Once you have the deal arrangements worked out with the buyer, you can add the deal in TAP Programmatic.
Deals occur in the TAP Programmatic private marketplace, and are not affected by settings and rules that you create in the open marketplace.
To add a new deal (overview):
- Go to the Programmatic function in TAP. On the Deals tab, click +New deal.
The New Deal form appears. - Enter the relevant information according to the details described below.
- Click Create deal.
A confirmation message is displayed. - Communicate the Deal ID (found in the Deal overview) to the buyer so they can target it in their campaign.
Deal Details
Deal name
Enter a name for the deal.
Start date/End date
Enter the start and end dates for the deal. These dates are mandatory (except for Programmatic Guaranteed deals). If you archive a deal before its end date, the deal is de-activated.
Enter a custom start date – within the next 365 days – or click the Start today preset to enter today’s date.
Enter a custom end date – up to three years after the current date (today) – or choose from one of the presets on the drop-down list.
Buyer & Priority
Demand platform
Select the DSP used by the buyer for which you are creating this deal. Once the deal is created, you cannot change the demand platform selection.
See Demand Platform Deal Notes for information specific to some demand platforms.
Buyer seat
Select All to create an evergreen deal, in which all buyers for the selected partner are eligible to bid on the inventory.
Select Specific to enter the seat identifier of the buyer’s seat with their DSP. Request this information from the buyer for which you are creating this Deal.
Market type
The market type determines the priority of the deal.
A Programmatic guaranteed (PG) deal is an agreement between a publisher and a programmatic buyer to buy inventory directly from the publisher. Once set up, its automated workflow provides guaranteed inventory buys for PG flights that run with even pacing and standard priority level within TAP. PG inventory is accounted for in TAP forecasting, and is subject to TAP Programmatic’s ad quality controls. Note that start- and end-dates cannot be set for Programmatic deals, as they are set in the PG flight.
A Preferred deal is a private auction deal that you make with a preferred buyer; it has the highest priority, regardless of the bid price (as long as it is above the floor price).
A private auction is restricted to deal buyers with whom you have a private auction deal. Deal buyers get "first look" at your inventory. If no private auction bid is accepted, the inventory goes to open auction.
An open auction is the standard marketplace where real-time bidding (RTB) occurs for digital advertising inventory, and is open to all buyers.
Use Preferred deals with caution, as there are no validation checks to ensure you don't create conflicting preferred deals, such as two preferred deals for the same brand (which essentially invalidates the "preferred" status). Best practice is to not have more than one preferred deal targeting any given inventory. If the case arises where two preferred deals are competing for the same inventory, the one with the highest clear price wins. If the clear price is the same for all, a random winner is selected.
Price
Auction Type
Choose First Price, Second Price or Fixed Price.
Best-practice: if using Second Price, you should define a soft floor that is higher than the hard floor. Otherwise, the hard floor price is used if there is only one bidder.
For examples of how those different auction types work, see Auction Scenarios.
Hard Floor
The hard floor is the lowest price that is acceptable in an auction. Any bids below the hard floor are rejected.
The hard floor overrides the existing floor rules. It can be set higher or lower.
Specify an amount with two decimal points of precision, to the cent. Example: For $1.25, enter "1.25".
Soft Floor
In a second-price auction, the soft floor is the effective floor price when there is only one bid. It must be equal to or higher than the hard floor. Example (click to enlarge):
Soft floor only appears when Second Price is selected as the auction type.
Specify the soft floor amount with two decimal points of precision, to the cent. Example: For $1.25, enter "1.25".
Non-USD Currencies
The default currency for deals, packages, and open marketplace rules is USD (United States dollars), but you have the option to specify a different currency when setting floor prices. This is useful when transacting with buyers who operate in currencies other than USD.
When you select a currency other than USD, all auctions and transactions are still executed in USD. TAP Programmatic converts floor prices on-the-fly during the bidding process using the daily exchange rate. This reduces the risk of bid rejections caused when exchange rate volatility pushes bids below the floor price. Invoicing and payments remain unchanged.
The floor currency can be changed at any time for deals and open marketplaces.
However:
You cannot change the currency of an Ad Network package's when its status is Active.
Ad Network deals must use the same currency as the packages they are tied to.
Targeting
Create content targeting or listener targeting rules. The targeting rules work the same way as they do for TAP's flight targeting rules although with a few small differences. For example:
In Deals content targeting, the station/podcast genre is specific to the IAB content taxonomy 2.0.
Deals content targeting includes station/podcast language.
Deals content targeting includes more options under Other.
Deals listener targeting includes Addressable impressions.
Deals targeting does not include Time targeting.
Advanced
Use the Advanced section of the TAP Programmatic Deal form to specify ad quality rules that only apply to this deal. For example, you can create a deal that ignores the IAB category requirement, or a deal that is restricted to a specific brand, or you can override the ad quality restrictions when the buyer is bidding within the deal.
Ignore IAB Category
This item bypasses the TAP Ad Quality IAB Category setting for bid responses that are associated with the deal. IAB capping is not affected.
