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NewsBreak traffic source template NewsBreak is a local news app with its own self-serve advertising platform, NewsBreak Ads. This guide sets up NewsBreak as a traffic source in ClickFlare. It covers passing NewsBreak’s click data into your reports and sending conversions, with their value, back to NewsBreak so its optimization and your stats agree. You do everything from the campaign editor. The NewsBreak traffic source is created inline, without leaving the campaign.

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At a glance

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How it works

1

NewsBreak sends the click

A visitor clicks your ad. NewsBreak opens your ClickFlare campaign URL and fills in its macros: the click ID in newsbreak_cid, plus the OS, campaign, flight and creative IDs and names.
2

ClickFlare stores the NewsBreak click ID

ClickFlare saves the value of newsbreak_cid as the visit’s External ID and redirects the visitor to your lander or offer.
3

The conversion reaches ClickFlare

Your affiliate network or store posts the conversion back to ClickFlare, matched on the ClickFlare click ID.
4

ClickFlare posts it back to NewsBreak

ClickFlare fires the NewsBreak postback, replacing {external_id} with the stored NewsBreak click ID and {payout} with the revenue. NewsBreak matches it to the original click and records it under the web event named in event_type.
The mirror to keep straight: in the campaign URL you write ClickFlare’s parameter (newsbreak_cid) and NewsBreak’s macro (__CALLBACK_PARAM__). The template does this for you. In the postback URL you write NewsBreak’s parameter (callback) and ClickFlare’s token ({external_id}).

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Before you start

  • Set up your own tracking domain. Run the campaign and the postback on your own custom domain. Shared domains get flagged by networks and blocked by browsers. See Custom Domains.
  • Have an offer ready in ClickFlare, and its affiliate network set up to post conversions back to ClickFlare. A lander is optional. See Creating an Offer and Adding an Affiliate Network.
  • Have your NewsBreak creative ready, along with access to Tools → Event Management in your NewsBreak Ads account.
  • Decide which conversions NewsBreak should receive. NewsBreak optimizes on what you send it, and each event is a separate web event with its own postback. If your funnel has several steps (lead, then purchase), decide now whether to send one event or several. See Tracking several events.
  • Plan for the event test. NewsBreak only lets a campaign optimize for a web event after that event has received a postback. You trigger it in Step 4, before you create the NewsBreak campaign.
  • Optional: connect the cost integration. ClickFlare pulls NewsBreak spend through the NewsBreak API. See NewsBreak cost integration.

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Step 1 – Create the campaign and the NewsBreak traffic source

  1. Go to Campaigns and click New.
  2. In Traffic Source, open the dropdown and click + New Traffic Source.
  3. Type newsbreak in the search box and select the NewsBreak template.
  4. Enter a Name, for example NewsBreak.
  5. Leave Cost currency on USD unless your NewsBreak account is billed in another currency.
The template fills in the Parameters table for you: The NewsBreak template's Parameters table in ClickFlare, with NewsBreak's macros pre-filled Each tracking field becomes a column you can group reports by. The ID and name pairs let you break results down by campaign, flight and creative, so you can pause losing creatives and scale winners in NewsBreak. The IDs are stable. The names are easier to read, but change if you rename something in NewsBreak.
Don’t change or remove the External ID row. Without newsbreak_cid=__CALLBACK_PARAM__ in the campaign URL, ClickFlare has no NewsBreak click ID to send back, and NewsBreak cannot match any conversion.
To pass more NewsBreak data, click Add Parameter, give it a name and parameter, and enter the NewsBreak macro as the TS Token. ClickFlare assigns the next free tracking field. Check the macros your NewsBreak account offers before adding them.

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Step 2 – Set up the postback

The postback is what sends conversions to NewsBreak. It lives on the traffic source, so every campaign that uses this NewsBreak traffic source sends conversions the same way.

