In Google Ad Manager, there are two main ways to predict availability:
- Line item forecasts appear when you click Check inventory when creating or viewing a line item and provides a forecast focused on a single line item. This can help you maximize the number of impressions for that particular line item and targeting.
- Future sell-through reports are a report type that displays availability across your entire Ad Manager network. Future sell-through reports can help you determine whether you have space to book more line items.
Summary of differences
The table below summarizes differences between interactive forecasting and future sell-through reports. Note that there might be additional differences in behavior not covered here.
Check inventory forecast | Future sell-through report | Possible discrepancies | |
---|---|---|---|
Adjustments |
Manual and historical adjustments taken into account.
|
N/A |
|
Booked line item data freshness |
Up-to-the minute |
Daily |
Future sell-through reports are more likely to overestimate available inventory due to activity since the report was started. |
Creatives |
The line item's "Creative count" can significantly affect forecast.
|
No simulation occurs during the creation of a Future sell-through report. Only the counting of rows that match dimensions/filters takes place. This means there's no special logic for recognizing creative counts or special ad unit hierarchies. |
Future sell-through reports might show more availability than interactive forecasting. |
Maximum look ahead |
Two years |
90 days for daily-granularity data; 1 year for monthly granularity data. |
N/A |
Special ad units |
Impressions from special ad units are generally excluded while computing forecasted impressions. This includes impressions from special ad units that are parts of placements or for which parent ad units are targeted. The exception is when special ad units are explicitly targeted in the line item. |
No simulation occurs during the creation of a Future sell-through report. Only the counting of rows that match dimensions/filters takes place. This means there's no special logic for recognizing creative counts or special ad unit hierarchies. |
In check inventory, special ad units must be explicitly targeted. In future sell-through, they might be implicitly targeted through parent ad units or placements. |
Simulation | Simulation runs in real time with each request for the time period of the proposed line item. | Simulation for data (used as the basis for FSTR) runs for an 18-month time period. | For competing line items with date ranges that extend outside the time window being forecasted, Ad Manager estimates the number of impressions that will compete. |