Also see: Explainer: Third-party Trackers and Validation Tags
This article provides some background information and tips for working with third-party creative trackers, also known as creative tags, on the Triton advertising platform.
Trackers
In some scenarios, an agency, advertiser, or other third party might decide to track impressions or other events with a tracking pixel. They will provide you with a tracker URL along with the creative files. A tracking pixel is simply code that makes a server call and returns a transparent 1x1 image (normally a GIF file).
What to look for in the URL to determine whether it's an impression or a click tracker.
Impression Trackers (for audio or companion banner creative)
img src=
You then need to copy/paste everything within the quotation marks, from http, excluding the quotation marks.
Other elements that will help determine if it’s an impression tracker:
/ad/mc=imp/ad/tr//image?
Click Trackers (companion banner creative only)
a ref=
You then need to copy/paste everything within the quotation marks, from http, excluding the quotation marks.
Other elements that will help determine if it’s a click tracker:
/click/mc=click/ad/ck//click?
Third-party companion banners
In other scenarios, an agency, advertiser, or other third party will provide a full creative tag, as they might decide to track, for the companion banner, various events (impressions, clicks, other). You will receive an audio file (maybe with impression trackers) along with a third-party creative tag (for the companion banner). Cut and paste the received code starting at the first bracket < to the last one >
The code to copy is shown in the example below:
Iframes/JavaScript Tag
<ins class='dcmads' style='display:inline-block;width:300px;height:250px'
…<script src='https://www.googletagservices.com/dcm/dcmads.js'></script>;
</ins>
Things to watch out for (Troubleshooting)
Extra quotation marks
For example, you might receive this:
"<IFRAME SRC=""https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/adi/N33333.123140publishername/B11111111.222222222;sz=300x250;ord=${RANDOM};dc_lat=;dc_rdid=;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=;tfua=;gdpr=${GDPR};gdpr_consent=${GDPR_CONSENT_755}?"" WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0 HSPACE=0 VSPACE=0 FRAMEBORDER=0 SCROLLING=no BORDERCOLOR='#000000'>
<SCRIPT language='JavaScript1.1' SRC=""https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/adj/ N33333.123140publishername/B11111111.222222222;abr=!ie;sz=300x250;ord=@RANDOM@;dc_lat=;dc_rdid=;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=;tfua=;gdpr=${GDPR};gdpr_consent=${GDPR_CONSENT_755}?"">
</SCRIPT>
</IFRAME>"
Notice the highlighted extra quotation marks. Remove them, so it looks like this:
<IFRAME SRC="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/adi/N33333.123140publishername/B11111111.222222222;sz=300x250;ord=${RANDOM};dc_lat=;dc_rdid=;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=;tfua=;gdpr=${GDPR};gdpr_consent=${GDPR_CONSENT_755}?" WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0 HSPACE=0 VSPACE=0 FRAMEBORDER=0 SCROLLING=no BORDERCOLOR='#000000'> <SCRIPT language='JavaScript1.1' SRC="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/adj/ N33333.123140publishername/B11111111.222222222;abr=!ie;sz=300x250;ord=@RANDOM@;dc_lat=;dc_rdid=;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=;tfua=;gdpr=${GDPR};gdpr_consent=${GDPR_CONSENT_755}?">
</SCRIPT>
</IFRAME>
Extra spaces
To check for extra spaces, copy/paste your code into a Word document and click the ‘paragraph mark’ in the Home tab in the ribbon.
Note that not all spaces need to be removed. In the screenshot below, the green highlighted spaces are acceptable; the yellow highlighted ones need to be removed.
Testing your third-party creative tag
To test your third-party creative tag, use one or both of the test sites listed below. (Make sure you also test that the redirect leads to a functional website by clicking on the banner in the preview.)
(See "Final test" at the bottom of this article for a note about validating your VAST tag with the IAB validator.)
VAST URL
One last scenario: the agency, advertiser, or other third party will want to have full control of the creative assets (audio, banners, redirects, trackers, and rotation of the creative). They will provide you with a VAST URL. A VAST allows them to change, as needed, audio creative and/or banners, as well as the tracking URLs.
Note: as the agency controls the creative assets, they should not ask you to make changes to what they’ve previously sent. However, it is acceptable for you to ask the reason for the VAST URL change. Be aware that YOU cannot make tracker changes (impressions or clicks) to a VAST, so if they send you a tracker to "append" to the VAST, push back.
Testing the VAST URL
To test if what you received is in fact a VAST URL: cut and paste the URL into a browser. It will render an XML file (the language used to communicate data between programs; in this case between the audio player and an ad server).
You can see an example of an XML response here.
Important elements to look for in an XML response
<MediaFiles>
There could be multiple <MediaFiles>. This means there are different audio files to select. In the example below, there is only one audio file:
The duration of the audio is found under the <duration> element.
Quartile event tracking, if any, is found under <TrackingEvents>. Agencies use these events to track listen-through rate and/or any muting or pausing action.
<CompanionAds>
Companion ads will contain one or more banner files. The image format, width, and height will be stated:
Tracking events might be included for the companion banners:
Companion click-throughs are within the <ClickThrough> element. You can test the click-throughs by copying the code from http to before the closing bracket ] into a browser and seeing if it goes to the intended web site.
Tools for testing the VAST URL
Make sure you also test the redirect of your companion banners.
Final test
Finally, you should use the IAB VAST Tag Validator to ensure your URL conforms to VAST standards. If it is not validated by the IAB validator it might not work with the Tap platform.