in our database is best practice, as it will ensure that the campaign launches as promptly as possible.

Campaign Setup

When setting up a PG campaign, the ‘Programmatic Guaranteed’ check box applied at the campaign level in the setup must be checked. This will restrict the targeting and capabilities at both the campaign and line level to respect the parameters of the deal configured with the publisher. The budget and flight dates can be set on the campaign in Pontiac, but these fields are only used for monitoring pacing and campaign progress – they will not be respected by the bidder. Flight dates and budget should be configured on the deal by the publisher.

Note that Budget Type, Budget, and Flight Date fields on the campaign and associated line items are only available for monitoring and pacing purposes, they will not be respected since this is contractually agreed upon through the deal by the publisher.

Manage Creatives and Manage Pixels rename available if you’d like to associate these at the Campaign level so that you use the same creatives across the Lines. Otherwise, associate to the Line if creatives differ.

Line Setup

At the line level, the Budget Type, Budget, and Flight Date fields are only available for monitoring and pacing purposes and will not be respected since this is contractually agreed upon through the deal by the publisher.

One PG deal must be targeted on the Line level. When in the Targeting > Deals window, only PG deals will appear available.

If creatives and pixels were not associated on the Campaign level, associate them on the Line level and save.

Pontiac supports select sensitive advertising categories; however, creatives and campaigns containing sensitive content are subject to additional restrictions, approvals, and inventory limitations. Follow the setup recommendations below to ensure campaigns are configured correctly and eligible to serve.

Sensitive Creative Identification

1. Upload Creative(s)

Creatives that are flagged as Sensitive will display a green triangle in the Audit Status column.

• Hover over the symbol to review the sensitive category assigned to the creative.
• You can also view the category and sensitive attributes by opening the creative window.
• Sensitive attributes are displayed underneath the creative preview.
• Supported Sensitive Creatives
  • Political
  • Gambling
  • Religion
  • Pharma
  • Liquor
  • Beer & Wine
  • Cannabis
  • CBD
  • Tobacco
  • Firearms & Weapons
  • Lawyer Advertising

See more details on the following documentaiton: Sensitive Creatives

2. Deal Alignment

Sensitive creatives are only eligible to serve through deals that explicitly allow the associated sensitive category.

In the Deals section of the Inventory tab, there is a column called Permitted Sensitive Categories, which lists what sensitive categories are accepted for each deal.

3. Setup a Campaign and then your Line Item:

Under the Advertiser, create a Campaign and then Line Item following these recommendations:

• Inventory Type: In App, Web, or Combined, note that this must align with the Permitted Sensitive Category Deal’s Inventory Type, which can be found the in the Inventory > Deals section.
• Start Date
• End Date
• Budget Type: Select Spend or Impressions.
• Bid Type:
  • Basic Bid: Enter the bid price. Default value is $5.11. Depending on your media type this may need to increase or decrease.
  • Advanced Bid Control: Select Advanced Bid Controls and input a Default Bid Price and Max Bid for each Deal associated to the Campaign and Lines. Note that only the intersection of Campaign and Line Deals will be shown. Associate Deals the Campaign and Line in the Targeting section at each level or either (one or the other) to set a custom bid for each selected Deal. When new Deals are added to the Line and a custom bid is not set, the bid price will default to the value set in the Default Bid Price field on the Line.
  • Bid at Floor: Bid at the deal’s floor automatically. This is very helpful when the bid floors are dynamic and change.
    • Bid at Floor Plus: When the Bid at Floor is selected, next to the Max Bid Price (the bid price ceiling) there is an option to add an additional fixed CPM or % to the floor price. This enables you to bid at the floor price plus some extra, so you are not directly competing with those bidding at the floor.
• Bid Price: In general, we recommend using the price floors for guidance and adding an additional 40-50% to start the bidding. If you are not achieving the desired scale, continue to increase bids.
• Budget Multiplier: This feature allows the user to specify a multiplier on the daily budget. For example, a 1.1 multiplier will allow the Campaign to adjust the daily budget up to 110% of it’s typical daily budget. The calculation is Budget Multiplier * Daily Budget = New Daily Spend.
• Enable Foot Traffic Reporting: Optionally, enable Foot Traffic Reporting which allows you to enter specific commercial addresses and track whether users that were served your ads visited those locations. This is available for Banners at a $1.50 CPM, add this additional cost to your bid CPM.
• Budget Allocation Weight: If Manage Budgets is enabled on the Campaign level, establish the budget allocation weight for each Line that sits underneath the Campaign. If three lines have a weight of 1, the budget will be evenly distributed across all lines to be a 1/3 = 33.33% budget allocation per Line.
• Creatives
  • Associate your Sensitive Creatives to your Sensitive Categories Campaign or Line.

Index and Microsoft Display Campaign Setup Using Curate Deal Feature (recommended):

Users can automatically create an Index or Microsoft Curated Deal by enabling the Curated Deal feature. This feature automatically builds a curated deal for you in an external platform that matches your line’s targeting criteria, which can help increase scale.

