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I am currently in the progress of writing a Google IMA-like implementation because IMA is not supported on various platforms I am working with.

When IMA sends tracking events, it replaces certain macro's in URLs. See the [XXXXX] values in the url below.

https://video-ad-stats.googlesyndication.com/video/client_events?event=3&web_property=ca-pub-2226646527662415&cpn=[CPN]&break_type=[BREAK_TYPE]&slot_pos=[SLOT_POS]&ad_id=[AD_ID]&ad_sys=[AD_SYS]&ad_len=[AD_LEN]&p_w=[P_W]&p_h=[P_H]&mt=[MT]&rwt=[RWT]&wt=[WT]&sdkv=[SDKV]&vol=[VOL]&content_v=[CONTENT_V]&conn=[CONN]&format=[FORMAT_NAMESPACE]_[FORMAT_TYPE]_[FORMAT_SUBTYPE]

Because I can not use IMA, I have to replace these macros myself. The google IMA website did not give any clues as to what these values should be. Some I have inferred from looking at the urls IMA creates, but some are still missing. See the full list below.

CPN:
BREAK_TYPE: The type of adbreak (1 for preroll)
SLOT_POS: Sequence number of the advertisement
AD_ID: Advertisement ID, inline-advertisement ID
AD_SYS: Advertisement system, inline-advertisement system
AD_LEN: AD length in miliseconds
P_W: Videoplayers' size width (pixels)
P_H: Videoplayers' size height (pixels)
MT:
RWT:
WT:
SDKV: SDK Version (so our own version?)
VOL: Sound Volume (not 100% sure)
CONTENT_V:
CONN:
FORMAT_NAMESPACE:
FORMAT_TYPE:
FORMAT_SUBTYPE:

What are the other macro values being used by Google IMA?

Additions

  • RWT seems to be a succession of four timestamps. Which timestamps not sure. (Unix Epoch format)
  • WT is one single timestamp. (Unix Epoch format)
Matthijs
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  • I am struggling with the same, though in the VAST response, I have a couple of re-occurring tracking event tags, like start occurs twice. The first tag works fine, it logs events into the DFP ad server and I can see the events in the reports, the second tag is same as the one you mentioned, and I am unsure if I should fire events in the format. Did you find a solution to this? Do you have re-occurring tags as well? – basum Jan 16 '17 at 07:20
  • @basum I do indeed have re-occuring tags as well. They should all be triggered, which works fine for me. Still unsure on the macro replacements sadly. I haven't really looked much more after posting this however, so there may be a solution out there somewhere now. If you find anything, can you let me know? – Matthijs Jan 16 '17 at 08:35
  • I'll let you know, I am hunting for it. How are you serving the ads? are you configuring the line items and creatives by uploading them to the DFP account by yourself or you are contracting some third party ad server? Asking because in the former case, I think that one can ignore the re-occurring urls, cause firing events on the first ones produces cohesive reports on the DFP – basum Jan 16 '17 at 10:51
  • @basum I am contacting a third party ad server indeed, so I have no control over what gets served. It is simply up to me to parse the VMAP and VAST data and act to it accordingly. – Matthijs Jan 17 '17 at 10:01

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