Digital Measurement Browser Simplified API

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Overview

The Nielsen SDK is one of multiple framework SDKs that Nielsen provides to enable measuring linear (live) and on-demand TV viewing using TVs, mobile devices, etc. The App SDK is the framework for mobile application developers to integrate Nielsen Measurement into their media player applications. It supports a variety of Nielsen Measurement Products like Digital in TV Ratings, Digital Content Ratings (DCR & DTVR), Digital Ad Ratings (DAR), Digital Audio. Nielsen SDKs are also equipped to measure static content and can track key life cycle events of an application like:

• Application launch events and how long app was running
• Time of viewing a sub section / page in the application.

Prerequisites

To start using the Simplified SDK for Browser, you will need an Appid. This is a Unique ID assigned to the player/site and configured by product. If you do not have an AppID , please contact our SDK sales support team. Refer to Digital Measurement Onboarding guide for information on how to get a Nielsen App SDK and appid.

Simplified SDK API

As part of making the SDK more user friendly and reduce the number of app integration touch points, Nielsen has designed a simple interface to pass metadata to the sdk while reducing the number of API calls. The new trackevent() API has been implemented as a wrapper for the existing SDK and will be responsible for handling new API calls, performing validation, and translation of new API calls to the existing Nielsen App SDK API methods. Applications which are already integrated with the existing SDK API, are unaffected by this new API. Click here to zoom in on image

Manages the order of metadata (ad vs content and playheads)

Existing API has a number of methods used for reporting player and application state changes to the SDK. Order of calls is important for the SDK in the existing API. In the new enhanced API all these calls will be replaced with one API call that will get one dictionary object with many key-value pairs, where any value could be another complex dictionary object. All the data provided in the existing API in separate calls will be provided in one single call. SDK will analyse the data received in the dictionary object, compare it with the data received previously and generate a sequence of calls for the existing API.

Everything passed via trackevent()

The New API method supports the following event types:

Key	Description
playhead	It is used to pass content, ad or static metadata, the current playhead value, Unix timestamp (seconds since Jan-1-1970 UTC) or id3 payload, ott information to the SDK.
pause	This event should be used to in the following cases: application enters background, any application interruptions, content playback is paused. (Pause is detected by SDK automatically only if time gap between commands in more than 30 minutes.)
complete	It is called when session is completed or ends.
adStop	Should be called at the end of each ad. This event type is required to handle the case when advertisements could not be distinguished, as its assetId is the same.

Prerequisites

To get started, an App ID is needed. The App ID is a unique ID assigned to the player/site/app. This will be provided upon starting the integration.

'PXXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX'

Configure SDK

There are two steps required for configuring the SDK:

• Add Static Queue Snippet
• Create SDK Instance

Add Static Queue Snippet

Add the following script tag to the website:

<script type="text/javascript">
  // Add Static Queue Snippet
 !function(t,n)
 {
   t[n]=t[n]||{nlsQ:function(e,o,c,r,s,i)
   {
    return s=t.document,
    r=s.createElement("script"),
    r.async=1,
    r.src=("http:"===t.location.protocol?"http:":"https:")+"//cdn-gl.imrworldwide.com/conf/"+e+".js#name="+o+"&ns="+n,
    i=s.getElementsByTagName("script")[0],
    i.parentNode.insertBefore(r,i),
    t[o]=t[o]||{g:c,ggPM:function(n,e,c,r,s){(t[o].q=t[o].q||[]).push([n,e,c,r,s])}},
    t[o]
   }
 }
} 
(window,"NOLBUNDLE");

</script>

The static queue snippet allows the SDK APIs to be called while the actual SDK and configuration file are still being downloaded. As the queue can capture all API calls before the download completes, there is no wait time. Once the SDK is available, the API calls will transition from directing to the queue to the SDK seamlessly.

Create SDK Instance

To initialize the SDK, create an SDK instance by making the initialization call:

Initialization API Call

NOLBUNDLE.nlsQ("<apid>", "<instanceName>",{nol_sdkDebug: "debug"})

When creating an instance, pass the following three variables:

Parameter	Description	Values
apid	Unique ID assigned to player/site.	PXXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXX
instanceName	Name of SDK instance	Any string value
nol_sdkDebug: "debug"	Enables Nielsen console logging. Only required for testing	{nol_sdkDebug: "debug"}

Example SDK Initialization

var nSdkInstance = NOLBUNDLE.nlsQ("XXXXXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXX", "nlsnInstance", {nol_sdkDebug: "debug"});

When the initialization call is made, a unique static configuration file, <apid>.js, will be downloaded based on the apid and will be cached on the user’s browser.

Once the configuration is downloaded, the SDK itself will be downloaded and initialized. All SDK modules are included in one file: "nlsSDK600.bundle.min.js".

