> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Wasted Spend, StackAdapt > Wasted Spend for StackAdapt stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Key Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Ad Platform](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > Spend on StackAdapt placements (publisher domains, app bundles, audience segments) that drove zero attributed conversions in the window. The "obvious savings" number; this is money that produced impressions/clicks but no purchases. **DSP is multi-channel and multi-touch**, so wait at least 14 days before acting; CTV and display view-through can take 3, 7 days to surface and BidCore is exploring constantly. | | | | -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | Spend (account currency) summed across publisher domains, app bundles, and audience segments that recorded zero `conversions` in the window but non-zero impressions/clicks. StackAdapt has no concept of "keywords"; the dimension is publisher/segment. | | **Cost basis** | Whatever the campaign was bidding on (CPM, CPC, BidCore CPA target). | | **Currency** | Account currency. | | **Conversion attribution** | Click-through + view-through within the configured window. A placement whose impression later converted via Search is zero-conv here unless StackAdapt's view-through window claimed it. | | **Attribution window** | 30/1 default. CTV-heavy accounts should use 30/7 view-through; otherwise CTV placements look "wasted" when they're not. | | **Bot / invalid traffic** | IVT-filtered; minor leakage \<2%. | | **Time window** | `30D`. | | **Alert trigger** | `>$0 (any zero-conv placement)`. Practical: worth acting on when **wasted spend > 6% of total spend** AND offending placements have >7 days of activity. | | **Roles** | owner, marketing, finance | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your StackAdapt data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example The same US homeware brand. Window 02 Apr 26 to 01 May 26. Total spend \$44,000. | Placement | Channel | Spend (\$) | Impressions | Clicks | Conversions | Notes | | ------------------------------------- | ----------- | ----------- | ----------- | --------- | ----------------- | ------------------------------- | | premium publisher rotation | Display | 8,200 | 2.4M | 4,200 | 142 | Convertible | | nytimes.com | Display | 3,400 | 1.1M | 1,800 | 68 | Convertible | | espn.com (CTV pre-roll) | CTV | 4,200 | 320k | n/a | 22 (view-through) | Convertible | | **buzzfeed.com (display)** | **Display** | **840** | **480k** | **920** | **0** | **Wasted, 18 days** | | **app: candy crush (in-app display)** | **In-App** | **620** | **620k** | **140** | **0** | **Wasted, audience mismatch** | | **streaming audio: regional sports** | **Audio** | **480** | **180k** | **22** | **0** | **Wasted, 21 days** | | **app: weather widget** | **In-App** | **380** | **920k** | **84** | **0** | **Wasted, click-fraud suspect** | | Other (60 placements, all converting) | mixed | 25,880 | 4.2M | 11,234 | 562 | | | **Total wasted (this card)** | | **\$2,320** | **2.2M** | **1,166** | **0** | **5.3% of total spend** | What's interesting: 1. **5.3% wasted spend is healthy band** for a multi-channel DSP account; healthy DSP runs 4, 8% wasted. No structural issue here, but the candidates flagged are still actionable. 2. **The weather widget app (\$380) is suspicious for click-fraud.** 84 clicks on 920k impressions = 0.009% CTR; legitimate display CTR is 0.1, 0.4%. This is bot traffic that StackAdapt's IVT filter missed; in-app weather widgets are a known low-quality bundle. **Action**: add to the bundle block list across all campaigns. 3. **Candy Crush in-app (\$620) is genuine audience mismatch.** Mobile gaming audiences don't convert on homeware; the demographics overlap is poor. Add to block list and revisit if you launch a more impulse-purchase product line. 4. **buzzfeed.com display (\$840) is borderline.** The 920 clicks suggest engagement but no conversions despite 18 days of activity. Likely cause: the display creative is on entertainment articles where the audience is in scroll-mode, not purchase-mode. Either change creative (more native-like format), block the publisher, or accept as awareness spend. 5. **Regional sports streaming audio (\$480) at 21 days zero-conv = block.** Audio is hard to attribute and this audience is wrong; not worth the noise. 6. **Total potential savings \$2,320** but in practice net savings are usually 60, 80% of headline because BidCore reallocates to the next-cheapest inventory which often costs more per click. Quick sanity tests: * Wasted % rising over time = inventory degrading; BidCore finding more low-quality bundles. * Wasted % stable at 4, 8% = normal exploration cost. * Wasted % spiking on a single placement = audience mismatch or click-fraud; investigate. * High wasted % on in-app placements specifically = the in-app bundle list needs curating; mobile gaming and weather widget bundles are usual suspects. * Zero wasted spend = you've over-allowlisted and missed scaling opportunities. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Wasted Spend | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [StackAdapt Zero-Conversion Spend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/stackadapt/zero-conversion-spend) | The campaign-level twin. This card is publisher/segment-level. | | [StackAdapt Total Spend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/stackadapt/total-spend) | Context. Wasted % of total is the meaningful read. | | [StackAdapt Spend by Campaign](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/stackadapt/spend-by-campaign) | If wasted spend concentrates on one campaign, the campaign-targeting needs work. | | [StackAdapt CTR by Campaign](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/stackadapt/ctr-by-campaign) | Wasted spend correlates with low CTR (click-fraud bundles) or high CTR with no conversion (audience mismatch on engaged readers). | | [StackAdapt ROAS by Campaign](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/stackadapt/roas-by-campaign) | The campaigns hosting wasted-spend placements show poor ROAS. | | [The Trade Desk Wasted Spend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/the-trade-desk/wasted-spend) | Same structural pattern on enterprise DSP. Compare bundle overlap; some low-quality in-app bundles hit both DSPs. