Purpose

Note: Combined Creative is an alpha feature and subject to 

This guide explains how to report Combined Creative activity from three perspectives:

1. Publisher / client reporting — what a channel or source delivered and earned.
2. Advertiser / campaign reporting — what an advertiser campaign delivered, generated, and how its profitability is evaluated.
3. Internal billing and performance reporting — what is billable at the supply level, what portion was Combined Creative activity, and how to evaluate margin.

The key rule is:

A Combined Creative is one publisher response, even when it contains multiple advertiser creatives.

A single Combined Creative therefore produces different valid impression counts depending on the reporting perspective:

• A publisher/channel sees one Channel Impression.
• Each advertiser/campaign creative inside that Combined Creative can receive an advertiser-facing Impression.
• As a result, advertiser/campaign Impressions can be greater than Channel Impressions.

Summary

1. What should a publisher or channel client use?

Use Channel Impression and Channel Revenue.

• Channel Impression is the final publisher-facing delivery total.
• It includes normal ad delivery plus Combined Creative delivery.
• A Combined Creative counts as one Channel Impression.
• Combined Creative Impressions is a subset of Channel Impression, not an additional total.
• Use this view to reconcile delivery with the publisher’s channel/source ad server, subject to the same reporting period, timezone, source scope, reporting latency, invalid-traffic treatment, and discrepancy methodology.

2. What should an advertiser use?

Use Impressions, Advertiser Revenue, and advertiser/campaign-level reporting.

• An advertiser receives an Impression for its underlying creative delivery.
• If two advertiser creatives are stitched into one Combined Creative, the publisher sees one Channel Impression while the advertiser/campaign layer can record two Impressions.
• Advertiser/campaign reporting can be used to evaluate delivery, advertiser revenue, allocated channel-side cost, and Margin % where those metrics are available in the report.
• The current reporting experience does not provide a validated breakout showing how many impressions for a specific advertiser/campaign were served as normal delivery versus as part of a Combined Creative.

3. What should internal billing use?

Use Channel Impression and/or Channel Revenue.

• For impression-based supply billing, use Channel Impression.
• For revenue-share or supply-revenue billing, use Channel Revenue.
• Use Combined Creative metrics as a breakout of the total, not as incremental delivery or revenue.

Key Concepts

What is a Combined Creative?

A Combined Creative combines two or more eligible advertiser creatives into one playable ad experience.

For example:

• Advertiser A contributes one 15-second creative.
• Advertiser B contributes one 15-second creative.
• The platform stitches them into one 30-second playable media asset.
• The publisher receives one ad response and delivers one ad experience to the viewer.
• Each advertiser’s underlying creative can still be counted in advertiser/campaign reporting.

Combined Creatives may contain two, three, or more participating creatives. The publisher-facing count remains one Channel Impression for each completed combined ad response.

Why do Channel Impression and Impressions differ?

The metrics answer different questions.

A Combined Creative can generate multiple advertiser/campaign Impressions but only one Channel Impression.

Canonical Reporting Rules

Rule 1: Channel Impression is the publisher-facing delivery total

For publisher, channel, source, and supply-side billing reporting:

Total Supply Impressions = Channel Impression

Channel Impression includes:

• Standard, non-combined creative delivery.
• Combined Creative delivery, counted once per combined response.

Do not use generic Impressions as the publisher-facing delivery total.

Rule 2: Combined Creative Impressions are included in Channel Impression

Combined Creative Impressions ⊆ Channel Impression

Do not calculate total supply delivery as:

Channel Impression + Combined Creative Impressions

That would count Combined Creative delivery twice.

To calculate normal, non-combined supply delivery:

Non-Combined Channel Impressions = Channel Impression − Combined Creative Impressions

Rule 3: Channel Revenue is the supply-side revenue total

For publisher revenue, supply reconciliation, and revenue-share reporting:

Total Supply Revenue = Channel Revenue

Combined Creative Revenue is a breakout within Channel Revenue.

Combined Creative Revenue ⊆ Channel Revenue

Do not calculate total supply revenue as:

Channel Revenue + Combined Creative Revenue

To calculate revenue from non-combined delivery:

Non-Combined Channel Revenue = Channel Revenue − Combined Creative Revenue

Rule 4: Generic Impressions are advertiser/campaign oriented

The existing Impressions metric remains useful for advertiser and campaign reporting.

However, it is not a publisher-facing unique-ad-experience metric. When a Combined Creative contains multiple advertiser creatives, Impressions can include multiple campaign delivery events for one publisher-visible response.

Do not use generic Impressions for:

• Publisher/channel ad-server reconciliation.
• Source-level impression billing.
• Channel eCPM calculations.
• Adding to or subtracting from Channel Impression to create supply totals.
• Inferring advertiser-level Combined Creative participation.

