Setting the right price for ad space, and automating weekly client reports

The situation

Websites make money by selling space for adverts. A digital advertising business managed that space for publishers, and clients expected regular updates on how it was doing.

The problem

There were two challenges. The first was pricing. Every ad slot has a minimum price below which it shouldn't be sold. Set it too high and slots go unsold, set it too low and money is left on the table. The second was reporting. Clients wanted weekly reports tailored to them, and building each one by hand took a lot of time and left room for mistakes.

What we did

For pricing, the team analysed how each ad slot had performed in the past, and used that to find a sensible minimum price for each one, rather than applying one rule to everything.

For reporting, they built a small web tool that produced each client's weekly report automatically, in the format that client wanted.

The outcome

The automated reports saved 208 hours a year, and removed many chances for manual errors, so the reports were more accurate. Each ad slot now had a minimum price based on its own history.

What it meant for the business

The team spent less time producing reports and more time on advice that clients valued, and pricing decisions were based on evidence.

Could this work for you?

If you produce the same report for different people every week, there's a good chance a tool can do it for you. And if you set prices by gut feel, your own sales history can show how close you are.