Using Frequency for Creative

First, add your audio file:

1. In the flight's Creative section, click Frequency creative manager.
   The Frequency window opens in a new browser tab.

2. Set Creative Type as Audio and set the duration of your audio creative, then click Continue.
   

   

3. In the Frequency browser tab, add audio files using one of these methods:
   

   

   • Drag & Drop files directly from your computer onto the Frequency window to upload them.

   • Select Upload Files to open your computer's file browser and upload an audio file from your computer. Banner files are uploaded later.

   • Use Select Files from Asset Library to access the creative files that you have previously uploaded for the current advertiser. This method lets you select both audio, video, and banner files.

4. (Recommended) Once you have added your audio file, use the preview player to ensure you have the correct audio file and that it plays as expected. (You can access the preview player from two locations, as shown below.)
   

   

   
   
   Next, add a companion banner:

5. Click the audio file item to open the Resources sidebar on the left. Go to the Banners tab.

   

6. Use the Banners tab on the Resources sidebar to upload your banner the same way you uploaded your audio file: browse your computer's files, select an existing uploaded banner from the Asset Library, or drag and drop a banner into the panel, then click Add to Ad Unit.

7. Add banner metadata:

   • Add or edit the banner Alt Text (appears when the listener hovers over the banner in browser-based players, and identifies the image for vision-impaired users).

   • Enter the ClickThrough link. It can be a URL, email address, or a phone number.

   • (Optional) Enter the ClickThrough link Display Impression Pixels URL. (Click +Add another pixel to add additional impression pixels.)

   • (Optional) Add audio impression pixels and script/HTML/iFrame code.

     

   
   
   Then, finalize and publish:

8. Click Publish to finalize the creative settings.
   The Frequency browser tab closes.

   

9. If you want to review or edit the creative, click Manage in Frequency creative manager in the Flight's Creative section.
   

   

You cannot edit a live ad. Instead, duplicate the live ad, then remove the creative from the duplicate and add new creative. Then publish the duplicate version.

You also have the option to create a new draft of the and build up the replacement ad, then publish it, but this involves re-building the ad from the beginning.

You cannot edit a live ad. Instead, duplicate the live ad, then add the additional creative to the duplicate. Then publish the duplicate version.

By default, the two creatives have a balanced weighted distribution (50%/50%). For information on how to change the distribution see “Distribution of Multiple Creatives in Frequency” below.

You can build out your ad unit even if your audio creative is not ready to when upload. Instead, add a placeholder (an empty audio container) for the audio creative and proceed as usual.

1. In the Frequency window, proceed as if creating a normal audio ad. On the Add Your Audio Files screen, click Select Files from Asset Library.
   

   

2. In the Asset Library, select the Placeholder tab.
   

   

3. Select a placeholder:

   • If you or someone on your team has already created placeholders, they will appear in the Files list. Simply select one and continue as if you had selected an audio file.

   • If there are no placeholders listed, click Create Placeholder and one will be created automatically. Its file name is derived from the flight's campaign name. See Placeholder Tips, below.
     

     

4. Continue creating the ad unit as usual, but do not publish the ad. (The system will not let you publish when a placeholder is used.)

5. When the audio creative becomes available, you can re-open the ad unit, replace the placeholder with the new audio creative, then publish the ad.

Placeholder Tips:

• Placeholders that you create remain in the asset library and can be re-used in other campaigns.

• A placeholder in an ad unit can be identified by the "(!)" icon.
  

  

• You can re-name a placeholder by hovering over the placeholder and clicking the pen icon that appears.

• If you plan to re-use the placeholder, you might find it handy to rename it to something simple, such as "Placeholder."
  

  

You can rename, replace, and remove an audio creative from an ad unit using the creative's three-dot Options menu. Simply hover over the item to reveal the options menu, then select the option you want, and then perform the action.

You can also remove a creative from the ad unit by selecting the item and clicking the Remove Files button that appears.

Use Replace to replace a placeholder with an audio creative once the audio creative is available. (You can also create an existing audio creative with a different audio creative.)

Important! The Rename and Remove options in the ad unit only rename or remove the creatives from the ad unit itself! The creatives in the Asset Library are unchanged. The same applies to the Remove Files button; it only removes the file(s) from the ad unit, not the Asset Library. To delete the file, go to the Asset Library, select the file, and select Delete in the Attachment Details section.

