Billing for Data Feed Buyers billing-for-data-feed-buyers

Audience Marketplace data buyers agree to report all ad impressions served using traits contained in the data feed priced on a cost per thousand ad impressions (CPM) basis. CPM usage is due on the 5th day of each calendar month and includes data for previous month. Flat fee subscribers do not need to report usage.

How to Report CPM Usage report-cpm-usage

Audience Marketplace data buyers agree to report all ad impressions served using traits contained in the data feed priced on a cost per thousand ad impressions (CPM) basis. CPM usage is due on the 5 day of each calendar month and includes data for previous month. Flat fee subscribers do not need to report usage.

Audience Marketplace offers two ways to report CPM usage:

  • Segment-level reporting: this is the recommended CPM usage reporting method. When you report CPM usage at segment level, the data feed-level reporting section is automatically filled in with the corresponding usage amounts, based on the algorithms described in Cost Attribution for CPM Data Feeds.
  • Data feed-level reporting: this method requires you to individually report the CPM usage for each data feed, based on the algorithms described in Cost Attribution for CPM Data Feeds. However, this method is more tedious and prone to error than segment-level reporting.

Report CPM Usage at Segment Level segment-level-report

The Segment Usage tab allows you to report segment-level usage, while displaying the segments grouped by the destinations they are mapped to.

After reporting CPM usage at segment level, Audience Marketplace automatically assigns the corresponding data feeds the correct usage, based on the Cost Attribution for CPM Data Feeds.

To report CPM usage at segment level:

  1. Go to Audience Marketplace > Payables.

  2. Select the Segment Usage tab.

  3. Fill in the usage for your segments. You can use the Search box to filter the segments if you only need to report usage for some of them.

  4. Click Edit Segments Usage.

  5. Enter the CPM usage amount in the Usage column.

  6. Click Save when you’re done and review the confirmation dialog.

    confirm-segment-usage

  7. Click Confirm.

See also our video demonstration of how you can report segment-level usage:

Report CPM Usage at Data Feed Level feed-level-report

Data feed-level reporting is a more tedious and prone to error process, since you must individually calculate CPM usage for each data feed. We recommend that you Report CPM Usage at Segment Level instead.

To report CPM usage at segment level:

  1. Go to Audience Marketplace > Payables.

  2. Select the Feed Usage tab.

  3. Use the Search box to filter the data feeds and identify the ones that you need to report usage for.

  4. Click Edit Feeds Usage.

  5. Calculate the CPM usage for each data feed based on the Cost Attribution for CPM Data Feeds, and enter it in the Usage column.

  6. Click Save when you’re done and review the confirmation dialog.

    confirm-feed-usage

  7. Click Confirm.

Bulk Reporting

To reduce errors and overhead while reporting CPM usage, you can use the bulk reporting option to download a CSV file containing the data feeds and segments, fill in the usage, and upload it back to Audience Manager. You can use bulk reporting to report both feed and segment usage.

To update CPM usage in bulk:

  1. Go to Audience Marketplace > Payables.

  2. Select the Feed Usage or Segment Usage tab, depending on the type of reporting that you want to update.

  3. Click Edit Feeds Usage or Edit Segments Usage.

  4. Click download the current usage to make sure you use a valid CSV file.

  5. Open the file on your computer and fill in the usage report.

  6. Click Choose a CSV file to upload the updated usage report.

    usage-report-csv

  7. Audience Manager validates the file as soon as you upload it and prompts you if it detects any errors in the file.

Bulk Reporting Validation Errors

Error Message
Description
Fix
Invalid Input
Audience Manager detected a change in the CSV file schema, such as missing columns or changes to column titles.
Avoid changing the table structure.
Not Found
For Segment Level Reporting, Audience Manager could not identify the Segment ID and Destination ID combination. For Feed Level Reporting, Audience Manager could not identify the Data Provider Name, Feed Name, and Use Case combination.
For Segment Level Reporting, check the validity of the Segment ID and Destination ID combination. For Feed Level Reporting, check the validity of the Data Provider Name, Feed Name, and Use Case combination.
Duplicate Records Found
Audience Manager detected duplicate records with different impression values.
Review the report and make sure you don’t report different usage values for the same data feed or segment.
Values Not Supported
Audience Manager detected non-numerical values in the Audience Manager column.
Review the report and make sure you only enter numerical values in the Audience Manager column.
Headers for Mandatory Fields Missing
Audience Manager detected missing table headers for mandatory fields. For Segment Level Reporting, the mandatory fields are: Segment ID, Destination ID. For Feed Level Reporting, the mandatory fields are: Data Provider Name, Data Feed Name, Use Case
Review the report and make sure the table headers have not been tampered with.
NOTE
Removing rows from the CSV usage report does not have any effect on the existing usage report. Audience Manager only processes the fields included in the report.

CPM Reporting Best Practices

Recommendations
Description
Always report the total number of impressions

For CPM impression totals:

Report the total number of impressions, without using decimals. Audience Manager automatically calculates the CPM based on the total number you report.

If you need to report 1,234,567 impressions, report it exactly like that. You do not need to divide the total number of impressions by 1,000 to calculate the CPM.

Traits used to optimize your web or app content (Content Optimization) using tools such as Adobe Target or an Analytics destination do not contribute to the Usage totals for CPM plans. Data providers are typically compensated for Content Optimization using flat fee plans.

See Cost Attribution for CPM Data Feeds for more information.

Stick to the monthly reporting interval

The report system closes after the 5th of each month. If you fail to report CPM usage by then, you must add that amount to the report for the following month. For example, say you use 1000 impressions in October, miss the October reporting deadline, and use 1000 impressions in November. In this case, you report the October and November total (2000) in December, between the 1st and the 5th.

