Please see below for step-by-step instructions, followed by a video tutorial.
Use the orders page (within a Campaign) to dynamically insert ads into both current and past episodes or across entire podcasts. Order creation is now 2 steps: setting up the order itself and adding advertisements. Below are instructions on how to do both.
Order Creation
1) Create your order.
Start in the Campaigns Library. You can find that by clicking on “Campaigns” in the left-hand navigation. Here you will find the various Campaigns associated with your shows and can then click into an existing (or create a new) Campaign to begin creating an Order.
2) Press the “Add order" button and fill in all subsequent fields.
3) Input the order details, including information for delivery
Input your order details. Here are the options you’ll be presented with under the "Details" tab:
Order Name: recommended to include order targets name (podcast, episode, etc.) and flight dates for easy sorting.
Tracking URL: Optional field to setup additional third-party tracking of the campaign (must already be established with the outside organization, such as Podtrac, DCM, etc.). Can add up to five tracking pixels per order. See more information here.
Price Rate: Optional field to include the anticipated revenue for the order. This field is helpful for organizations that use Billing Admins to reconcile invoices directly in Megaphone. Price type can either be set as Flat Rate or CPM.
You’ll also see a “delivery” section within the “details” tab. Here are the options you’ll be presented:
Position: Position determines the order of campaigns with respect to one another when targeted into the same episode. For example, when you target two separate orders - each containing one pre-roll ad - against an episode with two Pre-Roll insertion points, Megaphone uses the Position Number to determine which ad is played first. You can also select "No Position" when targeting an order. When "No Position" is selected, the order will insert into any open position within the placement type (either Pre-, Mid-, or Post-Roll).
Priority: Priority determines which order should run when multiple orders compete for the same inventory. For example, if you have two separate orders, each containing one pre-roll ad, targeted against an episode with only one pre-roll insertion point, Megaphone will deliver the order with the highest priority. Note: In the scenario outlined above, if two orders have the same priority and are competing for the same slot then Megaphone will do a 50/50 alternating split ("round robin") on which ad is delivered.
Pacing: By default, Megaphone paces an order to deliver as quickly as possible within an order's flight dates. Enterprise customers on IABv2 have the three options for pacing (Accelerated, Even or Predictive) and can learn more info here.
And/Or: Select “And” if you want the ad to only run if all ad slots are available to run; select “Or” if you’re okay with ad filling any available ad slot
Frequency Capping: Fill in the boxes with the desired cap(s) for this order. For example, to set up a cap of one downloads per listener every three days, fill in "Max of 1 impressions every 3 day(s)" and push "Add Cap."
4) Input scheduling information
You can select your timezone and select the start dates/times and the end dates/times for your order
Note: Ad creatives now have their own scheduling settings (see “Advertisement Scheduling” below), but will not deliver if their dates are within the parent order’s schedule dates. We recommend updating your ad creative flight dates after editing your order’s schedule.
4) Define the content or audience you’d like targeted or excluded from your order
You will now have 4 different targeting options that you can easily apply at the order-level. You can also select specific podcasts or episodes within your content that you do not want your ads delivered to (exclusions).
Content Targeting/Exclusions: Target or exclude content at the podcast, episode, or tag-level.
Geotargeting/Exclusions: Target or exclude audience by country, region, DMA, city, and Zip code
Audience Targeting/Exclusions: Formerly known as “segment targeting”; Target or exclude based on Nielsen audience segments; you can also create segment groups or input segment codes. Please note that this feature must be enabled for you and is not included in the base Megaphone offering.
Device Targeting/Exclusions: Target/Exclude by iOS/Android/SmartSpeaker; default is all devices
Topics (aka “contextual targeting/exclusions”): Target/exclude by episode-level topics that are automatically generated by Spotify’s first-party classification technology; Please note that shows must be opted into the Spotify Audience Network in order to be eligible for contextual targeting. Shows that are not opted into the Spotify Audience Network will not have topics assigned to them.
5) Input Copy
Input the following details like promo code, vanity, attachments, or copy release schedule.
When your order details have been completed, click “Next” to move on to Advertisement creation.
If you want to create multiple advertisements, you can click the “Add new” button on the left-side navigation bar and repeat the steps above before clicking “Next”.
Adding Advertisement (Ad Creative)
Megaphone now offers a number of different options on how to add and manage ad creative (known as “advertisements” in the Megaphone UI) in a single campaign Read more below on the new features offered in the advertisement creation flow, including the ability to rotate creative under a single order a selected weight.
6) Fill in the advertisement settings
Add up to 10 advertisements per ad location for a total of 30 advertisements per order. To get started ,add the following details:
Advertisement name (required)
Advertisement location (required)
Pre-roll (beginning of the content)
Mid-roll (middle of the content)
Post-roll (end of the content)
Weight: Weighting, also known as creative rotation, lets you rotate which advertisements are served in a single order and adjust the impression distribution of ads by a weight you can determine. Each ad can be assigned a weight between 1-100. The default weight for each ad is 1. An ad’s weight is only factored into its distribution if there are other ads in the same ad location under the same order.
To learn more about creative rotation, check out the creative rotation page.
7) Schedule your advertisement (different than order scheduling!)
Select your Advertisement’s flight date. This feature lets you traffic ads by specific flight dates. You can use this for time-sensitive ad creative (limited time sales, pre/post-sale messaging, etc.) under an order.
Note: your advertisement flight dates must be within the parent Order’s flight dates in order to deliver. For example, if your order is scheduled for the month of August, your advertisement flight dates must also be within the month of August.
Schedule: for direct sold orders, you can schedule which specific days and times the ad is eligible for download.
8) Select any advertisement-specific targeting
Content, geo, audience, and device targeting/exclusions are now available for individual advertisements. Note: advertisements will not take flight if their targeting is not within the parent order’s targets.
9) Add the Advertisement Creative
Add your audio creative by either upload an audio file, using a VAST URL*, or adding audio later. Add any tracking URLs you want to use. You can add up to 5 tracking URLs per advertisement. Attribution will not be double-counted if an ad has a duplicate tracking URL of its parent order.
* Feature must be enabled and is not included in the base Megaphone offering. Please contact your Megaphone representative if you are interested in learning more.
When finished with your advertisement details, click “Next” to be taken to the campaign review screen .
If you want to create multiple advertisements, you can click the “Add new” button on the left-side navigation bar and repeat the steps above before clicking “Next”.