CPM Tracking - Unique User Tracking

[mywhat]

Am new to the forum.... am sure this topic has already been discussed, however I couldn't find the thread for it :)

So... here's the deal.... I have a banner system where I'd like to track "UNIQUE IMPRESSIONS" as well as raw impressions... thing is, I've tried to set a cookie / session value to identify the user upon impression, however because the banners get pulled thru Iframe, it's considered 3rd party and won't stick unless browser settings are altered to accept 3rd party...

I know it must be possible seeing as plenty of banner affiliate sites track Unique impressions, but question is, what do they track by? IP?....wouldn't make sense... there's got to be more!

Any help or direction would be appreciated! ;)

PS... Is there a browser behavior or JS that allows me to see what window properties are on or off... like status bar, toolbar, etc?

[gregbo]

I know it must be possible seeing as plenty of banner affiliate sites track Unique impressions, but question is, what do they track by? IP?....wouldn't make sense... there's got to be more!

Before doing any kind of cookie-based unique "web site event" tracking, you should read the article "How Many Users are One" by Rebecca Lieb, available at clickz.com. If after reading, you are still convinced that you must have this information in this manner, have the person(s) who are recipients of your unique impression data read the article as well, and caution them that the figures you're providing may differ substantially from the "actual" number of unique impressions.

[mywhat]

Thanks for the article... good read!... I'm aware there is a margin of error in this given scenario, however I should still be able to identify certain client attributes that will help me identify a computer / user to some extent... Sure proxies will no doubt make this task alot more difficult, however... cookies can't be the answer to everything...can they?

[gregbo]

Sure proxies will no doubt make this task alot more difficult, however... cookies can't be the answer to everything...can they?

IMO, cookies just muddy the issue, because they are not users, and never were. The cookie mechanism was not designed to be a substitute or replacement for individual identification.

[ColinVox]

You shurely whould not rely only on cookies. If there is some sort of login feature at your site this could be considered as more reliable identificaton method. And theoreticaly you can link up serveral different computers eg. (work and home) and consider them as belonging to each user. It won't work for every user but your stats will be more accurate.