3.1.1 Ad Specs

Ad specs, a combination of site, placement, and ad type, are items of your inventory. They are the products you are selling which you can add to a media campaign. Stored in your inventory database, you can easily add them to a media campaign using the media search. You can create ad specs manually, using the 3.2 Ad Spec & Rates Manager or the 3.4 Inventory and Rates Manager

Watch this video to get an idea about how to Create & Connect Ad Specs.

The record of an ad spec stores product relevant information such as naming, key values, discount limitations, and standard frequency capping. For print items it also holds the sizing information. Its related lists provide further information, i.e. on prices. 


Ad Spec Fields

The main information are the three building blocks of a product:

  • Site
  • Placement
  • Ad Type

The Ad Spec will have to reference to the three building blocks of each ad spec: Site - Placement - Ad Type. Additionally you can use Brands to further classify your inventory. 

General Information

The upper part of the record holds the general information about the ad spec.


  • Ad Spec Name
  • Product search Name
  • External Name
  • Use External Name on PDF: If checked the external name will be used on the PDF documents, if that one is not filled the adspec name is used. 


  • Brand
  • Product Account Number
  • Non-Media: You have the option to mark this product as a Non-Media Product. Learn more about 4.2.6.3 Non-Media Products here.
  • One Flight Per Size
  • Short Description
  • Long Description
  • Description on PDF: This line will be seen in a separate row on the PDF under the actual product: 7.5.5.3 Fields used in Columns and Rows in PDF table. Can be used to inform the customer about the products sizes, bleed or other information relevant externally. 

The record type of an ad spec states if it is a

  • single ad spec (Standard) or a 
  • package, consisting of multiple components. 


Print and Exclusivity Fields

If you are selling a print or related product, you can enter the

  • height and
  • width, and
  • set bleed and bleed amount of the product here, alternatively enter the
  • number of columns. Then choose the
  • price calculation type to allow for an adequate price calculation in the Media Config. 


Version 2.95 and up

Alternatively to managing bleed in your AdType you can set it here now. This will give you a greater flexibility to organize different setting for the same Ad Type and pass this to your flat planning system. The formula field effective bleed amount in your AdSpec will check whether bleed is set in the AdSpec otherwise lookup the AdType value. 


Set the

Targeting and Frequency Capping

If this product is made for a specific targeting group you can select it here. You can also set a fix frequency capping which always will get send to your adserver. Use the field KeyValues if necessary: With these you can narrow down the possible sites on which this ad spec will be displayed. For example, if you add LANG=DE as a key value, this information will be transferred to your ad server when you book a campaign containing this item. If possible, the ad server will then limit the transmission of this ad spec to German sites.

Learn more about Frequency Capping which you can preset here or define in the Media Configuration.

Billing Information

In ad spec record you can disable your sales from giving out certain discounts. The same way we have fields for all other discounts so that you can also limit your SalesReps to assign

  • No Customer Discount,
  • No Agency Discounts,
  • No Quantity Discounts,
  • No Agency Earnings/Commission,
  • No Third Party Commission.

If you are using the VAT calculation make sure that the


You can also preset the following fields here:

  • Invoicing at End of Runtime: defines that the invoicing is always at the END of the runtime for this item, instead of using the period of the runtime.
  • Exclude From Publisher Payout: If you don't want to have this payed out to your Publishers
  • Delivery Data Based Revenue Distribution: which defines how your Accounting Records are created if using Revenue Distribution.

Related Lists

ADServer IDs (Digital)

Most importantly make sure to link at least one ADServer ID. Read more here 3.2.3 Predefined AdServer Targeting for Products: Connect Ad Specs via Ad Server IDs.  Alternatively you can use the related list or the wizard 3.2 Ad Spec & Rates Manager.