DocumentationAnalyticsStreaming media services guide

Content ID

Last update: May 28, 2026

CREATED FOR:

  • Developer

This page covers data collection for the Content ID variable. See Content for the corresponding reporting dimension.

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The content ID variable uniquely identifies each piece of media content. It is required for all streaming media implementations and is the primary key for the Content reporting dimension. Set it at session start and keep it stable across all sessions for the same asset.

Property
Value
Context data variable
a.media.name
XDM collection field
xdm.mediaCollection.sessionDetails.name
Audience Manager trait
c_contextdata.a.media.name
Required
Yes
Sent with
Session start, session close
Web SDK

Set name inside xdm.mediaCollection.sessionDetails when calling sendEvent:

code language-javascript 
alloy("sendEvent", {
  xdm: {
    eventType: "media.sessionStart",
    mediaCollection: {
      sessionDetails: {
        name: "video-123",
        friendlyName: "My Video",
        length: 128,
        contentType: "vod",
        playerName: "HTML5 Player",
        channel: "Sports",
        streamType: "video"
      },
      playhead: 0
    }
  }
});
iOS

Pass the content ID as the mediaId argument to createMediaObject.

code language-swift 
let mediaObject = Media.createMediaObjectWith(name: "My Video",
                                                id: "video-123",
                                            length: 128,
                                        streamType: MediaConstants.StreamType.VOD,
                                         mediaType: MediaType.Video)

tracker.trackSessionStart(info: mediaObject, metadata: nil)
Android

Pass the content ID as the mediaId argument to createMediaObject.

code language-kotlin 
var mediaInfo = Media.createMediaObject("My Video",
                                        "video-123",
                                        128,
                                        MediaConstants.StreamType.VOD,
                                        Media.MediaType.Video)

tracker.trackSessionStart(mediaInfo, null)
Roku

Set name inside xdm.mediaCollection.sessionDetails when calling createMediaSession:

code language-brightscript 
m.aepSdk.createMediaSession({
    "xdm": {
        "eventType": "media.sessionStart",
        "mediaCollection": {
            "sessionDetails": {
                "name": "video-123",
                "friendlyName": "My Video",
                "length": 128,
                "contentType": "vod",
                "playerName": "Roku Player",
                "channel": "Sports",
                "streamType": "video"
            },
            "playhead": 0
        }
    }
})
Media Edge API

Call the sessionStart endpoint with name (the Content ID) inside xdm.mediaCollection.sessionDetails:

code language-json 
{
  "events": [{
    "xdm": {
      "eventType": "media.sessionStart",
      "mediaCollection": {
        "sessionDetails": {
          "name": "video-123",
          "length": 128,
          "contentType": "vod",
          "playerName": "HTML5 Player",
          "channel": "Sports"
        },
        "playhead": 0
      }
    }
  }]
}

Legacy implementation types (Analytics-only)

Media SDK JS 3.x

Pass the content ID as the second argument to ADB.Media.createMediaObject:

code language-javascript 
var mediaInfo = ADB.Media.createMediaObject(
  "My Video",               // name (friendly name)
  "video-123",              // media ID — Content ID
  128,                      // length (seconds)
  ADB.Media.StreamType.VOD,
  ADB.Media.MediaType.Video
);

tracker.trackSessionStart(mediaInfo, contextData);
Chromecast

Pass the content ID as the second argument to ADBMobile.media.createMediaObject:

code language-javascript 
var mediaInfo = ADBMobile.media.createMediaObject(
  "My Video",
  "video-123",
  128,
  ADBMobile.media.StreamType.VOD,
  ADBMobile.media.MediaType.Video
);
ADBMobile.media.trackSessionStart(mediaInfo, null);
Media Collection API

Include media.id in the params object of your sessionStart POST request:

code language-json 
{
  "playerTime": { "playhead": 0, "ts": 1699523820000 },
  "eventType": "sessionStart",
  "params": {
    "media.id": "video-123"
  }
}

See the Media Collection API sessions reference for the full request structure.

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