Together with our online survey provider (measures demographic reach and frequency for VW Campaigns), we constructed a setup where we used their existing panel to ask a subset of their panelists (n= 19.426) the question if they "were likely to buy a new car within the next 12 months" and gave them the following response options;

Definitely (n=1.076), Likely (n= 1.751), No (n=14.497), Don't know (n=2.102)

We then grouped the panelists answering Definitely or Likely and set them as the definition of the in-market audience. Via the survey tool we were now able to extract the share of impressions served to the in-market group on line-Item level in the ongoing programmatic campaign.

By extracting the adserving & RTB logs and merging them with the panel measured media buys we could ingest cost and viewability data, creating a new way of measuring and optimizing the line-items. This became the new currency "cost per viewable in-market impression" or CPM-ii.

We were now able to optimize using the new currency, finding the lowest cost per viewable in-market impression per media buy / programmatic line-item.

But we were also able to get new insights. Some retargeting strategies had low in-market share. Digging deeper we could see that many users visiting the front page continued to repairs/service elements on the site, there was also a segment which was just very interested in new cars, but not planning to buy. this pattern was also seen on automotive sites, which led us to change buying tactics, only retargeting people not visiting current owner pages & on automotive sites prioritizing users who did not just read the car-news.

Because we used data from actual panelists we had additional background information which allowed for a much better twinning audience, going beyond online behavior, factoring in demographics. As a bonus the panelists ID's could be used as a seed audience for Facebook twinning.

Prior to starting the project, in-market impression share was 15% (May). Via optimization and use of the customized twinned audiences reached at 22% in December. Meaning that 22% of all impressions delivered on the ongoing track is now in front of claimed in-market car buyers, not inferred.

The CPMii (in-market/in-view) is indexing as low as 72 (December).

Below is the progress data for the optimization of viewable in-market cost.

In-Market Share Cost (CPM-ii) index

MAY 15% 100.0

JUN 16% 94.1

JUL 19% 78.1

AUG 20% 73.1

SEP 19% 79.4

OCT 21% 67.1

NOV 21% 74.4

DEC 22% 72.3

Cost per action (defined as: complete online car-configurator, ordering test-drive, brochure-download) have improved as a by-product of using the data..

December cost per action index was at 58.2 compared to May, even though it is one of the hardest months to sell cars.

The below results have not been skewed by doing a lesser, more precise media investment as allocated monthly budget has increased since May and now indexing at 116 (May/December).