1. Upload Creative:
   • If you do not yet have an Advertiser created for this Campaign, first create the Advertiser. Then open the Advertiser and upload your creatives.
     • Each line must use creatives from only one media type: Display or Video. Lines with both Display and Video creatives will not be eligible to use the Curation feature.
   • The Creative will need to pass the Creative Audit which may take up to 24 hours.
2. Setup a Campaign and then your Line Item:
   • Under the Advertiser, create a Campaign and then Line Item following these recommendations:
   • Inventory Type: In App, Web, or Combined.
     • Display: It is highly recommended to select Web or Combined for the best scale. In App banner inventory can be extremely limited.
     • Video: For CTV campaigns, select In App. For OLV campaigns, select Web or Combined. Combined is recommended when broader video scale is the priority.
   • Start Date
   • End Date
   • Budget Type: Select Spend or Impressions.
   • Bid Type:
     • Basic Bid: Enter the bid price. Default value is $5.11.
     • Advanced Bid Control: Select Advanced Bid Controls and input a Default Bid Price and Max Bid for each Deal associated to the Campaign and Lines. Note that only the intersection of Campaign and Line Deals will be shown. Associate Deals the Campaign and Line in the Targeting section at each level or either (one or the other) to set a custom bid for each selected Deal. When new Deals are added to the Line and a custom bid is not set, the bid price will default to the value set in the Default Bid Price field on the Line.
     • Bid at Floor: Bid at the deal’s floor automatically. This is very helpful when the bid floors are dynamic and change.
       • Bid at Floor Plus: When the Bid at Floor is selected, next to the Max Bid Price (the bid price ceiling) there is an option to add an additional fixed CPM or % to the floor price. This enables you to bid at the floor price plus some extra, so you are not directly competing with those bidding at the floor.
   • Bid Price: In general, we recommend using the price floors for guidance and adding an additional 40-50% to start the bidding. If you are not achieving the desired scale, continue to increase bids.
   • Budget Multiplier: This feature allows the user to specify a multiplier on the daily budget. For example, a 1.1 multiplier will allow the Campaign to adjust the daily budget up to 110% of it’s typical daily budget. The calculation is Budget Multiplier * Daily Budget = New Daily Spend.
   • Enable Foot Traffic Reporting: Optionally, enable Foot Traffic Reporting which allows you to enter specific commercial addresses and track whether users that were served your ads visited those locations. This is available for Banners at a $1.50 CPM, add this additional cost to your bid CPM.
   • Budget Allocation Weight: If Manage Budgets is enabled on the Campaign level, establish the budget allocation weight for each Line that sits underneath the Campaign. If three lines have a weight of 1, the budget will be evenly distributed across all lines to be a 1/3 = 33.33% budget allocation per Line.
3. Targeting and Audiences
   • You must use the Curation tab to curate a display specific deal in order for the curation to work.
   • Index and/or Microsoft must be targeted exchanges.
   • See below for visual reference.
4. Creatives
   • Associate your Creatives.
   • Each line must use creatives from only one media type: Display or Video. Lines with both Display and Video creatives will not be eligible to use the Curation feature.
   • Note that Index and Microsoft must approve creatives in addition to Pontiac Bidder approval, which can take up to an additional 48 hours. Please reach out to the Ticketing Center to expedite the process for a specific Campaign if needed.

This feature enables automatic deal creation in Index and Microsoft Exchange based on a line’s targeting and can be used to run Display Campaigns only. When activated, Pontiac builds a curated marketplace deal in Index that mirrors the line’s targeting parameters and associates it directly with that line automatically.

How to Use the Curation feature:

• In the Targeting dialog box of the Line, a new tab “Curation” is displayed on the left hand side of the window. Here, the section includes the following text and checkbox to enable the curation:
• This will automatically build a curated deal for you in an external platform which meets your targeting criteria. This usually increases scale.
• Requirements:
  • Exchange targeting includes Index and/or Microsoft
  • All creatives associated to the line must be of one media type: display or video
  • Geo targeting must be more granular than Regions or an audience must be attached that pushed to a curation platform.
  • Checkboxes:
    • Use Index Curated Deal: This generates a curated deal through Index.
      • Optional Feature: Use Target CTR
        • When checked, this will attempt to filter inventory to a specific CTR goal and could limit delivery. This will not work with CTV or audio campaigns.
      • Target CTR: Select from the following options:
        • Higher than 0%
        • .01% or Higher
        • .02% or Higher
        • .05% or Higher
        • .075% or Higher
        • .1% or Higher
        • .15% or Higher
        • .2% or Higher
        • .5% or Higher
        • 1% or Higher
      • Note: Higher CTR goals will restrict delivery.
    • Use Microsoft Curated Deal: This generates a curated deal through Microsoft.
• Note that if validation criteria are not met, the line will fail to save and the user will be redirected back to the line setup page.

Campaigns are created under an Advertiser and organize one or more Lines under shared Campaign settings. A Campaign must contain at least one Line to be eligible to deliver Impressions.

When creating a Campaign, first configure the core Campaign Setup, then apply any settings that should be shared across the Lines within the Campaign.

The general Campaign creation workflow is:

1. Navigate to the applicable Advertiser.
2. Select New Campaign.
3. Configure the Campaign Setup.
4. Configure any Campaign-level Targeting and Audiences that should apply to all Lines.
5. Configure optional Campaign-level features such as Creatives, Pixels, Pacing & Dayparts, Flights, and Frequency & Recency, when enabled.
6. Create at least one Line under the Campaign.
7. Review the Campaign and Line configuration and select Submit to save.

Important: Campaign-level settings should generally be used only when they should apply to every Line within the Campaign. Campaign and Line targeting are evaluated together, so overlapping or conflicting settings can restrict eligible inventory and limit delivery.

The Campaign Setup section defines the Campaign’s overall dates, budget, pacing configuration, and which settings will be controlled at the Campaign level.

Basic Campaign Settings

• Name: Enter a name used to identify the Campaign.
• Code: Optional field that can be used to associate an external identifier with the Campaign for reporting.
• Active: Determines whether the Campaign is Active or Inactive.
• Start Date: The date the Campaign becomes eligible to begin delivering.
• End Date: The final date the Campaign is eligible to deliver.
  • The Campaign Start Date and End Date define the overall Campaign flight. Individual Line dates must fall within the Campaign’s applicable date range.
• Budget Type: Select whether the Campaign budget is based on Spend or Impressions.
• Budget: Enter the Campaign’s total Spend or Impression budget based on the selected Budget Type.

Daily Budget Cap

Daily Budget Cap is an optional limit on the total amount of Spend or Impressions the Campaign can deliver within a pacing day. When the Daily Budget Cap is reached, all Lines under the Campaign stop bidding for the remainder of that day, regardless of their individual budgets or pacing.

The time zone used to define the day depends on the Campaign configuration:

• When Campaign-level pacing controls the Lines, the Campaign’s Pacing Time Zone is used.
• When pacing is controlled independently by the Lines, the Seat Time Zone is used.

Note: Catch-up ASAP is generally not recommended in combination with a restrictive Daily Budget Cap because Catch-up ASAP attempts to increase delivery when the Campaign is behind pace while the Daily Budget Cap limits how much can be delivered in a day.

