AdTarget FAQs

This topic provides answers to frequently asked questions about AdTarget.

Q: What additional tags are required to implement AdTarget?
A: AdTarget requires no additional site tags either from Digital Analytics or the AdTarget Network Partners with whom you are working.
Q: Is a Digital Analytics tag library update required?
A: Yes, an updated version of the Digital Analytics tag library (eluminate.js) is required. Also, depending on a your configuration, an update to Digital Analytics tag library (cmdatatagutils.js) might also be required.
Q: Can data be exported to networks that have not integrated with Digital Analytics?
A: Data syndicated using AdTarget can only be transferred to AdTarget Network Partners when they have implemented the requisite integration with the Digital Analytics API to receive data from Digital Analytics Client site tags. However, Digital Analytics Clients can use IBM® Digital Analytics Export to distribute highly-segmented visitor data to non-AdTarget Partners. Let your Digital Analytics account representative know about any third party networks you want to see within Digital Analytics for the AdTarget application.
Q: Will data that is syndicated be retained for exclusive Client use and is there an associated CPC, CPM or CPE charge assessed?
A: Considerations for cost and usage after syndication are to be resolved between advertisers and networks. Digital Analytics merely acts as a means to collect, segment and syndicate the visitor activity data. Be sure that you have agreements in place with the AdTarget Partners you will be working with.
Q: How many Partners can be enabled at the same time?
A: Clients can activate data syndication with up to three AdTarget Network Partners simultaneously.
Q: How often can data be syndicated to the AdTarget Network Partners?
A: Data is transmitted to the AdTarget Network Partners in real-time. As visitors interact with a Client's site, AdTarget attempts to match visitor behavior to the segments that have been defined, and as soon as such a match occurs, AdTarget will syndicate the data to the designated AdTarget Network Partners.
Q: How many segments can be defined in AdTarget?
A: Currently, there is no limit on the total number of segments that can be defined by users within AdTarget. However, you are limited to 30 active segments total across all active AdTarget Network Partners.
Q: Can segments that are created in Digital Analytics Explore or Digital Analytics be leveraged in AdTarget?
A: Segments defined in AdTarget are only available for use within AdTarget and cannot be directly applied within Digital Analytics Explore or Digital Analytics. However, the segmentation logic used in AdTarget can be replicated in Digital Analytics Explore for analysis purposes.
Q: How long does it take to activate or deactivate Partner syndication within the Digital Analytics system?
A: Activation and deactivation requests made from the AdTarget UI may take up to 10 minutes to process completely.
Q: Can an active syndication be modified? If yes, how often?
A: Yes, Clients may choose to update or modify a Partner syndication that is already active. The changes made to the configuration will be put into effect immediately, subject to the 10 minute maximum time to process completely.
Q: Can ad-hoc reports be configured in AdTarget?
A: No. AdTarget provides standard summary reports by ad campaign, when they are enabled on a partner basis. For in-depth attribution analysis Digital Analytics offers:
  • IBM Digital Analytics Impression Attribution analysis within Digital Analytics Explore for an additional fee
  • display advertisement click-through performance and attribution analysis
within the standard services of the Marketing Programs report in Digital Analytics.
Q: Is Impression Attribution a requirement for AdTarget?
A: No. AdTarget will provide summary reports to analyze the performance of ad campaigns and Impression Attribution is not required, nor is it a service that is bundled with a Client's license to AdTarget.
Q: Will impression metrics be available in the AdTarget reporting interface for Clients who have licensed Impression Attribution?
A: No. Because Impression Attribution is not required for AdTarget, Impression Attribution metrics are not included in the predefined reports offered in AdTarget. Digital Analytics will look to offer Impression Attribution standard reports native to AdTarget in a future release.
Q: My IT group noticed an empty rules.js file from Digital Analytics after we deployed our updated Digital Analytics tag library files. What is this file and why is it empty?
A: The rules.js file contains information related to the specific types of data transaction and segment events your organization has configured in AdTarget and approved for syndication with a Partner. Until you actually specify or configure a data syndication relationship with a Partner, the rules.js file will be empty. So, if you have deployed the AdTarget tag libraries but have not yet set up syndication with at least one AdTarget Partner, the rules.js file will be empty.
Q: Can I see weekly or monthly report rollups in AdTarget reporting?
A: Currently, AdTarget reporting only offers daily levels of granularity, but you do have the option to trend data.
Q: If all AdTarget segment logic is 'in session' activity, how does Digital Analytics discern whether a visitor is "New" versus "Repeat" for those standard segments provided in AdTarget?
A: Digital Analytics' sets a "first visit flag" if a session corresponds to one in which no Digital Analytics cookie was present and subsequently required us to set one. So, if a session pertains to a browser that does not currently have a Digital Analytics cookie, we identify the session as one from a "new visitor" versus a visitor who has a Digital Analytics cookie, who would be identified as a "repeat visitor."
Q: My AdTarget Partner states that they have accepted my organization's data syndication request but that they are not seeing any transaction events. What might be the issue?
A: First, check to see if the Partner is in Test mode. If the Partner is in test mode, data syndication events will be fired ONLY when a test cookie is set. If you and the partner are ready for production level data syndication, promote the partner syndication from AdTarget Manage tab.
Q: When a Partner disables syndication (from either Active-Test or Active mode) is Client-Partner syndication completely disabled?
A: Yes. When a partner disables syndication with a client, data will not flow from the client's website to the partner. The client that is disabled by the partner still appease in the partner's Pending Clients list. From the client's perspective, the AdTarget UI still shows the partner icon as configured but its color changes and displays a disabled state when you hover the mouse over it.
Q: If there are multiple AdTarget Partners configured and Active, do the Digital Analytics tags make all data syndication calls in parallel or in sequence?
A: Digital Analytics downloads client JavaScript files in parallel (for example, Internet Explorer downloads two at a time, and Firefox downloads four at a time). However, JavaScript does not support parallel execution, so syndication calls are executed serially.
Q: If an AdTarget Partner does not respond with a cookie or to a data syndication event, how will the Digital Analytics tag libraries behave? Will there be any latency in the visitor's session?
A: This depends on how the page is tagged. Most clients include Digital Analytics tags at the end of the page. In this case, the page will (usually) completely load before the Digital Analytics scripts are loaded. Some monitoring tools, such as Keynote, measure the time for the page to load and all scripts that started on load to finish executing. A slower Partner could affect this number. If tagging is at the top of the page, it is possible for a slower Partner request to delay page loading. Digital Analytics strongly recommends monitoring AdTarget Partner requests in active_test mode prior to engaging in active (full production) syndication mode with any partner to ensure that page load latency is within an acceptable range.
Q: What if the AdTarget Partner does not catch a data syndication event? Will Digital Analytics reattempt the syndication event?
A: Digital Analytics does not attempt to resend a data syndication event if the first attempt fails.