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IO budget overview
An Insertion Order (IO) is a contractual agreement that outlines the terms and conditions for one or more advertising campaigns. The primary function of an IO is to provide an effective means of organizing and managing campaigns that share similar traits. It’s also a means of managing the budgets of those campaigns.
You can assign budgets to individual campaigns after you create the IO. These campaigns will stop serving impressions once their cumulative totals reach the spend budget or impression budget that you defined at the IO level.
Refer to What is an Insertion Order? for more information on IOs and their relationship to campaigns, or keep reading to understand the differences between budget-based and impression-based IOs.
Budget-based IOs
When monetary budgets are fixed, consider creating a budget-based IO. With budget-based IOs, you set the overall monetary cap for the total spend of the campaigns that are assigned to the IO. In other words, each of the campaigns will stop serving impressions once their cumulative spend reaches that monetary budget. This is to ensure you don’t overspend based on the overall IO budget.
You have the option to regulate spending on a daily, weekly or overall basis.
Impression-based IOs
When monetary budgets are somewhat flexible and your main intent is to generate a certain number of impressions, consider creating an impression-based IO. With impression-based IOs, you set the overall cap for the total number of impressions of the campaigns that are assigned to the IO. In other words, each of the campaigns will stop serving once their cumulative impressions reach that limit. This is to ensure you don’t overspend based on the overall IO impression budget.
Budget-based and impression-based IO comparison
When should you choose a budget-based IO or an impression-based IO? The choice depends on your goals, budget preferences and flexibility, and desired outcomes. Refer to the table below for a summary of the key differences between budget-based and impression-based IOs.
Consideration | Budget-based IO | Impression-based IO |
Primary goals | Regulate overall campaign spending and reach a defined amount of spend. | Emphasize brand exposure and ad visibility. |
Monetary budget | The IO’s spend is fixed. | The IO’s spend is flexible. |
Spend preferences | Gain financial control and ensure each campaign stops spending once their cumulative total reaches the spend cap. | Ensure each campaign stops spending once their cumulative total of impressions reaches the impression cap. |
Example | An e-commerce brand launches a 30-day campaign to promote a new product. They allocate a $10,000 IO budget. Each campaign within the IO will stop spending once their cumulate spend reaches $10,000. | A brand launches a campaign without a defined end date to drive brand awareness during the launch of a new product. They set a 1MM-impression budget. Each campaign within the IO will stop serving impressions once their cumulative impressions reach 1MM. |
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