Downloaded impressions in Data Transfer

With the transition to downloaded impressions on October 2, 2017, Data Transfer was updated to provide better clarity about how many of your ad requests were filled by Ad Manager or Ad Exchange and downloaded for viewing by a user.

Your Data Transfer settings are not automatically updated with this change. Learn how to get started.

Summary of changes

• Update to impressions file contents
  The NetworkImpressions / NetworkBackfillImpressions files include downloaded impressions and unfilled impressions.
• Additional file types available for requests and code serves
  • NetworkRequests / NetworkBackfillRequests
    Records every ad request received by Ad Manager, whether filled or unfilled.
  • NetworkCodeServes / NetworkBackfillCodeServes
    Records every response from Ad Manager, whether downloaded or not.
• Additional field available in the code serves and impressions file types
  An ImpressionId field is available to help you match code serves and impressions.

How to use these files and fields

Every code serve receives a unique ImpressionId string value. Use this value, along with the KeyPart values, to match records in the code serves and impressions files.

• If the ImpressionId record appears in the NetworkCodeServes file, Ad Manager responded with (or, "served") a creative.
• If the ImpressionId record appears in the NetworkImpressions file, the returned creative was downloaded to be viewed by the user. Note that this ImpressionId record might appear in a different hour's file than the request and code serve.

All unfilled impressions are recorded in the NetworkRequests file.

Requests, code serves, and impressions

There might be multiple code serve or impression events from a single request. For example, in mediation for mobile apps a code serve is recorded for each ad network call-out used in a returned mediation chain, with one impression recorded for the ad network who purchased the impression.

The KeyPart and TimeUsec2 values always match the request's values for code serves and impressions, but an impression's EventTimeUsec2 and EventKeyPart values can differ since they're specific to the impression event itself. In the case of a delayed impression, the request and code serve share the same EventTimeUsec2 and EventKeyPart value, but the impression has a different value.

See examples

Downloaded impression

A downloaded impression appears in all three files. In this example, you have a delayed impression where the impression's EventTimeUsec2 value is different from the request and code serve value.

	TimeUsec2	EventTimeUsec2	KeyPart	ImpressionId
NetworkRequests	1506934800	1506934800	abCdEFg123	--
NetworkCodeServes	1506934800	1506934800	abCdEFg123	1-0
NetworkImpressions	1506934800	1506935438	abCdEFg123	1-0

Served impression

A served impression only appears in the NetworkRequests and NetworkCodeServes files.

	TimeUsec2	EventTimeUsec2	KeyPart	ImpressionId
NetworkRequests	1506934800	1506934800	abCdEFg123	--
NetworkCodeServes	1506934800	1506934800	abCdEFg123	1-0
NetworkImpressions	--		--	--

Unfilled impression

An unfilled impression currently appears in both the NetworkRequests and NetworkImpressions files.

	TimeUsec2	EventTimeUsec2	KeyPart	ImpressionId
NetworkRequests	1506934800	1506934800	abCdEFg123	--
NetworkCodeServes	--	--	--	--
NetworkImpressions	1506934800	1506934800	abCdEFg123	--

Learn how to identify unfilled impressions in each file type.

Get started

Your Data Transfer settings are not automatically updated with this change. Below are steps required to begin tracking all requests, code serves, and served impressions in Data Transfer.

1. Update your Data Transfer settings.
   • Configure and activate the new requests and code serve file types.
   • Add the ImpressionId to the list of fields included in your impressions and other file types.
2. Update your internal processes or automated scripts to parse the new file structure.

Does this affect the cost of Data Transfer?
No. The new requests and code serves files are included with the impressions files at no additional cost.