As a digital marketer, you’re likely familiar with the idea of programmatic advertising - the automated buying and selling of digital ads through real-time bidding. It’s an increasingly popular way to manage your advertising campaigns, and it can be incredibly valuable for businesses of all sizes.

But with so many metrics to track and analyze, it can be hard to know where to start. That’s why we’ve put together this guide to the key programmatic advertising analytics you need to know. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, this post will help you make sense of all the data and make smarter decisions about your campaigns.

Impressions 🖼️

Impressions are the number of times your ad was displayed to a user. It’s a basic metric, but an important one - after all, if no one sees your ad, it’s not going to be very effective! Counting impressions can help you measure the reach of your campaign, and track its performance over time.

Some things to keep in mind about impressions:

  • Not all impressions are created equal. For example, an impression on a high-traffic website is worth more than one on a low-traffic site.
  • Impressions can be a good baseline for comparing campaigns, but they don’t tell the whole story. It’s important to look at other metrics too, like click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates.

An example of how impressions are counted in an ad campaign

Click-Through Rate (CTR) 🖱️

CTR is the percentage of users who saw your ad and clicked on it. It’s a great way to measure how effective your ad is at getting people to take action - after all, if people are seeing your ad but not clicking, it’s not doing its job!

Some tips for optimizing your CTR:

  • Use eye-catching images and copy to grab users’ attention.
  • Make sure your ad is relevant to the user’s interests and needs.
  • Consider testing different versions of your ad to see what works best.

An example of how CTR is calculated

Conversions 💰

Conversions are the ultimate goal of most advertising campaigns - they’re the actions you want users to take after seeing your ad, like making a purchase or filling out a form. Tracking conversions can help you measure the ROI of your campaigns and refine your targeting and messaging over time.

A few things to keep in mind when tracking conversions:

  • It’s important to define what a conversion means for your business - it could be anything from a sale to a sign-up to a phone call.
  • Tracking conversions requires some setup - you’ll need to add conversion tracking code to your website or app, and set up conversion goals in your ad platform.
  • Conversion rates can vary widely depending on the industry and type of campaign, so it’s important to benchmark your performance against similar businesses.

An example of a conversion funnel, showing how users move from ad impressions to conversions

Viewability 👁️

Viewability is the percentage of your ad that’s actually visible to users. It’s an important metric, because if your ad is only partially visible or hidden behind other content, it’s less likely to be effective.

Here are a few things to consider when it comes to viewability:

  • Different ad formats and placements have different viewability rates - for example, an ad in the middle of an article is more likely to be seen than one in the sidebar.
  • Viewability can be affected by factors like ad blockers, slow page load times, and user behavior.
  • Some ad platforms have minimum viewability standards that you’ll need to meet in order to run ads.

An example of a viewability report, showing which ads met the minimum viewability threshold

Frequency 📅

Frequency is the number of times a user sees your ad over a given period of time. It’s important to track because if users see your ad too many times, they may become annoyed or ignore it altogether.

Some things to keep in mind about frequency:

  • Different ad formats and platforms have different recommended frequency caps.
  • Frequency can be an especially important metric for retargeting campaigns, where you’re targeting users who have already seen your ad.
  • You can use frequency data to adjust your targeting and messaging - for example, by excluding users who have already seen your ad or by testing different ad variations to avoid ad fatigue.

An example of a frequency report, showing how many users saw each ad a certain number of times

Wrapping Up 🎁

Phew! That was a lot of information to unpack. But by now, you should have a solid understanding of the key programmatic advertising analytics you need to know to run effective campaigns.

Remember, data is only useful if you use it to make smarter decisions. So take these metrics and apply them to your campaigns, testing and refining your approach over time. And don’t forget - if you’re ever feeling overwhelmed, there are plenty of resources out there to help you navigate the complex world of programmatic advertising.

An illustration of a marketer holding a magnifying glass over a chart of programmatic advertising metrics