When Ignore IAB category is enabled:
Deals set up with the advanced setting "Ignore IAB category" are send to DSPs in a dedicated bid request to ensure that the blocked category field (bcat) is not part of the request.
Bid responses that do not include an IAB category are accepted.
Excluded IAB categories defined in your Ad Quality settings are ignored.
In most cases you should not enable this feature; only use it in exceptional circumstances, such as:
The DSP your deal is linked to does not use IAB categories in their bids (or does not apply them reliably).
If you normally exclude a category but you have a specific deal with a DSP or advertiser who fits that category but you do want to allow their ads. For example, if you normally exclude ads for alcohol but you have a specific deal with a DSP to allow ads for an event that is sponsored by a brewery. Another example: your Ad Quality settings block ads that involve gambling, based in IAB category, but you want to run a direct deal with a trusted buyer, such as a casino-hotel or a charity lottery. Select Ignore IAB Category for that deal to allow the buyer's ads to compete in the auction.
The table below shows the bid response behavior when an ad quality rule excludes two IAB categories and Ignore IAB Category is enabled or disabled. Behaviors for both deal and open auction bid responses are shown.
Ignore IAB Category logic examples (✅= bid is accepted; ❌= bid is rejected)
Ad Quality Rule | "Ignore IAB Category" Status | Bid Response (Deal) | Bid Response (Open Auction) |
|---|---|---|---|
Exclude IAB16-1, IAB 17-2 | Disabled | IAB16-1 ❌ | IAB17-2 ❌ |
Exclude IAB16-1, IAB 17-2 | Enabled | IAB16-1 ✅ | IAB17-2 ❌ |
Exclude IAB16-1, IAB 17-2 | Disabled | No IAB defined ❌ | No IAB defined ❌ |
Exclude IAB16-1, IAB 17-2 | Enabled | No IAB defined ✅ | No IAB defined ❌ |
Ignore Bidder Seat
Select Ignore bidder seat if you want to allow bids on the deal from all of your available buyers and not just the seat ID assigned to the deal.
Brand Restriction
Brand restriction refers to deals that only apply to the specified brand(s). This item bypasses the Ad Quality Excluded Brands settings for bid responses that are associated with the deal. Brand capping is not affected.
When brands are included in the Brand Restriction list:
Only bid responses that include creatives associated with the brand(s) are accepted.
Bid responses that do not include creatives associated with the brand(s) are rejected.
Excluded brands and brand URLs defined in your Ad Quality settings are ignored.
In most cases you should not enable this feature; only use it in exceptional circumstances, such as if you create a deal with a buyer that is specific to a particular brand. This setting overrides the Ad Quality Excluded Brands settings, so you can use this if you normally exclude a brand but you have a specific deal with a DSP or advertiser to allow ads from that brand.
The table below outlines some scenarios that should help you understand the relationship between settings in Ad Quality and settings in Brand Restriction when the bid response is specific to the deal.
Ad Quality Setting | Brand Restriction in Deal | Bid Response (Deal) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
No brand excluded | Nike | No brand defined | Bid is rejected because the deal is restricted to just the Nike brand. |
No brand excluded | Nike | Specifies Nike brand | Bid is accepted for auction because it includes the Nike brand. |
Nike brand excluded | Nike | Specifies Nike brand | Bid is accepted for auction because it includes the Nike brand. (Ad quality exclusion overridden by Brand Restriction setting.) |
Nike brand excluded | No brand restriction specified for deal | Specifies Nike brand | Bid is rejected for auction because it includes the Nike brand. (Ad quality exclusion in effect. No override.) |
Frequency cap on Nike brand | Nike | Specifies Nike brand | If frequency cap has not run out: Bid is rejected due to frequency cap. If frequency cap has run out: Bid is accepted. |
Ad ID Suffix
You can customize the Ad ID portion of the returned VAST/DAAST response by adding a custom suffix to the Ad ID. For example, if you enter the suffix "abcd," the response for an ad with the Ad ID "ZZZZZZZZ12345" will be <Ad id="ZZZZZZZZ12345-abcd">
Use alphanumeric characters only.
Maximum characters = 25.
A hyphen character ( - ) is inserted between the Ad ID and the custom suffix.
Deal Synchronization
Depending on the demand partner, deal synchronization information can be reported on the right-hand side of the deal page, under the Deal overview. Not all demand partners enable this reporting. Currently it is enabled by:
- DV360
- Xander
The Deal synchronization section displays an informative error message when a problem occurs. You can use the error message to troubleshoot any synchronization issues with your deal.
Evergreen Deals
An evergreen deal is an "always on" deal that allows all buyers within a selected demand partner to bid on a pool of inventory without having to set up specific deals for each seat. This is a convenient way to run "set it and forget it," low- or zero-maintenance arrangements with demand partners who you know and trust. It can also make it easier for the demand partner's advertisers to find your deals.
To create an evergreen deal, specify All for the Seat setting when creating a deal, and select any additional targeting to narrow down the inventory subject to the evergreen deal.
"Station" is the typical targeting criteria for an evergreen deal inventory pool, but you can base an evergreen deal on any targeting criteria.
