The CPS (spots) pricing model is an optional feature that must be enabled for you by Triton Digital. To enable the feature, contact your Triton Digital Customer Success Manager.
You get more benefit and value from TAP when you use impression-based flights (CPM pricing model), as this enables the full suite of TAP's advanced features. However, you can use spot-based flights (CPS pricing model) if that is your preference or if it better fits your organization's workflow. (For more information, see “Impressions vs. Spots” in the Inventory and Budges article.)
Some of the features described in the TAP User Guide are not available for flights that use the CPS (spots) pricing model, due to the inherent limitations of that format. Be aware that unavailable features might remain selectable in the user interface, but you will not be able to save the flight if you have selected a feature that is unavailable for CPS flights, and warning messages help you identify the erroneous selection.
For more information on how spots work in TAP, see Understanding Spots in Tap, below.
Campaigns
You can create both impression-based (CPM) campaigns and spot-based (CPS) campaigns in New TAP. However, you cannot mix impression- and spot-based flights within the same campaign. All of a campaign's flights must use either CPM or CPS pricing model, not both.
Delivery and Position
Limited to Live delivery method and Mid-roll position.
Pacing
Trend-based pacing is recommended for CPS flights.
For best results with CPS-based flights, you should use time targeting to mimic traditional daypart targeting. However, be aware that when time targeting is used, the pacing reverts to even pacing behavior within that daypart (although the user interface still shows trend-based as the selected pacing option).
Frequency Capping
Listener-based frequency capping is set at 1 spot per break, to mimic traditional spot behavior. However, this is per-listener capping, not traditional spot-based capping.
As such, several spots can play in an ad break, but they play for different listeners. Any given listener will only hear the spot once per break.
Another example: if you set the capping at one spot per day, the spot can still play many times over the course of a day, but to different listeners. Any given listener will hear the spot no more than once per day. (Possible exception: if the listener changes device or otherwise appears as a new listener, they might hear the ad again. For more information, see the metric definition of Unique in the TAP Explore User Guide.)
You can create other frequency capping rules, but the essential rule of no more than 1 spot per break will be enforced.
Targeting
Listener targeting is not available for CPS flights.
Only Content Targeting and Time Targeting is allowed.
Content targeting is limited to Station/podcast targeting.
A station must be selected in station content targeting, and you can only target one station per flight. ("All content delivery" is not supported.)
Tip: To target multiple stations, make copies of the flight, then change the targeted station in each copy.
OTI Indicator
When a flight uses the CPS (spots) pricing model, the OTI Indicator that appears in the Flight Overview Panel and in the Flights List reports against the spots goal.
Reporting
TAP Explore’s Spots - CPS report type shows spots delivered during the selected time range.
Affidavit reports for spots-based flights do not include the spot creative name.
Understanding Spots in TAP
When a spot was scheduled to run in Legacy Tap, its delivery was based on the queue of all listeners at that time. In other words, it was a one-to-many ad model, meant to replicate broadcast (terrestrial) ad delivery. Spot delivery works differently in new TAP, as described below.
Spot Delivery in TAP
Spot delivery was designed to follow broadcast radio listening and ad exposure, using time targeting to mimic dayparts.
With terrestrial spot delivery, the publisher describes the audience size and type for the daypart; for example the “morning drive” time slot typically has 5000 listeners. The spot is then scheduled to play at a specific time within that daypart, with the expectation of delivery to about 5000 people.
In TAP, the focus is first placed on following the daypart audience so it is aligned with that same goal. When scheduling a spot, TAP queries Triton Digital’s listening data and comes back with the average number during the flight’s running time, updating once per hour. This determines how many people should hear each spot to achieve the advertisers' goals, with listenership changes being adapted to on-the-fly.
TAP then sends each ad for delivery with a goal of delivering it to that defined number of listeners. The audience size is updated every hour because of the complexity of streaming audio; it’s a bit more challenging than just aggregating the audience as there may be dayparts with no ad insertion due to a syndicated show, or some dayparts with less ad exposure due to fewer ad breaks. TAP accounts for all of this and comes up with a precise number of people that equates the delivery promise of the publisher to its advertisers across all the hours of possible delivery.
This is an improvement over Legacy Tap’s spot delivery because now the advertiser is guaranteed that their spots will always hit the audience of the daypart they are paying for. The precision of scheduling the time of delivery in broadcast radio was adapted to dynamic ad insertion by using actual numbers.
Here’s an example:
An advertiser buys 20 spots for Monday-to-Friday between 6:00AM and 7:00PM.
Triton Digital’s listener data shows that the average listenership in those times would deliver 1,000 impressions.
This means that each spot has to deliver 1,000 impressions (people listening).
When the 1,000 threshold is reached, a spot is recorded.
Note that in reporting, the time stamp on the spot in is when the first impression was sent, but that spot won’t make it to the impression reports if it didn’t reach all of those 1,000 listeners.
The advertiser now has confidence that the audience they were sold for the scheduled spots will be what is delivered.
The impression goal is updated in real time, so the audience is always aligned with advertiser goals.
An important side-effect
Because we are now looking at two things: groups of impressions/listeners and a spot goal, there can be some unexpected behavior in reporting.
For example, because a spot is defined as a “group of impressions,” if listenership spikes and the spot schedule is behind, you can have one large collection of listeners all listening at the same time who all get the ad, and it would then be split into multiple spots. When this happens, reporting might show two spots delivering at the same time. This doesn’t mean the ads are going to the same listeners; they are going to different groups of listeners all listening at the same time. As noted however, the ad delivery engine updates the goal every hour to follow listening, so this should be a very rare occurrence.
Similarly, pacing for spots should be very close to what you would want in an affidavit (e.g., 10 spots over five days will deliver two per day), but as spots are following listening patterns, you might see some pacing concentrated during higher listening hours like mid-day, and higher listening days such as weekdays. Again, the spots are following the patterns of listeners for maximal delivery.