Manage Budgets

Enable Manage Budgets when the Campaign should centrally control the Start Date, End Date, Budget Type, and budget allocation for its Lines.

When enabled:

• Lines align to the Campaign’s Start Date and End Date.
• Lines use the Campaign’s Budget Type.
• Line budgets are managed using Budget Allocation Weights rather than independent lifetime budgets.
• Changes to applicable Campaign budget and flight settings are reflected in the Line budget configuration.

Budget Allocation Weights determine how Campaign budget is distributed across Lines.

For example, for a $10,000 Campaign Budget:

• Line A Weight = 2
• Line B Weight = 1

The target allocation is:

• Line A: $10,000 × 2/3 = $6,666.67
• Line B: $10,000 × 1/3 = $3,333.33

If Manage Budgets is not enabled, Lines maintain their own individual budgets and flight settings. Line budgets do not need to equal the Campaign Budget, so Campaign and Line allocations should be reviewed to avoid over- or under-allocation.

Campaign Level Management Options

• Auto Pace: Available with Manage Budgets to allow Campaign budget to remain fluid between Lines and optimize delivery toward the overall Campaign goal. Budget Allocation Weights therefore act as target allocations while Auto Pace is enabled.
• Manage Creatives: Manage eligible Creatives at the Campaign level when the same Creative set should apply across the Campaign’s Lines. Use Associate Creatives to select eligible Creatives that have already been uploaded under the Advertiser. If different Lines should use different Creative sets, leave Creative management at the Line level instead.
  • See Campaign Creatives for setup instructions.
• Manage Dayparts: Manage Pacing & Dayparts at the Campaign level when the same settings should apply across the Campaign’s Lines. When enabled, the Pacing & Dayparts section becomes available and the Campaign level configuration applies across the associated Lines.
  • See Campaign Pacing & Dayparts for detailed configuration.
• Manage Pixels: Associate Pixels at the Campaign level when the same Pixel configuration should apply across the Campaign’s Lines. When enabled, the Pixels section becomes available and selected Pixels apply across the Campaign’s Lines. Pixels must first be created at the Advertiser level.
  • See Campaign Pixels for setup instructions.
• Enable Flights: Divide the Campaign into separate date ranges with individual Flight budgets and optional budget rollover.
  • See Campaign Flights for setup instructions.
• Enable Campaign Frequency: Apply Frequency & Recency controls across the Campaign’s Lines.
  • See Campaign Frequency & Recency for setup instructions.

Pacing Timezone

Select the Pacing Time Zone used to define the start and end of each Campaign pacing day. The Pacing Time Zone affects Campaign-level functionality that depends on daily boundaries, including pacing curves, Campaign flight dates, and applicable Daypart behavior.

For geographic-specific recommendations, see the applicable Campaign Setup Guide.

Programmatic Guaranteed

Enable Programmatic Guaranteed only for Campaigns using a Programmatic Guaranteed Deal. When enabled, Pontiac restricts Campaign and Line configuration to support the terms established through the publisher’s PG Deal. Targeting is controlled on the supply side, and Campaign Budget and flight dates in Pontiac are used for monitoring rather than controlling delivery.

See the Programmatic Guaranteed Setup Guide for the complete workflow.

Campaign-level Targeting applies shared targeting requirements across all Lines within the Campaign. Use Campaign-level Targeting when the selected criteria should apply to every Line.

For example, if all Lines within a Campaign should target the same geographic area, that geography can be configured once at the Campaign level rather than repeated on each Line.

Campaign and Line targeting are evaluated together. An Impression must satisfy the applicable targeting requirements at both levels to be eligible to serve.

Configure Campaign Targeting

1. Create a new Campaign or open an existing Campaign in Edit mode.
2. Navigate to the Targeting section.
3. Select Edit Targeting.
4. Configure the applicable targeting options.
5. Select Save in the Targeting window.
6. Continue configuring the Campaign or select Submit when finished.

Campaign Targeting is organized into the following sections:

• Inventory
  • Deals
  • Deal Lists
  • Exchanges
  • Sites
  • Site Lists
  • App Bundle
  • App Name
  • App Lists
• Location & Device
  • Geo
  • Zip Codes
  • Device Types
  • Browser
  • Operating Systems
• Content
  • Channel
  • Content ID
  • Genre
  • Network
  • Publisher
  • Series
  • Title
  • Multi Field
• Streaming & Video
  • Livestream
  • OLV
• Advanced
  • Custom Model
  • Privacy

See Targeting Methods for detailed instructions and definitions for each available targeting option.

Important: Campaign-level Targeting is combined with any Targeting configured on individual Lines. Review both levels to make sure the criteria are aligned. Conflicting or overly restrictive Campaign and Line targeting can reduce eligible inventory or prevent delivery.

Deals

• Public Deals: Pontiac provides pre-negotiated CTV, OTT, OLV and Audio Deals through a wide variety of publishers in all content categories, available directly in the platform. Click the dropdown to see the full list of available public deals.
• Negotiated Deals: Click the dropdown to see your Seat’s Negotiated Deals. Reach out to the Pontiac Help Center if the deal you are looking for does not appear here.

Exchanges

Select the exchanges that you wish to buy media through. These are inventory sources that your ad will run through (also known as Supply Side Platforms). You can select as many or as few exchanges as you would like.

For more information and best practices, see the following documentation: How to Setup CTV with Exchanges

Geo

• Country
• Regions
• DMAs

Select Countries, Regions, and DMAs for where your Campaign will target. Below are the key points to setting up Geo targeting:

• Block List vs Allow List: Geo targeting allows advertisers to control where their ads appear using two different approaches: Allow Lists and Block Lists.
  • Allow List: An allow list is a list of specific geographic locations where ads are allowed to be shown. If an advertiser only wants their Campaign to run in a particular set of locations (e.g., Countries, Regions, or DMAs), they would use an allow list.
  • Block List: A block list is a list of geographic locations where ads are not allowed to be shown. If an advertiser wants to target a broad region but exclude specific areas, they would use a block list.
• Country Selection: At least one Country must be selected to begin targeting. Once a country is chosen, you can further refine your targeting by adding secondary geographic layers such as Regions, Designated Marketing Areas (DMAs), or Cities. Note that Regions refer to states, provinces, or municipalities.
• Targeting Funnel: Geo targeting works like a funnel, where the most granular targeting condition must ALWAYS be met for an impression to be served. For instance, if you select a zip code in Miami, along with the Miami DMA and United States as the country, your campaign will only serve in that specific zip code since it’s the most granular level of targeting.

