Issue: Impressions Are Not Logged For Html Banner

[max]

Hi folks 

 

i have an issue delivering HTML ads in Revive.  The impressions are not counted thus views capping can't be used for this sort of banners. I have to state that ad requests are counted normally.

Does anybody else experience the same problem ?

Is it a matter of how Revive logic works or just misconfiguration/bug ?

[Erik Geurts]

Most likely cause of this is that the code you entered into the HTML banners is incomplete or incorrect, causing the impression logging pixel to not work.

[max]

here is a code i put into HTML banner for the test

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=http://google.com/" />

i've been using different types of redirects with previous versions of OpenX (probably 2.8) without any problems of impressions logging . Has HTML banner code serving logic been altered since that time ?

 

PS: i have the same issue with video overlay banners . No impressions in stats, but requests only

[Erik Geurts]

To me, it looks like this will redirect to google.com immediately, without allowing the impression logging pixel that comes after it to be delivered, let alone be triggered. Why would you want to put that sort of redirect in a banner ad?

[max]

To me, it looks like this will redirect to google.com immediately, without allowing the impression logging pixel that comes after it to be delivered, let alone be triggered. Why would you want to put that sort of redirect in a banner ad?

Google.com is used as an example only. I was using OpenX as an intermediary server for tracking clicks , that's why i don't need to show any banner to user rather redirect him to 3rdparty website right away

Can you please advice any solution on this ? Could serving logging pixel before banner impression help ?

[Erik Geurts]

What you're trying to do implies that the browser gets redirected to the new URL before there is ever a chance to delivery the impression logging pixel. It will not work.

 

The real question is: why do you want to do that redirect in the first place?

[max]

What you're trying to do implies that the browser gets redirected to the new URL before there is ever a chance to delivery the impression logging pixel. It will not work.

 

The real question is: why do you want to do that redirect in the first place?

Because as i said i want to redirect traffic through Revive using built-in targeting, tracking and reporting functionality.

[Richard Foley]

I think what Erik is saying, is that Revive already does what you are trying to do. And that you are circumventing (avoiding) Revive altogether by your use of the extra URL in the meta tag.

 

You need to let the click follow the banner to your Revive server, (for the click-tracking), and then let Revive use it's configured banner information to redirect the user onwards to the intended final URL.

 

banner -> revive (tracking) -> url

 

Because as i said i want to redirect traffic through Revive using built-in targeting, tracking and reporting functionality.

[max]

I think what Erik is saying, is that Revive already does what you are trying to do. And that you are circumventing (avoiding) Revive altogether by your use of the extra URL in the meta tag.

 

You need to let the click follow the banner to your Revive server, (for the click-tracking), and then let Revive use it's configured banner information to redirect the user onwards to the intended final URL.

 

banner -> revive (tracking) -> url

 

thanks for your contribution , Richard.

However , can you please be more specific on the solution you provided? 

The thing is i don't have any visible banner to show for my visitors.

 

Lets look at the example :

 

- i have a traffic flow i want to track and control its distribution , lets assume from Spain and France

- i have two different pages : one for spanish users and another one for french

- i create blank page on my website and insert Revive zone code inside

- i create two HTML banners in revive : one redirects to spanish webpage and another one to french .

- i set respective targeting for every banner

- i add both banners to respective zone

- i send my traffic flow to the page with zone code expecting to see the statistics in reports . And requests are being counted, but not banner impressions what causes (more importantly) inability to use impression caps in the case when i have another spanish page i want to show on the second and all the following non-unique impressions for the corresponding audience.

 

Redirects tracking is essential for every advertising business and i hope i can get Revive to do it for me

 

Should i use {clickurl} macro in HTML banner, like this :

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url={clickurl}http://google.com/" />

to let redirect thru Revive ?

I suppose this macro is used for click tracking, not impressions. Would it count impressions or clicks or both ?

[Matteo Beccati]

As everyone else is saying, you're not giving the browser a chance to load the impression tracking pixel that is sent along with the meta tag. I'd suggest increasing the timeout to e.g. 3 seconds and also displaying something like "Redirecting..."

[max]

As everyone else is saying, you're not giving the browser a chance to load the impression tracking pixel that is sent along with the meta tag. I'd suggest increasing the timeout to e.g. 3 seconds and also displaying something like "Redirecting..."

 

Thank you for your answer, Matteo

I totally understand what you guys saying about impressions tracking pixel and trying to find solution together .

Redirect time is extremely important when talking about advertisement tracking , so 2-3 seconds lag could let you loose 10-20% of traffic, which is expensive on hundreds of thousands impressions scale. Thus the timeout is not an option in my case unfortunately.

I have two other solutions on my mind :

1. I just found {logurl} macro for Revive to log impressions

2. Use of another redirect code, for instance :

</script>
window.location="http://mysite.com";
</script>

Do you think any of them would work ?

[Matteo Beccati]

1. I just found {logurl} macro for Revive to log impressions

 

I'd suggest some clever javascript that first logs the impression, then redirects.