How does OWOX BI import ad cost data from Criteo?

This article is valid for both Criteo→Google Analytics and Criteo→Google BigQuery pipelines.

UTM tags processing

Unfortunately, the Criteo API doesn't provide ads' UTM parameters. That's why OWOX BI Pipeline imports Criteo ad cost data according to this logic:

• The cost data is imported down to the source\medium\campaign level;
• ga:source=criteo (can be changed in your pipeline settings);
• ga:medium=cpc (can be changed in your pipeline settings);
• ga:campaign = the campaignName parameter, which we get using the getCampaigns method.

To ensure that the imported data match with Google Analytics data, follow these rules when forming the UTM parameters of your ads:

1. utm_source=criteo;
2. utm_medium=cpc;
3. utm_campaign = the campaign name in Criteo’s UI.

If you provide the custom values for source/medium in the pipeline settings, make sure these values correspond to UTM tags in your ad account. Otherwise, data discrepancy occurs during the session cost calculation.

Currency conversion

Unlike other ad services OWOX BI exports cost data from, Criteo's API can't provide data in the currency set in an individual Criteo user's account.

OWOX BI retrieves all cost data from all the Criteo users in uniform currency, which is USD, and then converts it according to your Google Analytics property's currency using the Open Exchange Rates API.

Due to these API limitations, discrepancies up to 3% are expected between cost data in your Criteo account and Google Analytics.

You can track the discrepancies in your exported cost data using the Data Monitoring service.