Flash: Specifications and Troubleshooting
November 4th, 2005
I often find that my YM Network and Publisher clients don’t know if their Flash creatives are set up properly for click tracking. Usually, the media buyer on the advertiser side isn’t a Flash developer, and the Flash developer is an expert at Flash, but not necessarily expert at setting up ads for functioning properly in an ad serving environment.
Keep reading for more info on Yield Manager Flash specs, how to set up Flash creatives, and how to troubleshoot common Flash creative issues such as:
- not clicking through to landing page
- not tracking clicks in Yield Manager
- not opening in a new window on click thru
Click to jump to:
1. Flash Specs / Click Tracking
2. Trouble Shooting
A. Flash creative doesn’t click thru once loaded in creative wizard
i. How to check clickTag case
ii. Changing the clickTag case in YM creative wizard
B. Landing page doesn’t open in a new window
Flash version 5 is recommended. Flash creatives should have a .gif, .jpg or .png back up. All files uploaded to Yield Manager should meet your contract’s limit, typically not to exceed 30K per file.
Flash Creative should utilize the standard Flash Tracking Kit (ClickTAG).
How to build Flash ads using the Flash Tracking Kit with one clickthrough URL:
- Go to the “getURL action” of your Flash ad
- In the “URL” field, delete the clickthrough URL and write: clickTAG (if the button is in sub movie clip you will need to write: _root.clickTAG)
- Check the expression box next to that field
- In the “Window” field (right below the “URL” field) write: _blank
- For Popups (do NOT check the expression box next to that field) - Leave variables as “don’t send”
- Export as .swf file - preferably Flash 4 (this method of tracking only works in Flash 4 and above)
Finished code:
on (release) {
getURL (clickTAG, “_blank”);
}
How to build Flash ads using the Flash Tracking Kit with multiple clickthrough URLs:
- Go to the “getURL action” of your Flash ad
- In the “URL” field, delete the clickthrough URL and write:
in Flash 5: clickTAG add “http://YOURURLGOESHERE”
in Flash 4: clickTAG & “http://YOURURLGOESHERE” - Check the expression box next to that field
- In the “Window” field (right below the “URL” field) write: _top (_blank for Pop-Ups) (do NOT check the expression box next to that field)
- Leave variables as “don’t send”
- Repeat steps 1 through 5 for every URL in your Flash ad.
- Export as .swf file - preferably Flash 4 (this method of tracking only works in Flash 4 and above)
Finished code:
on (release) {
getURL (clickTAG add “http://YOURURLGOESHERE”, “_blank”);
}
For full documentation of the Flash Tracking Kit, you can visit http://www.macromedia.com/resources/richmedia/tracking/
A.) Flash creative doesn’t click thru once loaded in creative wizard:
|
Flash (.SWF) creatives may not click through properly due to a common issue with the ClickTag code. Background: The ClickTag is a bit of code embedded in the Flash creative. It allows Yield Manager to dynamically assign a clickthrough URL, which tells the browser to send the user to the proper landing page when the user clicks on an ad. Older versions of Flash (Flash 6 or lower) read clicktag the same way as CLICKTAG and ClickTag. It did not distinguish between upper and lower case letters. Newer versions of Flash (Flash 7 or higher) are case sensitive. If there is any variation between the case used in the creative wizard and the case used in the creative code, the Flash file may not click through properly. Since it is much easier to edit the case of the letters in the creative wizard than it is to recode the creative, it is recommended that you see how the ClickTag is coded in the creative and change the case in the creative wizard to match. i. How to check clickTag case: Assuming you’re not a Flash developer and don’t have Flash software on your computer, use an application such as URL Action Editor to see how the creative is coded. 1. Open the URL Action Editor. 2. Drag and drop a .SWF creative file into the application. The code displays in the URL Actions tab. 3. Look for the ClickTag. If the case is different, change the case of the ClickTag in the wizard to match. 4. You can check to see what version of Flash was used to build the creative. Click on the information icon button directly above the Library Tab. 5. If there are problems with the code (other than clickTag case), send it back to the advertiser. .SWF files are already compiled, so only the advertiser can modify them. If you have a choice of other ads to select to replace the non-working one, deactivate the non-functioning ad. Tip: If you get an error message when viewing a tag in URL Action Editor, there is an error in the tag. Report the error to the advertiser and request a new tag. |
ii. Changing the clickTag case in the Yield Manager creative wizard:
When setting up a Flash creative in YM creative wizard, the Flash click tag variable name field defaults to clickTag, which is acceptable for Flash versions 6 and earlier.
If the creative was developed in version 7 or later, change the click tag variable name to clickTAG in the field provided in the wizard. You do not need to modify your Flash creative.
If you don’t know the version of Flash in which your creatives were developed:
1. View the .swf files in Action Script View as described above, or,
2. Load your .swf files into Yield Manager with the default click tag variable clickTag. When you test the click thru in the creative setup wizard and it doesn’t click thru, go back and modify the click tag variable name to clickTAG.
B.) Landing page doesn’t open in a new window
All creatives should open in a new browswer window so as not to take the visitor off the publisher’s site.
When I viewed advertiser’s Flash creative (using Action Script Viewer), the code was:
on (release) {
if (clickTAG.substr(0, 5) == “http:”) {
getURL (clickTAG);
}
}
This should be changed to:
on (release) {
if (clickTAG.substr(0, 5) == “http:”) {
getURL (clickTAG, “_blank”);
}
}
The _blank tells the browser to open the landing URL in a new browser window. Opening the new page in the same window is a problem b/c publishers will not want to run your ads if clicking on the ad takes visitors away from their site.
Action needed: Change should be made in the .fla file and saved again as .swf
