We’ve come a long way since TV was simply a box in the living room that we turned on after dinner. TVs are now “smart” — as in, plugged into the internet. They’re able to collect all kinds of anonymized information to tailor both content and commercials to each viewer.
How? One of the most common data collection methods is the tracking pixel, which allows advertisers to collect valuable insights on ad targeting and performance.
A tracking pixel is a snippet of code that tracks user behavior across different devices and channels (e.g. digital marketing, email marketing, CTV advertising, etc.).
The tracking pixel collects data behind the scenes to provide marketers and advertisers with information they need to improve their performance and user experience (of course, this data is all privacy protected and anonymous).
Related content: Your Guide to CTV Data—How to Target and Optimize Campaigns
When a user visits a website, opens an email, or watches a CTV commercial that has a tracking pixel attached, the tracking pixel code automatically fires and records bits of information, such as the user’s:
As an advertiser, pixels serve several purposes across marketing campaign targeting, measurement, and optimization.
For example:
Perhaps most importantly for advertisers, tracking pixels help optimize campaigns. With pixel tracking, you can assess how different channels are performing and fine-tune your campaign while it runs. For example, if you’re seeing a lot more traffic after you air a CTV commercial than from banner ads, you can adjust your campaign to invest more in CTV.
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Using pixels effectively takes strategy, analysis, and refinement. Here are some of our top tips for using them in your CTV ad campaign.
Pixels look the same at the code level, but how they’re used can differ widely. You can use a tracking pixel to:
Related content: The Top 5 OTT Targeting Options You Need to Know
Once you understand your options, you can decide what sorts of things you’d like to measure within your own campaigns.
Pixel data allows you to analyze user behavior in many ways. For example, if you’re running an e-commerce site, you can set pixels on every product page to see which ones are most visited to answer questions like:
With pixels, you can track behavior across all of these locations — all in a privacy-protected manner without PII.
Once you decide how you want to deploy tracking pixels for your own campaigns, you should set clear targets for yourself — and measure performance against them. Knowing what you want before you start is the key to getting more valuable data.
For example:
The tracking pixel is a critical tool that helps marketers optimize performance of your CTV advertising— to save money and increase return on ad spend. Because they’re so important, we include pixels in our attribution reporting so advertisers can adjust campaigns in real time.
But pixels aren’t the only kind of data you should be familiar with when it comes to building and optimizing campaigns.
Take a deeper dive on CTV/OTT data in our latest guide: Your Guide to CTV Data—How to Target and Optimize Campaigns