Unable to track video when I use drag and drop functionality and skip video directly from start to 25% or 50% or 75% milestone

[SaurabhAloola]

Describe the bug
A clear and concise description of what the bug is.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Go to 'site and drag video from start to 25%, 50% or 75% completion'
2. Check if the video milestone is tracked or not.

Expected behavior
A clear and concise description of what you expected to happen.

Screenshots
If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: [e.g. Windows]
• Browser [e.g. Chrome, Safari]
• Version [e.g. 22]

Smartphone (please complete the following information):

• Device: [e.g. iPhone6]
• OS: [e.g. iOS8.1]
• Browser [e.g. stock browser, Safari]
• Version [e.g. 22]

Additional context
Add any other context about the problem here.

[yuhui]

@SaurabhAloola can you please provide the URL of a web page where I can replicate this problem?

[SaurabhAloola]

@yuhui Due to confidentiality, I can't share the URL with you. But I am having another issue with tracking.

I have followed the below guide to implement the tracking.
Youtube link

However, the rules do not always trigger on the page. And it does occasionally fire on the page. When it triggers, everything works perfectly, and we get all of the desired rules with the appropriate evars and events.

We also checked with Dom Ready event with "Enable video playback tracking" action type. Issue still persists.
Can you please guide us if we are missing something here.

[yuhui]

@SaurabhAloola thanks for the information. And thanks for the YouTube link, I was unaware that someone had created a tutorial for using my extension.
Since you can't share your website, then troubleshooting will take a lot more time and communication from both of us. Please be patient, because I will need to find out as much information as possible about your problem.

1. Can you provide the <script> tag of your Launch embed code?
2. If you can't provide the <script> tag, can you provide screenshots of your Launch setup, i.e. Rules, Data Elements, that use my YouTube Playback extension?
3. How are videos loaded in your web page? Are they embedded in the web page code when the web page is loaded, or are the videos loaded when the user performs a certain action?
4. Does the same problem happen if you test in a private browser window?
5. Does the same problem happen if you test in another web browser, e.g. MS Edge, Safari?

[SaurabhAloola]

Hi @yuhui
Here I am Providing answer of the above questions.
2. I am providing screen recording for my Launch setup
https://github.com/yuhui/launchext-youtube-playback/assets/136058056/16815018-a121-43d6-8171-619a2cded2c0
4. On my site videos are embedded in the web page code when the web page is loaded. You can check it on this site site
5. Yes, The same problem happen if I test in a private window.
6. Yes, The same problem happen if I test in any browser.

[yuhui]

Hi @SaurabhAloola , thanks for sharing the web page link.

I wasn't able to watch your screen recording. The AwesomeScreenshot site gave an error: "invalid share key".

But I did visit your website https://www.insight.com/en_US/shop/partner/microsoft/hardware/hololens.html . I think you're using another YouTube extension: "YouTube Player Embed" by 33sticks. That is not developed by me.

My extension is "YouTube Playback".

[SaurabhAloola]

Hi @yuhui,

1. I think I have shared the uploaded version of the recording. Not the AwesomeScreenshot I am attaching the uploaded version again.
   recording link:
   https://github.com/yuhui/launchext-youtube-playback/assets/136058056/7adbb757-1a04-4a89-a1d1-47c00132d498

2. I have shared the live site with you to check the <script> tag of your Launch embed code. and how we have implemented the tracking on site.

3. We have used the "YouTube Player Embed" extension earlier and as there was issue with milestones, we have enabled tracking with "YouTube Playback". Currently, it is deployed on the development version of the site. You have to use the DTM switch to change the environment to see that implementation.
   Attached the screenshot for your reference:
   

Please let me know if you need any help.

[yuhui]

Hi @SaurabhAloola , thanks for the guidance.

I am able to see your video now. Your setup looks correct, as far as I can tell.

Unfortunately, I am not able to switch environments with the DTM Switch extension. As you can see in the my screenshot of the extension, I need to browse your Launch property's Environments page so that the extension can pick up the available environments first. Only after that will I be able to switch environments at your website with the extension.

Can you share the <script> snippet of your Development environment?

Furthermore, I noticed that you are also running Google Tag Manager in your website. Do you have video tracking in there too?

[SaurabhAloola]

Hi @yuhui,
Thank you for looking into that. We have provided you with the configuration recording earlier; you can refer that as well. We are for now providing you the recording how our tags are firing on the page. You have to ignore the tags that are firing for video start and other events that is configured with Youtube Embed Player Extension.
The rules are listed below.

"YouTube Video Start"
"YouTube Video Paused"

Loom.Message.-.22.April.2024.2.1.1.mp4

Yeah, Its look like we also have separate tracking for this video through Google Tag manager with Google analytics. Is there anything that might affect the implementation of YouTube playback extension.

[yuhui]

Hi @SaurabhAloola ,

Thanks for sharing the video link. I had reviewed your Rule setup and found that they looked correct (#34 (comment)). So given that they look correct yet are not working, I would need to experience the problem by myself. That's why I am asking for the Development snippet, so that I can load it in my browser (since I am unable to use the DTM Switch extension).

