Media Performance Data

General

Media performance data in Flight Control refers to metrics from the media partners, such as media costs and any online or offline conversions attributed to the media and its performance. This is essentially set up as a data source within Flight Control and referred to as External Data.

Media performance data is accessible for viewing and use in:

• Campaign Insights: Media spend and external conversions can be viewed as External Data overlaid on the campaign map.
• Optimization cards: External conversions can be selected from External Metrics individually or combined as KPIs for optimization.

This is achieved by establishing a bi-directional data flow between Clinch and the media partner(s):

• Clinch sends impression logs to media partners, including the decision map path and other creative-level dimensions.
• In return, Clinch receives media performance data, which includes the required dimensions and metrics for mapping and activation.

Note: As of January 31st, 2025, The Trade Desk (TTD) is the only media partner supporting this service in collaboration with Clinch. In TTD, this report is referred to as a creative variant report (CVR).

Note: This is a premium service that incurs additional costs. Please contact your Clinch account representative for more information.

Prerequisites

• Ensure the media partner has an established taxonomy with Clinch for the output of log-level data and media reporting data. This template would then be used across any client that adopts this setup with that respective media partner.
• The following services must be included in your Clinch MSA:
  • Ad Serving Logs to Media Partner
  • Processing of Media Performance Data.
• Submit a help ticket to have the data output created. You need to provide the following information in the help ticket:
  • Advertiser ID found in the media partner platform account.

Note: While it is possible to have the data output without the reciprocal Media Performance data, the reverse is not possible. To map media performance data sources, you must have the data output to the media partner in place.

User Permissions 

• You must have Admin permissions to create and change data sources.
  • For more information on Flight Control data sources, see Data Source Table.

Create a Media Performance Data Source

This is a technical workflow that requires coordination between your Clinch account rep. and the technical team implementing this at Clinch.

Step 1: Create a Media Data Source in Flight Control

1. Go to Account > Data Sources.
2. Select Create > Media Performance Data.
3. Enter a name for your data source.
4. Select a partner.
   • Currently, The Trade Desk is the only available aggregated data partner.
5. Select Daily with a 7-day lookback as the schedule for receiving partner data.
6. Select a date format.
7. Select a number format.
8. Enter one or more free-text strings to identify the correct passback email associated with this data source.
   • Note: If multiple strings are provided, the email subject must contain all specified strings for the match to be successful.
9. Select Add.
10. Retrieve the data source's ID.

Note: You only need one data source for both offline and online, as both will be ingested via one daily 7-day lookback data stream.

Step 2: Media Performance Reporting Setup (External Step with Media Partner)

The following outlines the process to set up Media Performance Data reporting within The Trade Desk (TTD) UI under "My Reports" tool, by selecting the Clinch template* and updating to include all conversion pixels** applicable on the account to be used within Flight Control campaigns.

1. Expose the template.
   • File a ticket with your CS Support team to expose the Clinch Passback Template under your advertiser account.
2. Select the Clinch Passback Template from "My Reports" in the Trade Desk UI
   • Navigate to the "My Reports" tool in the TTD UI to locate the Clinch template. The process to find the Clinch template can vary depending on the TTD platform:
     • In TTD's Kokai:
       1. Go to the Reporting tile, then navigate to Scheduled Reports.
       2. Under Scheduled Reports, locate the submenu of reporting templates, and select the Clinch template "Clinch Passback Template - Final", ID: 3959413.
     • In TTD's Solimar:
       1. From the sidebar menu, select Reports.
       2. Under Reporting, locate the submenu of reporting templates and select the Clinch template "Clinch Passback Template - Final", ID: 3959413.

1. Set up the Media Performance Data Report
   • After selecting the Clinch template, you'll be taken to a setup screen like the one below.
   • Apply the following naming convention to your report, to include the advertiser name, the date the report was created, and the year the template is valid for ***.
     • The required naming convention: [Advertiser Name]_1 day lookback_[date report was created]-Template-[Year the template is valid for].
       • Example: "ABCD_1-day lookback_3_18_2025- Template-2025"
     • Include all conversion pixels applicable to the account to be used within Flight Control campaigns.
2. Record the name of the created report and the Execution ID.
3. The report should be configured with a single-day lookback and sent to the agreed email ([e-mail]) daily. 

* The Trade Desk's confluence page has documentation to refer to. Ensure all data dimensions with proper naming conventions are included in the report.

** Conversion pixels are processed in sets, with a limit of up to 25 sets.

*** Reporting templates are valid for a maximum of one calendar year to ensure that changes on advertisers' accounts and the trafficking of annual campaigns are captured. Steps 1-4 need to be completed on an annual basis, a minimum of 15 days before the new year.

Step 3: Map Daily Reports to the Data Source

After creating a Media Performance data source in Flight Control and setting up your reporting in The Trade Desk, you must create a support ticket (Help > Open Support Ticket). This support ticket should request that the reporting created in Step 2 be mapped to the data source ID created in Step 1.

The support ticket should include:

1. Subject: Media Performance Mapping Request
2. Flight Control Account ID
3. The Data Source ID
4. The Report Name
5. The Execution ID
6. Names of all conversion data sets included for report verification purposes

Note: Backfill of reporting isn't supported. Processing will take place from the date reporting is initiated. This mapping process takes an estimated three to four business days.

Step 4: Confirm Data is Processed

Data processing is handled overnight for the previous day, so you can expect incoming events to display data in the data source table by the next day. To confirm that data is being processed:

1. Go to Account > Data Sources.
2. Hover over your media performance data source and select Insights Data to see populated data.

Using External Media Performance Data in Campaigns

Viewing External Data

Go to a campaign's Insights step and select External Data for the metrics selection to see the external data received from your media partner. This will display metrics such as External Cost, External CPM/CPC, External Conversions, External Conversion Rate, External ROAS, and External Sales.

Note: The campaign Insights step will display external cost and conversions attributed to impressions that served during the selected date range.

Optimizing for External Conversion Data

You can optimize against external conversion data by using a campaign optimization card and selecting External Conversions as the KPI to optimize against, with the ability to choose all or specific external conversion types.

Note: External conversion data is updated daily or weekly, depending on the schedule set for the media performance data source used for optimization.

Note: Because media performance data is set up at the account level, the Conversion Types dropdown in the optimization card will include all the conversion types. When planning an optimization strategy using external conversion data, you would need to have a mapping doc of just the campaign-specific conversion names to select the appropriate ones from the Conversion Types dropdown.