Tracking for MNTN

This guide will show you how to connect your MNTN account and pull the following metrics:

  • Spend and Impressions, which enables our view-through modeling data

Setting up MNTN within Northbeam involves four steps:

Step 1: Insert Impression Tracking URL

Step 2: Enter MNTN API Key

Step 3: Select MNTN Channels and Connect


Step 1: Insert Impression Tracking URL

In order for us to fetch impressions, we need a specific Impression Tracking URL to be placed.

Retrieve the information needed to set up your integration by navigating to the Connections menu in your dashboard. Follow these steps:

  1. Log into Northbeam
  2. Go to Settings
  3. Select Connections
  4. Scroll down to find MNTN
  5. Find your Impression Tracking URL

Insert this URL into your Impression Tracking within your MNTN Settings:

  1. Log into your MNTN account
  2. Click on the menu in the top, right corner
  3. Click on My Account
  4. Click on Creative Tracking in the left side menu
  5. Click on Default Impression Tracking
  6. Enter URL in Default Macro-Enabled Impression Tracking
  7. Click Save Changes

After inserting, make sure to acknowledge that you've configured your Impression Tracking URL in the Norrhbeam Connections page.

Step 2: Enter MNTN API Key

Find your MNTN API Key:

  1. Log in to your MNTN account
  2. Click on the menu in the top right corner
  3. Click on My Account
  4. Click on API

Enter your API key in your Northbeam Connections page.

Step 3: Select MNTN Channels and Connect

  1. Select the MNTN channels you're advertising on.
    1. This selector does not affect the integration—it is purely informational and highlights channels with limited attribution capabilities.
  2. Click Connect
  3. You're all set!

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MNTN Data Fetching

It could take up to 3 days for your MNTN data to fully backfill. The more historical data, the longer it could take.

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MNTN View-Based Modeling Limitations

Supported Channels

Our current MNTN supports the following channel on a click-basis:

Supported Attribution Models

For these click-based channels, the following attribution models are supported:

  • First Touch
  • Last Time
  • Last Non-Direct Touch
  • Linear
  • Clicks-Only

Channels with limited attribution

The following channels generally don't lead directly to website clicks and will see minimal tracking and performance data:

Unsupported Attribution Models

The above placements are not supported by our view-based attribution models, including:

  • Clicks + Views
  • Clicks + Views enhanced

MNTN FAQ

Why are MNTN Sessions in GA4 higher than MNTN Visits?

We’ve seen this question come up, so here’s a breakdown of what’s happening — and why it’s expected.

✅ What’s Causing the Discrepancy?

If you’re using MNTN’s integration with Google Analytics 4 (GA4), your session counts for MNTN in GA4 may be significantly higher than what you see in Northbeam. This is due to how MNTN’s VerifiedVisits feature works and how those sessions are constructed in GA4.

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How is GA4 integrated with MNTN?

Enrollment into MNTN’s GA4 integration happens automatically during Pixel Setup. Once your MNTN Tracking Pixel is implemented, your account begins sending data to GA4 via VerifiedVisits.

⚠️ Note: The GA4 toggle under the Integrations tab in the MNTN UI is unrelated to VerifiedVisits — it enables a separate feature set.

If you'd like to opt out of the VerifiedVisits integration with GA4, please contact your MNTN Client Service Representative or use the Support Chat within the MNTN platform.

🧠 How MNTN's VerifiedVisits Work?

When MNTN’s GA4 integration is active:

  • A VerifiedVisit is recorded when a user sees a MNTN ad (including on CTV) and later visits your website within a customizable attribution window.
  • If the visit does not include UTMs from another advertising platform, MNTN will fire a GA4 pageview event using the GA4 Measurement Protocol.
  • These events are manually constructed by MNTN and tagged with source/medium = MNTN (or a custom identifier), which causes GA4 to count them as MNTN sessions, even though there was no actual click and no UTM present in the URL.

MNTN clarified that they leverage the utm_source you assign to the creative within their platform, but since there is no traditional "click" event, these GA4 events are not derived from actual UTMs on the landing page or referrer.

This is especially relevant for non-click-based inventory (like TV), where tracking is modeled. Your GA4 reports will therefore show sessions attributed to MNTN even when there was no UTM-driven click, which explains the difference.

You can read more in MNTN’s official integration documentation here and here.

📉 Why Northbeam Reports Fewer Visits?

Northbeam attributes visits only when recognized UTM parameters are present (e.g., utm_source=mntn). We do not ingest modeled sessions or fire synthetic pageview events like VerifiedVisits.

So, any MNTN-attributed sessions you see in GA4 that lack UTMs are intentionally excluded from Northbeam, since we focus on deterministic, UTM-based attribution. This ensures Northbeam reflects only real, trackable clicks, not modeled or impression-based activity.

🔍 How to Compare GA4 and Northbeam Accurately?

To make an apples-to-apples comparison:

  • Use GA4's traffic source dimensions — such as Session source, Session medium, and Session campaign — to isolate UTM-tagged traffic that Northbeam also ingests.
  • If needed, you can use the Page Location dimension in GA4 and filter by Page Location contains "mntn" — this serves as a rough proxy for UTM-tagged sessions, assuming your UTMs include “mntn” in the URL and the URL is preserved.
  • Avoid using source/medium = mntn alone, as this will include both UTM-based sessions and MNTN’s VerifiedVisits, inflating GA4 session counts beyond what Northbeam would intentionally track.