Configuring Video Tracking for Adobe Analytics

Last update: August 15, 2024

Topics:
Integration

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Admin

There are several methods available for tracking video events, 2 of which are legacy options for older versions of Adobe Analytics. These legacy option are: Legacy Milestones and Legacy Seconds.

NOTE

Before you continue, make sure that you have a playable video uploaded within AEM.

To ensure that your videos play on the page, consult this tutorial for information about how to transcode video files in AEM.

Use the following procedure to set up a framework for video tracking using each method.

NOTE

For new implementations, it is recommended that you do not use the legacy options for video tracking. Use the Milestones method instead.

Common steps

Set up a web page by dragging a video component from the sidekick and adding a playable video as an asset for the component
Create an Adobe Analytics configuration and framework.
- The examples in the sections that follow use the name my-sc-configuration for the configuration and videofw for the framework.
On the framework page, select an RSID and set the usage to all. (https://localhost:4502/cf#/etc/cloudservices/sitecatalyst/videoconf/videofw.html)
From the General component category in Sidekick, drag the Video component onto the framework.
Select a tracking method:
When you select a tracking method, the list of CQ variables changes accordingly. Use the sections that follow for information about how to further configure the component and map the CQ variables with Adobe Analytics properties.

Milestones

The Milestones method tracks the most information about the video, is highly customizable, and easy to configure.

To use the Milestones method, specify time-based track offsets to define the milestones. When a video playback passes a milestone, the page calls Adobe Analytics to track the event. For each milestone that you define, the component creates a CQ variable that you can map to an Adobe Analytics property. The name of these CQ variables use the following format:

eventdata.events.milestoneXX

The XX suffix is the track offset that defines the milestone. For example, specifying track offsets of 4, 8, 16, 20, and 28 seconds generates the following CQ variables:

eventdata.events.milestone4
eventdata.events.milestone8
eventdata.events.milestone16
eventdata.events.milestone20
eventdata.events.milestone28

The following table describes the default CQ variables that are provided for the Milestones method:

CQ variables	Adobe Analytics properties
eventdata.videoName	Variables mapped to this will contain the user-friendly name (Title) of the video if set in the DAM; if this is not set, the video's file name will be sent instead. Only sent once, at the beginning of playing a video.
eventdata.videoFileName	Variables mapped to this will contain the file's name. Only sent along with eventdata.events.a.media.view
eventdata.videoFilePath	Variables mapped to this will contain the file's path on the server. Only sent along with eventdata.events.a.media.view
eventdata.events.a.media.segmentView	Sent every time a segment milestone is passed
eventdata.events.a.media.timePlayed	Sent every time a milestone is triggered, the number of seconds the user spent watching the given segment is also sent along with this event. for example, eventX=21
eventdata.events.a.media.view	Sent on initializing video view
eventdata.events.a.media.complete	Sent when video finished playing
eventdata.events.milestoneX	Sent when the given milestone is passed, X stands for the second the milestone gets triggered at
eventdata.a.contentType	Sent on every milestone; shows up as pev3 in the Adobe Analytics call, usually sent as "video"
eventdata.a.media.name	Exactly matches eventdata.videoName
eventdata.a.media.segment	Contains information on the segment that has been viewed for example, `2:O:4-8`

NOTE

You can set a video’s user-friendly name by opening the video for editing in the DAM, and setting the Title metadata field to the desired name.

After selecting Milestones as the tracking method, in the Track Offset box, enter a comma-separated list of tracking offsets in seconds. For example, the following value defines milestones at 4, 8, 16, 20 and 28 seconds after the start of the video:
4,8,16,20,24
The offset values must be integers that are greater than 0. The default value is 10,25,50,75.
To map the CQ variables to Adobe Analytics properties, drag the Adobe Analytics properties from ContentFinder beside the CQ variable on the component.

For information about optimizing the mappings, see the Measuring Video in Adobe Analytics guide.
Add the framework to the page.
To test the setup in Preview mode, play the video to get Adobe Analytics calls to trigger.

The Adobe Analytics tracking data examples that follow apply to Milestone tracking using track offsets of 4,8,16,20, and 24, and the following mappings for the CQ variables:

CQ variable	Adobe Analytics property
eventdata.videoName	prop2
eventdata.videoFileName	prop3
eventdata.videoFilePath	prop4
eventdata.events.a.media.segmentView	event1
eventdata.events.a.media.timePlayed	event2
eventdata.events.a.media.view	event3
eventdata.events.a.media.complete	event4
eventdata.events.milestone4	event10
eventdata.events.milestone8	event11
eventdata.events.milestone16	event12
eventdata.events.milestone20	event13
eventdata.events.milestone24	event14
eventdata.a.contentType	eVar3
eventdata.a.media.name	eVar1, prop1
eventdata.a.media.segment	eVar2

For this example, the Video component appears as follows on the framework page:

video1

NOTE

To see the calls made to Adobe Analytics use an appropriate tool, like DigitalPulse Debugger or Fiddler.

