FAQ
Prospective and New Publishers
- How do I join Burst Direct?
- What are the Eligibility Requirements to become a Burst Direct Publisher?
- In addition to the Eligibility Requirements, what are the Rules of Membership?
- How long will it take before advertising appears on my site?
Revenue & Finances
- How much will I make?
- How much does Burst charge its Publishers?
- What is the contract rate?
- When and how will I be paid?
Tracking & Statistics
- What will my stats tell me about my site's advertising?
- When are my ad stats available?
- How does Burst count visitor traffic?
- What type of statistics do I receive about my site visitors?
Coding and Creative Ad Units
- What Creative Units does Burst Direct offer publishers?
- What is source code?
- Where will the ad units appear on my page?
- Should I use the same adcode for all of my pages?
Questions
Prospective and New Publishers
How do I join Burst Direct?
The first step in becoming a Burst web publisher is to complete the online application . After submitting this form, you will receive a confirmation email that your application has been received. Our Publisher Services team will review your application and reply with an email acceptance or rejection. If you are accepted into Burst Direct, you will receive an account activation email containing a unique URL that will link you to your Burst Publisher Agreement. Once completed, an account will be automatically created and login details emailed so that you may access your account center, select campaigns, get source code, and view campaign info, stats and reports.
What are the Eligibility Requirements to become a Burst Direct Member?
We provide a complete listing of our minimum eligibility requirements here for potential publishers to review before submitting an application. Simply meeting the minimum eligibility requirements does not guarantee acceptance into Burst Direct. Every site is reviewed by Publisher Services to ensure quality content and traffic statistics that adhere to our Burst Direct policies.
In addition to the Eligibility Requirements, what are the Rules of Membership?
Please review our Publisher Agreement and Advertising Conditions for the complete requirements of membership in Burst Direct.
How long will it take before advertising appears on my site?
It may take up to 24 hours after your account has been created for advertising to appear on your site. For this reason, we recommend setting up a test page not connected with the live sections of your site to ensure that your Burst source code is deployed correctly before placing the code on your live site.
Revenue & Finances
How much money will I make?
Burst Direct maximizes the use of your inventory. The more access you give us, the more we can sell. We can't guarantee how much you'll make, but we'll work hard to get you the best yield we can.
How much does Burst Direct charge its Publishers?
Nothing! There are no fees to join Burst Direct. Revenue is split between the Publisher and Burst Direct based on the publisher's contract rate.
What is the Contract Rate?
We pay our Burst Direct publishers a percentage of the revenue we collect from advertisers.
- Introductory contract rate for publishers is 55%. Publishers earn 55%, and Burst Direct's revenue is 45%. We also offer other ways to make use of your inventory. Click here for more information.
When and how will I be paid?
We pay our publishers on the 15th of the month, each month for campaigns with end dates 45+ days prior. Our minimum check size is $50.00 (unless you have chosen to set a higher minimum for your account). If your balance is less than $50.00, it will carry over until such time as you have a balance greater than $50.00. This means that the campaigns that completed in July will be paid 45 days after that campaign completion period, meaning September 15 (45 days after July 31), provided the minimum check amount has been met. Payment is made by electronic funds transfer, PayPal, or paper check. If you choose to receive a check there will be a $5 processing fee.
Tracking and Statistics
What will my stats tell me about my site's advertising?
We offer a robust suite of reporting tools listed in the "Reports" tab when you log into the Burst Publisher Account Center.
Report Builder offers customized reporting and the ability to save reports.
The Past Year's Summary Report will show you all data for each year you've been a member. Reports will appear in your account after 12 months with Burst.
When are my ad stats available?
Reports are built based on information imported from our ad-hosting server to our database. This is done in an hourly basis, and reported as Eastern Standard Time.
How does Burst count visitor traffic?
Burst's tracking methods count how many times an advertiser's banner is viewed. Therefore, we base our statistics on the number of times an ad is downloaded from our server on to your page(s). This "impression" number will typically be higher than the number of page views if you place more than one ad on each page.
What type of statistics do I receive about my site visitors?
Burst Direct supplies you with statistics on your site visitors. Choose "Demographic Survey" from the "Reports" menu in your account center. As a publisher benefit, Burst Direct provides monthly site audience data to you. The data from completed surveys are voluntary and shared with you in your password-protected pages as Demographic Survey. The results of the demographic survey are updated within the first five working days of each month with the data collected during the previous month.