Each layer of Geo targeting must coincide with the previous layers. If there are conflicts, such as selecting the United States, a New York City DMA, and a Florida zip code, the Campaign will NOT be able to serve because the DMA and Zip Code are geographically inconsistent.

• Available DMAs: The following countries support DMAs for targeting.
  • Aland Islands
  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China (Diji Shi cities)
  • Finland
  • France (Departments)
  • Germany (German Nielsen Metro Codes)
  • Korea, Republic of (Si/Gun/Gu)
  • New Zealand
  • Norway
  • Russian Federation (Federal Districts)
  • United Kingdom (ITV Regions)
  • United States (DMAs)

Zip Codes

You can target specific zip codes in the United States or other countries through their regional postal code system. By targeting a set of zip codes, a client’s Campaign ads will only serve in the most relevant areas. These zip codes can be created in either the ‘Audiences’ tab through the Custom Audience Zips Type or in the Campaign or Line Item targeting menu.

To create a list of zip codes in the Line Item targeting menu, follow the below steps:

1. Select the Country: From the dropdown menu, choose the country you want to target.
2. Enter Zip Codes: Paste the zip codes you wish to target into the textbox, separated by commas.
3. Add a Country: To add a country to the dropdown menu, contact your Account Manager via email

Tip for Better Scale:

• Expand Zip Targets: If your zip code targeting isn’t scaling effectively, use the ‘Expand Zip Targets’ feature. In the Targeting menu, open the zip code tab, enter a radius in meters, and select ‘Get Zips’. This will find zip codes within this radius from the center point of the zip code’s entered. A window will open showing you the list of zip codes found within this radius. Select ‘Add Zips’ to add the new zip codes to the targeting on the Campaign or Line Item.

OLV

Video environment targeting can be found in the ‘OLV’ tab of the ‘Targeting’ section on both the Campaign and Line Item levels. Follow these steps to launch an Online Video (OLV) Campaign using curated Deals:

1. Select Device Types: Phone, Tablet, Personal Computer
2. Select Exchanges: Microsoft, Index, Magnite (DV+)
3. Select Video Playback Type: Pre-Roll
4. Lastly, select some or all of the OLV Deals that match your targeting goals.

Once completed, your OLV campaign should be properly configured and ready to run.

Playback Type:

• PreRoll: An instream placement where ad plays before streaming video content.
• MidRoll: An instream placement where ad plays during streaming video content.
• PostRoll: An instream placement where ad plays after streaming video content.
• Outstream: An outstream video is placed in non-video environments among other types of content, ie. web article or mobile game.

Player Size:

• Large: Minimum width of 640 pixels
• Medium: Minimum width of 320 pixels, maximum width of 639 pixels
• Small: Maximum width of 319 pixels

Video Playback Method:

• Autoplay with Sound On
• Autoplay with Sound Off by Default
• Click to Play
• Mouse-Over

Livestream

As noted in the figure above, checking the livestream box will filter out any on-demand (VOD) inventory to target only impressions within content being live-streamed. Live content typically includes sports games, news, coverage of live events, etc. Not all publishers and streaming platforms contain live content, so it is recommended to run an Inventory Availability report to verify if live content is available prior to applying this targeting feature.

Site Lists

If no site list is attached to your Campaign, domain targeting will be open by default.

• Create Custom Lists:
  • Navigate to the ‘Inventory’ tab.
  • Select ‘New Site List’ or ‘New App List’ or ‘New Deal List’.
  • Once a list is saved, it will automatically appear under the ‘Site Lists’ or ‘App Lists’ or ‘Deal Lists’ section in the ‘Targeting’ menu of the Campaign.
• Premade Lists:
  • Pontiac also provides premade site lists and app lists for various categories that you can choose from. See the full list and definitions:
    • Arts and Performance –  Sites of various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance.
    • Auto – Sites in the automotive industry or sites for people interested in auto.
    • Beauty and Fitness – Sites for inner and outer beauty and health.
    • Books and Literature – Sites for book/literature lovers.
    • Business and Industry – Sites for business minded people.
    • Finance – Sites for financial information, trends, and advice.
    • Food and Drink – Sites for foodies, recipes, and restaurants.
    • Gaming – Sites to play entertaining games on.
    • Health – Sites for fitness, general health, and health trends.
    • Hobbies and Interests – Sites for people who interested in popular extracurricular activities.
    • Home and Garden – Sites for home décor, home maintenance, and sites for outdoor gardening.
    • Internet and Telecom – Includes mostly tech sites and sites for people interested in tech, internet, and telcom.
    • Job and Education – Sites for people who are looking for new jobs or want to further their education.
    • Law and Government – Sites for legal advice or for government information.
    • News – Includes major national news sites.
    • Online Communities – Sites for communities whose members interact with each other primarily via the Internet. Members of the community usually share common interests.
    • People and Society – Includes world culture and pop culture sites.
    • Performance – High performing sites: Premium inventory and High CTRs.
    • Pets and Animals – Sites for pet lovers, pet information, animal lovers, and animal information.
    • Real Estate – Sites for rentals, house listings, and people interested in real estate/market.
    • Reference – Sites for people who are looking for further information. Some sample sites from this list are dictonary.com, usingenglish.com, and howstuffworks.com.
    • Science – Sites for scientists or people interested in science or doing scientific research/experiments.
    • Shopping – Sites for clothing stores, fashion, and fashion trends.
    • Sports – Sites on information on national sport games and sport news.
    • Travel – Sites for vacations and travel tips.
    • World Localities – Sites for local and world news.
• Allow List vs. Block List:
  • Allow List (Target): Use this to target specific sites or apps.
  • Block List (Anti-target): Use this to avoid specific sites or apps.
• How to Associate Lists:
  • Go to ‘Edit Targeting’ within your Campaign.
  • In the ‘Sites Lists’ or ‘App Lists’ or ‘Deal Lists’ tab, select the ‘Allow List’ or ‘Block List’ bubble, depending on your targeting needs.
  • Click the green plus sign next to the list you want to target or avoid.
  • The associated lists will appear on the right side of the screen.
  • Click ‘Save’ and the list targeting will be applied.

