What is the difference between an Advertiser-Specific (Universal) pixel and a Master Pixel?
There are two different types of pixels that can be provided for an advertiser: Advertiser-Specific or Master Pixel.
An Advertiser-Specific universal pixel is specific to every campaign. These pixels cannot pull into different advertisers within our system and must match the campaign one-to-one.
A Master universal pixel is a pixel that can be pulled into any advertiser within our system. The best use for a Master pixel would have this placed on a parent website that you will later use to retarget visitors on multiple campaigns across multiple advertisers.
Since these are both universal pixels, you will place them the same way as a typical universal pixel would be placed. The difference is how they're mapped in our system and the capabilities once the pixel has collected data. For this reason, it's important to clarify which pixel you will need to build out in our system when submitting the request for a pixel.
To clarify what constitutes an advertiser on our end, this would be an advertiser that would need to be viewed separately in reporting. This tells us to build a campaign out on its own in our system, and as mentioned previously, will not allow us to pull the pixel from one advertiser to another. This can happen if there are multiple properties within one business, all having to view reporting separately. For Example, Holiday Inn would be the advertiser, and the reporting needs to be reviewed by one region at a time.
Holiday Inn - Nevada
Holiday Inn - New Jersey
Holiday Inn - Florida
If these needed to be all separate in the reporting dashboard, our team would need to provide a different Advertiser Specific pixel for each property. These pixels would not be able to speak to one another or share data. If the client is looking to retarget users off of the main website, we would use a Master pixel. The Master pixel could then be added to each Advertiser - Region, allowing us to place one pixel that could be utilized for all properties.
A big differentiator is that a Master pixel is not used for conversion tracking. This is important when deciding which pixel is needed; again, these are best used in cases of needing to retarget a large audience from an overarching publication website that can be pulled into multiple advertisers once campaigns are built out.
If you are still unsure which pixel will best suit your retargeting needs, we are happy to help decipher, as these cannot be changed later down the road. Please clarify in your request if you might be considering a Master vs. Advertiser specific, and we will happily help get you what will most fit your needs.