Digital ad sales today is all about continuous optimisation, rapid response, and precise forecasting. Decisions must be based on a comprehensive view of sales to support long-term business growth. However, gaining that big-picture view is difficult when data is scattered across multiple systems. Instead, all sales data should be easily and instantly accessible in one place.
A comprehensive view means knowing what’s been sold, to whom, at what price, and why. It also means understanding what’s coming next. Without reliable, up-to-date sales data, managing ad sales becomes impossible. Data helps you stay on top of things, detect changes early, and make decisions based on facts—not guesswork. Above all, it’s about control. Control that stays in your hands—not in the hands of buyers, the market, or technology. In this blog post, we’ll discuss four key ways sales data helps you stay in control and lead your ad sales more effectively.
How to Measure and Compare Ad Sales Performance
Improving ad sales starts with understanding the current situation. Without a baseline for comparison, it's impossible to know where you're headed—or what needs to change. Performance analysis provides a snapshot of where you stand and points the way forward. Year-over-year comparisons quickly reveal whether sales are growing or declining and in which channels the changes are occurring. Even more critical is understanding the reasons behind those shifts. Are they due to a drop in direct sales, an increase in deal volume, or a change in programmatic sales focus?
Expanding the comparison to SSP and site level gives more profound insights into which units are performing and which are lagging. For example, changes in fill rate over different periods can indicate whether inventory has increased or demand has weakened. These findings help identify strengths, address weaknesses, and allocate resources where they’ll have the most significant impact. It's not just about reacting—it's about continuously improving. Monitoring performance is key to data-driven development and sustainable growth in ad sales.
How to Forecast Advertising Sales?
Forecasting is a vital part of advertising sales work. Historical data provides a solid foundation for planning and making better decisions. By analysing past sales data and trends, seasonal fluctuations, advertiser behaviour patterns, and other factors influencing sales can be identified. More accurate forecasts make preparing for upcoming campaign periods easier and create realistic budgets.
Imagine a scenario where you're responsible for ad sales and must draft a budget for the next quarter. Based on sales history, you can evaluate how different advertisers have purchased ad space during similar periods in the past and what types of campaigns they have run. This information helps you anticipate future revenue and plan your budget accordingly. Forecasting becomes significantly more manageable when you have a tool that automatically leverages sales data and generates forecasts for you—quickly and reliably.
How Can Pricing Strategies be Optimised Using Data?
Pricing digital advertising is no longer guesswork — it’s a precise game where data leads the way. A comprehensive view of historical ad sales data can transform prices from mere numbers into a real competitive advantage. Imagine you’re in charge of optimising programmatic ad sales for a digital media company. With data, you can see how different pricing strategies have performed in various situations: what worked last year, when pricing drove buyers away, and where you succeeded in maximising revenue.
For example, you can analyse last year’s eCPM rates for the same period and compare them to the current demand landscape. This allows you to set floor prices at a level that attracts buyers without leaving money on the table. Sales data also reveals how customer segments and market conditions respond to pricing. You may discover that certain placements are particularly desirable in specific situations — offering an opportunity to refine your strategy and price according to value. It’s not just about optimisation — it’s about continuous evolution, where data, market insight, and technology work together. When these elements align, you get a pricing strategy that doesn’t just follow the market — it shapes it.
How to Identify the Most Promising Advertisers?
Success in ad sales isn’t just about the number of contacts – it’s about identifying the right ones. Sales data is a powerful tool for this. By analysing past campaigns, buying behaviour, and performance, you can pinpoint which advertisers and market segments deliver the most value – and where your sales efforts should be focused next. For example, sales teams can review whether certain advertisers have purchased directly, programmatically, or via deals in previous years. This makes identifying the clients worth contacting for new campaign opportunities easier.
Sales data also reveals seasonal patterns and shifts in customer behaviour. You can approach advertisers at precisely the right time by recognising when specific industries become active. Maybe certain brands are traditionally strong in the fall – now you can reach out before your competitors do. This is proactive selling driven by insight, not guesswork. With up-to-date data and the ability to leverage it effectively, you can build a strategy that doesn’t just react to the market – it stays one step ahead.
Make the Most of Your Sales Data with Relevant Yield
Leveraging sales data requires powerful data collection, analysis, and visualisation tools. At Relevant Digital, we don’t just offer SaaS solutions to publishers and ad sales networks—we also use them in our daily operations.
We asked our CEO, Petri Kokkonen, to share how he uses Relevant Yield data in his day-to-day work:
"Overall, Relevant Yield gives me a clear and comprehensive view of the current state and performance of ad sales. The year-over-year view lets me quickly assess how we’re doing right now. By looking at growth percentages, I can track sales trends and compare the share of different sales channels—such as direct sales, deals, and programmatic. In addition, site-level and SSP-level performance is clearly visible, which helps identify and address anomalies early on.
I also appreciate the ability to log changes, like new Prebid version updates, which allows me to evaluate how those changes might affect sales. The visual dashboard makes it easy to spot if a site is underperforming and needs attention.
Advertiser-side investments are also clearly visible in the reports, giving me valuable insights into how different industries are buying ads. If I were in charge of a sales team, I would definitely take advantage of the insights Relevant Yield provides—both about our own clients and their competitors. This kind of data is invaluable when evaluating team performance and supporting sales.”.
How Can You Leverage Data in Ad Sales?
Dive deeper into the opportunities Relevant Yield offers for improving data utilisation, inventory monetisation, and the overall level of reporting. When you're ready to advance your analysis and decision-making, Relevant AI provides a smart assistant that delivers insights, recommendations, and key takeaways directly to you. You can, for example, ask which advertisers bought programmatically last week, which SSP performed best on a specific site, or how a recent change impacted eCPM levels. Relevant AI processes all of this instantly and presents the answers. If you'd like to learn more, don’t hesitate to get in touch!