Also known as: Ad Tracker, Self-Hosted Tracker, Traffic Tracker
An Affiliate Tracking Platform is the partner's own tool for tracking clicks, conversions and ROI across their traffic sources, independent of the broker. It receives postbacks from brokers and attributes each conversion back to the exact campaign, placement and sub-ID that drove it.
The partner routes every ad click through their own tracker before redirecting to the broker's offer, so the tracker logs the click along with the traffic source, campaign, placement and sub-ID. It stores the click ID that will later come back on the conversion. When the broker fires a postback at FTD, the tracker matches the click ID and attributes the conversion to the precise source that drove it.
This independent record is what turns raw spend into a readable profit-and-loss view. The partner sees cost, revenue and ROI per placement, not just per campaign, and can pause a push source bleeding money while scaling a native source that prints. It also gives the partner a second set of books to reconcile against the broker, catching lost conversions from a broken or delayed postback that the broker's panel alone would hide.
Every ad link points first at the partner's tracker, then redirects to the broker.
The tracker logs the traffic source, placement and sub-ID for each click.
A unique click ID is saved to match a later conversion back to this click.
On FTD the broker fires a postback carrying that click ID.
The tracker matches the click ID and credits the exact source and sub-ID.
The partner cuts losing placements and scales profitable ones on the data.
Why it matters for partnership: This is a media buyer's profit-and-loss engine. It lets a partner see which traffic source is profitable at the sub-ID level, reconcile against the broker's numbers, and cut losing placements fast, rather than trusting the broker's dashboard alone.
A media buyer runs all campaigns through Voluum. When a broker fires a conversion postback, Voluum ties it to the exact ad, placement and sub-ID, revealing that one push-traffic source is unprofitable and should be paused.
| Attribute | Affiliate tracking platform | Broker dashboard |
|---|---|---|
| Owned by | The partner | The broker |
| Attribution depth | Per source, placement and sub-ID | Usually campaign or link level |
| Reconciliation role | Independent second set of books | The figure being reconciled against |
Run your own tracker rather than relying on the broker's panel; independent tracking is your only defence against under-attribution and your only clean reconciliation source.
Trusting the broker's dashboard as your sole source of truth, so you cannot detect lost conversions or optimise below the campaign level.
Yes, for paid media. Only an independent tracker lets you attribute at sub-ID level and reconcile against the broker.