Note, when creating a new Site List you must paste each website on a new line. The URL should include the top-level domain, second-level domain, and subdomains if applicable. URLs should not include the scheme or subdirectories.

App Lists

Follow the directions under the above Site Lists to create and associate App Lists. When creating a new App List, please use the following format on new lines for each app.

• Line Format: App name, OS ID
• Line Example: com.king.candycrushsaga, 2

The following are the definitions of the default Pontiac App Lists:

• Auto – Apps for car shopping & reviews.
• Business & Finance – Apps for business news, finance news, stocks, trading, budgeting tools, currency converters, and crypto.
• Entertainment – Apps for literature, cinema review, pop culture, and celebrity news & trends.
• Fitness & Health – Apps for workout plans, fitness guides, meal planning, calorie counters, and step trackers.
• Food – Apps for food delivery, recipes, cookbooks, and nutrition.
• Games – Apps for trivia, word search, puzzles, poker & card games, chess, and sudoku.
• Lifestyle & Shopping – Apps for style, fashion, shopping, and home & garden.
• Music – Apps for radio, music downloaders, and instruments.
• News – Apps for national & local news.
• OTT/CTV – Apps for premium streaming TV for OTT and CTV.
• Premium – Apps for tier 1 publishers.
• Sports – Apps for sports news and scores & streaming.
• Tools & Reference – Apps for weather, calculators, dictionaries, translators, and maps.
• Travel – Apps for hotels, flights, and travel guides.

Deal Lists

Follow the directions under the above Site Lists to create and associate Deal Lists.

When creating a new Deal List, all available deals will be shown on the left hand side. To add them to your new Deal List, just click the green plus symbol. Press the red minus symbol to remove the deal.

When adding a Deal List to targeting, click the green symbol to add the Deal List and press the red minus symbol to remove the Deal List.

Device Types

Target based on the following Device Types:

• Personal Computer
• Connected TV (CTV)
• Phone:
• Tablet
• Connected Device
• Set Top Box

Channel

To Target specific Channels, enter each value on a separate line and follow the following formatting:

• Line Format: Channel
• Line Example: tlc

Note that you can Require Channel and create a Channel Allow List or Block List.

Network

To Target specific Networks, enter each value on a separate line and follow the following formatting:

• Line Format: Network
• Line Example: discovery

Note that you can Require Network and create a Network Allow List or Block List.

Publisher

To Target specific Publisher, enter each value on a separate line and follow the following formatting:

• Line Format: Publisher
• Line Example: roku

Note that you can Require Publisher and create a Publisher Allow List or Block List.

Genre

To Target specific Genres, enter each value on a separate line and follow the following formatting:

• Line Format: Genre
• Line Example:
  • sitcom
  • comedy
  • family

Note that you can Require Genre and create a Genre Allow List or Block List.

Series

To Target specific Series, enter each value on a separate line and follow the following formatting:

• Line Format: Series
• Line Example: 9e546169b8652754ea43f33d8618135e

Note that you can Require Series and create a Series Allow List or Block List.

Title

To Target specific Titles, enter each value on a separate line and follow the following formatting:

• Line Format: Title
• Line Example: epg

Note that you can Require Title and create a Title Allow List or Block List.

Multi Field

The Multi Field option enables targeting across multiple fields simultaneously. If content matches any of the selected fields (genre, series, title, etc.), the add will be shown to the viewer.

• Line Format: Content
• Line Example:
  • roku
  • sitcom
  • comedy
  • family
  • epg

Note that you can create a Multi Field Allow List or Block List.

Privacy

As noted in the image above, if either of the following options are selected, targeting by any persistent identifiers (e.g., cookies, IDFAs, Google ad IDs, fingerprints), precise geolocation, full IP addresses or full referrer URLs is prohibited. This data will be stripped from the bid request before filtering is applied. In addition, IP address or IFAs cannot be passed back to clients or passed on through pixel/creative macros.

• Serve to COPPA: If this box is checked inventory regulated “COPPA” ( Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) will be purchased.
• Serve to DNT: If this box is checked users who have elected not to be tracked will be served to.

Associate Audience Segments to the Campaign of your choosing through Custom Audiences, Contextual Audiences, or ART Audiences.

Custom Audiences

To create a Custom Audience, go to the ‘Audiences’ tab and select ‘New Custom Audience’. Give the Audience a name and select the type of Audience from the dropdown. Here is a list of Types available and the proper line formatting:

• IP Ranges
  • Line Format: [IP] or [Start IP],[End IP]
  • Line Example: 63.148.81.24 or 234.123.0.13,234.123.10.15
• Zips
  • Line Format: [Zip Code],[Country Code]
  • Line Example: 03102,US
  • Note that if the country code is omitted the US is used by default.
• IFA
  • Line Format: [Device IFA]
  • Line Example: 735612e1-d4b9-40ec-83da-9ea0d3c5ceb3
• Hashed IPs
  • Line Format: [IP Hash]
  • Line Example: 225f334d5db5e4c824d49cd7b03fc73ae21d1c715573a7c1a86abb7a11a80364
• Full URL
  • Line format: [Full URL]
  • Example: www.viki.com/videos/1153464v
  • Note that the URL should not include the scheme.

Enter the Audience data according to the indicated format. These Audiences will automatically be available to associate to any Campaign.

Important things to note:

• Each seat can have a maximum of 50 updatable custom audiences at a time.
• These audiences can also only be updated 50 times per day.
• Custom Audiences expire after 180 days. If a segment appears in gray and cannot be associated, it is either expired or cannot be used for the selected creative or inventory type.