You can set multiple creatives within a flight to run on a schedule. For example, you can create a flight that runs for four weeks and uses different creative/ad units for each week. Do this by creating multiple versions of the ad unit, then use the scheduler to set the start date for each ad unit. Note that you don't have to set an end date; when the next scheduled item starts (i.e, is published), the previously scheduled item automatically stops (i.e., is un-published).

The example below shows how to set up a four-week flight to run a different ad unit each week. Note that the audio creatives must all be of the same duration.

(Example) Set up a four-week flight to run a different ad unit each week:

First: Create flight and add first ad unit

1. Create a flight with a date range of four weeks.

2. Go into Frequency and build an ad unit, but do not publish it yet.

3. Rename the ad unit from "Version 1" to "Week 1."
   

   

4. Publish the ad.
   Next: Add ad unit for week 2

5. Go back into Frequency and create a duplicate of "Week 1."

   

6. Rename the new draft "Week 2."

7. Make the creative changes for week 2.

8. Click Publish.

9. in the Publish dialog, select Schedule Publish Date. The Scheduler appears.

10. Select Set date and time, and enter the date and time when you want the Week 2 creative to replace the Week 1 creative.

11. Review the details, and if they are correct, click Submit.

    

    Then: Repeat for remaining creatives/weeks

12. Repeat the above steps for week 3 and for week week 4.

Notes:

• In the example above, renaming the drafts (Week 1, Week 2, etc.) is optional, but it's a useful way for you to identify the scheduled creatives.

• There are no validation checks to ensure your creative schedule matches your flight date range. For example, you are not warned if you schedule an ad unit to run in the first week of August, but your flight ends on July 31. Please schedule carefully!

• There are no validation checks or warnings to ensure your creative targeting matches your flight targeting. For example, if your flight targets the state of California, and your creatives target San Francisco, California and Portland, Oregon, the ads will only deliver to San Francisco.

When you use two or more audio creatives in the same ad, TAP's default behavior is to select one randomly when the ad plays. However, if you prefer to give one creative a higher priority, use weighted or sequential distribution. This is useful, for example, when setting up filler flights or if you have a number of creatives that you want to play in a particular order over the course of a reader's listening session.

Weighted Distribution

Weighted Distribution rotates the creatives based on a percentage weight. By default, TAP gives equal weight to all creatives in a multi-creative set, which results in random rotation. However, if you prefer some creatives play more than others, you can change their relative weights. Note that for a random distribution, there is always the possibility that the same creative will run twice (running the second time after the frequency cap is reached) due to chance. This likelihood decreases as you add more creatives to the flight.

• To change the balance, select one of the percentages and enter a new value, then select the other and select the corresponding value that adds up to 100% (for example: 25% and 75%).

• Note that the value selectors will not accept values that do not total 100%; once your total hits 100% the values are accepted. (You might need to tap your keyboard's Return key to register the value change.)

  

Sequential Distribution

Sequential distribution lets you arrange a series of ads to be delivered to a unique listener in a specified order, each building on the previous one to tell a story or achieve a goal. Triton identifies a unique listener based on the Listener ID.

The sequence order is set when the listener connects. If Triton Digital recognizes a unique Listener ID when a listener reconnects after a disconnection, the order continues where it left off on the previous connection. Changing listening location resets the sequential order back to one, so use sequential rotation with care; it is very likely that the first creative will get much more airplay than those later in the ordered list.

To set a sequence order:

• Load two or more creatives into the ad unit.

• Click the Sequential Distribution button.

• Grab the handle at the right-hand side of a creative and drag-and-drop to arrange into the sequence that you prefer.

Benefits of using sequential ordering include:

• Extend the messaging; Deliver a comprehensive message across multiple ads (e.g., automotive - many features for a new car).

• Reduce creative fatigue; Present unique messaging with each ad to improve engagement.

• Highlight a call-to-action; Vary your ad messaging to ensure your call-to-action resonates with listeners.

• Enhance brand recall; Build upon previous ads to reinforce brand attributes and messaging.

You can add audio impression pixel tracking elements to each audio creative in your ads. You can use audio impression trackers, which report an official impression back to the ad server, as well as up to five "quartile" pixels that are used to measure the amount of the ad that was heard by the listener. You can include macros. For more information, see Using Macros.

Add the audio pixel URLs on the Pixels tab of the Resources sidebar that appears when you click an audio creative in the Frequency creative manager or select the creative's Pixels icon on the Resources menu.

Enter only one pixel URL at a time. Click Add Another to add additional URLs to any of the pixels. There is no limit to the number of pixels you can add.

• Audio impression Pixels: Reports an official impression back to the ad server.  

