Optimizing a programmatic campaign largely comes down to clearly defining what you want to achieve. Depending on whether the objective is to drive clicks, conversions, maximise reach at a low cost, or ensure high viewability, the optimization strategy will need to differ.

In this article, we outline practical tips on how to navigate performance data and metrics, and how to optimise your campaigns based on different KPIs.

Before starting to optimize a campaign, it is important to clearly define which KPI is the primary one. Programmatic advertising offers many opportunities for fine-tuning, but optimizing towards multiple objectives at the same time can make it harder to achieve the desired outcome.

Start from the campaign’s overall goal — for example, whether the objective is brand building or performance — and select one main KPI to guide the optimization work. Other metrics should primarily be used for analysis and evaluation, rather than as active optimisation targets.

A clear optimization focus makes it easier to make informed decisions around targeting, bidding strategy, formats, and inventory, and creates better conditions for running an effective and consistent campaign.

If you do not have your own benchmarks, the recommendations below can help guide your expectations.

Performance can vary significantly between different advertisers, campaign types, and categories, which makes general benchmarks difficult to apply. Therefore, the most reliable approach is often to avoid setting strict performance requirements for the first campaign for a given advertiser, and instead use the results from that campaign as a benchmark for future campaigns.

By creating an estimate via Campaigns → Estimate → New Estimate, you can gain insights into how other campaigns within BidTheatre have performed under similar conditions. Please refer to the article Estimate Tool for more information.

For campaigns optimizing towards clicks, a click performance measurement is available for all active campaigns. This metric shows how the campaign’s click performance compares to other campaigns within the same campaign category.

Regardless of which KPI has been chosen as the campaign’s primary objective, the overall approach to evaluation and optimization remains the same. Below are key factors to consider when optimizing towards your selected KPI.

To allow the system to automatically optimize toward the campaign’s selected KPI, it is important to select “KPI Optimization” under User Filtering / Bid Optimization in the filter.
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A predefined filter with KPI Optimization is available and can be used as is. It can be found under the name "BidTheatre Default Filter - All Users":
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To create a custom filter:

Note: If any option other than “KPI Optimization” is selected under bid optimization, the system will not optimize toward the KPI chosen in the first step of the campaign setup. In this case, the campaign will require fully manual optimization.

Using multiple formats within a campaign makes it possible to evaluate whether certain formats perform better than others in relation to the campaign objective. Performance by format can be reviewed in both the Insights report and the Performance report by selecting Group by: Ads / Ad dimension.

Underperforming formats
If you identify formats that are performing below expectations, they can be disabled directly from the Insights report by selecting the formats → clicking Actions → Set to status: Inactive

High-performing formats
Formats that perform well can be prioritized by adding them to a separate ad group and assigning a dedicated strategy within the campaign. You can then prioritize them using Target Share.

The percentage entered here represents the share of the total campaign budget you want to allocate to this ad group. This allows you to direct a larger portion of the budget toward the formats that deliver the strongest results.

Testing is one of the most effective ways to understand what works well and what does not. We recommend A/B testing different messages, images, or CTA texts within the same campaign. You can either optimize based on the results directly or use the learnings to inform future campaigns.

Consider testing new formats to learn which ones best support the advertiser’s goals. Use Estimates to review performance data for different formats, and stay curious about the offerings from publishers and impact format providers.

Recommended articles:

Native Creatives- Setting up Native Creatives - Step by Step

Adnami High Impact Formats - Adnami Creatives

Get in touch with publishers - Publisher Contact Information

Allowing the system to automatically optimize sites based on predefined values is an effective way to let the system work for you. In the final step of the campaign setup (Bid Strategies), you will find several preconfigured optimization strategies.

Example:This option means that each site ID targeted by the campaign will initially receive 3000 impressions. If a site performs below 0.10% CTR, it will automatically be optimized out and added to the campaign’s exclusion list. If none of the preconfigured optimization strategies align with the campaign’s goal, you can create a custom optimization strategy via Assets → Optimization Strategies.

Even when using an optimization strategy, it is valuable to review site performance manually to gain insights into how each site is performing. Click on the Sites tab within the campaign to get an overview of site-level performance.

Note: Click the gear icon to make sure all metrics you are interested in are selected.

Underperforming sites
Select these → Click Actions → Add to campaign exclusion list.

High-performing sites
Consider creating a custom media list of these sites and running them on a separate strategy within the campaign. This allows you to prioritize them using Target Share at the strategy level.

BidTheatre offers a wide range of targeting options to experiment with. A recommended approach is to test different targets across multiple strategies within the same campaign to evaluate which targeting performs best. Some audience targeting types to consider include:

Go to Supply → 3rd Party Audiences and explore the various audience segments available for targeting.

Target users based on weather conditions and temperature by creating custom weather audiences. This allows you to, for example, show one message when it’s sunny and a different message when it’s raining, making the campaign more relevant and potentially improving performance.

Where possible, implement a retargeting segment and advertise to users who have previously shown interest. Additionally, create a lookalike audience to reach users with similar characteristics.

Regardless of whether the campaign targets a specific audience, the system continuously monitors users exposed to the campaign and identifies them across different audiences in the system. If an audience demonstrates particularly high engagement or click propensity, it will appear as a High Engagement Audience in the Insights report.

Consider these audiences as suggestions to add to your campaign for higher engagement. You can add them directly from the Insights report by clicking the plus icon.

From the campaign view in Bid Strategies, there is a quick selection of recommended audience strategies based on the campaign’s chosen category.

You can reach the same audience in different ways within a single campaign by using multiple strategies. In principle, a campaign can include an unlimited number of strategies. We encourage testing different approaches within the same campaign, but only to the extent that you have sufficient interest, time, and resources to analyse and evaluate the results.

Avoid adding unnecessary complexity. As a campaign manager, you should only use as many strategies as you can realistically manage and that clearly support the campaign’s primary objective.

For example, if a campaign’s primary objective is Clicks, you can use multiple strategies to evaluate which approaches are most effective for driving click performance. The campaign could be structured as follows:

Strategy 1

Strategy 2

Strategy 3

Strategy 4

Strategy 5

Allow the campaign to run for a period of time, then evaluate which strategies perform well and which do not. Use target share to prioritise and limit strategies, and optimise at the strategy level when needed.

For more guidance on how to interpret bid metrics and how they can support optimisation efforts, see the article Bid Metrics.

For campaigns where low eCPM and high impression volume are the primary KPIs, the following general recommendations apply.

To achieve the lowest possible eCPM, we recommend using Bid Minimization in the filter settings, or selecting the predefined filter with the same name.

Note: When Bid Minimization is enabled, the system disregards the campaign’s selected KPI (regardless of what was chosen during the initial campaign setup) and focuses solely on buying impressions at the lowest possible cost. This is achieved by prioritising the cheapest formats and sites available.

You should still define a Max CPM as the highest price you are willing to pay. However, if the system is able to buy inventory at a lower cost, it will do so.

To allow the system to buy as cheaply as possible, the campaign should include as few restrictions as possible. Broaden the setup by enabling multiple ad formats and targeting a wide range of sites.

For this purpose, we primarily recommend using our broad media list, BidTheatre – Whitelist. Predefined whitelists are available for all Nordic markets and include only brand-safe sites from reputable publishers.

If you want to broaden the reach even further, there are media lists available that include all sites accessible through programmatic buying.

In general, the broader the campaign setup — in terms of formats, sites, geographic coverage, and minimal audience targeting — the greater the opportunity to achieve a low eCPM.