How average daily limit works
Overview
Average daily limit on a campaign controls how much can be spent spend on average per day while allowing the system to pace delivery smoothly across the calendar month. Rather than enforcing a strict daily cap, daily spend is designed to help campaigns adapt to real-world traffic fluctuations, reduce underspend, and deliver more consistently over time.
Daily spend basics
When you set an average daily limit on a campaign, behind the scenes, the system:
Converts the daily limit into a monthly pacing target
Tracks under- and over-delivery within the calendar month
Adjusts daily spend dynamically to stay aligned with the monthly target
This allows campaigns to respond to changes in traffic without requiring constant manual adjustments.
If your campaign is effectively pacing to the limit you have set, you won't notice much change from the prior behaviour of a hard daily limit. The new average daily limit assists to get your campaign pacing back-in-line with the expected spend.
Seeing today's spend
For daily-limited campaigns, the campaign table shows today's spend against the daily limit (for example, $120/$500 Daily), so you can see how much of today's budget has been used at a glance. Campaigns without a daily limit show the limit and percentage used as before.
How pacing works
Day-to-day spend behaviour
On low-traffic days, campaigns may spend less than the daily limit.
Any underspend is tracked and retained within the calendar month. Underspend is automatically adjusted into the remaining daily budget to evenly pace underspend through to the end of the month, or the campaign's end date.
On higher-traffic days, campaigns may spend more than the daily amount (up to 2×) to recover earlier underspend.
This prevents campaigns from stopping early on busy days and helps avoid lost budget due to short-term traffic dips.
Example: Daily spend over time
1
$50
$50
$0
No prior underspend, spend aligns with daily limit
2
$50
$35
$15
Lower traffic leads to underspend
3
$50
$53
$12
System begins pacing stored underspend
4
$60 (changed)
$53
$9
Updated daily spend applies from the next day
5
$60
$63
$6
Pacing continues to reduce remaining underspend
This behaviour is expected and reflects normal pacing as traffic fluctuates across the month.
Best practices
Treat daily limit as an average, not a strict daily cap.
Avoid frequent edits; update daily limits once a week or less where possible, only adjusting if necessary.
Use wallets to manage overall spend, and campaign daily limits for individual pacing.
Expect variability day to day, this is normal and intentional.
Monitor your pacing with the Campaign pacing indicators.
What happens when you adjust the daily limit
Updating the daily limit
Changes to daily limit take effect from the next day.
If multiple changes are made on the same day, the highest daily limit set that day is used for spend calculations.
Previously accumulated underspend is preserved and continues to be paced.
Removing and re-adding a daily limit
Removing a daily limit and adding it again resets pacing. This is generally not recommended, as pacing already resets automatically at the start of each calendar month.
Monthly reset
At the start of each new calendar month:
The monthly pacing target is recalculated
Any carried underspend or overspend is cleared
Using daily limit with other limits
Wallet daily spend
Wallet daily spend limits continue to control total spend across multiple campaigns. Campaign daily spend always respects wallet-level constraints.
Total spend limits
If a campaign must not exceed a fixed maximum budget, use a total spend limit instead of an average daily limit. This acts as a hard cap, regardless of pacing.
FAQs
Why did my campaign spend more than the daily amount today?
Daily spend is an average. If the campaign previously underspent, it may spend more on higher-traffic days to stay aligned with the monthly pacing target.
What happens if my campaign underspends early in the month?
The system automatically tracks underspend and paces it toward the end of the month. No action is required.
What happens if I start a campaign mid-month
The system will only factor in the rest of the month to determine the spend pacing.
What happens if I reduce my daily spend mid-month?
The campaign will re-pace using the remaining budget for the rest of the month, starting from the next day.
Does changing daily spend remove unspent budget?
No. Unspent budget is retained within the calendar month and continues to be paced.
How does daily spend work with campaign end dates?
Pacing continues until the earlier of the campaign end date or the end of the calendar month.
Do I need to set a monthly budget?
No. The system automatically derives a monthly pacing target from your daily spend.
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