Bid types

Your campaign’s bid type is how your campaign calculates and places bids to scale and acquire users. iAds supports the following bid types:

• Cost per install (CPI)
• Target return on ad spend (tROAS)
• Target cost per event (tCPE)
• Cost per mille (CPM) (Cost per 1000 impressions)
• Target cost per install (tCPI)

Refer to the Bid types sections below to learn more about each of the supported options.

Payment models

Your campaign’s payment model is how you pay for your campaign’s activity. Each payment model has associated bid types. The ironSource Ads network supports the following payment models:

• Cost per install (CPI): You pay for installs, each time a user installs your app after viewing your ad on the ironSource Ads network.
• Cost per impression (CPM): You pay for impressions, when users view your ads on the ironSource Ads network.

Each payment model supports specific bid types:

Refer to the sections below for more information about each bid type.

CPI bids

CPI bids are the dollar amount (USD) you want to bid for each ironSource Ads-attributed install. You can configure CPI bids at the following levels:

• Campaign: Set bids for all of your campaign’s installs
• Campaign and country: Set bids for installs in each of the locations targeted in your campaign
• Campaign, country, and source application: Set bids for installs from users who watch your ad in a particular app and location

Your campaign displays its average CPI for a segment of ad traffic as the effective CPI (eCPI) in the ironSource Ads platform.

tROAS goals

tROAS goals are the targeted average return on your advertising costs you want to get from revenue generated when users watch ads or make in-app purchases. You can set your tROAS goals for the return on investment (ROI) you expect to see after the following time intervals:

• 48 hours: Day-one (D1)
• 120 hours: Day-three (D3)
• 192 hours: Day-seven (D7)

You set tROAS goals as a percentage of ROI for these intervals.

When you run a Return on ad spend (ROAS) optimized campaign, you enter both a CPI bid and a target ROAS goal. Your campaign delivers ads using the CPI bid until the ironSource models accumulate enough training data for your title. When the campaign reaches the data threshold, it automatically begins using tROAS goals to dynamically adjust bids. Your campaign sets bid amounts for each ad request based on your target ROAS goal for that campaign + country.

To check how much data your campaign needs to accrue before it can switch to dynamic bidding, go to your campaign in the Campaign Management page and hover over the hourglass icon in the Bid column.

Increasing your tROAS goal increases your ROI. However, increasing your tROAS goal might also decrease your campaign’s scale.

tCPE goals

When you run an event optimization campaign, work with your ironSource Ads account manager to choose a target in-app event that is an early indicator for high-quality users. After defining your event, you decide your target cost per event (CPE). This target is the average amount you want to pay to acquire users who achieve the event.

When you set up your campaign, you enter both a CPI bid and a target CPE goal. Your campaign will deliver using its CPI bid until our models accumulate enough training data for your title. Afterwards, your campaign’s bid type will automatically change to tCPE and we will set dynamic bids for each ad request based on your target CPE goal for that campaign-country. tCPE bids are set as USD.

CPM

CPM bids are the dollar amount (USD) you want to bid for 1000 ad impressions. This means your CPM bid divided by 1000 is how much you bid for a single ad impression. You can configure CPM bids at the following levels:

• Campaign: Set bids for all of your campaign’s impressions.
• Campaign and country: Set bids for impressions in each of the locations targeted in your campaign.
• Campaign, country, and source application: Set bids for impressions from users who watch your ad in a particular app and location.

Your campaign displays its average CPM bid for a given segment of traffic as the effective CPM (eCPM) in the ironSource Ads platform. When you set a CPM bid, you can also set user-level frequency caps that limit how often the campaign shows your ad to a single user.

tCPI

tCPI (target CPI) bids are the dollar amount (USD) of the average CPI you want to bid for a user. These bids use an impression payment model, but the campaign is optimized to maintain a certain eCPI (average CPI). tCPI bidding is compatible with Apple’s SKAdNetwork attribution solution.