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in StackAdapt:** [StackAdapt → Reports → Site/App Breakdown](https://app.stackadapt.com/) for the same window. Filter to placements with zero conversions; spend column should match this card to within sub-percent rounding. StackAdapt does not surface "wasted spend" as a single number; this card derives it. **Why our number may legitimately differ from a manual StackAdapt cut:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | ------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Time zone** | Boundary days off | Account TZ vs UTC. | | **Long-tail conversion** | Card slightly high until catchup | A "wasted" placement today may pick up 1, 2 conversions in days 7, 14 (especially CTV). | | **View-through window changes** | Direction depends | If you shorten the window, more placements appear "wasted"; if you extend, fewer. | | **In-app vs web definition** | None | Both this card and StackAdapt UI use the same publisher/bundle dimension. | | **IVT credit timing** | Card slightly high before credits post | IVT spend stays in the wasted total briefly until refunds settle. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`the_trade_desk.the_wasted_spend`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/the-trade-desk/wasted-spend) | Independent. The two DSPs share much of the same SSP inventory; bundles wasted on one are often wasted on the other. | Different publisher/bundle allowlists between accounts. | | [`google_analytics.ga_sessions_by_source`](/nerve-centre/google_analytics/ga_sessions_by_source) | GA4 sessions on wasted placements should not show 100% bounce | If GA4 shows healthy engagement, the issue is conversion-tag, not audience quality. | ## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Should I block every zero-conversion placement immediately?** No. DSP has long conversion lag (especially CTV view-through); some placements take 14, 30 days for impressions to convert. **Wait until a placement has 14+ days of activity with zero conversions** before blocking. Acting too aggressively shrinks the inventory pool BidCore can use, often raising CPM on remaining inventory. **What's the "right" wasted-spend percentage on DSP?** 4, 8% on a healthy account. Below 4% means you've over-allowlisted; above 8% means audience targeting or bundle curation needs work. CTV-heavy accounts run higher (6, 12%) because view-through tracking misses some legitimate conversions and falsely labels good placements as wasted. **Why is in-app display so often in the wasted list?** Mobile in-app inventory is a known low-quality category. Click-fraud is more prevalent (weather widgets, low-quality games), bundle metadata is often unreliable, and the audience demographics rarely match brand-target audiences. **Action**: maintain a curated bundle allowlist (e.g. only premium app publishers like NYT app, ESPN app) rather than relying on open-bundle exchange. **My CTV placements show as wasted but I expect long view-through, what's wrong?** Check the view-through window setting. CTV with 1-day view-through almost always shows lots of "wasted" placements because TV-driven conversions take 3, 7 days. **Set CTV view-through to 7 days** and most CTV "waste" disappears. **Why do similar bundles waste on StackAdapt and TTD but not on Google?** Google's DV360 buys through Google's own ad exchange (AdX) which has tighter quality controls; StackAdapt and TTD buy through the broader programmatic ecosystem (Magnite, Pubmatic, OpenX, Index) which has more long-tail inventory. **The fix is curation, not platform switching**: build the same bundle allowlists across both DSPs. **My wasted spend dropped sharply but ROAS also dropped, what happened?** You over-blocked. Aggressive bundle/publisher blocks shrink the inventory pool BidCore can choose from; the algorithm bids up on remaining inventory, CPM rises, marginal conversions cost more than the wasted spend you saved. **Net efficiency falls when you over-block.** Use bundle-level CPM caps for borderline cases rather than hard blocks. **Can I block specific placements within a publisher (e.g. nytimes.com/sports but not /news)?** Limited. Section-level blocking works on some publishers via custom inclusion/exclusion lists, but most publishers route at domain level. The reliable lever is domain-level blocking; section-level is best-effort. **What's BidCore's role in wasted spend?** BidCore is exploration-driven by design; it deliberately tests new placements to find efficient ones. Some exploration cost is healthy. The card surfaces placements that have failed exploration (extended activity with no conversions); BidCore eventually de-weights them but does so probabilistically rather than blocking outright. **How does this card differ from Zero-Conversion Spend?** This card is publisher/bundle/segment-level (which placements within campaigns are wasting); Zero-Conversion Spend is campaign-level (which whole campaigns are wasting). A whole campaign with zero conversions is a bigger problem (likely pixel or goal misconfig) than a single bad placement. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Wasted Spend* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across StackAdapt and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. 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