Why a campaign is not delivering

A step-by-step check for a campaign or line item with no or low delivery, in the order LtvAdx tests it, using pages you can open.

When a line item gets no impressions, or far fewer than you expect, one condition is failing. Work down the list below. Account checks come first, then the tests LtvAdx runs on each ad request in the order it runs them, so the first check that fails is the cause.

Reports update a few minutes behind, and a change you save takes effect shortly after. If you only just changed something, give it a little time before you decide it did not work.

Start with the delivery check

Open Line Items, open the line item and look at the delivery check at the bottom of the form. It lists problems that stop delivery everywhere, and for each channel you picked whether it can deliver and why not. Most of the list below shows up there in plain words. For a saved line item it also includes the account checks (order, campaign, account).

The check cannot see everything. It does not judge who is watching or when, so a clean check does not prove the line item will deliver.

The checks, in order

1. Is your account approved to go live?

A new account can build drafts but cannot activate a line item. If a line item will not switch on, or you see "Your account is pending admin approval", wait for approval. Nothing serves until the account is approved, and a suspended account serves nothing.

2. Are the campaign and order live?

Open Campaigns. The campaign must read active, and today must fall between its start and end dates. A new campaign is a draft until you press play. If the line item is attached to an order, open Orders: it must be approved. The line item's Order field on the Basic tab shows which order, if any. See Create and submit an order.

3. Is the line item active and inside its flight?

On Line Items the status must be Active, and today must fall inside its Start Date and End Date. Paused, draft and completed line items never serve. Extend an ended flight.

4. Is it allowed on the channels asking for ads?

If you picked publishers or channels, the line item runs only there. A channel in the campaign's block list never receives your ads, even if the line item picks it. The channel must also be live and sending ad requests: Inventory shows Serving, or No recent traffic when a channel has not asked for an ad lately. Test accounts and live accounts never mix, so a test account's line items do not run on real channels, and the reverse. See Choose publishers and channels.

5. Does the publisher accept your brand?

Publishers can block advertiser domains and categories. If the delivery check says the publisher blocks the advertiser or its category, check what you declared in Brand verification. A deal-bound line item also needs its deal to be active, in its flight, on that channel, and at the agreed price, or it will not serve.

6. Does a political rule apply?

Political and issue campaigns serve only where the publisher has opted in, never on children's content, only for a verified sponsor, only with location and context targeting, and only in the countries you declared. See Political and issue ads.

7. Does the ad break fit?

The break type, the length the break allows, and the platform must all fit the line item. On the line item, empty the Ad Break Types and Platforms options to test. A creative longer than the break never plays. A bumper break takes only Bumper 6 creatives.

8. Is targeting too narrow?

Open the line item and remove targeting one option at a time until delivery returns. The likely causes:

• Location. A viewer whose country, region or city cannot be worked out is skipped when you target one. Regions and cities need exact names or codes.
• Content. A channel with no rating or category is skipped when you target ratings or categories.
• Time. Hours and primetime use the viewer's country time. If the country is unknown, the viewer is skipped.
• Audiences and demographics. These reach only households LtvAdx can identify on that request, on channels whose publisher allows audience data, and only where an operator or publisher has reported that value. A viewer who opted out, or who is on a children's channel, never matches. An audience needs at least 1,000 households on your network. A gender, age, income, language, life stage, screen, TV make, app or household segment below that is empty for everyone, so a line item that holds one reaches nobody. You cannot newly add such a value, but one saved before it shrank stays on the line item and delivers nothing. Remove it, or pick a larger audience.
• ACR segments and competitor suppression. They need data from a connected provider. Without it, nothing matches.

9. Is your bid high enough?

Each channel has a minimum price. A line item that bids below it is skipped there. The delivery check names those channels. Raise the Bid CPM ($), or pick other channels. A deal-bound line item must bid exactly the deal's fixed price, or at least the floor of a private auction.

10. Has a frequency cap stopped it?

On the Frequency & Pacing tab, a low cap can leave identified households capped quickly, while unidentified viewers are not capped. Raise the cap or set it to 0 to test.

11. Has a budget or your wallet run out?

Reports show spend against your plan. A line item stops when its Total Budget ($) or Daily Budget ($) is reached: a daily budget resumes tomorrow, a total does not. Every line item in a campaign stops when their combined spend reaches the campaign's Total Budget ($), even one with budget of its own left. Raise the campaign's budget on Campaigns to continue. A line item also stops when your wallet balance reaches zero, and starts again after you add funds. A campaign's daily budget and an order's budgets do not stop delivery. See Pacing, budgets and frequency caps.

12. Do you have a creative that can play?

Open Video Creatives. You need at least one Approved creative, with its video Ready, whose length fits the break. A pending, rejected, draft or held creative does not play. A creative you edited after approval is back in draft. See Upload and manage video creatives.

The Min VCR Threshold (%) on the Advanced tab is checked last. If the creative that would play was completed less often than your minimum over the last 7 days, the line item is skipped and the break goes to another line item. Set it to 0 to test.

13. Delivering, but less than you hoped

If every check passes and you get some impressions, the line item is simply winning too few requests. Raise the bid, widen the targeting, add channels, or lengthen the flight. A line item tied to a deal ranks above open auction, and among line items at the same level the higher bid generally wins.

Alerts that point here

A Zero delivery alert appears when a line item has been active for more than a day with no impressions at all. Pacing alerts cover the cases where delivery is only slow. See Alerts and Pacing, budgets and frequency caps.

Still stuck

Contact support with the line item name, the campaign, and the time you last saw an impression. Include what the delivery check said.