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New advances have made it relatively easy to track viewership of flash video, which is of particular interest to Web 2.0 advertisers, by using ActionScript and AJAX, a software platform. Historically, collecting online playback metrics was unreliable, difficult and expensive. Now, accurate, do-it-yourself reporting can be made using Flash Studio and some basic HTML/Javascript skills. There are two important keys to success. First, it is important to understand how ActionScript communicates media playback events to JavaScript when embedded in a SWF file. Second, web media producers must learn how JavaScript can use AJAX to send date-stamped and time events automatically to a MySQL database. Instructions, including full source code, on how to build a basic clip tracking system are included in the article. Media elements are presented first followed by a description of ActionScript, which breaks down into three functional sections (ExternalInterface, ListenerObject, and FLVPlayback). An HTML file that comprises all of the necessary JavaScript was made available by the author. Having a working example of such a system can buy a lot of credibility if a client asks for such services.
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Information Sources, Inc.
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