Line Setup

All Campaigns must have at least one active Line in order to deliver impressions.

To create a Line:

Navigate to the applicable Advertiser > Campaign.
Navigate to the Lines section.
Select New Line.
Configure the Line Setup settings.
Continue through the applicable Line sections.
Select Submit to create the Line.

Setup

The Setup section contains the primary Line configuration.

General Settings

Name: Enter a name for the Line.
Code: Optional value used for reporting.
Active Status: Determines whether the Line is active.
Start Date: Available when budgets are not managed at the Campaign level.
End Date: Available when budgets are not managed at the Campaign level.
Deploy Date: Read-only field showing when the Line was created.

Budget Settings

Budget: Line budget by spend. This may be inherited from the Campaign or configured at the Line level.
Lifetime Cost: Total estimated Line cost based on serving dates and bids.
Estimated Daily Cost: Estimated daily spend if the Line budget were distributed evenly across its flight dates. This is not the actual Daily Budget.
Budget by Impressions: Line budget by impressions.
Lifetime Impressions: Estimated total impressions for the Line.
Estimated Daily Impressions: Estimated daily impressions if the budget were distributed evenly across the flight dates.
Budget Multiplier: Allows the daily budget to scale by a configured multiplier.
Budget Allocation: Uses weighted allocations across Lines when Manage Budgets is enabled at the Campaign level.

Bid Controls

The Bid Controls section determines how Pontiac calculates and submits bids for eligible inventory.

When setting up a Line, select the applicable Bid Type and configure the associated bid settings. Closing bids reflect the total cost of the media, including applicable Audience or Foot Traffic fees.

Available bid types include:

Basic Bid
- Bid at Total eCPM
Bid at Floor
- Bid at Floor Plus
Advanced Bid Controls

For bidding strategy guidance, see Bid Recommendations.

Basic Bid

Basic Bid applies a standard bid price across all eligible inventory for the Line.

If the final clearing price is lower than the configured bid, Pontiac adjusts the bid to one cent above the next-highest bid when possible to secure the impression efficiently.

Bid Price: Enter the CPM amount the Line is willing to bid. Default value is $5.11.

Bid at Total eCPM

When Bid at Total eCPM is enabled, Pontiac adjusts the media bid so that the total eCPM remains within the entered Bid Price after applicable fees are included. This feature is disabled by default. If you would like it to be enabled by default, reach out through the Help Center or to your Account Manager requesting this update.

The following fees are included in the calculation:

Margin
Foot Traffic Fee
Chalice Fee

Ad serving fees and third-party data costs are excluded from the Bid at Total eCPM calculation.

To enable Bid at Total eCPM:

Navigate to the Line Setup section.
Set Bid Type to Basic Bid.
Select the arrow next to the Bid Price field.
Enable Bid at Total eCPM.

Bid at Floor Price

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. If the bid floor exceeds the configured Max Bid Price, the Line will not bid on that request.

Max Bid Price: Sets the maximum amount the Line can bid.

Bid at Floor Price Plus

When Bid at Floor Price is selected, you can optionally increase the bid above the provided floor to improve auction competitiveness while continuing to respect the configured Max Bid Price.

Available options include:

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:

Navigate to the Line Setup section.
Set Bid Type to Bid at Floor Price.
Enter the desired Max Bid Price.
Select the arrow next to the Max Bid Price field.
Enter either:
- a static CPM amount to add to the floor, or
- a percentage to add to the floor.

Bidding above the exact floor may improve auction competitiveness.

Example

If:

Max Bid Price = $15.00
Bid at Floor Price Plus = 10%
Bid Floor = $14.00

The calculated bid is:

$14.00 × 1.10 = $15.40

Because the calculated bid exceeds the configured Max Bid Price, Pontiac bids the $15.00 Max Bid Price.

Advanced Bid Controls

Advanced Bid Controls allow you to configure an overall Max Bid Price and customize bid prices for individual Deals.

Access Advanced Bid Controls by selecting Advanced Bid Controls as the Bid Type and then click the arrow next to the Max Bid Price field.

Available settings include:

Default Bid Price: The bid price used for targeted Deals that do not have a Deal-specific Bid Price configured.
Max Bid Price: The maximum amount the Line is permitted to bid.
Deal-Specific Bid Price: A unique Bid Price configured for an individual eligible Deal.

The Max Bid Price takes precedence over Deal-specific Bid Prices. If a Deal-specific Bid Price exceeds the Max Bid Price, the Line will not bid on that Deal.

Deal Eligibility in Advanced Bid Controls

The Deals displayed in Advanced Bid Controls depend on where Deal targeting is configured.

If Deals are targeted only at the Campaign level, all targeted Campaign Deals appear.
If Deals are targeted only at the Line level, all targeted Line Deals appear.
If Deals are targeted at both the Campaign and Line levels, only Deals targeted at both levels appear.

When targeting exists at both levels, the eligible Deal set is the intersection of the Campaign and Line Deal targeting.

If a new Deal is added through targeting and no Deal-specific Bid Price has been configured, the Deal initially uses the Default Bid Price.

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 targeted Deals in this example have Deal-specific Bid Prices below the $20.00 Max Bid Price. The Line is therefore eligible to bid on inventory from all displayed Deals.

If a new Deal is added through targeting and no Deal-specific Bid Price has been configured, it initially uses the $10.00 Default Bid Price. Because the Default Bid Price is below the $20.00 Max Bid Price, the new Deal is also eligible for bidding.

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

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

In this example, only Deal IDs 15 and 23 have Deal-specific Bid Prices below the configured Max Bid Price.

The Line can therefore bid on inventory through Deals 15 and 23.

The Line will not bid on Deal IDs 20, 21, and 22 because their configured Deal Bid Prices exceed the $13.00 Max Bid Price.

If a new Deal is added through targeting and does not yet have a Deal-specific Bid Price, it initially uses the $10.00 Default Bid Price. Because $10.00 is below the $13.00 Max Bid Price, the new Deal is eligible for bidding.

Deal Floor Price Tooltip

Within the Advanced Bid Controls window, hover over the question mark icon for a Deal to view observed bid floor pricing from the previous day’s sample requests.

The tooltip includes:

Min: Lowest observed floor price
Max: Highest observed floor price
Avg: Average observed floor price
Median: Median observed floor priceay

These values provide visibility into the range and distribution of recently observed floor prices for the Deal and can help inform bid adjustments.

Budget Multiplier

Budget Multiplier allows the Line’s calculated daily budget to be increased by a configured multiplier.

For example, a Budget Multiplier of 1.1 allows the Line to spend up to 110% of its calculated daily budget.

The daily budget may adjust based on pacing, so actual daily spend may vary.

Foot Traffic Reporting

Enable Foot Traffic Reporting to track whether users served an ad later visited configured commercial locations.

When enabled, the Foot Traffic Reporting section becomes available.

For full setup instructions, supported location methods, attribution settings, and fees, see Foot Traffic Reporting.

Line Frequency

Enable Line Frequency to configure Frequency & Recency at the Line level.

For configuration options and Cap By definitions, see Frequency & Recency.