Overview
Generate a campaign forecast in illumin to estimate reach, impressions, CPM ranges, and deliverability before launch. illumin Forecasting helps marketers model Open Web and Digital Out-of-Home campaigns using projected data.
Another article explains how marketers optimize budget allocation using projected data.
Prerequisites
- Active illumin platform access.
- At least one advertiser created in illumin.
- Defined budget range or Max CPM target.
- Basic targeting criteria such as geography or audience segments.
Prefer a guided tour?
Click the video and watch a 60-second tour of the illumin Forecasting workflow.
About the structure of illumin Forecasting
illumin Forecasting is a powerful tool allowing for multi-channel, multi-tactic forecasts. Each forecast has a basic structure.
- A forecast bound to a specific advertiser and date range. You can update the date range for any saved forecast.
- Within a forecast, you can create multiple Open Web or Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) campaigns. Each campaign can have its own targeting settings.
- Within each campaign, add one or more tactics. You configure tactics with targeting parameters, a budget, and a Max CPM.
Use case
Here’s a use case scenario that highlights the powerful benefits of illumin Forecasting and the value it brings to media planning.
Imagine a retail brand is planning to launch a new product line with a programmatic campaign across display, CTV, and native. The media team must decide how to allocate a fixed budget across these channels to maximize reach and engagement with a key audience.
Without visibility into inventory availability, CPM trends, or audience saturation across each channel, the team risks over-investing in underperforming formats or missing high-value opportunities altogether.
Solution
The media team uses illumin Forecasting to simulate multiple campaign scenarios before launch. They input targeting criteria, budget limits, and desired time frames to generate projections on reach, frequency, and spend efficiency for each channel.
The output indicates native formats deliver greater reach at a lower CPM for the target audience. Based on these insights, the team adjusts the budget allocation by shifting dollars to native while maintaining an adjusted investment in CTV.
A few notes
illumin Forecasting creates estimates for Open Web and DOOH campaigns. The output has data for the following parameters:
- Impressions (total and winnable)
- Audience (total and winnable)
- eCPM
- Forecasted CPM and budget
- Deliverability status
- Frequency
- DOOH screen counts
Getting started
Go to the top menu bar and click Forecasting. If this is your first time working with the tool, the window is blank. Click the Start button.
If you see saved forecasts on the page, click the Add forecast button to start a new one.
A pop-up window displays. Click the field, select an advertiser on the drop-down, and then click the Confirm button.
On the next page, click the date field to set a date range if you want to change the default setting, which is seven days. You can choose a pre-built option (e.g. Next 30 days) or use the calendar to set custom start and end dates. Click Apply to save.
Then, go to the center of the page and select a campaign type: Open Web for standard programmatic display advertising or Digital Out-of-Home. This is just to get you started. You can add more campaigns and campaign types a little bit further into the forecast workflow.
After you click a campaign type, a new page displays.
Reviewing configuration fields and options
On the new page, continue configuring your forecast. Here's a quick tour of the fields and options.
- The name of the advertiser selected for this forecast.
- The selected date range. Optionally, click the field to change the start and end dates.
- Add a campaign (Open Web or Digital Out-of-Home) to the forecast.
- The auto-generated name of this forecast. This name cannot be changed.
- Targeting to be applied to this campaign. To review or update settings, click the tag to open a window that shows targeting details. Optionally, click the X to remove this targeting from the campaign. Advertiser-level settings (if any) are applied automatically to the campaign.
- A tactic row. When you start a new campaign, the row has empty fields.
- Add targeting (e.g. demographic, geographic, etc.) to the campaign.
- Campaign tools. Click an icon to duplicate or delete the campaign.
- Tactic tools. Click an icon to add targeting, duplicate, or delete the tactic.
- Add a new tactic row to the campaign.
Adding tactic data
Each tactic has a minimum set of required information.
- Click the Tactic type field and select an option (e.g. display, audio, etc.) on the drop-down.
- Enter a budget or Max CPM. Optionally, you can fill in both fields or leave one of them empty. If you leave the Max CPM field blank, illumin generates a recommended value based on historical data.
Targeting is optional at the tactic level because tactics inherit campaign-level targeting settings. To assign targeting parameters to a tactic, click the Targeting icon, select one or more options (e.g. demographic, geographic, etc.), and configure the settings. To remove tactic targeting, click the X in the tag in the Tactic targeting column. To edit tactic targeting settings, click the targeting icon.
Optionally, you can add multiple tactics to a campaign. Click the Add tactic button and fill in the fields.
Adding a campaign
Add one or more campaigns to generate estimates for a different range of tactics, channels, and targeting parameters. Click the Add new campaign button and select Open Web or Digital Out-of-Home. illumin adds a new card to the page. Customize the campaign as required (e.g. tactics, budgets, etc.).
Generating a forecast
When the campaigns and tactics are set, go to the top of the page and click Generate forecast. The system takes a minute or two to complete the backend calculations. Once complete, the page displays three blocks of data for each campaign.
Saving forecasts
To keep a forecast, click the Save button in the top right corner of the page. In the pop-up, enter a unique name and click the Confirm button.
To open a saved forecast, go to the top menu and click the Forecasting link. The page displays a table of saved records. Click a file name to open the forecast.
If you open a saved forecast and receive an error message, update the start and end dates in the date range. illumin Forecasting saves the settings but does not auto-update the date range.
Troubleshooting
If the Generate forecast button does not produce results, confirm that each Tactic row includes a Tactic type selection and either a Budget field value or a Max CPM field value.
If an error appears when opening a saved forecast, the Date range field likely contains past dates. Update the start and end dates in the Date range field and regenerate the forecast.
FAQs
Can I change the date range after I save a forecast?
Yes. Click the Date range field in the saved forecast, update the start and end dates, and regenerate the forecast results.
Why do I see an error when opening a saved forecast?
The saved Date range field may include past dates. Update the date range and regenerate the forecast to resolve the error.
Do I need to add targeting at the tactic level?
No. Tactics inherit campaign-level targeting by default. Add tactic-level targeting only if additional refinement is required.