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Adding third-party tracking URLs to your RedCircle ad campaigns is easy!
What is a pixel?
A “Tracking Pixel” is a small snippet of code that allows you to gather information about visitors to a website. Tracking Pixels often appear as a long URL string. RedCircle supports your ability to add one or more pixels to any campaign run through the RedCircle Ad Platform (RAP).
RedCircle recommendations for pixels
Pixel tracking is a helpful tool to see the impact of your podcast campaign. The nature of podcast listenership does not warrant an immediate response to an ad like digital advertising does. Most listeners are multitasking while listening to podcasts. Because of this, there is a much longer window of time between exposure to an ad and a response from a listener.
Typically, a host-read campaign sees a response up to 5 weeks post-airing. This also means only a small percentage of users who were influenced by a podcast ad will be able to remember a specific promo code or vanity URL when making the decision to purchase. Pixel tracking is not affected by this longer window and doesn't rely on users being able to follow additional steps to attribute response. Pixels are able to capture activity throughout the entire funnel instead of just bottom-of-funnel. Promo codes and post-purchase surveys are only used when the listener has already made the decision to purchase.
With pixel tracking, you can monitor how many households were exposed to a podcast ad. The pixel captures that IP address and tracks any activity on the advertiser's site following that exposure. You can set up a pixel just on your landing page to track top-of-funnel activity. You can also add pixels on an add-to-cart page, as well as an order confirmation page to follow listeners through the consideration and purchase stages of the funnel.
What results should you expect to see from your pixel tracking? This can vary depending on the type of product/service that is being advertised. For products that are only available online, we look for a conversion rate of .25% to .3%. This is the percentage of listeners who were exposed to the ad and later went to the site. For products/services that are also or only available offline, we consider an efficient CR as .15-.2%. As mentioned earlier, every advertiser is different, and “success” can be measured in several different ways, but pixel tracking is able to provide the most insights out of any attribution method for podcast advertising.
Pixel providers: Two commonly used pixel providers are Claritas and Spotify Ad Analytics (formerly Podsights), and RAP is compatible with almost any pixel provider.
How to Format Pixel URLs for RedCircle Ad Platform
If you are purchasing Run of Network (RON) campaigns, your pixels are formatted differently than for host-read RAP campaigns. Please skip down to the section below for pixel formatting instructions.
No matter what pixel provider you use, you need to use the following macro format to ensure that your pixel URL is set up correctly in RAP. The following macros are available to configure in your pixel URLs for RAP campaigns:
- {{podcastID}}: The podcast's ID
- {{ip}}: The listener's IP address
- {{ipHash}}: The listener's encrypted IP address
- {{episodeID}}: The ID of the episode
- {{timestamp}}: The timestamp when the download occurred in ISO 8601 format (e.g. 1997-07-16T19:20+01:00)
- {{epoch}}: The timestamp when the download occurred in epoch format (e.g. 1594165941)
- {{uniqueHash}}: A hash of the user agent, IP address, and episode ID
- {{random}}: A random piece of text.
- {{isUnique}}: Whether or not RedCircle treats this download as unique (e.g. "true" or "false")
For pixels formatted as HTML (e.g., has the brackets < > around it and a URL in quotes inside) you want to use only the URL portion, without the quotes, in your RAP campaign.
How to Add the Pixel to your Campaign
You can add your pixel URL to your RAP campaign once it's ready. To add the pixel, navigate to your campaign, click the 3 dots (...) next to a show in your campaign, and click Configure Pixel URL:
Then you can paste your pixel URL in the Tracking URL box. The URL Macros are also available on this page for reference:
To add multiple pixel URLs, simply add each URL on a new line, or you can separate them with three vertical lines, |||, between each URL.
Then hit Save, and you’re all set!
Please note that for our advertisers purchasing Run of Network (RON) campaigns, the required pixel format differs slightly from above. For RON campaigns, pixels should be formatted following these guidelines: https://support.adswizz.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001729147-AdsWizz-Macros-to-use-with-AudioServe-and-AudioMatic-
Pixels for Run of Network Campaigns
For run-of-network campaigns, the macros available for use should follow the guidelines from AdsWizz, listed below:
| Macro | Description | Where you can use it |
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{listenerid} |
User ID (cookie or mobile device ID) from the ad request |
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{longitude} |
Longitude received from the client app or obtained from the client IP |
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{latitude} |
Latitude received from the client app or obtained from the client IP |
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{useragent} |
User-Agent of the client |
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${country} |
Country obtained from the client location, based on GPS data or IP address |
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${city} |
City obtained from the client location, based on GPS data or IP address |
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${postalCode} |
Postal code obtained from the client location, based on GPS data or IP address |
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${region} |
Region obtained from the client location, based on GPS data or IP address |
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${deviceType} |
Device type |
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{timestamp} |
Timestamp of the moment of the request |
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{random} |
A random number that can serve as a cache buster |
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{clickurl} |
Click tracking URL for an HTML display ad |
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{clickurl_enc} |
Encoded click tracking URL for an HTML display ad |
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{advertiserid} |
Advertiser ID (or domain, for programmatic) |
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{advertisername} |
Advertiser name (label) |
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{orderid} |
Order ID |
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{ordername} |
Order name |
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{bannerid} |
Banner ID |
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{bannername} |
Banner name (label) |
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{campaignid} |
Campaign ID |
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{campaignname} |
Campaign name (label) |
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{adunitid} |
Ad Unit ID |
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{target} |
Target of a clickable display ad |
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{target_enc} |
Encoded target of a clickable display ad |
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${awCollectionId} |
Podcast-specific. Alphanumeric identifier of the podcast collection (i.e. show). Must be sent together with ${awEpisodeId}. |
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${awEpisodeId} |
Podcast-specific. Alphanumeric identifier of the podcast episode. Must be sent together with ${awCollectionId}. |
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${dnt} |
Value of the Do Not Track request header |
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{consent} |
User consent (true/false) determined based on the values of privacy parameters in the request |
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${us_privacy} |
CCPA user consent string |
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${parameters["aw_0_req.gdpr"]!} |
GDPR user consent |
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${parameters["aw_0_req.userConsentV2"]!} |
IAB Transparency and Consent Framework Version 2 consent string |
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${gdpr} |
Indicates whether or not the call originated from a territory where GDPR applies. Must be included in the URL in the form gdpr=${gdpr}. When the call is made, the macro is replaced with the correct value: gdpr=1 (GDPR applies) or gdpr=0 (GDPR does not apply). |
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${gdpr_consent_XXX} |
Only sent if gdpr=1. Must be included in the URL in the form gdpr_consent=${gdpr_consent_XXX}, where XXX is the GVL vendor ID of the vendor to which the call is being made. The service making the call will check if the macro includes a valid vendor ID, then replace the macro with the base64-encoded Transparency & Consent string. |
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