Example SDK Configuration

The configuration should include the Static Queue Snippet and an SDK Instance for an unique App ID as shown in the example:

<script type="text/javascript">
  // Add Static Queue Snippet
 !function(t,n)
 {
   t[n]=t[n]||{nlsQ:function(e,o,c,r,s,i)
   {
    return s=t.document,
    r=s.createElement("script"),
    r.async=1,
    r.src=("http:"===t.location.protocol?"http:":"https:")+"//cdn-gl.imrworldwide.com/conf/"+e+".js#name="+o+"&ns="+n,
    i=s.getElementsByTagName("script")[0],
    i.parentNode.insertBefore(r,i),
    t[o]=t[o]||{g:c,ggPM:function(n,e,c,r,s){(t[o].q=t[o].q||[]).push([n,e,c,r,s])}},
    t[o]
   }
 }
} 
(window,"NOLBUNDLE");

  // Created SDK Instance
  var nSdkInstance = NOLBUNDLE.nlsQ("XXXXXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXX","nlsnInstance", {nol_sdkDebug: "debug"});
</script>

Simplified API Syntax

The existing API has a number of methods used for reporting player and application state changes to the SDK. The order of calls is important for the SDK in the existing API. In the new simplified API, all these calls will be replaced with one API call that will get one dictionary object with many key-value pairs, where any value could be another complex dictionary object. All the data provided in the older API in separate calls will be provided in one single call.

Main API call for the new NielsenEventTracker API:

 nSdkInstance.trackEvent({metadata})

Handling JSON Metadata

Parameter “data” is a JSON object with many key-value pairs that holds all information required by SDK.

Format of input object is the following:

{ 
 "event": <event identifier>,
 "type": <type of metadata>,
 "metadata":{ 
   "content": <content metadata object>,
   "ad": <ad metadata object>,
   "static": <static metadata object>
 },
 "playheadPosition":<playhead value | UTC>,
 "id3Data": <id3 payload>,
}

Event Types

The New API method supports the following event types:

Key	Description
playhead	It is used to pass content, ad or static metadata, the current playhead value, Unix timestamp (seconds since Jan-1-1970 UTC) or id3 payload, ott information to the SDK.
pause	This event should be used to in the following cases: application enters background, any application interruptions, content playback is paused. (Pause is detected by SDK automatically only if time gap between commands in more than 30 minutes.)
complete	It is called when session is completed or ends.
adStop	Should be called at the end of each ad. This event type is required to handle the case when advertisements could not be distinguished, as its assetId is the same.

DCR and DTVR require various levels of data. Please select the TAB of the product you are interested in reviewing.

DCR

Digital Content Ratings

Parameter	Description	Supported values	Example
event	Event identifier	String: playhead,pause,complete, adStop	"event":"playhead"
type	Determines the metadata object that should be used for crediting.	String: content, ad, static	"type":"content"
metadata	Object that holds metadata values of specific types Detailed in tables below	Object	"metadata":{ "content": <content metadata object>, "ad": <ad metadata object>, "static": <static metadata object> },
playheadPosition	Playhead value or Unix timestamp	String	Position value is Unix timestamp: "playheadPosition":"1501225191747" Position value is playhead: "playheadPosition":"10"

Content Metadata

Content metadata sent for every playheadposition update.

Keys	Description	Example	Required
assetName	name of program (100 character limit)	"MyTest789"	Yes
assetid	unique ID assigned to asset	custom	Yes
length	length of content in seconds	seconds (0 for livestream)	Yes
program	name of program (100 character limit)	custom	Yes
segB	custom segment B +	custom
segC	custom segment C +	custom
title	name of program (100 character limit)	custom	Yes
type	'content', 'ad', 'static'	'content'	Yes
section	Unique Value assigned to page/site section	HomePage	Yes
airdate	the airdate in the linear TV ++	YYYYMMDD HH24:MI:SS	Yes
isfullepisode	full episode flag	"y"- full episode, "n"- non full episode	Yes
crossId1	standard episode ID	custom	✓
crossId2	content originator (only required for distributors)	Nielsen provided
adloadtype	linear vs dynamic ad model	1=Linear 2=Dynamic Ads	custom

+ Custom segments (segB and segC) can be used to aggregate video and/or static content within a single Brand to receive more granular reports within a brand.
++ Acceptable Air Date Formats:

YYYYMMDD HH24:MI:SS
YYYYMMDDHH24MISS
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MI:SS
YYYY-MM-DDHH:MI:SS 
YYYYMMDDHH:MI:SS
MM-DD-YYYY
YYYYMMDD HH:MI:SS

For USA all times should be EST, for all other countries Local Time. Below is a sample event for DCR. If no ad or static values, these can be left as blank/null.

