With each ad request, the Engine synthesizes additional targeting tags providing basic information about characteristics of the device making the ad request. Currently, the lookup is only effective for mobile devices. Traditional computing devices, such as desktops and laptops, are only minimally supported.
The lookup of the device tag values is done once at the start of a visitor session. The looked up values are applied to all ad requests received for the balance of that session.
The lookup of device tags is based on an inspection of the user agent string. Therefore, this lookup is best suited to mobile web browsing, where the user agent is set appropriately by the browser. Apps that make direct ad calls (i.e. that do not go through browser-based widgets) can either provide a suitable user agent in the request header, or can simply supply the tag values directly in the ad call.
Not all tags are necessarily populated by each lookup. For some devices, some tag values may be unknown. In those cases, the Engine treats the tag as having no value (= "").
Like geo tags, these device tags and their values are predefined and are present for all customers.
In the UI, device tags appear alongside custom tags and geo tags wherever those tags are selectable. On the Flights screen, the "Tags" section has a separate subsection for "Device tags", just as it does for "Geo tags".
The supported tags and their values are detailed in Usage Note 53895: Device Detection.
To enable this feature please contact SAS Technical Support.
