Use Traffic Control to allow (whitelist) or block (blacklist) specific traffic sources -like Sub IDs, App Names, Sites, or Placements, so your campaigns stay aligned with KPIs.

What is Traffic Control

Traffic Control is used to explicitly allow or block traffic based on specific values sent by publishers.

When to use it

block a specific source (e.g. Sub ID)
allow only selected values (whitelisting)
quickly react to unwanted or low-quality traffic

How it works

If traffic matches a blocked value → it is discarded
If whitelisting is used → only allowed values pass

Traffic Control works only if the corresponding Click / Impression Traffic Control Optimization Rule is active (enabled by default).

Where to find it

Go to:

Traffic → Control

or Traffic Control rules can also be viewed and managed on:
- Offer page
- Advertiser page
- Publisher page

How to create a rule

1. Go to Traffic → Control

2. Click + Create Traffic Control Rule

3. (Optional) Select scope:

Offer
Advertiser
Publisher

💡 Leaving this empty creates a global rule

4. Select the field you want to control, for example:

App ID / App Name
Sub ID / Sub Sub ID / Original Sub ID
Site / Placement / Creative

5. Choose control type:

Block → blacklist values
Allow → whitelist values

6. Enter values (comma-separated)

❗ Values must be separated by commas (not spaces)

❗ If using Allow, all other values will be blocked by default

7. (Optional) Add a reason

8. Click Save

Conditional Values

If you want to target values that start with, end with, or contain a value, use the wildcard '%' symbol.

For example:

%+Value - %1234 - will check any values ending with 1234
Values+% - 1234% - will check any values starting with 1234
%+Values+% - %1234% - will check any value that contains 1234

Common Use Cases

1) Blacklist Sub IDs for a specific offer

Goal: Block traffic from specific sub sources for one offer

Setup:

Result: Traffic coming from Sub IDs 1, 2, 3 will be discarded for offer 21.

2) Block a placement globally

Goal: Stop traffic from a problematic placement across all offers

Setup:

Result: Traffic from placement_123 is blocked across the entire platform.

3) Block values using patterns

Goal: Block all Sub IDs starting with a specific prefix for Advertiser 61

Setup:

Result: All Sub IDs starting with “test_” will be blocked for Advertiser 61 offers.

Managing rules

You can manage rules from:

Traffic → Control (global view)
Offer / Advertiser / Publisher pages (entity-level view)

Available actions:

Edit → click the pencil icon
Delete → use the trash icon or bulk remove

Rule Visibility (Who & Why)

Each Traffic Control rule includes details about:

who created it
when it was created
the reason for its creation

This helps you understand why traffic is being blocked or allowed.

The Reason field may contain:

predefined values
custom notes
automated sources (e.g. alerts or API sync)

For example:

If a rule was created by an alert, you may see a value like “Alert #54”, indicating that the rule was triggered automatically.

What Happens to Blocked Traffic

When a Traffic Control rule is triggered, the affected traffic is blocked and discarded.

This applies to clicks (and impressions, if configured), provided that the Traffic Control Optimization Rule is active. By default, this rule is enabled. Discarded traffic is not attributed to the offer, but can still be redirected via Smart Links, allowing you to utilise that traffic elsewhere.

Reporting & Troubleshooting

If traffic is not reaching the offer, it may be blocked due to Traffic Control rules.

Where to Check

You can analyse discarded clicks in:

Custom Report
Explorer
Superset

What to Look For

Add the following metrics and dimensions:

Discarded Clicks - number of clicks blocked by Traffic Control
Click Failed Rules - indicates which optimization rule caused the discard
Click Failed Subrules - indicates which traffic control rule rejected traffic

How to Investigate