Hi guys, I understand that DST has started in the US in March and will end in November. I've seen some guys saying that we should -1hour for all our dayparting timings. For example if we see that we have 0 conversions for 12AM-2AM and want to exclude those timings, we should exclude 11PM-1AM instead?
Can anyone explain the rationale behind this? I'm only having a vague understanding of this. If DST sets the time 1 hour forward, why would we daypart 1 hour backwards instead?
This totally depends on the timezone and time settings of the system you're day parting in.... Here in NZ DST just stopped so we moved an hour (so 7 PM sunset is now 6 PM). I was usually 3 hours relatively behind Pacific Time but now I'm 4. When the US then turns DST on... they move an hour ahead and now I'm 5 hours relatively behind.
So, it's really up to you to know exactly how your tracking data timestamps/time-ranges correspond to time in the relevant country/time-zone. Easiest way is generally to look at the current time in the tracking system, or the last hour mark passed, and use something like http://24timezones.com/ to know exactly what you're tracking system is saying and then day-part at the traffic source accordingly (i.e. take into account their timezone too!).
It can get messy. It pays to be very aware of what timezones all your elements operate in.
I have all my systems working at PST time zones so there are no differences for time zones. So basically the DST turns on and they move an hour ahead.
If my traffic network states this: Please note, our system runs on Pacific Time (either GMT-8 during Pacific Standard Time or GMT-7 during Pacific Daylight Time).
Does that mean they actually take into consideration DST already? So i dont have to do any calculations/changes for dayparting due to DST?
As long as your network and tracking system also take into account DST, then yes.