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Content Meter Listener 2.0

Content metering is an effective way to convert visitors or readers to subscribers.

Updated over 3 weeks ago

The Content Meter Listener 2.0 lets you track how many pages a visitor has viewed, and control access based on view limits. Use it to enforce paywalls, personalize messaging, or trigger actions based on content consumption.

Once the listener is saved and active, you can:
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Display a paywall when the view limit is reached

  • If there are no views left, trigger a paywall dialogue to encourage people to subscribe.

  • Trigger a subscription dialogue based on an event for this listener, using the dialogue’s When tab.

Display a countdown for remaining views

  • Show a message saying how many free views remain, for example with a notification bar dialogue.

  • Trigger the dialogue on an event with this listener on the dialogue’s When tab.

  • Personalize the content using profile properties set with the page counters, for example, "You have 2 views left."

Trigger a connection

  • Trigger a connection to send an email when someone hits a paywall

  • You can trigger a webhook connection when a profile property changes, or create a segment for ESP connections

Note: By default, Content Meter 2.0 is not installed in BlueConic. To install it, navigate to BlueConic Settings > Plugins, click the Add plugin button, and register the following external URL:
​https://plugins.blueconic.net/listener_content_meter/index.xml

Before you begin

To configure the listener successfully:

  • Decide which channels and content types to meter (e.g., news articles, blog posts).

  • Determine which segments should be metered.

  • Ensure the BlueConic AMP Listener is installed and configured if you plan to meter AMP pages.

  • Set up a subscription listener or connection to identify non-subscribing users.

  • Build Dialogues to guide users through the metering experience and present subscription offers.

Add the content meter listener

  1. Go to the Listeners page via the main navigation bar.

  2. Select Add Listener.

  3. In the popup, search or scroll to find the listener. You can type Content Meter in the search bar.

  4. Select the listener on the right-hand side.

  5. Enter a name in the textbox.

  6. Expand the metadata section and enter a description or label per your organization's best practices.

  7. Click Save.

Configure the listener

1. Select channel(s) where the listener is active

  1. Under Select channels, choose the web channels to monitor. All pages on all web channels or a Limited set of channels (and pages).

  2. If choosing Limited set of channels (and pages), select Add channel and use the search to add a web channel.

  3. Click Save.

2. Select a BlueConic segment

  1. Choose a segment of profiles to apply the content meter to. Only visitors in this segment will be subject to metering rules.

    • Example: Non-subscribers

3. Specify the pages counted for metering

  1. Click Add page counter and name it.

  2. Next to 'Rules' select Add include rule to define inclusion/exclusion rules based on URLs, meta tags, or other criteria. Click Ok once completed.

  3. Select Add exclude rules, to prevent specific pages from being counted even if they meet the include criteria.

  4. Next to 'Profile properties', link profile fields to store metering values:

    • "Nr of views" – Current number of views

    • "Nr of views left" – Number of views left

    • ”Limit”– Number of views when the meter will expire

  5. Select Count unique pages only to prevent counting repeat views of the same page.

  6. Click Save.

Include rules define when a view is counted, specifying the number to add (typically "1") and conditions based on URL, referrer, content area, or JavaScript variables. Exclude rules prevent views from being counted, either for all subsequent views or a set number of initial views, and always take precedence over include rules.

4. Target segments with different views

Configure different view limits for specific segments or lifecycle stages.

  1. (Optional) Check Link Lifecycle stage to number of views allowed to vary limits by Lifecycle stage.

  2. Click Add a segment to target.

  3. Choose a segment and define how many views users in that segment should receive.

  4. In the field to the right, enter the number of views allowed for that segment.

  5. Repeat as needed to add more segments and assign unique view limits for each one.

  6. Click Save.

5. Allow extra content views

Use extra events to award additional views if the visitor/readers meets the defined rule.

  1. Click Add rule.

  2. Choose one of the following options:

    • Profile property rule: use a profile property value to add extra views.

      • Example: Award extra views when Is Newsletter Subscriber contains yes.

    • Event rule: use an event to add extra views.

      • Example: Award extra views when the Clicked social share button event occurs.

  3. Click Save.

6. Set a metering period

Determine how long views are counted before resetting.

  1. Next to Schedule, choose:

    • Use rolling window of X days – e.g., 30 days.

    • Use calendar month.

  2. Next to Start metering, choose:

    • When the page is loaded – starts metering on load.

    • When the "contentMeterStartMetering" event is thrown – for custom metering logic.

  3. Click Save.

7. AMP page metering (optional)

To track AMP views under the same profile as web views:

  1. Ensure the BlueConic AMP Listener is installed and configured.

  2. Add the provided authorizationUrl and pingbackUrl to your AMP page's amp-subscriptions component.

  3. Use meta tag rules to target AMP content. Replace {meta tag name} in the URL with your matching tag value.

Once configuration is complete, toggle the listener to On and click Save to activate it.

Activate data

  • (Optional) create a Dialogue to target your segment at specific page view

    counts (e.g. “You have 3 articles left”).

  • Create one dialogue for each message you would like to display

    during the metering experience.

  • In order to show a dialogue at a specific meter view, select the

    correct content meter event on the "When" tab for each dialogue

    you create.

  • Use the "Why" tab of your Dialogues to define the conversion

    moment, which mostly likely will be when the individual becomes

    a subscriber.

Next steps

  • Use Dialogue Table Insight to display the performance of your metering Dialogues: Views, Clicks, Conversions, Click-through rate (CTR).

  • Consider setting up BlueConic segments based on view behavior (e.g., profiles with 0 views left) for downstream targeting.

  • Listeners can be added to an objective to enable privacy management of the information being picked up.

FAQ

Can I migrate data from v1 to v2?

  • No. The Content Meter Listener 2.0 is not backward compatible. Metered views start at 0.

Can I trigger Dialogues at a specific view count?

  • Yes, using Content Meter – meter updated or Content Meter – reached limit events.

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