Placement Quality & Post-Campaign Audit

Settled figures and the final placement list become available after the campaign ends.

The live dashboard helps with pacing, but it isn't the final account of what happened. After the campaign closes, we review every placement, wait for viewability and invalid-traffic credits to settle, and check final fees against the agreed supply path. The closing report reconciles those findings and turns them into specific changes for the next campaign. The only post-campaign report you've seen is a screenshot of the dashboard everyone watched during flight.

A closing report built from settled evidence, with the live dashboard kept as context.

A closing report reconciling a full placement list, settled viewability credits, and final fees against the original plan

Some of the 500+ brands we've worked with

See all references
  • Hyundai
  • Abdi İbrahim
  • Madame Coco
  • TRT
  • Peak Games
  • BAT

How the work runs

Start the closing audit when the figures stop moving

We mark which exports are final, note what the review found and attach each approved change to the next plan. AI may reconcile placement and billing exports. The media lead and client owner interpret the results and sign off on the closing report.

How we hold ourselves to it

  • Settled delivery goes back against the plan
  • The full placement list gets reviewed
  • Viewability and invalid-traffic credits wait until they settle
  • Each finding becomes a change for the next campaign

  1. Pull final, settled data

    Wait for delivery, viewability, invalid-traffic, and billing data to fully settle, then pull the complete export after the mid-flight numbers have stopped moving.

    Settled delivery, viewability, invalid-traffic and billing export pulled after the numbers stopped moving.

    AI assist
    Confirms which data sources have fully settled and flags any still pending.
    Human gate
    Media lead confirms the data is final before the audit starts.
    Owners
    Media lead + ad ops specialist

  2. Review the full placement list

    Review every placement where impressions ran and flag anything that does not match the approved suitability and targeting settings.

    Reviewed placement list with every entry outside the approved suitability and targeting settings flagged.

    AI assist
    Clusters the placement export and flags entries outside the approved settings.
    Human gate
    A reviewer confirms flagged placements before they're treated as a finding.
    Owners
    Placement reviewer + media lead

  3. Reconcile viewability and invalid-traffic credits

    Check the final viewability rate and any invalid-traffic credits against the invoice, and confirm they match what the platform and verification data show.

    Reconciliation of final viewability and invalid-traffic credits against the invoice.

    AI assist
    Cross-references credits and viewability against platform exports and flags mismatches.
    Human gate
    Media lead confirms any unresolved gap before it goes in the report.
    Owners
    Media lead + verification vendor

  4. Reconcile fees against the supply path

    Check the final fees paid against the supply path and vendor agreements in place, and flag anything that drifted from what was agreed.

    Fee reconciliation against the supply path and vendor agreements, with drift flagged.

    AI assist
    Runs the fee reconciliation and drafts the exception list.
    Human gate
    Media lead reviews unexplained fee gaps with the client owner.
    Owners
    Media lead + client owner

  5. Compare delivery to the original plan

    Set final delivery, pacing, reach, and frequency against the plan agreed at launch, and write down where it matched and where it didn't.

    Plan-versus-actual comparison of delivery, pacing, reach and frequency.

    AI assist
    Builds the plan-versus-actual comparison from approved records.
    Human gate
    Media lead signs off on the comparison before it's finalized.
    Owners
    Media lead + analytics lead

  6. Write the closing report and the next-plan changes

    Turn every finding into a specific recommendation for the next campaign that a reader can act on.

    Closing report turning each finding into a specific change for the next campaign.

    AI assist
    Drafts the closing report and recommendation list from the approved findings.
    Human gate
    Media lead and client owner agree the next plan's changes.
    Owners
    Media lead + client owner

What lands with your team

Close the campaign with a report people can use

The final document uses settled figures and gives each finding a specific recommendation for the next campaign.

  • Placement review record

    The full placement list reviewed against approved settings, with every flagged entry and its resolution.

    Accepted when

    The full placement list was reviewed against approved settings, and every flagged entry carries its resolution.

    Cadence: Once data settles

  • Viewability and credit reconciliation

    Final viewability rates and invalid-traffic credits checked against the invoice, with any unresolved gap stated.

    Accepted when

    Final rates and credits are checked against the invoice, and any unresolved gap is stated rather than absorbed.

    Cadence: With closing report

  • Fee reconciliation summary

    Final fees checked against the agreed supply path, with any drift explained or flagged.

    Accepted when

    Final fees are set against the agreed supply path, and every drift is explained or flagged.

    Cadence: With closing report

  • Plan-versus-actual closing report

    Where delivery, pacing, reach, and frequency matched the original plan, and specific changes recommended for the next campaign.

    Accepted when

    Every finding is labeled confirmed, disputed or unresolved and tied to a specific change for the next plan.

    Cadence: Once per campaign

Before the work starts

When this work is the right next step

A healthy live dashboard still needs a closing reconciliation. A dashboard may show healthy pacing and a strong completion rate while the placement list sits unopened. Viewability figures can still move, and a fee may no longer match the original agreement. Once the data settles, the closing audit puts those final figures back against the approved plan.

A good fit when

  • The campaign has closed and its delivery, viewability, invalid-traffic, and billing figures have settled, so the audit can use final exports.
  • A clean summary looks complete, but the full placement list has not been checked against the approved suitability and targeting settings.
  • The next media plan is still open to change, so a confirmed placement, fee, or credit finding can alter the campaign that follows.
  • The "post-campaign report" is a screenshot of the same live dashboard, taken a week later.
  • Nobody has looked at the actual list of where impressions ran, only a top-line summary.
  • Viewability and invalid-traffic credits get mentioned but never reconciled against the final invoice.
  • The same mistake shows up in the next campaign because nothing from the last one got written down.

Better handled as other work when

  • The campaign is still mid-flight. It needs a pacing and delivery review before any closing audit.
  • The audit is expected to confirm a number chosen in advance, so settled delivery and invoice evidence would not be allowed to change the conclusion.
  • No settled, final data is available yet. Credits, viewability, and invalid-traffic adjustments often take time to finalize.

People who own a single channel

Paid Search, Paid Social, CRO, and Programmatic each run under a named owner at Zeo. The consultants below are matched to the channel this page is about, so you can see who you'd actually work with.

Tools we use

Tools behind this work

  • Integral Ad Science

    the settled viewability read the closing audit waits for, measured to the MRC standard both sides recognize

  • The Trade Desk

    the supply-path record the fee reconciliation checks the invoice against

Wait for the final numbers

Reconcile the campaign after the data settles

When the required figures are final, we compare delivery, viewability, fees and placements with the original plan, then write down what should change next.
Plan a closing audit

The questions we hear most

Viewability, invalid-traffic credits, and final billing often keep adjusting for a while after a campaign ends. A mid-flight audit checks numbers that haven't finished moving. We wait for those figures to settle, then pull the complete exports. That gives the closing audit a stable basis for the plan-versus-actual review.