What this is
This guide explains how budget over-accrual and delivery pacing work in Propensity Display Network (PDN) campaigns and other advertising platforms.
Over-accrual refers to situations where a campaign spends slightly more than its configured budget before delivery pauses automatically.
This behavior is common across digital advertising platforms and does not typically indicate a billing issue or platform misconfiguration.
This guide also explains:
- How Propensity handles PDN over-accrual
- How the Percent Budget Over Accrual Allowance setting works
- How active campaign updates behave
- How overdelivery behavior compares across major advertising platforms
When to use this
Use this guide when:
- Reviewing PDN campaign pacing behavior
- Understanding why campaigns may slightly exceed budget
- Managing strict budget control requirements
- Updating workspace-level over-accrual settings
- Troubleshooting campaign pacing concerns
- Explaining overdelivery behavior to internal teams or customers
What is budget over-accrual?
Over-accrual occurs when a campaign spends slightly more than its configured budget before pausing automatically.
This behavior exists because advertising platforms bid in real-time auctions and cannot always stop delivery at the exact moment a budget threshold is reached.
Over-accrual behavior is standard across digital advertising platforms and is not unique to Propensity.
This behavior is more noticeable on:
- Smaller-budget campaigns
- Highly targeted campaigns
- Short-duration campaigns
- Campaigns with aggressive pacing requirements
How budget over-accrual works in Propensity Display Network (PDN)
When a PDN campaign launches, bidding ramps up during the first few days as the audience populates and CPMs stabilize.
Because of this ramp-up behavior, campaigns with budgets under $1000 cannot always stop precisely at the configured budget threshold.
To account for this, Propensity allows a controlled amount of over-accrual through the:
How the Percent Budget Over Accrual Allowance works
The setting:
- Applies only to PDN campaigns with budgets under $1000
- Controls the maximum allowed over-accrual percentage
- Is managed at the workspace level
For example:
- A 20% setting allows a qualifying campaign to exceed its configured budget by up to 20% before pausing automatically
If the setting is changed to:
- 0%
the platform prevents over-accrual entirely.
In these cases, smaller campaigns may slightly underdeliver instead of exceeding budget limits.
PDN campaigns above $1000 are not affected by this setting.
How to adjust the Percent Budget Over Accrual Allowance
To update the Percent Budget Over Accrual Allowance:
- Go to Workspace Settings
- Click the pencil icon next to the workspace name
(screenshot is not visible here but is visible in Zendesk) - Locate Percent Budget Over Accrual Allowance
- Update the value as needed
- Save your changes
Updating the setting during active campaigns
Changes to the Percent Budget Over Accrual Allowance setting can be applied to active campaigns.
The platform evaluates the current workspace setting during its recurring daily processing cycle and applies updated over-accrual behavior accordingly.
Changes are not applied in real time, but typically take effect during the next daily processing cycle after analytics and pacing data are updated.
Why over-accrual may happen on short-duration campaigns
Campaign spend and pacing data are processed on recurring analytics and reporting cycles rather than continuously in real time.
At the time of a processing cycle, a campaign may still appear within its configured budget limits.
For shorter-duration campaigns, delivery may pace more aggressively in order to meet campaign goals within the available timeframe.
Because delivery and analytics updates are not processed continuously in real time, spend may continue increasing before the next processing cycle completes.
As a result, campaigns may temporarily exceed their configured budget before pausing automatically.
Over-accrual behavior across major advertising platforms
Budget overdelivery behavior exists across most advertising platforms.
The exact behavior varies by platform and is managed by the platform itself.
LinkedIn may allow daily spend to exceed the configured daily budget during high-activity periods.
LinkedIn manages this behavior internally and balances spend over a broader reporting window.
This behavior is controlled entirely by LinkedIn and cannot be overridden through Propensity.
Reducing LinkedIn budget variance
If stricter budget control is required:
- Use lifetime budgets with fixed start and end dates
- Consider setting daily budgets below the true target budget
- Consider manual bidding strategies for more controlled pacing
Google Ads
Google Ads may exceed daily budgets during periods of increased traffic or auction activity.
Google manages pacing and spend balancing internally across a broader monthly threshold.
This behavior is controlled by Google Ads and cannot be configured through Propensity.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram)
Meta platforms may increase delivery during strong auction opportunities and balance pacing across broader delivery windows.
This behavior is managed directly by Meta and is not controlled through Propensity.
What makes Propensity different
Unlike many third-party advertising platforms, Propensity allows workspace-level control over PDN over-accrual behavior for qualifying campaigns.
Platforms such as LinkedIn, Google Ads, and Meta manage overdelivery behavior internally and do not typically provide direct controls for over-accrual tolerance.
In Propensity, administrators can directly adjust the Percent Budget Over Accrual Allowance setting to balance:
- delivery flexibility
- pacing behavior
- stricter budget control
This provides additional control for smaller or highly targeted PDN campaigns.
Managing stricter budget control
If stricter budget control is required for PDN campaigns:
- Reduce the Percent Budget Over Accrual Allowance setting
- Use 0% to prevent PDN over-accrual entirely for sub-$1000 campaigns
- Use longer campaign durations when possible
- Avoid overly aggressive pacing requirements on smaller campaigns
Keep in mind:
- Stricter budget controls may reduce delivery flexibility
- Smaller or highly targeted campaigns may underdeliver when over-accrual is restricted
Important notes
- Over-accrual behavior is standard across digital advertising platforms
- PDN over-accrual controls apply only to campaigns under $1000
- The default workspace setting is 20%
- Over-accrual settings can be set for each individual PDN play
- Campaign pacing and analytics updates are not processed continuously in real time
- Third-party platform overdelivery behavior is controlled by those platforms directly
- Changes to the over-accrual setting can apply to active campaigns during the next daily processing cycle