How do I prevent competing adverts from playing in the same block?

To prevent competing adverts from playing in the same advert block, you need to understand the scheduling rules and configure your advert campaigns properly.

Key Scheduling Rules:

The PlayIt Live advert scheduler follows these strict rules:

• One campaign per block: Each campaign will only appear once in an advert block
• One advert per company per block: Only one advert from the same company can be scheduled in the same advert block
• Category separation: Advert campaigns in the same category will never be scheduled in the same block

Why Only One Advert Plays:

If you're expecting two adverts in a block but only one appears, it's likely because both adverts belong to the same campaign or the same company. The scheduler prevents this to avoid over-representation of a single advertiser.

Solution - Configure Separate Campaigns:

To schedule two adverts in the same block, you must create separate advert campaigns for each advertiser:

1. Go to Manage > Advert Campaigns
2. Create a separate campaign for each advertiser
3. In each campaign, ensure the Company field is set to the correct advertiser name
4. Assign appropriate Categories to prevent actual competitors from appearing together
5. Add the relevant adverts to each respective campaign

Category Setup for Competitors:

For genuine competitors that should never appear together, assign the same category name:

1. In the Categories field, enter category names like "Fast Food", "Car Dealerships", or "Banks"
2. Press Enter to add each category
3. Use the same category names for competing campaigns

Multiple Categories:

A single campaign can belong to multiple categories if needed. Simply enter each additional category name and press Enter to add more categories. This provides flexibility when dealing with businesses that operate in multiple competing sectors.

Important Note:

Two adverts from the same advertiser (same company) cannot appear in the same advert block due to the scheduling rules. If you need multiple adverts from one advertiser in a single break, this is not supported by the automatic scheduler.