Rule 5: Do not infer advertiser-level combo participation

Do not use the following calculations to determine how much Combined Creative delivery belongs to an individual advertiser or campaign:

Impressions − Channel Impression

Combined Creative Impressions / number of advertisers

Combined Creative Revenue / number of advertisers

Channel Impression + Combined Creative Impressions

These calculations do not provide a validated advertiser-level or campaign-level allocation of Combined Creative participation.

The reporting system can support advertiser/campaign delivery and profitability analysis through its displayed advertiser/campaign metrics and allocated channel-side economics. However, the current reporting experience does not provide a definitive per-campaign field showing:

• How many campaign impressions were normal, non-combined delivery.
• How many campaign impressions participated in a Combined Creative.
• How much Combined Creative Revenue belongs to that specific advertiser/campaign.

A campaign-level Combined Creative participation metric, such as Combined Creative Wins, is a future enhancement rather than a current reporting field.

Metric Definitions

Worked Example

Example delivery

Assume the following activity occurred on one source during one reporting period:

• 80 normal, non-combined ad experiences were served.
• 20 Combined Creatives were served.
• Each Combined Creative contained two advertiser creatives.
• The source delivered 100 total publisher-visible ad experiences.

Supply-side results

Advertiser/campaign results

The publisher sees 100 ads because 20 stitched units count once each.

Advertiser/campaign reporting can show 120 total underlying creative delivery events because each of the 20 combined units contains two advertiser creatives.

Therefore:

Channel Impression = 100

Impressions = 120

Both values are correct because they measure different things.

What this example does not prove

This example does not mean that every advertiser can identify exactly which of its 120 impressions were part of Combined Creatives.

The platform can report advertiser/campaign delivery and profitability using advertiser/campaign metrics and allocated channel-side economics. However, it does not currently expose a validated per-advertiser breakdown such as:

Do not create this breakdown through arithmetic assumptions or equal allocation.

Publisher / Client Reporting

Use this report when

Use this view when a publisher, channel owner, source owner, or supply-side client asks:

• How many ads did my channel or source serve?
• What revenue did my channel or source generate?
• How much delivery was served through Combined Creatives?
• How much revenue came from Combined Creatives?
• Does the delivery count align with my channel/source?

Recommended report dimensions

Recommended metrics

• Channel Impression
• Channel Revenue
• Channel eCPM
• Combined Creative Impressions
• Combined Creative Revenue
• Combined Creative RPM

How to read the report

Step 1: Identify total publisher delivery

Use Channel Impression.

Total Publisher Delivery = Channel Impression

This is the publisher-facing total and the intended reconciliation metric for the channel/source ad server.

Step 2: Identify Combined Creative delivery

Use Combined Creative Impressions.

Combined Creative Delivery = Combined Creative Impressions

This value is already included in Channel Impression.

Step 3: Calculate normal delivery

Non-Combined Channel Impressions = Channel Impression − Combined Creative Impressions

Step 4: Identify total supply revenue

Use Channel Revenue.

Total Supply Revenue = Channel Revenue

Step 5: Identify Combined Creative revenue

Use Combined Creative Revenue.

Non-Combined Channel Revenue = Channel Revenue − Combined Creative Revenue

Step 6: Validate supply monetization

Channel eCPM = (Channel Revenue / Channel Impression) x 1000

The calculated result should align with the displayed Channel eCPM, subject to report rounding.

Publisher reconciliation conditions

Channel Impression is the intended publisher-facing metric. A comparison to an external channel/source ad server should use the same:

• Reporting start and end dates.
• Timezone.
• Channel and source scope.
• Traffic filters and invalid-traffic treatment.
• Reporting latency or data-finalization window.
• Delivery-event definition and discrepancy policy.

A small difference can occur if these conditions differ. Generic Impressions should not be substituted for Channel Impression in this validation.

Advertiser / Campaign Reporting

Use this report when

Use this view when an advertiser, campaign manager, sales team, or internal team asks:

• How many impressions did an advertiser or campaign receive?
• What advertiser revenue or spend is associated with the campaign?
• What is the advertiser or campaign eCPM?
• Is the campaign profitable after allocated channel-side cost?
• Does advertiser/campaign delivery reconcile to advertiser-side reporting?

Recommended report dimensions

• Date
• Client
• Advertiser
• Campaign

Optionally add Channel and Source for diagnostic analysis when the question requires supply-path detail. Do not use an advertiser/campaign-sliced report as the final source-level publisher reconciliation total.

Recommended metrics

• Impressions
• Advertiser Revenue
• Advertiser eCPM
• Channel Revenue or allocated channel-side cost, where available
• Channel eCPM, where available at the selected reporting grain
• Margin %

How to read the report

Step 1: Identify advertiser delivery

Use Impressions.

Advertiser/Campaign Delivery = Impressions

This represents underlying advertiser/campaign creative delivery, not publisher-visible unique ads.

