Budget pacing
Budget pacing in the Business area (Marketing ROI) — route /business/budget-pacing.
Budget pacing lives in the Business area of the dashboard, under Marketing ROI.
At a glance#
| Dashboard route | /business/budget-pacing |
| Area | Business (business) |
| Group | Marketing ROI |
| Platforms | Available for every app platform. |
What it does#
Budget pacing compares each campaign's monthly budget against its month-to-date spend and reports a pace signal: over, under, or on track.
Budgets are not set here — they are defined on Cost & ROAS, and this page reads them. It shares its data source with that page, so the spend figures agree.
When to use it#
Mid-month, on a routine. Pacing is a time-sensitive metric: knowing on the 12th that a campaign will overshoot lets you adjust; knowing on the 1st of next month lets you write it up.
Under-pacing deserves equal attention and rarely gets it. A campaign that spends 60% of its budget is a campaign that delivered 60% of the growth you planned for, and nobody notices because nothing went wrong.
Workflow#
Read pace, not spend
A campaign that has spent half its budget on the 15th is exactly on track. The absolute number tells you nothing without the date.
Check the over-pacing campaigns against their ROAS
Over-pacing on a channel with excellent return is a budget that is too small, not a problem. Over-pacing on a poor one is a leak.
Chase under-pacing too
Ask why. Usually a bid or an audience constraint, and it is opportunity you already budgeted for.
Adjust budgets on Cost & ROAS
This page reports; that page configures.
Permissions and prerequisites#
Requires ad-spend data from connected sources, and budgets defined on Cost & ROAS. A campaign with no budget set has nothing to pace against.
Limits and edge cases#
Spend arrives on the ad platform's schedule, so today's figure is usually incomplete. Late in the month this matters less; early it matters a lot.
Ad platforms restate spend. A pace signal can change without you doing anything.
Monthly budgets against a calendar month. A campaign that started mid-month will read as under-pacing for its whole first month.
Pace says nothing about performance. A campaign perfectly on track can be wasting all of it — that question is ROAS.
Troubleshooting#
A campaign shows no pace. No budget is set for it. Set one on Cost & ROAS.
Spend looks lower than the ad platform reports. Reporting lag. Compare again tomorrow.
Everything is under-pacing. Check whether spend has synced at all before assuming a delivery problem.
Where the data comes from#
Served by
Business impact