Campaign Setup Guide for Advertisers

Running campaigns directly in the Audiohook platform for your brand

Start a New Campaign

  • In the left menu, click Campaigns.
  • Then click + New Campaign.

[screenshot: campaigns_tab_new_campaign]


1. General Campaign Settings

Fill in the following details:

  • Campaign Name
  • Start and End Dates
  • Pacing Strategy
  • Total Budget (either by dollar amount or impression total)
  • Max Daily Budget
    • Required if you're using Fixed Daily pacing. Recommended for As Fast As Possible pacing to avoid overspending in one day.

[screenshot: general_campaign_settings]


Pacing Options

Audiohook supports multiple pacing strategies:

  • Even – Adaptive Daily (Default)
    • Adjusts delivery daily to stay on pace

  • Even – Adaptive Lifetime
    • Smooths adjustments across entire campaign

  • Fixed Daily
    • Strict daily budget — no carry-over

  • Front Loaded
    • Heavier spend early in the campaign

  • Back Loaded
    • Slow start, heavier spend toward the end

  • As Fast As Possible
    • Spends entire budget as quickly as possible

Choose the pacing that fits your campaign’s goal and timeline. Fixed and Fast pacing require attention to Max Daily Budget.

[screenshot: pacing_strategy_selection]


2. Targeting Your Audience

Geolocation

You must enter at least one geolocation to make sure your campaign only serves in your intended areas. You can enter:

  • ZIP codes
  • Cities
  • States
  • Countries

[screenshot: geo_targeting_input]


Audience Segments

You can:

  • Use a saved audience
  • Click + New Audience to create one (your campaign will be saved as a draft)

You can add one or more audience segments using the Audiences section. These include:

  • First-party data (like CRM lists or site visitors)
    • Retargeting website visitors requires the Audiohook pixel to be placed on site and verified
  • Third-party segments
    • These have their own CPM costs that will come out of the Max CPM, keep this in mind when selecting and when setting max CPM
  • Contextual categories (podcasts only)
    • Verified Contextual - uses transcriptions of episodes to find topics discussed within episode
    • Declared - What genres podcaster or publisher declared overall for their podcast

To combine or refine targeting, use:

  • AND – targets users in all selected audiences
  • OR – targets users in any selected audience
  • EXCLUDE – prevents the campaign from serving to users in the excluded audience
    • To exclude an audience:

      1. Add at least one audience to include.
      1. Add the audience you want to exclude.
      1. Toggle the audience logic between them to “Exclude.”

[screenshot: audience_segment_builder]


3. Inventory Selection

This determines where your ads will run.

  • By default, campaigns target all Podcasts, Digital Radio, and Streaming Music
  • Emerging Inventory is not selected by default
  • Use toggles to include/exclude inventory types
  • Inventory playlists not recommended as an updated targeting is coming soon and playlists require additional setup on backend to work in current layout

[screenshot: inventory_selection_view]


Brand Suitability (Podcasts Only)

Under Inventory > Podcasts, toggle Brand Suitability to enable:

  • Select providers and thresholds
  • Applies only to podcasts, not music or radio

This ensures your campaign avoids unsuitable podcast content.

[screenshot: brand_safety_toggle]

4. Creative Assets

Your ad is made up of one or more Audio Assets. You can also upload:

  • Companion Banners (optional — rarely seen in audio environments)
  • Tracking Pixels (optional — must select “Start” to track campaign)

You can upload new assets from the Assets tab on the left or directly during campaign setup.

  • If you assign multiple creatives, budget is split evenly by default
  • Ratios or percentage-based weights are supported

If you see an alert on your tracking pixel, it may indicate an error. Contact support@audiohook.com or your account manager if unsure.

[screenshot: creative_assets_upload]


5. Optimization & Attribution

Set your Max CPM or keep the $16 default.

You can optionally set a Campaign Goal:

  • Website Visits
  • Purchases
Campaign goals and Goal Optimization only work if you’ve added and verified the Audiohook Pixel on your site.

Three optimization modes are available:

  • No Optimization – default if no pixel is installed
  • Partial Optimization – prioritizes delivery first, then performance
  • Full Optimization – prioritizes performance even if it reduces delivery

You can also set a Frequency Goal to control how often the same user hears your ad.

[screenshot: optimization_settings]


6. Summary & Submission

  • Review your full campaign setup
  • Click Submit to launch

You can save as a Draft at any time. If you see a budget error during submission, save as draft and contact support@audiohook.com or your account manager.

[screenshot: campaign_review_and_submit]


Managing Your Campaigns

Customize Campaign View

  • Click Customize Columns to show/hide columns
  • Click column headers to sort by ascending/descending

[screenshot: customize_view]

Duplicate Campaign

  • Use the icon found in the Actions column
  • Set a new name and start and end date for the new campaign
  • The new copy is inactive by default
  • You can change anything except the budget type

[screenshot: duplicate_campaign]

Archive Campaign

  • Use the archive icon in the Actions column
  • Toggle the Show Archived at the top to see all archived campaigns
  • Contact support to restore archived campaigns

[screenshot: archive_campaign]


🔧 Troubleshooting Tips

  • Check account status: Confirm account is active in Account Details, contact support to activate
  • Review Max CPM vs eCPM: If you're not delivering, your Max CPM may be too low
  • Watch for narrow targeting: Too many layers can reduce delivery

Poor performance?

  • Check for problems with the audio creative (out of season, possible listener fatigue, unclear call to action, etc)
 
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