IBM Digital Analytics Cookbook

Tracking YouTube Videos Using Element Tags

Videos are measured with the IBM Digita Analytics Element tag and send Explore attributes in specific locations. The tagging captures video start, pause and complete events using the embedded YouTube player and the YouTube JavaScript API. Note: this recipe follows the embedded YouTube iFrame API.

Element ID: pass the name of the video (e.g. Six Minute Abs)
Element Category: pass the category of the video (e.g. Fitness Videos)
Element Attribute Field 13: Pass the video status where “0”=Launch; “1”=Pause; “2”=Play;”3″=Completion. Video abandonment/completion rates and average video play times are calculated using the ‘Launch’ and ‘Completion’ events. ‘Pause’ and ‘Play’ events are sent on clicks to the YouTube video player ‘pause’ or ‘play’ controls.
Element Attribute Field 14: Pass the current video time (in seconds) of the status action. For example, if the user Stops the video 1:23 to the video, pass “83”. The video timestamp must be sent for all video status values including ‘Completion’, in which case the value should be equal to the Element attribute 15 ‘Video Length’ value.
Element Attribute Field 15: Pass the video length (in seconds) of the total length of the video. For example, if the video is 3:10 in length, pass “190”.

The video report Explore Attributes are like a hidden reporting setup in IBM Digital Analytics. The values need to be passed as Element Explore Attributes in fields 13, 14 and 15, but the Explore Attributes still need to be defined manually in the Explore Attributes admin.

Define the Explore Attributes in the Digital Analytics Admin console for “Element Attributes” as follows. Note: the element attributes 16, 17, 18, 19 shown in the image below are optional and can be used to further identify videos in custom reporting and are not required.

IBM Digital Analytics Video Element Attribute Setup

Below are sample “Element” tag function Calls with Video Explore Attributes: In this example we are tracking the video “Six Minute Abs” in an Element category “Fitness Videos” through a launch, pause, play and completion sequence. Note: the optional Video Type, Video Player, Video Ad Name and Video Url values aren’t sent to IBM Digital Analytics.

When arriving at a page that auto-launches a video, send the values for 0 (Launch), 0 for the beginning of video and 90 for the total video length, assuming a 90 second video.
cmCreateElementTag("SIX MINUTE ABS","FITNESS VIDEOS",
"-_--_--_--_ --_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_-0-_-0-_-90");
When a visitor clicks the ‘play’ control on the embedded YouYube video, send 2 (Play), 0 for the starting time for the current position assuming a start at the beginning and 90 for the total video length, assuming a 90 second video. Note: if a video doesn’t auto-start on page load, then clicking play on the embedded video should have 2 tags, the launch tag (step 1) and the play tab (step 2).
cmCreateElementTag("SIX MINUTE ABS","FITNESS VIDEOS",
"-_--_--_--_ --_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_-2-_-0-_-90");
Visitor ‘pauses’ the video halfway through (45 seconds).
cmCreateElementTag("SIX MINUTE ABS","FITNESS VIDEOS",
"-_--_--_--_-- _--_--_--_--_--_--_--_-1-_-55-_-90");
Visitor resumes play at 45 seconds
cmCreateElementTag("SIX MINUTE ABS","FITNESS VIDEOS",
"-_--_--_--_--_ --_--_--_--_--_--_--_-2-_-45-_-90");
Visitor watches video to completion – note that timestamp (14) and video length attributes (15) are now equal
cmCreateElementTag("SIX MINUTE ABS","FITNESS VIDEOS",
"-_--_--_--_--_ --_--_--_--_--_--_--_-3-_-90-_-90");

Google recommends using the iFrame API for working with YouTube video events using the YouTube API. Please review the YouTube iFrame API Documentation before proceeding. It can be a bit tricky to get the listeners firing and calling your callback function, but the documentation is accurate and once the listeners are firing, calling IBM Digital Analytics should be straight forward.

The YouTube iFrame API allows a JavaScript developer to add an event listener through player.addEventListener(event,listener) function call or through registering a function callback onStateChange.
In the code, specify the integer values or preferably use one of the following namespaced variables for YouTube Player States:
YT.PlayerState.ENDED
YT.PlayerState.PLAYING
YT.PlayerState.PAUSED
YT.PlayerState.BUFFERING
YT.PlayerState.CUED
This value goes in the video event (Element Field Attribute 13) .

The current location (Element Field Attribute 14) can be obtained through a function call to player.getCurrentTime(). The value returned is in seconds.