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Create the web event in NewsBreak

NewsBreak records postback conversions against a web event. Create one for each conversion you want NewsBreak to receive.
  1. In NewsBreak, go to Tools → Event Management.
  2. Select Web Events and click Create/Test Web Event.
Web Events in NewsBreak Event Management, with the Create/Test Web Event button
  1. In the guide that opens, set up the event:
    • Choose your event tracking type: Postback.
    • Choose the 3rd party tracking service you use: ClickFlare.
    • Choose your conversion event: the event NewsBreak should record, for example Complete Payment.
    • Event value: turn it on, so NewsBreak records the payout ClickFlare sends in nb_value.
NewsBreak's Create/test web event guide with Postback, ClickFlare, Complete Payment and Event value selected
  1. Scroll to the How to set up NewsBreak with ClickFlare Tracker section and copy the postback URL shown there. It contains the event_type value NewsBreak assigned to this event.
The How to set up NewsBreak with ClickFlare Tracker section in NewsBreak, with the postback URL to copy NewsBreak also has its own walkthrough of this screen: ClickFlare Integration Guide in the NewsBreak help center.

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Add it to the traffic source in ClickFlare

  1. Back in the New Traffic Source form, scroll to Passing conversion info to traffic source.
  2. Turn on Traffic source postback URL. The template’s postback appears:
It already sends the click ID ({external_id}) and the payout ({payout}), both as ClickFlare tokens.
  1. Replace REPLACE with the event_type value from the URL you copied in NewsBreak. For a purchase event, the result looks like this:
Compare it with NewsBreak’s URL: apart from the order of the parameters, the callback, nb_value and event_type values should match, with ClickFlare’s {external_id} and {payout} as the tokens.
  1. In the dropdown on the left, choose the ClickFlare event that should fire the postback. Keep Conversions to send every conversion. If the NewsBreak event is a specific step that you log in ClickFlare as a custom conversion (for example purchase), choose that instead.
  2. Click Save. You are back in the campaign editor with the NewsBreak traffic source selected.
The Traffic source postback URL switched on, showing the NewsBreak template's postback
Replace REPLACE with a real event_type from NewsBreak. NewsBreak requires both callback and event_type on every postback. With event_type=REPLACE, NewsBreak cannot tie the conversion to any of your web events.
Map each postback to the ClickFlare conversion event you actually log. If the postback listens for a custom conversion that never fires, NewsBreak never hears about the conversions. Keep a copy of the final postback URL somewhere safe, so you can adjust event_type or other parameters later. To learn what each postback token does, see How to Configure a Traffic Source S2S Postback URL.

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Step 3 – Finish the campaign and copy its URL

  1. Name the campaign.
  2. Set the Cost Model to Not Tracked and turn on Use Integrations if you connected the NewsBreak cost integration. See Cost.
  3. Choose Redirect or Direct tracking. Redirect is the usual choice.
  4. Click Next and, on Destination, add your lander (optional) and your offer.
  5. Save, open Tracking, select your own tracking domain and copy the campaign URL.
The campaign URL already contains every NewsBreak macro from the template, for example newsbreak_cid=__CALLBACK_PARAM__ and CREATIVE_ID=__CREATIVE_ID__. If you use a lander, its call-to-action must link to the ClickFlare click URL, not to the offer directly. Otherwise the visit reaches the offer without a ClickFlare click ID, and the conversion cannot be traced back to NewsBreak. See Creating a Campaign in ClickFlare.

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Step 4 – Activate the event in NewsBreak

NewsBreak only lets an ad optimize for a web event after the event has passed NewsBreak’s Test Postback integration. The test opens your landing page URL with a test click ID and waits for a postback carrying that ID. When it arrives, NewsBreak shows the test as successful and the event becomes available as an optimization goal. This is where most NewsBreak setups get stuck. The test only opens the URL. Nobody completes the offer, so no conversion happens in ClickFlare. With the postback mapped to Conversions (or a custom conversion), ClickFlare has nothing to send, the test never succeeds, and the event stays unavailable. The workaround: map the postback to Visits for the test, so the test’s own visit fires it. Then map it back to your real event.

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Map the postback to Visits

  1. In ClickFlare, open the NewsBreak traffic source.
  2. Under Passing conversion info to traffic source, open the event dropdown next to the NewsBreak postback and choose Visits (under Default Events).
  3. Click Save.
The NewsBreak postback in ClickFlare mapped to Visits for the test

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Run NewsBreak’s postback test

