Understanding Minor Budget Variations

Budgeting for Ad Manager campaigns might seem straightforward at first. However, due to the dynamic nature of real-time bidding (RTB), achieving exact alignment between your budget and actual spend can be technically challenging. This document explains why such variations might occur and provides reassurance about the measures we’ve taken to keep them as minor as possible.

Why Do Minor Overspends Happen?

Ad Manager operates in a highly dynamic environment, where ads are bought and sold in real-time through auctions. While our system is designed to respect the budgets you set, the following factors can lead to small discrepancies:

1. Real-Time Data Flow Delays
   The nature of real-time bidding involves instantaneous decisions made across multiple systems and variables. However, due to slight delays in data flow, there can occasionally be discrepancies between the budget cap and the final spend.
   
   

2. Auction Dynamics
   In auctions, impressions are won or lost in fractions of a second. Occasionally, a bid placed to secure an impression might result in a small overspend because the system prioritized completing your campaign goals (e.g., hitting the set optimization goal or reaching specific users).
   
   

3. Small Budgets, Higher Likelihood
   With smaller budgets, even minor variations in spend can appear proportionally larger. For example, an additional bid or two beyond the budget cap might result in an overspend that feels more significant when viewed as a percentage of the budget.

Our Commitment to Minimizing Overspends

At DPG Media, we take budget management seriously and have implemented stringent controls within Ad Manager to minimize overspends. These include:

• Advanced pacing algorithms that aim to balance the budget throughout the campaign’s duration.
• Real-time monitoring tools to ensure budgets are adhered to as closely as possible.

While achieving absolute precision in spend is difficult due to the real-time nature of programmatic buying, significant overspends are rare and tightly controlled.

Acceptable Range for Minor Overspends

For most campaigns, we consider any overspend of approximately €50 as within an acceptable range, given the technical factors explained above. In such cases, we do not offer compensation, as these variations are a normal part of how real-time bidding functions.

What If You Have Concerns?

We understand that staying within budget is vital for your business. If you notice any big discrepancies or have concerns about your campaign spend, please don’t hesitate to contact us through our support portal. Our team is always available to provide insights and ensure your experience with Ad Manager is smooth and effective.