Step 2: Identify advertiser revenue or spend

Use Advertiser Revenue.

Advertiser eCPM = (Advertiser Revenue / Impressions) x 1000

Step 3: Review allocated channel-side economics

When an advertiser/campaign report includes channel-side revenue or cost metrics, use the values displayed by the reporting system.

For a Combined Creative involving multiple campaigns, the channel-side amount can be distributed across participating creatives. As a result, a channel rate or cost shown in campaign-level reporting may differ from the flat source-level channel rate.

Use the displayed allocation and Margin % for campaign profitability analysis. Do not manually recreate the allocation by dividing Combo totals among advertisers.

Step 4: Understand the Combined Creative limitation

The advertiser/campaign report can answer:

• How many campaign impressions were delivered.
• What advertiser revenue is associated with the campaign.
• What allocated channel-side economics and margin are associated with the campaign.

The report cannot currently answer, with a validated dedicated metric:

• How many impressions for this campaign were normal, non-combined delivery.
• How many impressions for this campaign participated in a Combined Creative.
• How much of this campaign’s advertiser revenue was specifically Combined Creative revenue.

This is why an advertiser/campaign report should not be expected to tie one-to-one with the publisher’s Channel Impression count.

Note on single-source stitched campaigns: If an individual campaign delivered exclusively as part of stitched Combined Creatives, its supply impression is credited to the stitched unit (Row 0), meaning its line may show 0 for Channel Impression while still reflecting its delivered Impressions, allocated Channel Revenue, and Margin %.

Internal Billing and Performance Reporting

Use this report when

Use this view when the platform, operations team, finance team, or client account owner needs to answer:

• What supply delivery is billable?
• What supply revenue is billable or payable?
• What portion of delivery was Combined Creative activity?
• What portion of revenue came from Combined Creatives?
• What was normal delivery versus Combined Creative delivery?
• Is advertiser/campaign activity profitable?

Supply billing report

Recommended dimensions

• Date
• Client
• Channel
• Source

Recommended metrics

• Channel Impression
• Channel Revenue
• Combined Creative Impressions
• Combined Creative Revenue
• Channel eCPM
• Combined Creative RPM

Impression-based supply billing

For agreements based on delivered supply impressions:

Billable Supply Impressions = Channel Impression

Revenue-share supply billing

For agreements based on supply revenue:

Billable Supply Revenue = Channel Revenue

Combined Creative mix

Combined Creative Mix % = (Combined Creative Impressions / Channel Impression) × 100

Non-Combined Channel Impressions = Channel Impression − Combined Creative Impressions

Non-Combined Channel Revenue = Channel Revenue − Combined Creative Revenue

Campaign profitability report

Recommended dimensions

• Date
• Client
• Advertiser
• Campaign

Recommended metrics

• Impressions
• Advertiser Revenue
• Advertiser eCPM
• Allocated Channel Revenue or channel-side cost, where available
• Margin %

Use this report to evaluate campaign delivery, advertiser-side revenue, allocated supply economics, and profitability.

Do not use the source-level Combined Creative metrics to manually allocate cost, revenue, or Combined Creative participation to individual advertisers or campaigns.

System Aggregate / N/A Advertiser Rows

In some report configurations, the system may expose a Combined Creative aggregate row using a placeholder such as:

• Advertiser ID = 0
• Advertiser Name = N/A
• Campaign ID = 0
• Blank campaign name
• Another system-level placeholder value

This row should be interpreted as a system-level aggregate for Combined Creative activity at the selected supply scope. The Advertiser ID = 0 isolates the combo volume in the dedicated Combined creative impressions and Combined creative revenue columns, displaying $0.00 in the standard Channel Revenue column.

It is not:

• A real advertiser.
• A real campaign.
• A separate amount to add to Channel Impression.
• A separate amount to add to Channel Revenue.
• A validated advertiser-level allocation of Combined Creative delivery or revenue.

Reporting Decision Guide

Final Reporting Principles

1. Publisher-facing delivery is Channel Impression. It counts one delivered ad experience per Combined Creative, regardless of how many advertiser creatives are included.
2. Advertiser-facing delivery is Impressions. t can count multiple underlying campaign creatives within one publisher-visible Combined Creative.
3. Combined Creative metrics are subsets, not additions. Do not add Combined Creative Impressions to Channel Impression or Combined Creative Revenue to Channel Revenue.
4. Use the report that matches the reporting audience. Publisher reconciliation, advertiser billing, and internal profitability are different questions and require different dimensions and metrics.
5. Do not infer advertiser-level combo participation. Use the system’s advertiser/campaign reporting and allocated economics for profitability; do not create a manual solo-versus-combo allocation.
6. Confirm current metric labels and report behavior in production. Exact field names and placeholder-row behavior can vary by reporting release, report location, and environment.

Future Enhancements