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Get insights on how to align targeting settings with campaign goals for maximum impact and efficiency.
What Is This Guide For?
This guide walks through how to use the audience targeting options available in Campaign Builder when setting up AmpPlus custom amplification.
The goal is to help you align amplification with your client’s objectives—whether that’s reaching a specific audience, phasing delivery, or selecting the right channels.
We’ve broken it into five clear steps to make the process straightforward and easy to follow.
1. Amplification Dates
Each product added to a campaign phase will, by default, adopt the date range of that phase. However, you can customise the start and end dates of the amplification delivery within that phase window.
Use Cases
Adjusting amplification timing allows for;
front-weight or back-weight delivery for launches or retargeting bursts.
time-based phasing of amplification to align with campaign milestones or flighting strategies.
If your campaign benefits from multiple bursts or follow-up phases, you can set these under "Subsequent Amplification."
Budget Considerations
The longer your amplification runs, or the more audience targeting channels you add, the more budget you’ll need. This is because there’s a minimum daily spend required to ensure effective delivery.
Stretching your budget across too many days, or channels, can lead to underperformance due to delivery fragmentation. With this in mind, work towards a balanced approach and watch for any platform notices that provide guidance around thresholds or delivery pacing.
2. Amplification Channels
You can choose from three groups of channels for amplification:
Meta (facebook and instagram)
Native Ads (amplifying written content in publisher environments)
Social Display (social-style ads across the open web)
The placements you can access for amplification depend on two things:
The product you’ve selected and what’s included in it
Your permissions within the Publisher Profile and Workspace.
These factors determine which specific channels and placements are available to you.
To learn more visit, Amplification Channel Permissions
Meta
Channels: Facebook, Instagram.
Strengths:
High on-platform engagements (likes, shares, comments) with strong potential for organic sharing to extend campaign reach Strong audience targeting capabilities
Suitable for video and static formats
Considerations:
Typically higher CPMs (reflective of the environment)
Sensitive to seasonal peak pricing
Reach is limited to Meta platforms only (Facebook and Instagram), which can restrict scale and make the campaign more expensive—especially during peak periods. For broader reach, consider pairing Meta with other channels.
Requires you to share amplification access with AmpPlus
Social Display
Format: Programmatic delivery of social-style creatives across an inclusion list open web.
Strengths:
Retains social style creatives but extends your reach across a brand-safe open web environment
Efficient CPMs supports effectively increasing campaign reach
Does not require the publisher to share amplification access with AmpPlus
Considerations:
Lower CTR than social environments, reflective of the environment (lower click-through rates are common outside native and social platforms) but this trade-off supports higher reach and frequency
Since no longer in the social environment, does not support social engagement
Native Ads
AmpPlus provides 4 tiers of Native Ads:
Premium In-Feed Native
Apple News Native Ads
Standard Native Ads
Run of Network Native Ads
The strengths and considerations are unique to the Native Ad option selected:
Premium In-Feed Native Ads:
Strengths:
100% viewable placements
Long-form content alignment supports strong on article engagement time (ie the user moves from consuming long-form content to the written branded content article)
Lower CPMs than social and social display environments
Considerations:
Only accessible for amplifying written content
Higher brand safety and refined inclusion list makes it, whilst more premium, more expensive than other native ad options
Adding demographic filters can impact delivery significantly here, so we recommend using them only when essential to your strategy.
Apple News Native Ads
Strengths:
100% viewable placements
Cost effective CPMs, lower than Premium In-Feed Native Ads, facilitating strong campaign reach
Connects with a premium, older skewing, subscriber based audience
Considerations:
Apple News Native Ads doesn't support additional demographic or audience targeting overlays, and geographic refinement beyond National is limited
To learn more, visit Understanding the Apple News Audience in Campaign Builder
Only accessible for amplifying written content
The inclusion list is confined to Apple News inventory and so, whilst more premium, it is more expensive than other native ad options (ie Standard and Run of Network Native Ads)
Standard Native Ads
Strengths:
100% viewable placements
Cost effective CPMs, lower than Premium In-Feed Native Ads, facilitating strong campaign reach
Increased inventory than Premium In-Feed and Apple News Native Ads
Extensive audience targeting options
Considerations:
Lower CPMs are achieved via a slightly broader inclusion list and lighter brand safety targeting, providing the option to tap into this more cost effective environment where it aligns with the campaign and client’s strategy
This broader inclusion list can include delivery in non-long form environments
Only accessible for amplifying written content
Sensitive to demographic overlays, impacting on reach due to the higher cost involved and therefore recommended to avoid overlaying demographic parameters, where possible.
Run of Network Native Ads
Strengths:
Most cost effective amplification option offered via AmpPlus
Extensive audience targeting options
100% viewable placements
Considerations:
This highly efficient delivery is facilitated via a highly broad inclusion list and no brand safety, providing the flexibility to tap into this low cost delivery channel where it aligns with the campaign and client’s strategy
This broader inclusion list can include delivery in non-long form environments
Only accessible for amplifying written content
Sensitive to demographic overlays, impacting on reach due to the higher cost involved and therefore recommended to avoid overlaying demographic parameters, where possible.
