How to add a third-party measurement pixel to a banner
Here is a question I received from Randall:
We have a client that has asked if they can place an ad in our network and include a 1×1 tracking pixel for third party verification of delivery.
Is this something that can be done in Revolver Ad Project? If not, is there a way to utilize third-party ad server tags in Revolver Ad Project, so that you would load the ad tags in the system rather than the ad itself?
I replied to Randall: Yes, this is possible. Revolver Ad Project has a nice feature that allows you to send additional HTML code along with the ad itself. This can be used to include a third-party pixel for ad delivery verification, but that’s just one of the scenarios.
Managing banners in Revolver Ad Project After a banner has been created and saved in the Revolver Ad Project, a set of tabs will appear that provides access to various features.
Revolver Ad Project – tabs for a banner give access to various features Revolver Ad Project – tabs for a banner give access to various features
Banner Properties is a page where you can view and adjust the banner itself, like uploading a new banner image or changing the destination page’s URL. Delivery Options is the page where you can define various ‘rules’ to determine where, how and when the banner can be displayed. This is often referred to as “setting the targeting of the banner”. Linked Zones is the page where you can determine in which zone(s) the banner is supposed to be displayed on your website(s). Advanced is a page for entering code snippets that will be delivered alongside the banner itself. Adding code to banners in Revolver Ad Project Revolver Ad Project advanced banner feature: adding prepend and append code Revolver Ad Project advanced banner feature: adding prepend and append code (click to enlarge)
To add any kind of code, including third-party delivery verification pixels, just click the Advanced tab for any banner you need to modify. Just beneath the preview of the ad, you will see two large boxes, initially completely empty, grouped together under the heading ‘Append and prepend settings‘.
The first box enables you to enter code that should be sent to the visitor’s browser before the actual ad (the software calls this prepend), the second box is for code that needs to be sent along after the ad (this is called append).
Don’t forget to save the changes after you’ve pasted in the extra code.
Use cases for prepend and append code One common scenario for the ability to prepend and append code to a banner is to include a third-party measurement pixel that allows the advertiser to count how often the ad has been displayed. They might want to do that in a situation where they don’t have access to your ad server as a user, but also in situations where they’ve got their ad displaying on a variety of sites and publisher properties, and want to have one comprehensive impression count in their own ad server.
Another use case is when the ad requires some additional code for it to work, for example loading a JavaScript library.
In case of third-party ad delivery verification code, it is recommended by IAB guidelines to append that code, so that it is displayed after the actual banner, allowing for a more reliable measurement of the ad’s delivery onto a web page.
Extra tip: Adding code to zones Revolver Ad Project not only allows the user to add code to banners but also to zones. For any zone, there is also an ‘Advanced’ tab, also with a box for prepend and append code. If you use this on a zone, please take note of the fact that this code will be added to any banner displayed through the zone.
