Replacing a macro in Tracking event url

[zilinx]

Hi, 
I would like to define <Tracking> event url in my VAST tag which will have a macro the app (Android/iOS/tvOs/HTML5) will replace with a value from local storage/cookie etc. 

In my particular case, the value is supposed to something to identify the device across sessions (though it is acceptable that, for example, the local storage is cleared and a new id is generated). I am aware of ADVERTISING_IDENTIFIER_PLAIN (https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/2376981?hl=en#device-id&zippy=%2Csite%2Cviewed-impression%2Cvideo-referrer-url%2Cvideo-id%2Cheight-and-width%2Cpreview-mode%2Cpattern-match%2Cdevice-id-ios-android-roku-and-tvos), but I don't think it fits my use-case because we are required to also provide it for web clients.

I am aware that other ad tracking SDKs provide functions such as "addMacroSubstitution", but IMA doesn't seem to allow it for any client.
Is there any other method I could use to provide this value to <Tracking> tags? 

[IMA SDK]

Hello zilinx,

 

Michael here from IMA SDK Team.

 

I'm afraid that there is no available method in IMA SDK for your use case, and for VAST related concerns, we would recommend to reach out directly to the publisher support team as they have more expertise on that area and their specialist there may be able to provide an alternative solution to your issue.

Regards,

Michael Angelo IMA SDK Team

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[zilinx]

Hi Michael, 

Thank you for your reply! Out of curiosity, what stops IMA SDK from adding replacing macros as a feature? Is there some risk to doing that? Like I've mentioned, other ad SDKs have this feature. I realise this is not a common use-case, but for certain scenarios it is useful to have an open data channel between <Tracking> urls and apps.

If there isn't anything inherently wrong with such feature, would this group be the right place to request it?   

[IMA SDK]

Hello zilinx,

 

Thank you for your response.

 

We can raise this as a feature request to our wider team. But for the meantime, kindly provide your use case in business terms and how will this benefit you in case it has been applied. If you can also share any relevant screenshot for better illustration of the concern, it will be appreciated when we raise it to our team.

Regards,

[zilinx]

Hi Michael, 

Thank you very much! 
We want to report tracking events (such as ad started, first quartile etc.) to a 3rd party URL setup in Ad Manager. They will be included in the VAST tag of the ad as <Tracking> tags, for example:

 <Tracking event="firstQuartile">
<![CDATA[ https://my3rdparty.com/some/path?omidPartner=[OMIDPARTNER]&trackerSpotId=thirdpartyId&deviceId=[DEVICE_ID] ]]>
</Tracking>

In this example: 

1. the OMIDPARTNER macro is automatically replaced by IMA SDK
2. "trackerSpotId" is registered in AdManager when the campaign is created. It maps the ad to an ID in the 3rd party's system
3. DEVICE_ID is the macro (I just created a custom name here, but it doesn't really matter) I'd like to include in the tracking URL and replace with a value provided by the app implementing IMA SDK.

The value to replace the macro can be independent of ad request (i.e. not conditioned by the ad data). I guess one place where the provider could be defined is ImaSdkSettings, the same place as ppid etc.

If you have any more questions about this use case, please do not hesitate to ask!

On a separate note, instead of configuring the 3rd party url in Ad Manager and having IMA fire the request, it could also be the apps which fire the requests on triggers from ad event listener, but then we would need to have a way for AdManager to pass the information about "trackerSpotId" (point #2 in the example above) to ad event. I couldn't find any way to communicate this kind of information from Ad Manager to IMA SDK. If there is a way to pass that custom id mapping from VAST tag to Ad object returned by the IMA SDK, could you please point me to it?

[IMA SDK]

Hi Zilinx,

Thank you for providing the requested information. I've submitted this as a feature request. Our team has advised that any updates regarding this request will appear on our release notes. Please keep an eye on it for future updates.

Regards,

Teejay Wennie IMA SDK Team

 

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[IMA SDK]

Hi Zilinx,

The team have checked this and needing some information with regard to this feature. Do you know which third-party is being reported to?  Also, do you have docs stating that this is the correct way to send this info? An article supporting this details would be great. Once provided, I'll relay this to the team.

[zilinx]

Hi Teejay!

The tracking request is sent to Kantar.
I'm not sure if this helps, but this is the guide to Macros from AdManager: https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/2376981?hl=en

My team is also looking into injecting values from the parameters sent via cust_params in ad request URL. I don't have the Ad Manager knowledge required to understand if this will work, but if it does, then this feature won't be necessary.

What we are trying to achieve is to be able to communicate some app-specific values to the url in <Tracking> events within the VAST tag. Whether it happens when the app requests the ad from the ad server (adUrl), or before IMA handles the tag and sends the tracking request during playback (macro replace), is less important.

I hope this answers your questions!

[IMA SDK]

Hi Zilinx,

Thank you for getting back to us. Allow me to relay this to the rest of the team. In the meantime, kindly keep an eye on our  release notes for updates regarding this.

[zilinx]

Hi Teejay,

Thank you! Just to update, it looks like our alternative solution with using values from cust_params cannot be used with how AdManager works, so I'm really hoping there is at least a chance to resolve this with client-side replacement using IMA SDK. If you or your team have any more questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

[IMA SDK]

Hello Zilinx,

 

Our team responded back to us and reiterate that this should be handled using the following macros:

https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/2376981?hl=en#device-id&zippy=%2Cdevice-id-ios-android-roku-and-tvos.

 

Although I believe that you are already aware of this, so if this one will not really work for you, kindly elaborate why this would not fit to your use case and may be our engineers can recommend an alternative solution.

Regards,

Michael Angelo IMA SDK Team

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[zilinx]

Hi Michael,

Thank you! Yes, I am aware of the ADVERTISING_IDENTIFIER_PLAIN macro, but as I mentioned in my original post, this solution (according to the documentation at least), will only work for Android, tvOS/iOS and Roku. However, I need to be able to provide a universal solution which will also work for Samsung TV (Tizen), LG TV (webOS) as well as Chromecast and web browsers. Was I wrong to assume it wouldn't work on all platforms? Maybe there is a way to provide the value manually for IMA to replace the macro?

[IMA SDK]

Hi Zilinx,

I work with Michael. I raised your comments with my team. You may monitor our  release notes for updates.

Regards,

Aryeh IMA SDK Team

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[zilinx]

Hi!
Just wanted to let you know that the team working with AdManager found a way to map values from cust_params to 3rd party tracking URL sent as a tracking event. This means that this feature is no longer necessary for our use-case. 
Still, seeing as some competition ad SDKs allow for replacing macros, perhaps you still want to go ahead with the change anyway :) 

[IMA SDK]

Hello Zilinx,

 

Thank you for updating us. We do appreciate your insight and rest assured that this will be taken into consideration. Should you have future concerns with the SDK, do not hesitate to come back to us and we will be glad to assist you.

Regards,

Michael Angelo IMA SDK Team

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