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This guide is for publishers using AmpPlus to understand how drop-off rates affect campaign performance, how Avid manages them, and what publishers can do to support delivery outcomes. It outlines the key reasons behind drop-off, such as bounce rates, how Avid triages performance issues, and when publisher collaboration is required.

Improving drop-off performance is a shared responsibility. While Avid handles delivery optimisation, Publishers play a crucial role in ensuring content and experience keep users engaged. This guide is designed to support a collaborative approach so both sides can achieve the best possible results.

A drop-off rate refers to the percentage of users who click out from a traffic driving format into a branded content article but leave before triggering a guaranteed Article View. These users show initial interest but either don’t land on the article or stay long enough for the view to be counted. This can happen for several reasons, outlined further in this guide.

Because Avid guarantees Article Views, not Clicks, we only fulfil our commitment when a user stays long enough for the view to count.

Drop-off rate is closely related to Bounce Rate - a publisher-side metric showing how many users leave the page (e.g. a branded content article) without triggering an engaged session.

So what counts as an engaged session?

While Bounce Rate is visible to publishers and influenced by things like content quality or mobile optimisation Drop-Off Rate, is what Avid sees by comparing the Article Views against the clicks that we have driven to that article.

In short: When a bounce prevents us from delivering guaranteed Article Views from our amplification, it becomes a drop-off.

Drop-Off Rate is the key metric Avid uses to measure campaign performance and fulfil our guarantee of engaged Article Views. It tells us how many users clicked into a branded article but exited before staying long enough to trigger a view — which is what advertisers are paying for.

While Bounce Rate is a helpful proxy for engagement, it’s a publisher-side metric that reflects what happens on the page. It’s influenced by content quality, layout, mobile UX, and other factors — but not visible to Avid.

We focus on Drop-Off because:

In short: Drop-Off Rate tells us if the traffic is landing and engaging. Bounce Rate tells you if the page is converting that interest into action.

Both matter, but only Drop-Off affects delivery.

High drop-off rates make it harder for Avid to fulfill campaign guarantees. When drop-off rates are too high:

In many cases, a high Bounce Rate correlates with a high Drop-Off Rate, so reducing bounce rate can directly improve campaign performance and delivery efficiency.

That’s why reducing drop-off is a shared priority. Avid manages amplification and delivery, but publisher collaboration is essential to ensure the article experience converts interest into engagement.

A Drop-Off Rate above 30% is considered high.

Avid builds in a 30% buffer as part of our guaranteed delivery model. Beyond this threshold, delivery becomes inefficient and additional costs are incurred.

High Drop-Off Rates can erode value and make it harder to deliver outcomes at scale, which may impact publisher performance benchmarks and rate negotiations over time.

Drop-Off Rates are influenced by a mix of creative, user experience, and audience targeting factors. Common drivers include:

Before any formal escalation is needed, publishers can improve performance by:

These small changes can have a big impact on campaign efficiency, and protect long-term value for both parties.

We’ve created a separate guide that walks through what Avid does when drop-off rates increase and where publishers may need to jump in.

To learn more, visit Guide: How Avid Approaches Drop-Off Rate Tiers

At Avid, we cover the upfront cost of delivering guaranteed views—even when Drop-Off Rates are higher than expected. But when inefficiencies persist, it becomes harder to deliver value at scale. Over time, this can affect how campaigns are structured and what publishers can earn from them.

If Drop-Off Rates remain high due to things like poor UX, content misalignment, or weak engagement, Avid may need to make adjustments to accommodate the additional cost of fulfilling guarantees. These may include:

That’s why your collaboration matters. When publishers proactively support investigations, content tweaks, and user experience improvements, we can work together to protect performance, maintain commercial value, and deliver better outcomes for everyone.

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