Before renewing your dealership’s streaming advertising, establish whether the placements you purchased matched the media order. An impression count, the number of recorded ad deliveries, establishes volume but does not confirm that your ads reached the agreed screens or locations.
The renewal review should begin with the purchase agreement and end with written answers to any discrepancies. Keep that work separate from evaluating sales results: evidence that an ad ran where it should have is different from evidence that it influenced a vehicle purchase.
Start with the order, especially screen restrictions
Locate the insertion order, the document specifying the advertising purchase, along with any amendments you approved in writing. Use those documents as the standard for the review rather than the seller’s presentation or a campaign label such as streaming television.
For a television-only purchase, device type is the highest-priority check because it tests a central condition of the order. Connected TV, or CTV, means television viewing through an internet-connected television or attached streaming device; an agreement that also permits phones and computers covers a broader purchase.
Record the permitted publishers, the companies supplying the advertising inventory, and the named apps or services. Include exclusions as well as permissions, then document the geographic boundaries and any dayparts, the time blocks during which delivery was allowed. The applicable time zone belongs beside those restrictions.
Where the agreement is silent, mark the condition as unspecified rather than filling it in from memory. Ask the seller to clarify the contractual position in writing; your expectation of television-only delivery is not, by itself, evidence that the signed order required it.
Request placement detail with the associated spending
Request a delivery export covering the same billing period as the invoice. Each breakdown should include impressions and the corresponding spending, with unavailable fields identified rather than omitted without explanation.
- Device type: Separate television delivery from phones, tablets and computers. Start here when the order restricts screen types.
- Publisher and app: Request recognisable names and a key for any platform codes. These fields establish which services carried the ads.
- Geography: Ask for detail that can be compared with your specified towns, postal codes or other boundaries.
- Daypart: Request delivery dates and hours, or the agreed time blocks, with the reporting time zone stated.
- Programme: Request show-level detail where available. Treat it as a higher priority when the order contains programme-specific conditions.
The fields should also be available together where possible. Separate device and app totals cannot establish whether delivery on an approved app occurred on an approved screen; that requires a breakdown showing the relationship between them.
Reconcile each report’s total with the invoice and establish whether reported spending includes fees. Device and app reports may describe the same campaign from different angles, so their totals must not be added together. Request an explanation for any difference in the billing reconciliation.
Compare reported delivery with each agreed condition
Build a worksheet that places the contractual condition beside the reported result, with columns for impressions, spending and the outstanding question. Reference the supporting report and any approved amendment so the seller can locate the same evidence.
A phone-device row against a television-only order is a specific exception requiring an explanation. The same row may be compliant under a mixed-screen purchase. Likewise, an approved app name does not settle the device question if its television and mobile delivery remain grouped together.
Apply the comparison to publishers and geographic boundaries before examining time restrictions. Confirming the reporting time zone is a reconciliation step, not a finding of incorrect delivery; compare the hours only after the report and order use the same basis.
Prioritise confirmed exceptions by their associated spending, rather than treating every questionable row as equally consequential. Record precisely which condition appears to have been breached, and check for an authorised change before classifying the placement as outside the order.
Keep unverified delivery distinct from a confirmed mismatch
Missing information requires a different classification from evidence of incorrect placement. Mark the unsupported element as unverified, meaning the available records are insufficient to confirm compliance, rather than labelling it waste or fraud.
A missing programme name, for example, may leave a show-specific restriction unresolved while the app itself remains identifiable. If the order imposed no programme restriction, that missing field need not invalidate the app-level check. Match each conclusion to the evidence that actually supports it.
Ask why the information is unavailable and whether another record can substantiate the disputed condition. Record spending associated with unverified delivery when the seller can identify it; otherwise, leave the amount unknown. A reporting gap does not establish either that the placement was acceptable or that the money was wasted.
Resolve exceptions before approving the next purchase
Assign one person in your dealership to maintain the worksheet and collect the seller’s responses. Set a response deadline ahead of renewal, with each question tied to a report row, an order condition and the spending concerned.
A useful request identifies the discrepancy without assuming its cause: the order permits television devices, while the export categorises this delivery as mobile. Ask whether the category is a reporting error or reflects the actual placement, and request the record supporting the answer.
A corrected export addresses a reporting problem; a placement outside the agreement may require a different remedy. Check the contract before requesting an invoice adjustment or a makegood, replacement advertising provided to address a delivery shortfall. Retain the original report alongside every revision.
The next order should specify the reporting fields you expect and any acknowledged limits, including unavailable programme detail. Decide whether those limits are acceptable before committing more spending, rather than discovering at the next renewal that a condition cannot be checked.
Evaluate sales attribution on a separate track
Placement compliance answers whether the seller delivered the agreed purchase. Sales attribution, the method used to assign advertising credit for a purchase, addresses a different question. A campaign can meet its placement conditions without establishing that it influenced your dealership’s sales.
For any sales claim, request an explanation of how an advertising exposure was linked to a purchaser in your dealership records. Examine the attribution window, the period after exposure during which a purchase remains eligible for credit, and whether a click was required.
If the report uses view-through attribution, credit assigned after an impression without a click, distinguish that from a buyer who interacted with the ad. Also ask how the reporting handles a purchase claimed by another campaign; a matched customer record does not establish that the streaming ad caused the sale.
Keep separate findings in your renewal notes for placement compliance and the evidence behind sales claims. Reported sales should not close an unresolved placement exception, and a fully reconciled delivery report should not be treated as proof that the advertising helped sell vehicles.