Yes, using GTM's video tracking could be a problem. I've observed that when troubleshooting with other users previously. I suspect that it is due to the YouTube IFrame API being called from 2 different places (GTM and my extension), so only one would work reliably. In such cases, I normally advise users to choose one place to enable video tracking and then call the other tag manager for sending the actual tracking hits. E.g. use GTM's video tracking, then have GTM Custom HTML tags to call Launch's Direct Calls to track the video playback events. But that would be an exercise for you to implement, as my focus is on my extension.

[SaurabhAloola]

Hi @yuhui ,

We will not be able to share the development script, though we could give access to our lower-environment site URLs, and you can check on that. Tell me about your time zone details, please, so we can build the library in that environment on that time and you can investigate the issue their.

Thanks!

[yuhui]

@SaurabhAloola , my time zone is UTC +8. Thanks.

[SaurabhAloola]

@yuhui Can you please specify when it will be a good time to allot the site URL for testing. According to your timezone.

[yuhui]

@SaurabhAloola , I will be free on my weekday evenings at 9pm-11:59pm UTC+8. Thanks.

[SaurabhAloola]

Greetings @yuhui I am providing you the URL for your testing: https://projectqa.insight.com/en_US/shop/partner/fleetsharp.html

Please update us with your finding here ASAP.

[yuhui]

Hi @SaurabhAloola , thanks for sharing the link. I was able to replicate your problem. Here are my findings:

You are using 2 YouTube extensions in your Launch property: my YouTube Playback extension, and the YouTube Player Embed extension. The combination of both caused errors to be thrown in my browser console due to errors with the YouTube IFrame API. When I removed all of the YouTube Player Embed extension code in your Launch script, then the errors were gone.

But even without the errors, I was only able to see some of my extension's events being successfully triggered. I found that there is a Google Tag Manager script in the web page. When I removed that GTM <script> snippet, then I was able to see my extension working reliably all of the time; all of the Video Play, Pause, Milestone and Ended events were triggering properly.

I am aware that my extension doesn't work reliably when Google Tag Manager is being used and video tracking is enabled there too. I suspect that this is because of "race conditions" between GTM and my extension to use the YouTube IFrame API. I don't plan to solve this problem because my extension is intended to work solely with Launch as the only tag manager in a web page.

So, I can offer these 2 suggestions:

1. Choose 1 YouTube-related extension only. Either remove the YouTube Player Embed extension from your Launch property, or remove mine. Whichever you choose, ensure that you finally only have 1 YouTube-related extension in your Launch property.
2. If you must use Google Tag Manager for video tracking, then I suggest that you do all of your video tracking through GTM only. This will reduce the conflicts with the YouTube IFrame API. For example: setup GTM Custom HTML tags to send Launch's Direct Calls _satellite.track() with every GTM video trigger, and then setup corresponding Direct Call rules in your Launch property. Note: I do not provide any support for Google Tag Manager implementation whatsoever.

[SaurabhAloola]

Hey @yuhui,
We have turned off all video tracking on our website by disabling the tracking that was done with the YouTube Player Embed extension and the video engagement tracking that was in the Google Tag Manager.
We have released the video tracking implementation using your extension. Even so, the rules do not always seem to work as intended.
Here is the url: https://projectqa.insight.com/en_US/shop/partner/fleetsharp.html
Could you look into this and assist in determining what the precise problem is?

Thank you.

[yuhui]

@SaurabhAloola , I think you still have GTM's video tracking being enabled. When I inspected the HTML of the YouTube player, I found various "data-gtm-yt-inspected-*" attributes. These attributes are set by GTM when video is tracked there.

When I blocked the GTM script for GTM-KZFSXB, then these attributes were not set in the YouTube player, and the video tracking Rules worked all of the time.

[SaurabhAloola]

Hi @yuhui, If we exclude the GTM Script for GTM-KZFSXB, then it will also exclude the other tracking as well that is currently working through Google Tag Manager for page views, etc. I have turned off the Video Engagement from the Enhanced Measurement setting in Google Analytics that stopped video tracking tag being fired.

Another question is, does it apply those attributes to all YouTube videos if we have set up some particular pages with YouTube tracking enabled?

[SaurabhAloola]

Hi @yuhui,
Thank you for your support. We have removed GTM tracking, and now it works for video start and pause. In case user does not drag/skip the video milestones being tracked as expected.

But still, when we try to skip the video by dragging from 0 to 75%, in this case, there are no 25% or 50% milestones being tracked.

You can check the below url : https://projectqa.insight.com/en_US/shop/partner/fleetsharp.html[https://projectqa.insight.com/en_US/shop/partner/fleetsharp.html]

[yuhui]

Hi @SaurabhAloola , it is expected that dragging the video slider will not track milestones. The simple reason is that the user is searching for a particular location in the video timeline, so the video itself is not being played actually. Milestone tracking works only when the video is playing normally.

So in your example, since you had dragged the slider to 75%, so the 25% and 50% milestones are not tracked. However, when you go back to 0 and let the video play normally all the way to the end, then the 25%, 50% and 75% milestones should be tracked.

[SaurabhAloola]

Hi @yuhui, Okay I got it But I have one query if we are not capturing the milestones while dragging the video in this scenario we are getting unspecified value in the Adobe Analytics report so can you suggest any better solution to see accurate data in the report cause we are also getting video end and pause count with Video milestone dimension.

[yuhui]

@SaurabhAloola , make sure you're using the Video milestone dimension with the "Video Milestone" event from my extension. This is stated clearly in the data element's configuration page.