Tip: You should always try to report CPM usage for the previous month between the 1st and 5th days of the following month.

You can report CPM usage as late as the 5th of the new calendar month, but this is not recommended. Reporting CPM usage before the 5th of each month gives Audience Manager time to check and process the data.

Cost Attribution for CPM Data Feeds cost-attribution

In Audience Marketplace you must self-report impression amounts each month, for each of your segments. We recommend reporting CPM usage at segment level, so that cost attribution is done automatically.

Billing Summary billing-summary

You must submit CPM data feed impression amounts between the 1st and the 5th days of each calendar month. To do this correctly, we recommend that you Report CPM Usage at Segment Level.

TIP
When you report CPM usage at segment level, the data feed-level reporting section is automatically filled in with the corresponding usage amounts.

Should you need to Report CPM Usage at Data Feed Level, you must individually compile all impressions delivered for each feed in the previous calendar month, and report them according to the billing allocation described in this article.

After you report CPM number for the previous calendar month, Adobe will do the following:

  • Create an invoice and bill you based on the CPM rate for each subscribed data feed.
  • Pay data providers (sellers) fees owed based on your reported CPM use.
IMPORTANT
As a buyer, all reported impression totals must be true and accurate. If you fail to report impression totals by the 5th day of each month, you must include totals for the unreported month in the following month.

Assign Impressions at Feed Level Based on Trait Qualification Rules assign-impressions

The Activation use case lets you use traits in the corresponding data feed to create segments in Segment Builder and map those segments to a destination. The Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT let you set the conditions for trait and segment qualification.

When you Report CPM Usage at Data Feed Level, you must allocate impressions proportionally for each data feed, according to the Boolean operators used in the trait qualification rules. The following table lists how to properly allocate impressions by Boolean rule or trait type.

TIP
Report CPM Usage at Segment Level to have the data feed level reporting done automatically by Audience Manager.
Rule Qualification Logic or Type
Billing Distribution
AND
Apply 100% of the delivered impression totals to all the provider traits in a rules-based segment that uses a Boolean AND condition.
OR

Apply weighted allocation of the delivered impression totals to all the provider traits in a rules-based segment that uses a Boolean OR condition. Weighted allocation is calculated using the following formula:

(Trait Population / Segment Population) * Number of Impressions * Cost of CPM

NOT
Apply 100% of the delivered impression totals to all the provider traits in a rules-based segment that uses a Boolean NOT condition.
Algorithmic segments
Apply 100% of the delivered impression totals to all the provider feeds in a segment containing algorithmic traits.

Billing Examples billing-examples

The examples below are meant to illustrate how CPM usage allocation is done at data feed level.

IMPORTANT
We recommend that you Report CPM Usage at Segment Level instead, to have this process done automatically.

Let’s consider the following scenario:

billing-examples

Case 1: Segments With AND Qualification Rules

This segment contains 3 traits from separate data providers. Since segment qualification is based on an AND condition, visitors have to realize the traits from all three feeds to qualify for the segment.

With an AND condition, you must assign 100% of the impressions received during the month to all three data providers. In the Audience Marketplace > Payables section, you credit each provider with 1,000,000 impressions.

This example applies to segments that use Boolean NOT operators or for segments that contain algorithmic traits.

Case 2: Segments With OR Qualification Rules

This segment contains 3 traits from separate data providers. Since segment qualification is based on an OR condition, visitors have to realize at least one of the three traits to qualify for the segment.

We cannot tell which trait is responsible for an impression because qualification is based on an OR condition. As a result, in the Audience Marketplace > Payables section you credit each provider with a weighted allocation of the total impressions, based on trait population.

billing-segment-or

Case 3: Segments with Modeling and Activation Use Cases

This example describes attribution based on two Data Feed use cases - Modeling and Activation. In the example, we are looking at two data providers, with the following information:

data-feed

In the table further below, Segment X contains two traits, T1 and T2, with the segment rule T1 OR T2, where:

  • T1 is a trait from Data Feed A;
  • T2 is an algorithmic trait modeled after third-party traits from Data Feed A and Data Feed B.

The segment is mapped to a destination and 1,000,000 impressions are entered for this segment in a month, using Segment-Level Reporting.

Of these 1,000,000 impressions:

  • T1 makes up 40% of the segment population, which translates to 400,000 impressions for Feed A.
  • T2 makes up 60% of the segment population, which translates to 600,000 impressions for Feed A and Feed B.

At a data feed level, the way the impressions are allocated is:

  • Data Feed A receives 600,000 impressions from trait T2 (which is modeled on traits from Data Feed A and Data Feed B, so both receive the impressions) and 400,000 impressions from trait T1 (which is a trait from Data Feed A), totaling 1,000,000 impressions.
  • Data Feed B receives 600,000 impressions from trait T2 (see explanation above) and 0 impressions from trait T1.

The at-a-glance breakdown by data feed and use case is as follows:

feed-breakdown

NOTE
For the modelling use case, you should only report CPM usage upon activation. If you only run a model, but do not activate it, then no usage reporting is required.

Billing and Impression Allocation for Flat Fee Data Feeds billing-flat-fee

A flat fee data feed bills you a fixed amount each month, regardless of when the subscription starts or how many impressions you use. Fees are not prorated for partial month usage or intervals. As with CPM billing, Adobe will generate an invoice and bill you at the monthly, flat fee rate for your subscribed data feeds.

For example, let’s say you decided to turn on certain traits in a feed in the middle of the month. You will still be billed at the full, monthly rate regardless of when you started the subscription or activated specific traits.

recommendation-more-help
de293fbf-b489-49b0-8daa-51ed303af695