ContentArea

Inserts a Classic content area by its numeric ID. Runtime-proven on a live Marketing Cloud Engagement CloudPage — including the no-match default path and that default content is emitted literally. Classic content is retired; prefer ContentBlockByID.

Engagement

Runtime verified Test scripts included

Syntax

ContentArea(contentAreaId[, impressionRegionName, errorOnMissingContentArea, errorMessage, statusCode])  →  string

1–5 arguments

Deprecated — use ContentBlockByID

ContentArea references Classic content areas, which are no longer supported. Author new content in Content Builder and retrieve it with ContentBlockByID.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
contentAreaId	number | string	Yes	ID of the Classic content area to retrieve
impressionRegionName	string	No	Impression region name to associate with the content area
errorOnMissingContentArea	boolean	No	When true (the default), a missing area aborts; set to 0 to fall back to the default content
errorMessage	string	No	Default content returned when the area is missing — emitted literally
statusCode	number	No	Output variable set to 0 on success or -1 when no content was found

Example

%%[
  VAR @sc, @out
  SET @out = ContentArea(999999999, "", 0, "Area unavailable", @sc)
]%%
%%=v(@out)=%%

Renders Area unavailable and sets @sc to -1 — the clean no-match path when the ID does not resolve.

When the ID does resolve, the bare form inserts the stored content area:

%%=ContentArea(12345)=%%

Return value

string — the rendered HTML of the referenced content area, or the errorMessage default when the area is missing and errorOnMissingContentArea is 0. There is no closed set of sentinel values.

Behaviour

A missing ID with the error flag set to 0 returns the default content. ContentArea(999999999, "", 0, "FB", @sc) renders FB and sets the status variable to -1 instead of aborting the page — this is the load-bearing path for Classic content, which is no longer present on modern accounts.

The default content is emitted literally. A default containing an inline expression renders verbatim; the embedded AMPscript is not evaluated. Use TreatAsContent if the fallback string itself needs to run.

The function is still callable at runtime. Even though Classic content is retired, the call itself resolves and follows the documented default-content path rather than raising an unknown-function error.

Show test script

%%[
  VAR @b, @sc, @miss, @lit
  SET @b = RequestParameter("b")

  /* safe sweep: the missing/default paths are accepted and share one request */
  IF @b == "safe" THEN
    /* missing with error flag 0: returns the default content and sets status to -1 */
    SET @miss = ContentArea(999999999, "", 0, "FB-CA", @sc)
    OutputLine(Concat("miss=[", @miss, "] sc=[", @sc, "]"))

    /* default content is emitted literally - the inline AMPscript is NOT evaluated */
    SET @lit = ContentArea(999999999, "", 0, "PRE-%%=Add(2,3)=%%-POST", @sc)
    OutputLine(Concat("lit=[", @lit, "]"))
  ENDIF
]%%

OutputLine needs Concat

OutputLine given a bare string literal renders an empty line. Wrap the argument in Concat() or your start and done markers vanish silently — which looks exactly like the function failing.

Availability

Platform	Available
Marketing Cloud Engagement	Yes (Classic content, deprecated)
Marketing Cloud Next	No

See also

• ContentBlockByID — the Content Builder replacement
• ContentAreaByName — the same Classic lookup keyed by name/path
• Official reference · ampscript.guide