Dynamic rotation

How optimized rotation works

1. When your campaign begins, each time there are multiple creative versions (or feed rows) available to serve, the ad server randomly selects one.
2. Over time, after enough performance data has been collected, the ad server begins to serve the better-performing creative version more often.

Optimization is calculated separately for each ad impression, so when the same creative is served on different sites, the ad server optimizes not just the best performing creative, but the best performing creative for that site. Creative performance is calculated based on clickthrough rate (CTR), and if the creative is assigned to a Campaign Manager 360 ad that's being optimized for conversion rate (CVR), the conversion rate is also factored in. View through conversions are not included in optimization calculations.

Example

When a creative using optimized rotation is linked to the example feed above and served on a website with an audience that's shopping for tote bags, the ad server is likely to select row 1 for people near New York, and row 3 for people near San Francisco. Meanwhile, when the same creative is served on a website with an audience that's shopping for clothing, the ad server is likely to select row 2 for people near New York, and row 4 for people near San Francisco.

Campaign Manager 360 creative rotation and dynamic optimized rotation

Optimized rotation in Studio controls the selection of content from a dynamic feed. Campaign Manager 360 creative rotation controls the rotation of multiple creatives assigned to a single Campaign Manager 360 ad, some of which may or may not be dynamic creatives. Each feature is set up and controlled separately, so there should be no concern about an overlap of strategies. However, if you have a lot of creatives rotating in the same Campaign Manager 360 ad your dynamic creative is assigned to, it may take longer to gather enough performance data and begin optimizing the dynamic creative.

How optimized rotation works with dependent selection

• Multiple child feeds are optimized independently
  When you have multiple dependent (child) feeds, each feed is optimized separately. For example, if one feed has a CTA, and one feed has a headline, the ad server will select the best CTA and the best headline separately. The ad server does not optimize the best combination of both headline and CTA when they're in dependent feeds. Learn more about dependent selection
• Optimization happens only at the lowest level
  If you have multiple levels of dependent feeds, optimization is only applied at the lowest level. For example, if you have a grandfather feed, father feed, and child feed, optimization is only applied at the child level if there's more than one eligible row to serve. Eligible rows in the grandfather and father feeds will be randomly selected.

Turn on optimized rotation

1. Open your dynamic profile in Studio, and navigate to Step 3: Manage Rules.
2. In the Rotation drop-down, select Optimized. 
3. Proceed with your profile setup.

Common uses of weighted rotation

• Allocation of budgets between brands
• Ability to spot-check results by brand and adjust settings quickly
• Allocation of budgets/impressions based on availability of inventory

How weighted rotation works

• In New York:
  • Row 1 will show 30% of the time
  • Row 2 will show 70% of the time
• In San Francisco:
  • Row 3 will show 60% of the time
  • Row 4 will show 40% of the time

The weight values you set for each row don't need to add up to 100. If the total of the weights assigned to each row does not add up to 100, then each row will be weighted according to the percentage of the weight for that row over the total. For example, let's see what happens if you add a row 5 to the example above and set the weight to 50.

After a large number of impressions, the result is: 

• In New York:
  • Row 1 will show 30% of the time
  • Row 2 will show 70% of the time
• In San Francisco:
  • Row 3 will show 40% of the time (60 of 150 total)
  • Row 4 will show 26.66% of the time (40 of 150 total)
  • Row 5 will show 33.33% of the time (50 of 150 total)

Turn on weighted rotation

1. Add a column to your feed called "Weights" (or whatever name you prefer). Set a weight for each row in this column. Weights must be whole numbers only. Do not leave any rows blank or feed transformation will fail. If you're using a default row, it must also have a weight value, but this value is not used for calculating rotation weights.
2. Upload the feed to Studio, and go to Step 2: Manage Data. In the "Data types and filters" section, find the "Weights" column in the list of field names, then select Weight for the field type.
   
   
3. Open your dynamic profile in Studio, and navigate to Step 3: Manage Rules.
4. In the Rotation drop-down, select Weighted. 
5. Proceed with your profile setup.