Fill Rate Formula: an Effective Way to Achieve the Marketing Goals

What is fill rate in advertising? This is the ratio of the number of requests per ad to the number of impressions. For mobile advertising, this ratio is important. It’s used to plan the margin of error of an advertising campaign and to choose a more reliable advertising network. Let's find out why you should pay attention to the Fill Rate metric and how it is calculated.

Maximizing Revenue

The advertiser sees the results of his campaign as soon as he learns about the number of realized advertising requests and responses. Such a metric is the fill rate advertising. It shows the ratio of the number of uploaded ads to the number of requests.

Sometimes it happens that uploaded ads are not displayed, the display itself does not occur for a number of reasons. One of them is failures on services, lack of internet or spontaneous exit of the user from the application. If you study the Display Rate metric, you can see the number of actually loaded ads, but the Fill Rate measures specifically the effectiveness of the advertising network.

The Calculations are Correct!

How to calculate fill rate? The indicator we're interested in is obtained by taking the total number of successful displays and dividing it by the amount of queries per display.

The formula for the fill factor looks like this:
Ad Fill Rate = Displays / Requests for ads

When an advertiser plans 100,000 impressions, but in thousands of cases the ad didn't display, the Fill Rate will be 99%. The result shows what gaps there are in the marketing strategy, what you should pay more attention to when pursuing business goals. You should always strive for a 100% value, because only then you can hope for maximum coverage.

What Stalls a Campaign & Destroys the Fill Rate?

Remember that the fill rate calculation is very rarely 100%, because to get such a figure is prevented by various technical reasons. These include incorrect configuration of the advertising network, application code errors, network failures. All this leads to incorrect loading or display of ads.

• Lack of ads. There may not be enough available ads in the mobile app, so the fill rate will be lower than 100%. This happens due to the limited number of advertisers or low demand for advertising space in the app.
• Behavioral factor. It happens that the user closes the app before the ads are shown, or simply doesn’t interact with it: skips, closes, uses blockers.
• Content limitations. Sometimes the application content is incompatible with a particular ad. Let's say in a utility with an educational program, an ad containing tobacco, alcohol or adult and other inappropriate content is not skipped.
• GEO restrictions. The fill rate formula may not work well when ads are set up to show only in certain regions. Also, when an app has users from different countries, fill rate advertising may be below 100%. due to advertisers' geographic targeting limitations.

In the case of low values (below 85%) it’s necessary to identify the cause of "dropped" displays. This value should be constantly monitored, because each missed display reduces the probability of a click, and as a result — and the advertiser's income. Today, a normal indicator is considered to be more than 90%.

Why Is It So Hard to Achieve 100%?

Wondering how to calculate fill rate, and then puzzling over why the result is so low? In modern advertising much depends on technology. The probability of computer error is an easy matter. The ad is often overlooked because of the slightest network failure.

But when an ad fill rate tends to max, it means that the advertiser effectively allocates his budget and spends a minimum of money on technical errors. By the way, due to failures in technology, not only publishers, but advertising platforms and networks on which the ads are broadcast financially "suffer".

There is Always a Substitute for Your Ad

Imagine that in a typical situation, one display ad has one advertiser customer. If at least 95 out of 100 orders are shown, all is well in the marketing plan. However, dozens of advertisers order ads for the same ad space in the app for the same person at once.

So it turns out that the system works on the principle of RTB-auction. If for technical reasons the banner of the first one is not shown, then its fill rate formula doesn’t work either. Then another display is immediately loaded at this stage. Remember that there will always be a replacement for an advertisement that does not work.

Does Ad Subject Matter Affect the Fill Rate?

Have you understood, what is fill rate? Then here's a new secret: a consistently high Fill Rate doesn't  always guarantee a high CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions).

This metric determines how much an advertiser pays per thousand impressions of their ad. If CPM is equal to $10, then the publisher pays this amount for 1000 impressions. The metric helps to evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns & compare them with other forms of payment - CPC (per click) or CPA (per action).

The following topics tend to show the highest fill rate calculation:

• Movies and TV series
• Entertainment sites
• Gambling
• Women's resources
• News
• FinTech & E-commerce

How to Increase the Metric of Interest?

To ensure a proper match between the app and the ad network, it is crucial to consider the following factors:

1. Target the right audience: If the app has a strong user base in Europe, it is important to select an ad network that can provide a steady stream of ad campaigns from European countries. This will help maximize the ad fill rate by delivering relevant ads to the app's target audience.
2. Prioritize rewarded video ads: If the app heavily relies on rewarded video ads, it is essential to partner with an ad network that has a wide range of advertisers running rewarded video campaigns. This will ensure a consistent supply of engaging and rewarding ad content for the app's users.
3. Address network issues: Technical failures can significantly impact the fill rate advertising. It’s important to choose a platform that can detect and monitor the user's internet connection to combat network errors. This will help minimize disruptions in ad delivery and ensure a smoother user experience.
4. Leverage mediation platforms: Utilizing multiple ad networks through mediation platforms can greatly increase the metric. By integrating additional software development kits (SDKs), the app can access a larger pool of advertisers and increase revenue. Additionally, implementing in-app bidding allows all ad networks to compete simultaneously for each ad display, maximizing the chances of achieving a higher fill rate formula.

By considering these strategies, app developers can optimize the fill rate advertising & enhance the overall monetization potential of their app.

Learn More About Fill Rate Advertising With HilltopAds

Once you learn how to calculate fill rate, and what methods to use to make your rate aim for 100%, you can expect more advertising revenue for app developers. HilltopAds experts are ready to fill your website or app with ads, regardless of the amount of traffic. Do you want the result to be 100% and technical failures to bypass your ads? Then contact the experts of a large advertising network. Today it is very easy to run an advertising campaign with high performance on all metrics and get the long-awaited profit.