On screenA delivery report tells you what your ads did on screens: where they ran, when they ran, and how that compares with what you planned to buy. If you are placing digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising for the first time, the report is the document that turns a plan into something you can check. This guide explains how to read one without over- or under-reading it.
It stays general on purpose. CETV Now has not published report formats, how often reports arrive or the full list of metrics, so ask the team what your specific report will include before you launch.
What a delivery report is for
A delivery report has one job: to show whether the campaign you bought was the campaign that ran. It is an accountability document for the media itself. It is not a scorecard for your offer, your creative or your sales.
For CETV Now, delivery is tracked and reported against CETV Now network data. Reporting includes venue-level impression reporting, real-time statistics and 24/7 campaign monitoring. CETV Now notes that results vary by campaign.
In practice, that means you can use the report for three things:
- Confirming placement: your ads ran in the markets, venue categories and venues you chose.
- Confirming timing: your ads ran on the schedule and dayparts (times of day) you set.
- Confirming volume: the amount delivered lines up with the amount you planned.
Reading delivery against the plan you bought
The most common mistake is reading a report cold. Without your original plan beside it, every number looks either fine or alarming. Keep the plan open and compare in a fixed order.
- 01
Start with the plan, not the report
Write down what you asked for: markets, venue categories or specific venues, schedule, dayparts and spend. If you used the DOOH campaign planning checklist, that document is your baseline.
- 02
Check where the ads ran
Confirm the markets and venue types match. CETV Now is live in Phoenix, Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville and Salt Lake City, with Miami coming soon. If you planned for a location outside those, availability is unconfirmed and worth an inquiry before you rely on it.
- 03
Check when the ads ran
Compare the report's timing to your start date, end date and any daypart targeting. A lunch-hour campaign that shows delivery mostly in the evening is a question for your account contact.
- 04
Check how much was delivered
Compare the delivered volume to what the plan was built around. Note the gap, in either direction, and write it down before you interpret it.
- 05
Note anything unexplained
List differences you cannot account for. These become your questions, covered below.
| Plan decision | What to look for in the report | What a gap might mean |
|---|---|---|
| Markets and venue categories | Whether delivery appears where you targeted | A targeting setting differs from what you intended, or availability changed |
| Schedule and dayparts | Whether delivery follows your start, end and time-of-day choices | A scheduling input was entered differently than you expected |
| Volume | Delivered amount versus planned amount | The plan was too ambitious or too conservative, or conditions shifted during the flight |
| Specific venues | Which venues carried the delivery | Some venues carried more of the load than you assumed |
Treat the right-hand column as hypotheses. The report alone rarely proves why a gap exists, which is why the questions section matters.
Venue-level detail and the bigger picture
CETV Now offers venue-level impression reporting. That is useful because venue-based media is bought by place. A dental office, a sports bar and an auto service lounge are different settings, and you will want to see which ones carried your campaign.
Use venue-level detail to look for patterns rather than to rank individual venues after a short flight. Ask:
- Did delivery concentrate in a few venues, or spread across many?
- Do the venues that carried the most match the categories you chose on purpose? The guide on how to choose venue categories for in-venue ads covers that decision.
- If you targeted by neighborhood or zip code, does the venue list sit inside your trade area?
Small differences between venues are normal and can come from many things, including the venue's own hours and traffic. One venue's low number rarely justifies a plan change. A consistent pattern across a whole category might.
It also helps to know what an impression is in general terms. The count is one input; how it is counted matters. CETV Now has not published how impressions are counted or verified in this material, so ask the team to explain it in plain language before you compare it with another channel's numbers.
What delivery does not tell you
Delivery is about the media running. It does not tell you whether anyone acted on the ad. Treat these as separate questions.
- Attention. A screen showing your ad is not proof someone watched it. The IAB's DOOH measurement guide distinguishes impression types such as Opportunity to See and Likelihood to See, which shows that the industry treats these as different things.
- Dwell time. CETV Now reports average dwell time of 15+ minutes across its network, based on CETV Now network data that is not third-party audited. Dwell time is how long people spend in a venue. It is not a measure of attention. See dwell time for how to use it.
- Business results. Delivery cannot say whether calls, visits, bookings or sales changed.
- Creative quality. A well-delivered campaign can still underperform if the message is unclear or the offer is weak.
Questions to ask when a number surprises you
A result higher or lower than you expected is information, not a verdict. Before you celebrate or cancel, collect facts.
If delivery is lower than planned
- Did the campaign start on the date you expected, and did it run the full schedule?
- Were your targeting settings (zip codes, venue categories, dayparts) narrower than the plan assumed?
- Was creative approved before it ran? Creative is submitted for review before it runs, so a review step can affect when delivery begins.
- Does the report cover the full period, or only part of it?
If delivery is higher than planned
- Did the plan allow flexibility, and did spend or schedule change?
- Did delivery concentrate in particular venues or dayparts?
- Is the higher number comparable to your plan, or measured differently?
In both cases, ask for the explanation in writing and note it next to the report. Ad insertion with CETV Now has no minimums and no long-term commitment, so you can adjust spend and schedule at your own pace once you understand what happened. Avoid changing several things at once, or you will not know which change mattered.
Connecting delivery to your own results
The delivery report is one side of the ledger. The other side is yours: what your business recorded while the campaign ran. Decide what that is before launch, using clear campaign goals.
Examples of your own signals include:
- Phone calls or booking requests, if you add a unique number or request a mention of the screen.
- Redemptions of a local offer shown in the ad.
- Foot traffic or sales at the locations near the venues you targeted, compared with a period before the campaign.
- Website visits or searches for your name, tracked in your usual analytics.
None of these will line up perfectly with a delivery report, and many things move sales besides one ad channel. The IAB guide describes more rigorous approaches, such as synthetic control groups and matched market testing, for isolating campaign impact. Most small advertisers will not run those, but they show the right idea: compare against something, not against nothing.
CETV Now has reported a 4.2x average campaign ROI and 98% viewer recall across its network. These are CETV Now reported figures. Individual campaign results vary and no outcome is guaranteed, so use your own data to judge your own campaign.
When you are ready to plan, review the advertiser overview and the available ad formats, then share your markets, venue categories, creative and budget so CETV Now can map a plan and provide a quote. Ask at that stage what your delivery report will include, so you know how to read it before the first ad runs.
Figures reflect CETV Now network data and are provided for informational purposes. Individual campaign results vary; no specific outcome is guaranteed.