Velocity is a measure of the degree to which a campaign is delivering its contracted impressions to schedule.
The velocity takes into account three things:
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the length of the contract
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the impressions delivered
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the elapsed time since the contract started
Taking those three factors into consideration, some mathematical wizardry determines if a campaign is over-delivering, under-delivering or delivering as much as it should at any stage since a contract has begun.
We then represent the results of the mathematical wizardry as a graph. Here are some examples:
Even more so in context, the velocity graph is a powerful means to interpret what action is or isn't required to manage your campaigns. Here's an in-context example:
The velocity column is ordered by the distance of the line from the centre of the graph. The further away the line from the centre, the less likely the campaign will fulfil its contractual requirements due to either over-delivery or under-delivery.
Here's a summary of what's going on in the screenshot:
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The Age campaign is the most problematic. It has greatly over-delivered given there are still 13 days to go in the contract and only 24 remaining impressions. This over-delivery is represented in the velocity column by the full red line from the centre extending out to the right. The contract has been stopped, however, which means that no further impressions will be delivered for this campaign. Over the course of the remaining 13 days of the contract, the velocity will tend towards the centre of the graph, settling on a point that represents very slight under-delivery once the contract period has ended because 24 contracted impressions will not have been delivered.
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The Atlantic Monthly campaign is under-delivering. This is represented by the line in the graph extending towards the left in a pinkish hue. It's likely that the campaign is under-delivering because all the advertisements or all the creatives have been deleted from the campaign. Once that is rectified, the status of the campaign will shift from Not Delivering to Live, and the shortfall in impression delivery can begin to be rectified.
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The Wall Street Journal campaign is over-delivering to a concerning degree. That's represented by the yellow line extending to the right. Some adjustments would need to be made, either to the contract's priority or smoothing, in order reduce the over-delivery.
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The New York Times campaign is delivering as scheduled, albeit with some slight over-delivery. That's represented by the short blue line extending to the right. Nothing much needs to be done on that campaign. It's going well.