  1. In ClickFlare, open the campaign, go to the Tracking tab and copy the campaign URL from Step 3.
  2. In NewsBreak, go to Tools → Event Management → Web Events and open the web event from Step 2. Scroll to Test Postback integration.
  3. Paste the ClickFlare campaign URL into Test URL (Please enter the Landing Page URL you intend to use for the ad). It must contain __CALLBACK_PARAM__ as the click ID value, which the template already does in newsbreak_cid=__CALLBACK_PARAM__.
  4. NewsBreak shows the Actual test URL, with a test click ID in place of __CALLBACK_PARAM__. Clear your browser’s cache and cookies, then click Go test. To open it in another browser instead, click Copy test link.
  5. NewsBreak opens the URL. ClickFlare records the visit and, because the postback is mapped to Visits, immediately fires it back to NewsBreak with the test click ID in callback.
  6. Back on the test panel, NewsBreak shows Success, “Test result: successful”, and a line confirming the event’s tracking code was received (for example “Complete payment tracking code is received”).
NewsBreak's Test Postback integration with the ClickFlare campaign URL as Test URL and a successful test result If the test doesn’t succeed, check Logs → Postback Status in ClickFlare for the request to business.newsbreak.com. Its status code shows whether NewsBreak accepted it. Click Reset test in NewsBreak to run it again.

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Map the postback back to your real event

Once NewsBreak shows the test as successful, the event is available. Now switch the postback to the ClickFlare event you actually want to send to NewsBreak:
  1. Open the NewsBreak traffic source in ClickFlare again.
  2. In the postback’s event dropdown, replace Visits with the real event: Conversions, or the custom conversion that matches this NewsBreak event (for example purchase for Complete Payment).
  3. Click Save.
Don’t leave the postback on Visits. While it’s mapped to Visits, ClickFlare reports every visit to NewsBreak as a conversion of that event. NewsBreak then optimizes for clicks instead of real conversions, and its conversion numbers are meaningless. Switch it back before the campaign gets real traffic.
Repeat the test for every web event you want NewsBreak to optimize for. If the traffic source has several postbacks, switch only the one for the event you’re testing, then map it back to its real event.

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Step 5 – Create the campaign in NewsBreak

  1. In NewsBreak, start a new campaign.
  2. Enter a campaign name, select your campaign objective and click Save and Next.
  3. Set your targeting options, then click Save and Next.
  4. Configure your ad, paste the ClickFlare campaign URL into the Landing Page URL field, and click Save.
The Landing Page URL field in the NewsBreak ad settings, with the ClickFlare campaign URL pasted in Paste the URL exactly as ClickFlare gives it. NewsBreak replaces each __...__ macro when the ad is clicked. If you edit the URL by hand, keep the double underscores on both sides of every macro.

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Step 6 – Test the integration

  1. Run a test click through your ClickFlare campaign URL and complete the offer the way a real visitor would.
  2. In ClickFlare, open the campaign report and check that the visit shows an External ID and filled-in NewsBreak columns (campaign, flight, creative).
  3. Go to Logs → Postback Status and filter by campaign or traffic source. A successful request to business.newsbreak.com confirms ClickFlare sent the postback. The status code shows whether NewsBreak accepted it.
  4. In NewsBreak, check the web event in Tools → Event Management for the conversion.

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Tracking several events

NewsBreak handles each conversion step as its own web event, and each web event has its own event_type. To send several steps, for example a lead and a purchase, give each one its own postback:
  1. In NewsBreak, create one web event per step, as in Step 2, and note each event’s event_type.
  2. In ClickFlare, create a custom conversion for each step, for example lead and purchase.
  3. On the NewsBreak traffic source, click + Another postback URL once per extra event.
  4. Map each postback to its ClickFlare event: the lead custom conversion to the lead event’s URL, purchase to the purchase event’s URL.
  5. Activate each event NewsBreak should optimize for, as in Step 4.
  6. Test each event and check it in Logs → Postback Status.
  • One postback per event. Don’t combine events in one URL.
  • Use the event_type values exactly as NewsBreak shows them in each web event.
  • Map every postback to a ClickFlare event you actually log, or it never fires.
  • Choose the event NewsBreak should optimize for in the NewsBreak campaign itself. It must be activated first, with the Visits workaround in Step 4.
If NewsBreak should only learn from your final sale, keep a single postback and map it to that event. Earlier steps (leads, add to carts) still show in ClickFlare. They just don’t reach NewsBreak.To send a postback only for some conversions, for example only those above a certain payout, use Event filter under the postback to add conditions.