The video duration (Element Field Attribute 15) can be obtained through a function call to player.getDuration(). The value returned is in seconds.

Track site promotions in IBM digital analytics aka Coremetrics

Site Promotions are dynamic content areas of a site that link to landing pages or other site areas. For example, a homepage can have a dynamic slider with rotating images that advertise site landing pages or content areas. Use a Site Promotions tag, i.e. a cm_sp tag to track the impressions and clicks to those promotions. The cm_sp tag has three parameters: Promotion Type, Promotion and Link. Coremetrics will automatically add the page name, i.e. the page Id of the page that has the impressions, so you will see four parameters in the reporting.

IBM DA automatically counts the impressions on site promotions when pages contain a cm_sp parameter. When users click on a cm_sp link, IBM counts the clicks and conversion rates as well. IBM DA also tracks revenue and ties it back to site promotions tags, calculating the conversion rate of users that see the promotion and then buy something. The default reporting is setup to provide conversion statistics based on purchases made in the same session where the site promotion was seen, but reports can be crafted to tie site promotions across sessions as well with a custom attribution model.

Track external marketing such as email, Google Ad Words, or affiliate marketing programs in IBM Digital Analytics aka Coremetrics.

Every URL that links from an external site can have an external marketing (MMC) tag to track session behavior. This will capture the information when a URL comes to your site.

Coremetrics cm_mmc tag example

The following example shows a marketing link which has 1 parameter in the query string called cm_mmc. The value for cm_mmc sends 4 properties to Coremetrics: a vendor (GA), a category (myStorefront), a placement (MMDDYYYYCampaign) and an item (myItem). Each value is separated by the 3 character string -_- The values can be anything that makes sense, but having an agreed standard will make sure that the reports are easy to read and compare campaigns over time.

http://www.example.com/landing_page?cm_mmc=GA-_-myStorefront-_-MMDDYYYYCampaign-_-myItem

Coremetrics cm_mmc tag Reporting example (GA=Google AdWords)

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Track downloads of PDFs, EXEs, or other content in IBM Digital Analytics aka Coremetrics

Downloads such as PDFs, EXEs and other non-html content are tagged with Element tags just like buttons, tabs and links. The Element tag populates values in the Element Categories and Top Viewed Elements reports. The Element tag and its associated reports provide organizations with the flexibility to track interaction with various intra-page elements and how these elements.

To document the clicks to elements on a page such as PDFs, EXEs, or other content, use the element tag in conjunction using a javascript onclick event.

Coremetrics Element tag example

The following example shows an element tag which sends 2 parameters, an element ID (Product Manual 123) and an element category (Downloads), where the category element is not related to the CDF categories.

<a href=”/downloads/productManual.pdf” title=”Download product specifications sheet” onclick=”cmCreateElementTag(‘Product Manual 123’, ‘Downloads’); return true;”>Linked In</a>

Function Spec: cmCreateElementTag(ElementID, ElementCategory, AttributeString);

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Coremetrics Element tag testing example

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Coremetrics Element tag reporting example

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Track clicks to buttons, tabs and anchors and other HTML elements in IBM Digital Analytics aka Coremetrics.

The Element tag populates values in the Element Categories and Top Viewed Elements reports. The Element tag and its associated reports provide organizations with the flexibility to track interaction with various intra-page elements and how these elements.

To document the clicks to elements on a page such as buttons, tabs and links, we need to use the element tag in conjunction using a javascript onclick event.

Coremetrics Element tag example

The following example shows an element tag which sends 2 parameters, an element ID (Company FAQ Page) and an element category (Linked In), where the category element is not related to the CDF categories.

<a href=”/online/wcm/connect/productSpecs” title=”Download product specifications sheet” onclick=”cmCreateElementTag(‘Company FAQ Page’, ‘Linked In’); return true;”>Linked In</a>

Function Spec: cmCreateElementTag(ElementID, ElementCategory, AttributeString);

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Coremetrics Element tag testing example

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Coremetrics Element tag reporting example

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Track pages, sessions, visitors, browsers and hosts on my site using IBM Digital Analytics aka Coremetrics.

Ensure that a pageview tag is on every page of your site and includes values for page Id and category. Ensure every page title is unique and content category is setup in the CDF.

Coremetrics Pageview tag code

cmCreatePageviewTag(“Home”, “SiteBrowsing”, null, null);

</script>

Coremetrics Testing showing tags generated

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Coremetrics Reporting Example

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