To associate Custom Audience Segments to a Campaign:

1. Navigate to the ‘Audiences’ section.
2. Click the ‘Associate Segments’ button. The segment selection window will appear.
3. Open the ‘Custom Audiences’ dropdown.
4. Click ‘Add New Group’ on the right hand side and drag and drop the Custom Audience name to the right box.
5. Choose to include or exclude the segment.
6. Select which Boolean Logic to follow: Boolean Logic

Contextual Audiences

Contextual AI is an AI-based, custom targeting solution that performs deep content analysis to find the best contextual placements for your ads. The Contextual AI will use the URLs or Text entered in the Audience Input section to build a lookalike model and return a list of the most contextually relevant URLs for targeting.

To create a Custom Contextual Audience, go to the ‘Audiences’ tab and select ‘New Contextual Audience’. Give the Audience a name and select one of the Input Types:

• URLs: Enter source sites below that represent your brand’s target content, this should be the Full URL including the scheme, subdomains, and all subdirectories. Sites should be text rich and not behind a paywall. Enter each URL on a new line.
• Text: Enter a descriptive paragraph of text about the topic of interest to build a list of contextually relevant URLs for targeting. Text should have a minimum of 50 words and maximum of 500.

Associate a Contextual Audience Segment to your Campaign by following these steps:

1. Navigate to the ‘Audiences’ section.
2. Click the ‘Associate Segments‘ button. The segment selection window will appear.
3. Open the ‘Contextual Audience‘ dropdown to browse over 300 AI segments curated by Pontiac categorized by IAB standards.
   • Note, these IAB Category segments cannot be edited and they are already available for use across all of your Advertisers at a $0.25 CPM.
   • To set bids, we recommend adding the average cost of all associated segments to your desired bids for the media.
4. To add a Custom Contextual Audience Segment, scroll to the bottom, select ‘Custom‘, and find the segment name.
5. Click ‘Add New Group’ on the right hand side and drag and drop the Custom Contextual Audience name to the right box.
6. Choose to include or exclude the segment.
7. Select which Boolean Logic to follow: Boolean Logic

Note: Avoid layering this segment with additional inventory or audience targeting, as it may limit Campaign scale. For more information about Contextual AI, continue to the following documentation page: Contextual AI

ART Audiences

The first step to create an ART audience is to build out an ART report in the ‘ART’ section of the platform under ‘Audience Research’ or ‘Audience Discovery’. Create a lookalike model from an existing audience or build a new audience according to desired demographics or interests.

Build an ART Report:

To create an ART audience, first generate an ART report in the ‘ART’ section under Audience Research or Audience Discovery.

1. Audience Research Audiences:
   • Select an existing audience to source key demo & interest data to build custom lookalike models. The existing audience data can be pulled from a Pontiac IP Conversion Pixel placed on the Advertiser’s website, or select key geos to build a lookalike model from the demographics & interests of the selected area.
2. Audience Discovery Audiences:
   • Select key demo & interest categories to define, locate & build your brand’s ideal target audience. Create the ‘ideal’ user profile for your brand, then locate key target markets to reach this demographic.

Note that on the ART Report, the field ‘Auto Refresh’ will determine the cadence at which the report data will refresh. Interest & Inventory data are updated every 30 days and new data may change report results. If a report is set to auto refresh and the matched zip codes in the results of the report are updated, this will automatically update any published audiences associated to the report.

Publish the ART Audience

Once you’ve created an Audience Research or Audience Discovery report, you can publish it as a custom audience for cookieless targeting across Pontiac Campaigns.

1. Open the ART report and select the ‘Publish Audience’ button.
2. Select the threshold for matched zip codes, choosing from:
   • All results
   • Top 10%
   • Top 20%
   • Top 50%
3. Give the Audience a name.
4. Click the ‘Save’ button.

To add an ART audience to a Campaign:

1. Navigate to the ‘Audiences’ section and click ‘Associate Segments’.
2. On the window popup, select the ‘ART Audiences’ dropdown and find your Custom Audiences to target.
3. Click ‘Add New Group’ on the right hand side and drag and drop the ART Audience name to the right box.
4. Choose to include or exclude the segment.
5. Select which Boolean Logic to follow: Boolean Logic

To learn more, see the following documentation: ART Documentation

Continue to the following sections if enabled in the Campaign Setup: Creatives, Pacing & Dayparts, Pixels, Flights, and Frequency & Recency. If these sections are not enabled, proceed directly to setting up Line Items under your Campaign.

The Campaign Creatives section allows users to associate eligible Creatives that have already been uploaded to the Advertiser. Creatives are created and edited at the Advertiser level and cannot be uploaded or modified directly from the Campaign.

When Manage Creatives is enabled in the Campaign Setup, as shown above, Creatives associated with the Campaign are inherited by its Lines. This is useful when the same set of Creatives should be eligible across all Lines in the Campaign.

If Creative management is handled at the Line level, Creatives can instead be associated individually with each Line, allowing different Lines to use different Creative sets.

Associate a Creative to the Campaign

1. Select the desired Campaign.
2. Enter Edit mode.
3. In the Campaign Setup, enable Manage Creatives if it is not already selected.
4. Select Associate Creatives.

5. The table on the left displays all eligible Creatives uploaded under the Campaign’s Advertiser. Select the green (+) button next to a Creative to associate it with the Campaign. The Creative will move to the table on the right.
6. Close the Associate Creatives window.
7. Select Submit in the upper-right corner of the Edit screen to save the changes.

For information on uploading, editing, auditing, and managing Creatives, see the Creatives documentation.

On the Campaign Level, users can Associate Pixels. Note that Pixels must be created and edited on the Advertiser Level. For more information see the following documentation: Pixels

To Associate a Pixel to a Campaign:

1. Navigate to the ‘Pixel’ section of the Campaign.
2. Click ‘Associate Pixel’.
3. The above pop-up window will appear, allowing you to add pixels to the Campaign.
   • Click the green plus sign to add pixels to the Campaign.
   • Click the red minus sign to remove pixels from the Campaign.