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Cost

The template does not pass cost. The Cost row has no TS Parameter or TS Token, because NewsBreak has no cost macro to put in the campaign URL. Use ClickFlare’s NewsBreak cost integration instead. It connects to NewsBreak with your API access token and pulls spend across all campaign levels and keeps it updated. Set up the integration, assign it to your NewsBreak traffic source, and on the campaign set the Cost Model to Not Tracked so the integration’s cost is used.
The cost integration only syncs spend. You still need the traffic source from this guide for clicks, tracking fields and conversions. The two work together.
If you don’t connect the integration, choose another cost model. Use CPC with your average cost per click, or CPA if you buy on a fixed price per conversion. Correct the difference later with a manual cost upload. See Cost Models and Traffic Source Cost Tracking.

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Delayed revenue

If you run search arbitrage (RSOC or AFD) behind NewsBreak, the feed reports revenue hours or days after the click. To pass that revenue to NewsBreak once it arrives, see Sending Delayed Revenue to Traffic Sources.

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Troubleshooting

To check what ClickFlare sent, go to Logs → Postback Status and filter by campaign or traffic source. The status codes show whether each postback was passed successfully.
  • Traffic source postback URL is off on the NewsBreak traffic source.
  • Disable sending postbacks to traffic source is on in the campaign.
  • event_type is still REPLACE, or doesn’t match the value NewsBreak gave the web event.
  • The postback is mapped to a different event than the one the conversion logged. Check Logs → Event Logs to see which event was recorded.
  • Check Logs → Postback Status: a failed request shows the status code NewsBreak returned.
  • The campaign URL in NewsBreak is missing newsbreak_cid=__CALLBACK_PARAM__, or the macro was edited. Copy the URL from ClickFlare again.
  • The External ID row was removed from the traffic source, so {external_id} is empty.
  • The postback was copied from NewsBreak with a placeholder for the click ID instead of ClickFlare’s {external_id} token. Use callback={external_id}.
The web event hasn’t received a postback yet. NewsBreak’s test only opens your campaign URL, which creates a visit in ClickFlare but no conversion, so a postback mapped to Conversions never fires. Map the postback to Visits, run the test, then switch it back. See Step 4.Also check that event_type in the postback matches the web event you are testing, and that Logs → Postback Status shows the request.
The postback is still mapped to Visits after the event test, so every visit is reported as a conversion. Switch it back to Conversions or your custom conversion.
The template sends nb_value={payout}, so it was removed or edited. Restore &nb_value={payout} in the postback. Also check that the offer’s conversion actually carries a payout in ClickFlare.
The macros were not replaced, usually because the URL was edited or pasted into a field NewsBreak doesn’t process macros in. Paste the campaign URL from ClickFlare into Landing Page URL, unchanged. See Traffic Source Tokens Arriving Empty.
The template doesn’t pass cost. Connect the NewsBreak cost integration and check that it is assigned to this traffic source, or choose a CPC or CPA cost model on the campaign.
For the general checklist, see Conversions not showing.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q1: Can I use the same NewsBreak traffic source for all my NewsBreak campaigns?
A1: Yes. The postback is set once on the traffic source and every campaign using it sends conversions the same way. Create a second NewsBreak traffic source only if a campaign needs a different postback, for example a different web event.
Q2: Why is it called newsbreak_cid in the campaign URL and callback in the postback?
A2: They are two halves of the same value. ClickFlare reads NewsBreak’s click ID from its own newsbreak_cid parameter. NewsBreak expects it back in its own callback parameter. Both names are fixed. Change neither.
Q3: Where do I find the right event_type?
A3: In NewsBreak, under Tools → Event Management → Web Events. Open the web event and copy the postback URL from the How to set up NewsBreak with ClickFlare Tracker section. The event_type in that URL is the one to use.
Q4: Does the order of the parameters in the postback matter?
A4: No. callback, nb_value and event_type can appear in any order. What matters is that all three are present with the right values.
Q5: Why does NewsBreak say my event has no activity, even though the postback is set up?
A5: NewsBreak only activates a web event after it receives a postback, and its test only sends a visit. Map the postback to Visits for the test, then switch it back. See Step 4.
Q6: Should I use Redirect or Direct tracking with NewsBreak?
A6: Redirect is the usual choice. Use Direct only if NewsBreak must see your lander’s domain as the destination. See Direct Campaign Tracking.

NewsBreak cost integration

Sync NewsBreak spend into ClickFlare automatically.

Traffic source postbacks

Every token you can use in a postback.

Custom conversions

Split leads and sales into separate events.

Conversions not showing

The general checklist when postbacks don’t arrive.