Frequently asked questions

How is Rich different from web analytics such as Omniture or Google Analytics?

Rich provides simpler and more lightweight installation, as well as reports focused on giving the metrics that matter for advertising rather than web sites. Also, Rich provides detailed information about the context of each exposures, such as how long a unit was visible.

As the name implies, web analytics is built to track and analyze web sites, not distributed ads. However, Rich is built from scratch to measure and provide insights about "distributed content", such as display advertising or widgets.

I already have an ad server, why do I need Rich?

Ad servers (DART, Eyewonder etc.) usually have a very wide feature set, campaign reporting being one. Rich is built to one thing very well, measure and analyze campaigns. Compared to ad servers, the reports in Rich are easier to understand, provides more in-depth metrics by default and instead of spending hours in a spreadsheet application, Rich gives you the metrics that matter straight up. 

Should I wait until I have a good campaign to test Rich with?

No. We recommend you track everything. A lot of the value from using Rich comes from comparing different campaigns over time. It’s usually hard to know if a campaign will be especially interesting to analyze before hand.

How many exposures can you guys handle?

More than you can throw at us.

What kind of formats do you support?

We currently support any Flash based ad (Actionscript 2 or 3 recommended), incl. rich media formats such as expandables and in-stream video.

Can I track stuff that’s not based on Flash?

Not at the moment. We’re working on porting the tracking code to Javascript, so that you can track non-Flash content, such as fallback ads. Also, the Javascript tracking code will provide a workaround for ads that are tight on size.

What can Rich tell me about my campaign?

How many times was the ad loaded on a page? How many of those ads were placed so that the user could see them? Did the user’s interact? Did they “click-through”, taking them to a new destination? Questions like these can be segmented on ad, format, site, advertiser, campaign and a whole lot more, giving you a more fine grained understanding on what and how to improve in the future.

Why are some of my values n/a?

Rich loves data. Lots and lots of data. The more data you feed Rich the more accurate values Rich is able to give you. If a value is marked as n/a this means that Rich does not have enough data to give you a good value for the metric. Once Rich receives the data it needs to calculate the metric it will display a proper value.

Why do I see (unknown) it the site report?

Sometimes your ad is displayed on a site with extra security. When this occurs we are unable to get the information we need to complete all our reports.

To avoid this it’s important that any sites that the ad is loaded from allows script access.

How much extra weight does the tracking code add to my unit?

Slightly more than 3 kb, depending on if you use Actionscript 2 or 3 and what features you activate. It’s the most lightweight feature rich tracking code for Flash available (most other codes weigh 2x-4x). We’re working on cutting the size even more – if the weight is a problem for you, please contact support@burtcorp.com and we’ll try and work something out.

Can I track mobile ads using Rich?

No, unless your mobile ads are running Flash, which is very rare.

What happens if I haven’t installed Rich correctly in my ad?

Most likely, nothing besides that Rich might not receive all the tracking data for the campaign. However, we encourage you to test the ad on our testing page to make sure that everything is working the way it should.

Will my ads stop working if Rich goes down?

The architecture behind Rich is highly scalable and decentralized, so it’s highly unlikely that will happen. So far, we’ve provided 100% up time for our clients. In the unlikely event of Rich going down your ads should work as usual, the only difference being that we won’t receive any tracking data during the downtime.

Will you keep my campaign data private?

Yes. In the future, we might use samples of your campaign data to create industry benchmarks, media recommendations or other ways to make the Rich experience even better. But we’ll never sell or publish your data to third party without your consent.

Will you delete my account and data if I want to?

Yes.

How often do you update my reports?

The default is to update once or twice per day. If you want fast update intervals please contact support@burtcorp.com and we’ll work it out.

How much does Rich cost?

During the beta period Rich is free of charge. After the beta we’ll provide a basic service for free, and some features will be subject to a premium pricing plan.