{ 
"event": "playhead",
"type": "content",
"metadata": { 
  "content":{
    "assetName":"Big Buck Bunny",
    "assetid":"B66473",
    "length":"3600",
    "program":"MyProgram",
    "segB":"CustomSegmentValueB",
    "segC":"segmentC",
    "title":"S2,E3",
    "type":"content",
    "section":"cloudApi_app",
    "airdate":"20180120 10:00:00",
    "isfullepisode":"y",
    "crossId1":"Standard Episode ID",
    "crossId2" :"Content Originator",
    "adloadtype":"2"},
"ad": {},
"static": {}
},
"playheadPosition": "",
}

DTVR

Digital TV Ratings info

Parameter	Description	Supported values	Example
event	Event identifier	String: playhead,pause,complete, adStop	"event":"playhead"
type	Determines the metadata object that should be used for crediting.	String: content, ad, static	"type":"content"
adModel	linear vs dynamic ad model	1=Linear 2=Dynamic Ads	custom
channelName	Any string representing the.channel/stream	Object	custom
playheadPosition	Playhead value or Unix timestamp	String	Position value is Unix timestamp: "playheadPosition":"1501225191747" Position value is playhead: "playheadPosition":"10"
id3Data	Nielsen ID3 payload string	Object	id3Data: www.nielsen.com/065H2g6E7ZyQ5UdmMAbbpg ==/_EMc37zfVgq_8KB7baUYfg==/ADQCAmgV1Xyvnynyg60 kZO_Ejkcn2KLSrTzyJpZZ-QeRn8GpMGTWI7-HrEKzghxyzC yBEoIDv2kA2g1QJmeYOl5GnwfrLDVK2bNLTbQxr1z9VBfxa hBcQP5tqbjhyMzdVqrMKuvvJO1jhtSXa9AroChb11ZUnG1W VJx2O4M=/33648/22847/00

Below is a sample event for DTVR. If no ad or static values, these can be left as blank/null.

{ 
"event": "playhead",
"type": "content",
"metadata": { 
  "content":{
    "adModel":"1",
    "channelname":"channel1"
  },
"ad": {},
"static": {}
},
"playheadPosition": "",
"id3Data": "www.nielsen.com/065H2g6E7ZyQ5UdmMAbbpg==/_
EMc37zfVgq_8KB7baUYfg==/ADQCAmgV1Xyvnynyg60kZO_Ejkcn
2KLSrTzyJpZZ-QeRn8GpMGTWI7-HrEKzghxyzCyBEoIDv2kA2g1Q
JmeYOl5GnwfrLDVK2bNLTbQxr1z9VBfxahBcQP5tqbjhyMzdVqrMK
uvvJO1jhtSXa9AroChb11ZUnG1WVJx2O4M=/33648/22847/00"
}

DCR & DTVR

Applies to DCR and DTVR

Parameter	Description	Supported values	Example
event	Event identifier	String: playhead, pause, complete, adStop	"event":"playhead"
type	Determines the metadata object that should be used for crediting.	String: content, ad, static	"type":"content"
metadata	Object that holds metadata values of specific types Detailed in tables below	Object	"metadata":{ "content": <content metadata object>, "ad": <ad metadata object>, "static": <static metadata object> },
playheadPosition	Playhead value or Unix timestamp	String	Position value is Unix timestamp: "playheadPosition":"1501225191747" Position value is playhead: "playheadPosition":"10"
id3Data	Nielsen ID3 payload string	Object	id3Data: www.nielsen.com/065H2g6E7ZyQ5UdmMAbbpg ==/_EMc37zfVgq_8KB7baUYfg==/ADQCAmgV1Xyvnynyg60 kZO_Ejkcn2KLSrTzyJpZZ-QeRn8GpMGTWI7-HrEKzghxyzC yBEoIDv2kA2g1QJmeYOl5GnwfrLDVK2bNLTbQxr1z9VBfxa hBcQP5tqbjhyMzdVqrMKuvvJO1jhtSXa9AroChb11ZUnG1W VJx2O4M=/33648/22847/00
ottData	Object that holds ott information	Object	ottData:{ ottStatus:1, ottType:casting, ottDevice:chromecast, ottDeviceName:Google ChromeCast, ottDeviceID:1234, ottDeviceModel:ChromeCast, ottDeviceVersion:1.0.0 }

Content Metadata

Content metadata sent for every playheadposition update.

Keys	Description	Example	Required
length	length of content in seconds	seconds (0 for livestream)	Yes
type	'content', 'ad', 'static'	'content'	Yes
adModel	linear vs dynamic ad model	1=Linear 2=Dynamic Ads	custom
adloadtype	DCR Ad Model	1=Linear 2=Dynamic Ads	custom

+ Custom segments (segB and segC) can be used to aggregate video and/or static content within a single Brand to receive more granular reports within a brand.
++ Acceptable Air Date Formats:

YYYYMMDD HH24:MI:SS
YYYYMMDDHH24MISS
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MI:SS
YYYY-MM-DDHH:MI:SS 
YYYYMMDDHH:MI:SS
MM-DD-YYYY
YYYYMMDD HH:MI:SS

Below is a sample event for DCR/DTVR joint integration. If no ad or static values, these can be left as blank/null.