If ‘Mange Dayparts’ is enabled on the Campaign Setup, you can configure the following settings:

• Daily Pacing Type:
  • Controls how the daily budget is distributed throughout each pacing day. Daily Pacing weights are evaluated using the campaign’s selected Pacing Time Zone: {campaign_pacing_timezone}.
  • Even: Spends the daily and lifetime budgets as evenly as possible.
  • ASAP: Spends the daily budget as quickly as possible while pacing the lifetime budget evenly.
  • Primetime: Uses a predefined hourly weighting curve to favor higher-weighted hours in the selected Pacing Time Zone.
  • Custom: Uses the configured hourly weighting curve in the selected Pacing Time Zone.
• Apply Curve to All Days: Available only when Primetime or Custom Daily Pacing is selected. The weights are evaluated using the campaign’s selected Pacing Time Zone: {campaign_pacing_timezone}. When enabled, the same hourly pacing weights are applied to all selected days. When disabled, custom pacing weights can be configured independently for each selected day and hour.
• Catch-up ASAP: Opt in or out to allow unspent budget to catch up quickly. This will override the daily budget and daily pacing type selected to spend as quickly as possible until the Campaign or Line reaches 100% pacing. Once the Campaign or Line has caught up on any underspent budget, it will return to the selected daily pacing model.
• Daypart in User Time Zone: When enabled, Dayparts determine impression eligibility using each user’s local day and hour.
  When disabled, Dayparts use the campaign’s selected Pacing Time Zone: {campaign_pacing_timezone}. This setting affects Daypart eligibility only. It does not shift Daily Pacing or its hourly weights into the user’s local time zone.

US National Campaign Best Practices:

• For national US campaigns using a single Pacing Time Zone, Central Time is recommended as a practical default, as it provides a more balanced alignment across Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific audiences.
• For national US campaigns using Primetime pacing, consider using a Custom pacing curve that combines the Primetime curves for the targeted US time zones. This provides broader alignment with local Primetime hours across the country.
  • If Central Time is used as the campaign Pacing Time Zone, take the standard Primetime curve for each targeted time zone, shift each curve so its peak represents 8pm local time, and combine the curves.
  • For the continental US, an 8pm local Primetime peak corresponds to the following hours in Central Time:
    • Eastern Time (ET): 7pm CT
    • Central Time (CT): 8pm CT
    • Mountain Time (MT): 9pm CT
    • Pacific Time (PT): 10pm CT
  • If targeting the broader US, Alaska Time and Hawaii-Aleutian Time can also be incorporated into the Custom curve.
  • Rather than producing a single sharp Primetime peak, the combined curve creates a broader evening window as Primetime moves across the country: low overnight → gradual increase throughout the day → stronger around 6pm CT → highest from approximately 7–10pm CT → taper later in the evening.

If the ‘Enable Flights’ feature is checked in the Campaign Setup, the Flights section will become available for the Campaign.

To add a Flight to a Campaign:

1. Click ‘Add Flight’.
2. Select a Start Date.
   • Note that must be on or after the Campaign’s Start Date.
3. Select an End Date.
   • Note that must be on or before the Campaign’s End Date.
4. The Budget Type is automatically inherited from the campaign’s settings.
5. Set the Flight Budget:
   • If the Budget Type is Spend, enter the dollar amount.
   • If the Budget Type is Impressions (Imps), enter the number of impressions.
6. Check Rollover Budgets to select a Rollover Budget Type:
   • Even: Distributes unused budget evenly across remaining flights.
   • Next Flight: Rolls unused budget into the next scheduled flight.

For more information about the Flights tab, see the Campaigns Flight Tab documentation.

If the ‘Enable Campaign Frequency’ feature is checked in the Campaign Setup, the Frequency & Recency section will become available for the Campaign.

In the Frequency & Recency section users can configure the following settings:

• Campaign Frequency: Sets a frequency cap for how often an ad is shown to the same individual user within a specified time frame.
• Time Frame Days: Choose the time frame for the frequency cap.
  • 1-14 days
• Campaign Recency: Sets the minimum allowable amount of time between ads shown to an individual user.
  • None
  • 1 minute
  • 5 minutes
  • 15 minutes
  • 30 minutes
  • 1 hour
  • 6 hours
• Cap By:
  • IP (default): Caps impressions at the household level based on a user’s IP address. Commonly used for CTV environments.
  • IFA: Caps impressions at the device level using an Identifier for Advertising (IFA). Typically used in app-based environments where cookies are not supported (e.g., mobile and CTV apps).
  • Cookies (EU only): Caps impressions at the browser level using cookies. Available in EU-supported web environments where cookie-based tracking is permitted.
  • IFA-Ip: It applies frequency and recency caps using the most reliable identifier available for each impression.
    • When an IFA is available, the cap is applied at the device level using the IFA.
      • This prevents the same device from receiving additional impressions even if its IP changes, such as when moving between Wi-Fi, cellular networks, or hotspots.
    • When an IFA is not available, the cap is applied using the IP address.
    • This helps maintain stronger device-level frequency control where possible while still applying a fallback cap to impressions that do not include an IFA.

For example:

• Campaign Frequency: 10
• Time Frame Days: 1
• Campaign Recency: 30 minutes
• Cap By: Ip

This means, for this Campaign, the ad will be shown up to 10 times per user within a 1-day window, with a minimum of 30 minutes between each ad shown to the same IP Address.

Create a New Line

At the Campaign Level, you can create a new Line either from scratch or by using a template. Refer to the respective documentation for detailed instructions on each method:

• Create a Line
• Create Line From Template

Edit a Line

At the Campaign Level, you can edit Lines by clicking the ‘Edit’ button in the Lines dropdown section, which enables edit mode for the Line section only. The following fields are editable:

• Active: The ‘Active’ box sets the Line as live. Unselect this box if you want to set the Line to an Inactive status.
• Start Date
• End Date
• Total Budget
• Bid Type: Basic Bid, Bid at Floor Price, Advanced Bid Controls
• Bid Price
• Budget Multiplier

To apply changes, press the ‘Submit’ button in the top right corner. If you do not want to save the edits, press ‘Cancel’ to revert the Line section to its previous settings.

