Third-party ad tracking
The Apple News and Stocks advertising platform supports secure image-based third-party impression and click tracking (for example, 1x1 tracking pixels). Other types of tracking tags including JavaScript, iFrame, or cookie-based trackers aren’t supported.
You can use secure trackers from third-party vendors to track impressions and clicks generated by lines, ads, or both. Campaign-level tracking isn’t supported. Only impressions can be tracked.
To add tracking to lines or ads, you need to specify the unique URL for each click or impressions tracker generated by your tracking vendor. You can use up to two trackers for each impression and click at the line or ad level, totaling four URLs per level.
Macros embedded within ad or VAST tags aren’t supported and should be removed from tags for use on Apple News. Macros usually begin with a % sign. These will not be expanded and may cause the tag to function incorrectly.
Additional considerations
Only secure trackers are supported. All tracking URLs must be HTTPS.
Third-party attribution tracking isn’t supported.
Third-party tracking results aren’t certified by Apple. It’s up to the user to validate results.
Apple isn’t responsible for any third-party ad serving fees.
Click re-directs from affiliate or referral links are permitted.
View-through conversion tracking or any other cookie-based counting or tracking methods aren’t supported.
Use unique tracking URLs for clicks and impressions. Otherwise, duplicative URLs could result in double counting in your reports.
Click tracking is only supported for ads with tap destinations. Non-tappable ads aren’t supported.
To help preserve user privacy, Apple uses proxy servers to route all ad data. This means services attempting to determine users’ geographic location based on IP addresses may not be accurate. We recommend not using third-party reports to verify location.
Differences in reporting times and other factors can also create discrepancies between metrics reported by third-party vendors and those reported by Apple.
Apple reserves the right to prevent the use of any trackers that violate our policies.
Apple doesn’t allow tags that exhibit malicious behavior. In addition, attempts to do any of the following will be blocked:
- Setting cookies
- Collecting any data other than impression or click counts
- Fourth-party tracking
- Third-party attribution
Cache busting
Apple News and Stocks don’t require cache busting because our proxy doesn’t enable caching. Apple supports the use of a special macro, [RND], to generate a timestamp-based string. If your third-party tracking vendor requires each call to to be unique, replace the values timestamp or cachebuster in your tags to utilize this macro. Speak to your tracking vendor if you’re unsure about the need to use the [RND] macro.