{ 
"event": "playhead",
"type": "content",
"metadata": { 
  "content":{
    "type":"content",
    "length":"0",
    "adModel":"1",
    "adloadtype":"1"},
  "ad": {},
  "static": {}
},
"playheadPosition": "",
"id3Data": "www.nielsen.com/065H2g6E7ZyQ5UdmMAbbpg==/_
EMc37zfVgq_8KB7baUYfg==/ADQCAmgV1Xyvnynyg60kZO_Ejkcn
2KLSrTzyJpZZ-QeRn8GpMGTWI7-HrEKzghxyzCyBEoIDv2kA2g1Q
JmeYOl5GnwfrLDVK2bNLTbQxr1z9VBfxahBcQP5tqbjhyMzdVqrMK
uvvJO1jhtSXa9AroChb11ZUnG1WVJx2O4M=/33648/22847/00"
}

Ad Metadata

The ad metadata (if applicable) should be passed for each individual ad, if ads are available during or before the stream begins.

Keys	Description	Values	Example
assetid	unique ID assigned to ad	custom (no Special Characters)	'AD1234'
title	unique name assigned to ad	custom	'ADtitle'
adldx	Ad Index (*See Note below*)	custom	"66478364"
type	type of ad	'preroll', 'midroll', or 'postroll'	'preroll'
length	length of ad	In Seconds	'20'

Ad Metadata Sample

{
  "ad": {
    "assetid":"AD12345",
    "title":"ADTestTitle",
    "adldx":"1",
    "type":"preroll",
    "length":"20"
  },
}

Managing Ads

If there is an Ad block within the playing content (such as a midroll) you need to:

• Reset the playhead position to 0 for each ad.
• Call the adStop event at the end of each ad or increment the adldx

The Simplified SDK will can automatically detect the change from ad to content, or even ad to ad if the assetID changes; however, there could be situations where the same ad is played back to back. You can either increment/change the adldx value, and/or call adStop at the end of each Ad.

Sometimes it is not possible for integrators to provide different assetId value for individual ads in a sequence of ads. Taking this into account the Nielsen Simplified API will support a new parameter for ad metadata: adIdx. This parameter is just an index of an individual ad in a sequence of ads. Once the next ad is started the adIdx parameter should be changed and provided as part of ad metadata.

            // Example of passing both values
            self.data.updateValue("adStop", forKey: "event")
            self.data.updateValue("223", forKey: "adldx")
            self.nielsenEventTracker.trackEvent(data)

Opt-Out

The site must provide a means for the user to opt-out of, or opt back into, Nielsen Measurement. A user can opt-out if they would prefer not to participate in any Nielsen online measurement research. To implement the opt-out option, include the following two items in your privacy policy

• A notice that the player includes proprietary measurement software that allows users to contribute to market research (such as Nielsen TV Ratings)
• A link to the Nielsen Digital Measurement Privacy Policy at http://priv-policy.imrworldwide.com/priv/browser/us/en/optout.html

On the Nielsen Digital Measurement Privacy Policy page, users can click Choices to read more detailed information about the measurement software, learn about their options with regard to Nielsen measurement, and, if they do not want to participate in Nielsen online measurement, click a link to receive an opt-out cookie.

The following paragraph is a template for an opt-out statement, the properties may feature Nielsen proprietary measurement software, which will allow users to contribute to market research, such as Nielsen TV Ratings. To learn more about the information that Nielsen software may collect and your choices with regard to it, please see the Nielsen Digital Measurement Privacy Policy at http://priv-policy.imrworldwide.com/priv/browser/us/en/optout.html.

Opt Back In

Once users have opted-out, they can choose to opt back into Nielsen Measurement at anytime by selecting the opt back in link on the Nielsen Digital Privacy Policy page. When a user selects the link, their opt-out cookie will be deleted and they will be able to be measured.

Going Live

Once the DCR Tracking Code is added to Instant Articles, Nielsen will validate the implementation. Following Nielsen testing, users need to make a couple of updates to the initialization call to ensure that the site is being measured properly.

1. App ID: Ensure that correct <apid> is used during initialization

   'PXXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX'
   

2. Debug Logging: Disable logging by deleting {nol_sdkDebug: 'DEBUG'} from initialization call.
   • Example Production Initialization Call - Refer to the production initialization call below:

     var nSdkInstance = NOLBUNDLE.nlsQ("PXXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX", "nlsnInstance");