CODING AND CREATIVE AD UNITS
What Creative Units does Burst Direct offer publishers?
Burst offers the following Web creative units:
- 468 x 60 Above-the-Scroll Banner
- 728 x 90 Above-the-Scroll Leaderboard
- Flexible Above-the-Scroll Size - Displays both 728 x 90 and 468 x 60
- 120 x 600 Skyscraper
- 160 x 600 Wide Skyscraper
- Flexible Skyscraper Size - Displays both 120 x 600 and 160 x 600
- Pop-Ups, Pop-Unders, and Layer Ads
- 468 x 60 Below-the-Scroll Banner
- 300 x 250 Box
What is source code?
When you join Burst Direct we ask you to add unique source code for each creative unit you post into the HTML of the page(s) of your choice or your ad delivery software. This adcode is our lifeline to you and it serves two important functions:
- Once in place it triggers a statistics program at our server. You must keep your source code posted if you want to be eligible for campaigns. Your site will not be included in proposals without the statistical information that the source code generates on Burst's server or if your stats drop below the minimum 100,000 page views or 20,000 monthly uniques requirement.
- Your adcode tells the Burst server exactly which ad to send to your page(s) based on the targeted and non-targeted advertising campaigns you have approved and their relative earning power on this adcode.
Where will the ad units appear on my page?
468x60 Above-the-Scroll | 728x90 Leaderboard
- The Burst Above-the-Scroll banner must appear without the need to scroll in any direction.
- The Burst Above-the-Scroll banner must appear first and above any other Above-the-Scroll advertising on the same page. By joining Burst you agree to give our advertising priority position.
- There can only be one insertion of the Burst Above-the-Scroll code per page, either the 468x60 Above-the-Scroll or the 728x90 Leaderboard, but not both.
- The 468 Above-the-Scroll|728x90 Leaderboard Combo Flexible code is recommended to maximize your revenue potential. This option will run both the leaderboard and Above-the-Scroll banner in the same ad space.
468x60 Below-the-Scroll
- All Burst Below-the-Scroll banners must appear adjacent to web page content and cannot be stacked with banners from any other advertiser regardless of the source.
- Burst Below-the-Scroll banners must appear first and above any other below-the-scroll advertising on the same page. By joining Burst you agree to give our advertising priority position.
- There can only be one insertion of the Burst Below-the-Scroll code per page.
120x600 Skyscraper | 160x600 Wide Skyscraper
- The Burst 120x600 Skyscraper or 160 x 600 Wide Skyscraper banner must appear within the first 400 pixels of the web page or begin within the screen when viewed at 800 x 600 resolution, without scrolling.
- The Burst Skyscraper must appear first, and above any other skyscraper advertising on the same page. By joining Burst you agree to give our advertising priority position
- There can only be one insertion of Burst Skyscraper code per page, either the 120x600 Skyscraper or the 160x600 Wide Skyscraper. You may not run both the 120x600 Skyscraper and the 160x600 Wide Skyscraper on the same page.
- The 120x600 Skyscraper | 160x600 Wide Skyscraper Combo Flexible Code is recommended to maximize your revenue potential. This option will run both the 120x600 Skyscraper and the 160x600 Wide Skyscraper banner in the same ad space.
For additional details, please review our Advertising Conditions. Remember, only one of each creative type can appear per page.
Should I use the same adcode for all of my pages?
Burst must review and approve all sites on which you place your Burst adcodes. If you wish to add additional sites to your account, however, we ask that you complete the New Adcode Request Form via the Burst Publisher Account Centers so that we can review the site and issue a secondary adcode where appropriate. If your site has large sections that fall into very different categories, we may also consider breaking up your site into multiple adcodes to properly categorize your site. We also ask that if you plan to use your Burst code on forums that you request a second adcode just for the forums. Burst will work with you to provide as many adcodes as necessary for your site. However, the use of multiple adcodes should be carefully considered given the financial implications explained above and the maintenance of multiple adcode descriptions.
Questions
Other Questions?
If your question is not answered above, please contact Publisher Services at service@burstdirect.com .