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Initial Setup

Setting up an Audience environment involves two main decisions that shape how it runs: the cloud region it is deployed to, and the domain its endpoints are served from. The region determines where user data is stored and processed, while domain delegation determines whether Audience can use a first-party cookie for client-side collection.

Regions​

Each Audience environment is deployed to a single cloud region. The region you choose determines where user data is stored and processed, so it is usually chosen to be close to the end users and to meet any data-residency requirements.

The region is fixed at deployment time and cannot be changed. Audience is currently supported in the following regions:

  • us-east-1
  • us-west-2
  • eu-central-1
  • eu-west-1
  • eu-south-2
  • ap-southeast-1
  • ap-south-1
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If you intend to see Audience deployed in a region not listed here, reach out to your Customer Success Manager.

Domain Delegation​

Audience can be served from a Kevel-managed domain or from one or more customer-provided ones. With a customer-provided domain, the endpoints are served under your own domain (e.g. audience.yoursite.com) through NS or CNAME delegation. This choice is especially relevant when you perform client-side event or user ID collection, as it enables Audience to use a first-party cookie and impacts cross-site user recognition. If you only intend to do server-side tracking, or no event tracking at all, the domain choice won't impact your usage in this regard.

NS delegation is the recommended procedure as it is faster to set up and requires no further ongoing work from you.

You delegate the chosen subdomain to Kevel by adding a set of NS records to your DNS zone. Operating and maintaining it is no longer your responsibility from that point onwards:

  • Add the required records only once when first setting up delegation for the domain you choose.
  • New Audience endpoints added later on require no action on your side.
  • TLS certificates are issued and renewed automatically.
  • The Audience cookie becomes a genuine first-party cookie under your domain.

CNAME Delegation​

You keep full control of your DNS zone and create one CNAME record per endpoint, plus one CNAME to validate the TLS certificate, all pointing at Audience:

  • There are more records to create up front, and deployment cannot complete until the certificate validation record is in place.
  • Every new Audience endpoint in the future requires you to create a corresponding CNAME record.
  • You retain full control of your DNS, but you're also responsible for managing and maintaining it.
  • The endpoints are still served under your domain, so the first-party cookie benefit is the same as in NS delegation.

No Delegation​

The endpoints are served under a Kevel-managed domain, with nothing to configure on your DNS. However, since the endpoints live on an external domain, Audience's cookies behave as third-party cookies, which are restricted by browsers and ad blockers. You then rely on explicitly matched IDs instead (see First-party Cookie and Cross-site Matching).

For server-side-only deployments, the serving domain has no impact. It becomes a limitation only when user recognition relies on the client-side first-party cookie, where a delegated domain is preferable.

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