For a full breakdown, refer to the [Amplification Channel Cheat Sheet] or use the Audience Targeting Channel Assistant via the “Help Me Choose” button in the platform.
3. Demographic & Geographic Targeting
Demographic Targeting
Demographic targeting allows you to overlay age and gender filters on top of your selected audiences to reach specific segments (e.g., females aged 25–44).
While this can offer more control and precision, it significantly impacts cost and deliverables. This is because your target audience must match all selected criteria—making them harder to find/reach (reducing your audience size) and increasing CPMs.
Parameters:
Age and gender
Available across all channels but should be applied thoughtfully due to their impact on deliverables and cost (used when truly essential)
Applying demographic filters narrows the audience pool, increasing CPMs and reducing total impressions or views, and therefore campaign reach.
Key Considerations:
A demographic filter is a strict overlay—users must meet all criteria (e.g., female and 25–44 and beauty enthusiast).
This makes your audience harder to reach and can significantly reduce the number of impressions your budget delivers.
If your audience already skews toward a certain demographic, an additional filter may be unnecessary. For example, beauty segments typically index heavily female—so applying a gender filter often adds cost without benefit.
Because Native Ads leverage data segments differently to other environments, demographic filters can dramatically increase cost and reduce reach. We recommend skipping them unless absolutely essential.
Demographic targeting can be crucial for hitting specific campaign goals—but it does increase costs. Use it when precision matters most, and prioritise reach when broader awareness or deliverables are the focus.
Geographic Targeting
Geographic targeting refines which regions your amplification will reach.
Parameters:
Australia: National, State, Capital Cities
UK: Country-wide, Regional, Major Cities
Hyper-specific locations (e.g. postcodes) are possible - speak with your Client Success Manager, to assess feasibility and cost
Key Considerations:
Like demographic targeting, the more specific you get, the smaller your addressable audience becomes—impacting both scale and cost.
Use geographic filters thoughtfully and based on clear campaign need.
When targeting capital cities or narrow regions, ensure your campaign has enough budget to meet delivery thresholds within those areas.
4. Audience Targeting
Audience Targeting Options You Can Choose From
AmpPlus Custom Audiences
Custom Audiences built out by the AmPlus team having run over 10,000 branded content executions
Over 500+ pre-built audiences that are optimised to balance performance and scale,
No additional data costs (which can occur when leveraging 2nd & 3rd Party Data Segments)
Leverage between 3-40 unique segments to build out these comprehensive audiences that include data indicators such as:
Behavioural
Transactional
Device-based
interest-based
2nd & 3rd Party Data Segments
Providers include: Flybuys, Eyeota, Roy Morgan, Mastercard, Experian, Bombora.
Enable highly specific targeting (e.g., recent grocery buyers, frequent travellers).
Considerations:
Incur additional CPM loadings across Meta & Social Display
Smaller scale as these are segments, not full audiences — leading to higher cost per deliverable and lower overall volumes
Not recommended unless specificity is essential.
Recommendations
Using the Audience Targeting Options
Start with AmpPlus Custom Audiences to build a high-scale, cost-effective amp strategy. Given they are audiences rather than segments, these audiences offer broader reach and deliver strong effective outcomes. Then refine with the inclusion of 2nd & 3rd Party Data Segments if required.
Building out your Audience Strategy
It is recommended to take a conservative approach to the number of audiences selected for amplification and to increase the number selected (as relevant) with an increase in amplification budget, with each additional audience selection fragmenting your budget
The optimal approach would be to include:
Broad audience selection - 1-2 broader audiences for refined, on-target scale
Refined audience selection - 1-2 refined, more niche audiences to reach the specific audience ‘bullseye’ audience, and learn what is most effective for the specific piece of content
Learn more about difference between AmpPlus + 2nd +3rd Party Audiences HERE
5. Subsequent Amplification
Subsequent Amplification lets you add additional phases of amplification to an existing campaign plan.
Scenarios for use:
Re-engagement strategies
Phased bursts post-campaign launch phase
Retargeting users exposed in earlier phases
This is a highly effective way to maximise budget with it leveraging previous production costs to build content, which typically have higher cost per deliverables as a result, to efficiently extend the campaign deliverables and reach
Settings mirror initial amplification but are refined via budget and dates
Note: You can even create a phase solely for subsequent amplification
It’s a cost-effective way to extend campaign reach by building on content you've already produced — especially useful when those assets have a higher cost per deliverable.
The settings mirror your original amplification setup but can be adjusted by budget and timing.
Tip: You can even set up a campaign phase dedicated solely to Subsequent Amplification.
Additional Guide
FAQs – Amplification Audiences
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