Calls to Adobe Analytics using the example provided should look like this when viewed with DigitalPulse Debugger:

chlimage_1-128

This is the first call made to Adobe Analytics containing the following values:

prop1 and eVar1 for eventdata.a.media.name,
props2-4, along with eVar2 and eVar3 containing contentType (video) and segment (11-4)
event3 which was mapped to eventdata.events.a.media.view.

chlimage_1-129

This is the third call made to Adobe Analytics:

prop1 and eVar1 contain a.media.name;
event1 because a segment has been viewed
event2 sent with time played = 4
event11 sent because eventdata.events.milestone8 has been reached
prop2 to 4 are not sent (since eventdata.events.a.media.view was not triggered)

Non-Legacy Milestones

The Non-Legacy Milestones method is similar to the Milestones method except milestones are defined using percentages of the track length. The commonalities are as follows:

When a video playback passes a milestone, the page calls Adobe Analytics to track the event.
The static set of CQ variables that are defined for mapping with Adobe Analytics properties.
For each milestone that you define, the component creates a CQ variable that you can map to an Adobe Analytics property.

The name of these CQ variables use the following format:

The XX suffix is the percentage of track length that defines the milestone. For example, specifying percentages of 10, 25, 50, and 75 generates the following CQ variables:

eventdata.events.milestone10
eventdata.events.milestone25
eventdata.events.milestone50
eventdata.events.milestone75

eventdata.events.milestoneXX

After selecting Non-Legacy Milestones as the tracking method, in the Track Offset box, enter a comma-separated list of percentages of track length. For example, the following default value defines milestones at 10, 25, 50 and 75 percent of the track length:
10,25,50,75
The offset values must be integers that are greater than 0.
To map the CQ variables to Adobe Analytics properties, drag the Adobe Analytics properties from ContentFinder beside the CQ variable on the component.

For information about optimizing the mappings, see the Measuring Video in Adobe Analytics guide.
Add the framework to the page.
To test the setup in Preview mode, play the video to get Adobe Analytics calls to trigger.

Legacy Milestones

This method is similar to the Milestones method with the difference that the milestones specified in the Tracking offset field are percentages instead of set points within the video.

NOTE

The Tracking offset field only accepts a comma separated list containing whole numbers between 1 and 100.

Set the Track offset.
- for example,10,50,75,100
Also, the information sent to Adobe Analytics is less customizable; there are only 3 variables available for mapping:

eventdata.videoName	Variables mapped to this will contain the user-friendly name (Title) of the video if set in the DAM; if the Title is not set, the video's file name will be sent instead. Only sent once, at the beginning of playing a video.
eventdata.videoFileName	Variables mapped to this will contain the file's name. Only sent once, at the beginning of playing a video.
eventdata.videoFilePath	Variable mapped to this will contain the file's path on the server. Only sent once, at the beginning of playing a video.

NOTE

You can set a video’s user-friendly name by opening the video for editing in the DAM, and setting the Title metadata field to the desired name. You also need to Save the changes made when finished.

Map these variables to props 1 to 3

The rest of the relevant information in the call will be sent concatenated into one variable named pev3.

Sample calls to Adobe Analytics using the example provided should look like this when viewed with DigitalPulse Debugger:

The pev3 variable sent in the call contains the following information:
- Name - The name of the video file (film.avi)
- Length - The length of the video file, in seconds (100)
- Player Name - The video player used to play the video file (HTML5 video)
- Total Seconds Played - The total number of seconds the video was played (25)
- Start Timestamp - Timestamp that identifies when the video play started (1331035567)
- Play Session - The details of the play session. This field indicates how the user interacted with the video. This might include data such as where they started playing the video, whether they used the video slider to advance the video, and where they stopped playing the video (L10E24S58L58 - video was stopped at sec. 25 of section L10, then skipped to sec. 48)

Legacy seconds

When using the** legacy seconds** method, Adobe Analytics calls get triggered every N-th second, where N is specified in the Track offset field.

Set the Track offset to any number of seconds,
- for example, 6
NOTE
The Tracking offset field only accepts whole numbers that are higher than 0

The information sent to Adobe Analytics is less customizable. There are only 3 variables available for mapping:

eventdata.videoName	Variables mapped to this will contain the user-friendly name (Title) of the video if set in the DAM; if the Title is not set, the video's file name will be sent instead. Only sent once, at the beginning of playing a video.
eventdata.videoFileName	Variable mapped to this will contain the file's name. Only sent once, at the beginning of playing a video.
eventdata.videoFilePath	Variable mapped to this will contain the file's path on the server. Only sent once, at the beginning of playing a video.

NOTE

Map these variables to prop1, prop2 and prop3

The rest of the relevant information in the call will be sent concatinated into one variable named pev3.

Calls to Adobe Analytics using the example provided should look like this when viewed with DigitalPulse Debugger:

The call is similar to the Legacy Milestones call above. See the information on pev3 provided under Integrating with Adobe Analytics.