Lesson 17 of 30 · 10 min
Allocating across channels
Turn channel roles into percentages you can defend.
Start from the job, not from last year
Copying last year's split preserves last year's assumptions, including the mistakes. Begin from the roles you defined: what must happen first, what captures the result, and what reinforces it. The percentages follow from that logic.
The blended CPM is an outcome, not an input
Every allocation produces a weighted average price. Shifting ten points from display into CTV raises the blended CPM and lowers total impressions — that is the trade you are making. ArcPlanner shows it directly, so you can see the cost of each decision.
Fund a channel properly or not at all
A channel with 5% of a small budget cannot reach anyone meaningfully and cannot generate readable data. It exists only to make the plan look comprehensive. Either give it enough to do its job or cut it and strengthen what remains.
Leave room to move
Set the allocation as a starting position with defined trigger points, not a fixed contract. Deciding in advance what evidence would justify moving budget prevents both paralysis and panic reallocation.
Takeaway
Allocate from channel roles, watch what it does to blended CPM, and never fund a channel too thinly to work.
Check yourself
No score, no signup — pick an answer to see why it's right.
Question 1
Moving budget from display into CTV will most directly do what?
Question 2
One channel holds 5% of a small budget. What is the most likely truth?