• LTR Streaming Pixels:

  • Start: Reports that the creative within the ad was loaded and playback began.

  • First Quartile: Reports that the creative played continuously for 25% of the total duration at normal speed.

  • Midpoint: Reports that the creative played continuously for 50% of the total duration at normal speed.

  • Third Quartile: Reports that the creative played continuously for 75% of the duration at normal speed.

  • Complete: Reports that the creative played to the end at normal speed.

Use the Scripts tab on the Resources sidebar that appears when you click an audio creative in the Frequency creative manager or select the creative's Banner Scripts icon on the Resources menu. You can add JavaScript tags, HTML code blocks, and iFrame links to your ads.

Banner impression pixels should be put in the Display Impression Pixels Link field. You can include macros. For more information, see Using Macros.

Adding Multiple Scripts/Blocks/iFrames

You can add multiple scripts, HTML code blocks, and iFrames to each ad. Once you have entered the first one, click Add Another to add another item. The new one is added to the bottom of the list, so you might have to scroll to see it.

• The duration setting is used to reserve the inventory.

• The duration value you enter in Frequency must be ±25% of the actual audio file duration. You cannot add an audio creative that is outside of that range.

• You can reset the creative duration on an unpublishedad unit as follows:

  1. Open the Creative Editor.

  2. Click Reset duration.

  3. Enter a new duration value and click Reset.
     

     

     Note: Resetting the duration of an ad unit clears all ad unit versions and creatives; you'll need to re-add the creatives. Once ad unit has been published, the duration can not be reset.

• While you cannot reset the duration of a published ad unit (nor copies/drafts of published ad units), you have the option of clearing creative from the flight and starting over. Do this if you need to swap the creative to a creative that has a different duration:

  1. In the Creative section of the flight, click the arrow on the side of the Manage in Frequency creative manager and select Clear creative from flight.

     

  2. Confirm you want to clear the creative. This removes all creative and creative settings from the flight!

  3. Rebuild your creative using the new creative.

The notes in this topic will help you understand creative usage and management in TAP.

Draft vs. Live Ads

When you are working on an ad in the creative manager, the ad is in draft mode, as shown in the Status indicator in the upper-right corner of the creative manager window. Once you publish the ad, its status changes to live, even if the flight's start date has not yet arrived.

• A draft ad can be edited; you can add more creatives, swap out creatives, change the impression pixels, etc.

• A live ad cannot be edited. If you want to change the ad you must create a draft copy of the ad and edit the draft copy. When you publish that draft it replaces the other live version.

  

New Draft vs. Duplicate

When working in the Frequency creative manager, you have the option to create a new draft of your ad unit, or to create a duplicate (copy) of the ad unit.

• New draft: creates an empty ad unit. You need to add creative and any other items, such as metadata or serving logic, to complete the ad unit.

• Duplicate: makes an exact copy of the current ad unit, which can then be edited and published. The duplicate is not live until you click Publish!

Navigation

• The Frequency creative manager usually opens in the browser tab adjacent to the TAP tab. If you find yourself back in the TAP tab and want to easily jump to the Frequency creative manager tab, click Focus tab/window. If you click Cancel, the Frequency creative manager tab closes in the background.

  

Duplication and Deletion

• To quickly remove the creative from a flight, go to the Manage in Frequency creative manager menu and select Clear creative from flight. This does not remove the creative from the creative asset manager.

  

• When working with multiple ads within the same Frequency creative manager window, any ad can be duplicated, but only draft ads can be deleted.

  

File Limits

• There is no limit to the number of files you can upload to the creative asset library.

• There is no need to remove files from the library. For audit purposes, you cannot remove files once impressions have been delivered against them.

Tips & Tricks

• If uploading of creative fails, make sure you are uploading actual creative files and not alias files from a cloud server, such as Dropbox "Smart Sync" files set as "online only."

• You can add the same audio creative to an ad unit multiple times, such as if you want to use one audio creative but with different metadata characteristics.

• You can change the name of draft ad units. By default, draft ad units use version number names, such as "Version 2," "Version 3," etc. If you prefer a more descriptive name, you can re-name the draft by clicking the pencil icon next to the draft name.

  

• You can copy the Frequency creative's VAST URL by going to the Manage in Frequency creative manager menu and selecting View VAST URL. In the VAST viewer that opens, click Copy to clipboard.

