Budgeting & pacing
Pacing variance
Pacing variance is the gap between actual spend and planned spend to date, expressed in currency and as a percentage of planned-to-date. A campaign that has spent £11,500 against a planned £10,000 is £1,500 or 15% ahead of pace.
In practice
Variance identifies the size of a gap, not its cause or the right response. Ahead of pace with stable efficiency may be an opportunity; ahead of pace with deteriorating CPA is a leak.
A practical alert rule combines size, duration and consequence - for example variance beyond plus or minus 10% of weighted planned-to-date, sustained for three consecutive days.