I’m frequently fascinated by the origins of unusual words and phrases we use every day. Most recently, while preparing this very post you’re reading, I wrote the perfect phrase to describe what the new Atlas My Reports Provisional Stats are; they are the ‘acid test’ of a successful campaign launch.

What are Provisional Stats?

Starting February 13, 2012, a Media Console user can get access to data on Impressions, Clicks, Action Requests and Interactions before the standard intraday reporting data; we call this data Provisional Stats. Typically data in My Reports is certified (duplications, blacklisted impressions and clicks are removed) before it is presented in a report. Certifying data is an important step in the process, but does require a bit more time to undergo our filtering process.

Good news! With Provisional Stats you can access data on campaign activity much sooner, which is extremely useful for the validation and QA of a new campaign or action tag.

The following Provisional Stats are available to add as columns at the Counts Column Level, within the edit & create Report Builder wizard:

prov stats

  • Provisional Action Requests: The total number of times the action tag was triggered on the advertiser's web site.
  • Provisional Clicks: The number of clicks delivered for the current row.
  • Provisional Impressions: The number of delivered impressions for the current row.
  • Provisional Interactions: The number of requests generated for the event.

To find out more about Provisional Stats or if you have any questions about how you can use these stats in your reporting, please refer to the Atlas Client Center knowledge base and search for the key words “Provisional Stats.”

So where does the phrase ‘acid test’ originate?

It likely derives from many hundreds of years ago when alchemists used nitric acid to determine the presence of gold. Unlike base metals and silver, gold does not dissolve in nitric acid, so it was literally the acid test to make sure you had your hands on something truly valuable.

Make sure your campaign and action tracking is made of gold by instantly validating its launch using the true ‘acid test’ of provisional stats.

Thanks, Steve