  

• You can preview and test the Frequency creative's VAST URL by going to the Manage in Frequency creative manager menu and selecting View VAST URL. On the VAST URL viewer, select an option from Preview VAST with... to view and test the VAST file in a third-party tester that opens in a new browser tab. This can be useful for double checking your creative setup (e.g., Is the banner showing? Is it clicking through? Is it assigned to the appropriate audio?) If you are using multiple audio creatives you might have to refresh several times as only one audio at a time will show in the tester. Note that these testers are designed to show if the VAST URL is working; they won't necessarily guide you through fixing errors.

  

The Frequency Creative Delivery Report only works with creative that was added using the Frequency creative manager. It does not report on creative added via third-party VAST URLs.

This report will no longer be available as of September 2024; use the TAP Explore Creatives report instead.

The Creative Delivery Report provides information on the delivery of audio and banner creative that was added via Frequency. There are three levels of Creative Delivery Reports. Expand the items below to see where you access each type of report.

Organization: reports on delivery for all flights and campaigns across the organization.

Campaign: reports on delivery for all flights within the selected campaign.

Flight: reports on delivery for the selected flight.

When you generate a report an email is sent to you containing a link to download the report.

To generate a Creative Delivery report:

1. Select Creative delivery report for the level of report you want to generate.

2. A window appears with your email address automatically added as the report's recipient. Confirm that the address is correct.  

3. Enter a date range. If you are creating a campaign or flight creative delivery report, the item's start and end dates appear by default, but you can override this by selecting a preset or entering a custom start/end date.

4. Click Generate report.
   An email is sent to the recipient email address. It contains a link to download a compressed ZIP file containing your Creative Delivery report. It might take a few minutes for the email to appear.
   

   

The Report Files

The email you receive contains a link to a compressed (ZIP) file. When you download and un-compress the ZIP file it breaks out into two CSV files:

• A summary report: high-level campaign report broken down per day impressions ran.

• A detailed report.

Depending on your Microsoft Office setup, the CSV files might not be broken down into columns when you open them in Microsoft Excel. In that case, use the instructions below to convert them into columnar format in Excel.

Converting CSV to Excel Columns

To determine if you need to convert to columns, select the first data row of the report (beginning with "Start Date"). If the formula bar shows numerous comma-separated items, you need to convert. If the formula bar just says "Start Date" then the conversion has been done automatically,

To convert a CSV file into columns:

1. Open the CSV file in Microsoft Excel.

2. (Suggestion.) Save the file as Excel Worksheet format.
   Saving as Excel is not required, but if you normally work in Excel then saving it as that format is suggested for smoother workflow.

3. Select all rows of the report (not including the identification information at the top):

   • Select the first data row (beginning with "Start Date").

   • Select all rows below the selected row (CTRL SHIFT Down-arrow).

4. Go to the Data ribbon and click Text to Columns.
   

   

5. In the popup window that appears:

   • (1) For the type of data, select Delimited (then click Next).

   • (2) For the delimiters, select Tab and Comma (then click Next).

   • (3) For the Data Format, select General (then click Finish).
     

     

Summary Report

The summary report includes some identification information (campaign name, date range for the report, timezone info, etc.) followed by CSV values that should break into columns once you open the file in Microsoft Excel. Each row represents one creative.

Columns include:

• Day

• Impressions

• Companion Banner Views

• Clicks

• CTR %

• LTR %

• Uniques

• Frequency

See the detailed report description for column definitions.

Detailed Report

The report includes some identification information (campaign name, date range for the report, timezone info, etc.) followed by CSV values that should break into columns once you open the file in Microsoft Excel. Each row represents one creative.

Columns include:

• Start/End date: Start/end dates of the reporting period.

• Key ID: AdvertiserName_FrequencyAdvertiserID_FrequencyCreativeID_AudioFileID

• Brand: Advertiser name.

• Triton Advertiser ID.

• Campaign: Campaign name.

• Triton Campaign ID.

• Triton Flight ID.

• Ad Unit: Flight name.

• Ad Unit ID: Creative ID.

• Ad creative: Audio file ID.

• Impressions: The audio delivered impressions.

• Companion Banner Views: The banner impressions.

• Clicks: Number of clicks the banners received.

• CTR %: Click-through Rate; the rate at which the companion banner was clicked. It is calculated by dividing the clicks received by the banner impressions delivered.

• LTR %: Listen-through Rate; the percentage of ad plays which were listened to entirely. If LTR is 95%, it means that 95% of people who listened to the ad heard it to the end.

• Uniques: The actual number of listeners who heard the ad, corrected for multiple listens by the same person (based on the listenerID). For example, if a person heard the ad on their desktop computer and again on their mobile, it would count as two impressions but one unique.

