Hourly Rule Sets for Ads Campaign Automation | KwickMetrics

Hourly Rule Sets Explained: Eligibility, Data Limitations, and Revert-to-Base Behavior

Overview

Hourly Rule Sets allow certain campaign-level automations to run at specific hours of the day instead of daily, weekly, or monthly intervals.

This frequency option is available only for supported Rule Set types and only when hourly performance data is available for the selected Ads profiles.

Hourly Rule Sets are designed for faster reaction to performance changes and more granular budget or bidding strategy control.

Explanation

Hourly is a frequency option within supported campaign-level Rule Set types. When selected, the Rule Set evaluates performance data based on hourly-supported data ranges and executes at selected hours.

Hourly does not change how rules are structured. It changes:

  1. When the Rule Set runs.

  2. Which performance windows are available.

  3. Which condition metrics become available.

  4. Which exclusion options are allowed.

Supported Rule Set Types for Hourly

Hourly frequency is supported only for the following campaign-level goals:

  1. Optimize Campaign

  2. Optimize Placements

  3. Optimize Bidding Strategy

Hourly is not supported for:

  1. Optimize Bids

  2. Negate Search Terms

  3. Harvest Keywords

If you select a Rule Set type that does not support hourly, the Hourly option will not be available.

Eligibility Requirements

Hourly frequency is available only when:

  1. Hourly mode is enabled for your account.

  2. All selected Ads profiles have an active Amazon Marketing Stream subscription.

  3. Hourly performance data is available for the selected profiles and campaigns.

If any selected profile does not meet these requirements, the Hourly option may be disabled.

Hourly Data Range and Exclusions

Hourly Rule Sets use restricted evaluation windows compared to non-hourly Rule Sets.

Data Range

Hourly evaluation windows are limited to supported short-term ranges such as:

  1. Today

  2. Last 1–7 days including today
  3. Last 14 days including today

Non-hourly windows such as longer historical ranges are not available in Hourly mode.

When “Last 1 Day including today” is selected in Hourly mode:

  1. The system evaluates the previous full day’s data.

  2. It also includes current-day data up to the hour of execution.

This ensures that hourly automation incorporates both completed and same-day performance trends.

Exclude Options

Hourly Rule Sets have limited exclusion settings. Exclusion typically focuses on:

  1. Excluding the last 1–3 days

Custom date exclusion may be limited or unavailable depending on hourly configuration.

These restrictions ensure that hourly automation operates on supported and reliable hourly data.

Hourly-Only Condition Metrics

Some metrics appear in conditions only when Hourly frequency is selected and hourly data is available.

Examples include:

  1. Average Budget Utilisation

  2. Average Budget Utilisation (Hours)

  3. Current Day Budget Utilization

  4. Hours Since Last Change

If Hourly is not selected, these metrics will not be available in rule conditions.

Revert-to-Base Budget Behaviour

For Optimize Campaign Hourly Rule Sets, an optional “Revert Budget to Base Budget” setting may be available.

When enabled:

  1. Campaign budgets altered by the Rule Set can revert to their base budget at 12 am.

  2. Only campaigns whose budgets were changed by the Rule Set are affected.

This behavior allows temporary hourly adjustments while maintaining a controlled reset at the start of a new day.

Usage

Hourly Rule Sets are commonly used when you want to:

  1. React quickly to intra-day performance changes.

  2. Adjust budgets during specific hours.

  3. Control placement or bidding strategy based on short-term trends.

  4. Monitor budget utilization more closely.

  5. Apply temporary adjustments that revert daily.

Hourly should be used when granular timing control is required and all eligibility conditions are satisfied.

Important Rules and Behaviour

  1. Hourly is available only for specific campaign-level Rule Set types.

  2. All selected profiles must have hourly-data subscription enabled.

  3. Hourly data must be available for the selected profiles.

  4. Data ranges and exclusions are more limited than non-hourly modes.

  5. Some condition metrics are visible only when Hourly is selected.

  6. After creating or updating an Hourly Rule Set, a processing state may temporarily restrict editing or linking.

Alert
If even one selected Ads profile does not have an active hourly-data subscription, Hourly frequency may be unavailable.

Prerequisites

  1. Ads integration must be connected.

  2. Selected Ads Profiles must be active.

  3. You must have access to the Ads Management module.

  4. All selected profiles must have an active hourly-data subscription.

  5. Hourly performance data must be available.

Summary

Hourly Rule Sets provide time-specific automation throughout the day for supported campaign-level goals.

They allow performance evaluation and action at selected hours using hourly-supported data ranges and metrics. Due to eligibility and data requirements, Hourly is available only when all selected profiles meet subscription and data availability conditions.

When configured correctly, Hourly Rule Sets enable more granular and responsive campaign control while maintaining defined safeguards.