Advanced Guide: Understanding Creative Performance Data

📌 Overview

Creative Performance is a certified datasource that provides performance insights at the creative level across ad platforms. Also, it’s the source of the Creative Insights. Current integrated platforms include:

• CM360

• Facebook Ads

• Snapchat Ads

• TikTok Ads

• DV360 (YouTube)

• Google Ads (YouTube)

• Pinterest Ads

• Reddit Ads

🔗 Data Sources Feeding Creative Performance

Based on onboarded platforms, clients have different combinations of sources. Check the doc How-To: Locate Source Data Used in Certified Datasource Reporting to get guidance on how to locate the source data of Creative Performance for a specific client.

💸 Notes on Cost Data

Campaign Manager 360 does not report cost data for creatives or placements. To fill this gap, cost data is sourced from the relevant publisher platform insights models where available. These publisher platforms include those available inside ADL 2.0 (such as when publisher_platform = The Trade Desk), where a match can be made on cm_placement_id and date, as well as custom DSP added to {client_slug}.programmatic_cost reports by analysts or engineers.

Cost is joined into the creative performance model using a combination of:

• date

• cm_placement_id

Programmatic Cost Logic:

For custom DSPs, the join logic uses CM360 data as the left table, and cost data from the platform insights model is left joined using the keys:

• date

• cm_placement_id

Please check the doc How-To: Add Custom DSP Cost for Display Ad Reporting for more details.

Example:

If the client has costs from The Trade Desk, but Creative Performance shows 0 cost for those rows, the possible cause may be that the client has not onboarded The Trade Desk yet. The next steps can be onboarding The Trade Desk for the client and deploying it to ADL2.0. The cost data will be available when the process completes.

🛠️ Troubleshooting Guide

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

💰 Cost and Data Issues

Q: Why is the cost 0 for some rows?
A: Possible causes include the publisher platform showing zero cost in its UI, or the platform not being onboarded in ADL2.0 yet. Confirm that the platform is onboarded and cross-check the UI for actual spend.

Q: How can I get cost data if the cost is non-zero?

A: If the corresponding publisher platform is available inside ADL2.0 (such as The Trade Desk), make sure the client has onboarded The Trade Desk inside ADL2.0.

If the corresponding publisher platform is outside the scope of ADL2.0, it may be able to added via programmatic cost reports. Please check the doc How-To: Add Custom DSP Cost for Display Ad Reporting for more details or contact the DE team.

⚙️ General Usage and Onboarding

Q: How can I onboard or refresh Creative Performance Certified Datasources?
A: Use ADL2.0 Apps.

• Onboarding: Ensure Deployment = True and the platform is set as True inside dbt_vars.json.

• Refreshing: Confirm the correct refresh_date_range is selected.

Q: What is the relationship between Creative Performance and Creative Insights?

A: Creative Insights gets data from Creative Performance

📚 Additional Resources

• Creative Insights FAQs sheet (in progress)

• Tutorial: Onboarding a Platform

• Tutorial: Building and Refreshing Certified Datasources

• How-To: Add Custom DSP Cost for Display Ad Reporting

For additional help, please reach out to the Data Engineering team or check our internal knowledge base.