• Frequency: The average number of times listeners are exposed to the same ad during a campaign. It is calculated by dividing Impressions by uniques.

Use Data Signals to apply targeting rules to creative assets. Data Signals is accessed through the Frequency creative manager, and can be used with both CPM and CPS flights.

Typically, you use creative targeting when you want to use two or more creatives in the same flight, where the choice of which creative the listener hears depends on the targeting criteria. For example, you can apply time targeting so that one creative plays on weekdays and another creative plays on weekends, yet they cumulatively work towards a single impressions goal for the flight.

The standard configuration for Data Signals includes targeting by time and location.

Workflow

Once you have two or more audio files assigned to the flight in the Frequency creative manager, you can apply targeting rules to the creatives. The steps below provide an overview of the workflow.

1. Enable Data Signals.
   This enables Data Signals targeting for the selected creatives in this flight.
   

   

2. Select the targeting options you want to use for the set of creatives.
   At this point you are just pre-loading the options that will appear later, when you assign the options to specific creatives. So, for example, if you want to target weekend days for one creative and weekday days for another, select all days of the week in the Time section now, so they will be available for assignment to creatives in a later step (see illustration, below). You can pre-load both time and location options. Click Save in the Data Signals panel to load the selected options.
   

   

3. Assign specific targeting options to the creatives.
   The illustration below shows a set of four creatives waiting to have location (cities) and/or time (day of the week) options applied to them. Time targeting in data signals applies to the listener's timezone. Flight time targeting, however, is based on station timezone.

• Click the pen icon to reveal the options, then select the ones you want to assign to that creative. You must select something from all available categories; if you do not want a specific assignment from a category, select Default.
  Click the green check mark to confirm your selection.
  

  

4. Assign targeting options to the remaining creatives.
   Important: you must leave at least one creative set as "default."

Creative Targeting Usage Notes

• Data Signals targeting rules work on an INCLUDE basis only; you cannot create an "exclude" rule.

• Use Disable with caution, as it will remove all targeting assignments and options. This is essentially a "reset" button, with no "undo." Use it only if you want to start over with setting up your creative targeting.
  

  

• Editing:

  • To edit the targeting assignments for a creative, use the same pen icon you used to make the assignments.
    

    

  • To edit the pre-loaded options (e.g., which days of the week you can choose from when assigning days to creative, or which cities you can choose from, etc.) go to the Data Signals configuration. This is the same panel you first used when you clicked "Enable," but since it is already enabled the menu label is now Configure.
    

    

• You must leave at least one creative set as "default." Creative with assigned Data Signals targeting always takes priority over "default" creatives, but if the system is unable to identify the listener (such as when we do not receive listener profile data in the ad request), or to match the listener to the selected Data Signals targeting, it falls back to the assigned "default" creative. Note that you must select "Default" from the drop-down menu; "unassigned" is not the same as "default."
  

  

• You can add more creative files to the ad unit at any time before you click Publish.
  

  

• If you assign the same targeting options to two or more creatives, they become a Data Signal Group. You can control the distribution within the group the same way you do whenever you use multiple creatives in an ad.
  

  

• Creative targeting via Data Signals only targets by time and location (plus a few other options if you use the advanced targeting package). If you want apply other targeting factors to creatives such as content targeting, demographic targeting, segment targeting, (etc.), use a different method. Specifically, create a separate flight for each creative, and use flight targeting on each flight.

• Time targeting in data signals applies to the listener's timezone. Flight time targeting, however, is based on station timezone. This can lead to unexpected results, because the flight targeting validation always happens first. For example, if your flight targets a narrow time window such as 8:00AM-10:00AM, and the creative targets the same time window via Data Signals, you could miss impressions because of timezone differences. If the station is based in New York (Eastern Standard Time) and a listener in Los Angeles (Pacific Standard Time) connects at 9:30AM, that listener is outside of the flight's time targeting, which is based on the station timezone in New York. Although the listener matches the creative's targeting, the creative will not deliver because the flight's time targeting takes precedence. As a best practice, apply time targeting to either the flight or the creative, but not both.

• Banners (companion ads) are linked to audio creatives, so any creative targeting that applies to an audio creative also applies to any banners associated with that audio. You cannot target banner creatives separately.

• If using the OpenWeatherMaps for targeting based on weather conditions, UV index, see their information page regarding accuracy and quality of weather data. For information regarding targeting based on pollen count, see the BreezoMeter web site.