Note that if you are in the Campaign Level’s Edit Mode, the editable fields differ from those available in the Campaign’s Read-Only Mode. Please refer to Edit a Campaign for more information.

To make further edits beyond these fields, enter the Line Level by clicking on the Line name you wish to modify. See the Edit a Line documentation for more information.

To Clone a Campaign, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Campaign page of the Campaign that you want to Clone.
2. Click the ‘Clone’ button located at the top right corner.
3. Enter a New Name for the cloned Campaign.
4. Adjust the Campaign settings as needed to match specific requirements. See the edit a campaign documentation for guidance: Edit a Campaign
5. Click ‘Submit’ to finalize and create the cloned Campaign.

Note that the cloned Campaign will exist under the same Advertiser as the base Campaign.

Setup Section

To edit an existing Campaign’s Setup section, follow these steps:

1. Go to the selected Advertiser where you want to edit the existing Campaign.
2. Navigate to the Campaigns dropdown section within the Advertiser’s dashboard.
3. Select the name of the Campaign that you would like to edit.
4. Press the ‘Edit’ button on the upper right corner of the page to enter Edit Mode.

In the Setup dropdown, the following fields are editable:

• Name: Rename the Campaign.
• Code: Optional and for reporting purposes.
• Active Status: The ‘Active’ box is automatically checked, but uncheck it if you want to create an Inactive Campaign.
• Start Date (if not started yet)
• End Date (if not ended yet)
• Budget Type: Spend or Impressions
• Budget: Set based on your selected Budget Type, enter the total budget for your Campaign.
• Set a Daily Budget Cap: This is an optional field. If ‘Managed Dayparts’ is checked and the pacing time zone is set at the Campaign level, this time zone will be used to define the ‘day’ and apply the cap. If the pacing time zone is controlled by the Lines, the seat time zone will be used. When the daily budget cap is reached, all Lines under the Campaign will stop bidding, regardless of Line budget and pacing. It’s not recommended to enable catch-up pacing if the daily budget cap is set, as this may cause erratic behavior.
• Manage Budgets:
  • Applying ‘Manage Budgets’ will update Line Items flight dates to align with Campaign Start Date, End Date, and Budget Type.
  • Line budgets will be converted from the lifetime dollar or impression amount to a weight according to the percentage of the total Campaign budget currently allocated to the line.
  • Uncheck if you do not want to modify the Lines’ budgets.
• Auto Pace: Select this option if you want the system to automatically pace your Campaign.
• Manage Creatives: Select this option to associate creatives with the Campaign.
• Manage Dayparts: This option allows you to manage pacing and dayparts at the Campaign level and will override pacing and dayparts that are set on any associated Line Items.
• Manage Pixels:
  • This allows you to associate pixels to the Campaign for tracking purposes.
  • For all Lines under the Campaign, any Pixels associated at the Line Level will be removed and replaced by Pixels selected on the Campaign Level.
• Enable Flights:
  • This option allows you to add flight dates for the Campaign. You can input a Start Date, End date, Budget, and define whether Rollover Budgets will be used.
  • If Rollover is selected, you can define the Rollover Type: either ‘even’ or ‘next flight’.
• Pacing Timezone: Select the desired seat time zone for pacing purposes.
• Enable Campaign Frequency: This option sets a frequency cap for your Campaign, determining how often an ad is shown to the same individual user within a specified time frame. You can set the recency, which controls the minimum amount of time between ads shown to the same user.

If you have finished editing, click the ‘Submit’ button in the top right corner of the page to save and apply all changes. If you do not want to apply the edits, press ‘Cancel’ to discard changes and revert the Campaign to its previous settings. To continue making edits, proceed to another section.

Targeting Section

To edit the Targeting section of a Campaign, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Targeting section within the Campaign.
2. Click ‘Edit Targeting’ to modify targeting settings.
3. Make the necessary changes to the targeting settings. Refer to the documentation page to review available targeting options: Campaign Targeting
4. Click ‘Save’ in the bottom right corner of the popup window to apply all changes. To discard changes and revert to the previous settings, click ‘Cancel’.
5. If you have finished editing, close the window and click the ‘Submit’ button in the top right corner of the page to save and apply all changes. If you do not want to apply the edits, press ‘Cancel’ to discard changes and revert the Campaign to its previous settings. To continue making edits, proceed to another section.

Audiences Section

To edit the Audience section of a Campaign, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Audience section within the Campaign.
2. Click ‘Associate Segments’ to add and/or remove Audience Segments associated to the Campaign.
3. Make the necessary changes to the Audience settings. Refer to the documentation page to review available Audience options: Campaign Audiences
4. If you have finished editing, close the window and click the ‘Submit’ button in the top right corner of the page to save and apply all changes. If you do not want to apply the edits, press ‘Cancel’ to discard changes and revert the Campaign to its previous settings. To continue making edits, proceed to another section.

Flights Section

If the ‘Enable Flights’ feature is checked in the Campaign Setup section and you want to edit the Flights section of the Campaign, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Campaign with the Flights that you want to edit.
2. Click the ‘Edit’ button to enter edit mode.
3. Refer to the documentation page to review available Flight options: Campaign Flights. The following fields are editable:
   • Add and/or delete Flights
   • Active Status
   • Start Date (if not started yet)
   • End Date (if not ended yet)
   • Flight Budget
   • Rollover Budgets Option
   • Rollover Type: Even or Next Flight
4. Make the necessary changes to the Flight settings.
5. If you have finished editing, close the window and click the ‘Submit’ button in the top right corner of the page to save and apply all changes. If you do not want to apply the edits, press ‘Cancel’ to discard changes and revert the Campaign to its previous settings. To continue making edits, proceed to another section.

Lines Section

In the Lines dropdown section, the following fields are editable:

• Active Status
• Line Name
• Budget Allocation Weight
• Bid Type: Basic Bid, Bid at Floor Price, Advanced Bid Controls
• Bid Price
• Budget Multiplier

If you have finished editing, click the ‘Submit’ button in the top right corner of the page to save and apply all changes. If you do not want to apply the edits, press ‘Cancel’ to discard changes and revert the Campaign to its previous settings. To continue making edits, proceed to another section.