Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) - IAB Tech Lab

1 Video Ad Serving Template (VAST). VERSION Released June 2019. Updated October 2019 - Corrections & Clarifications (Ref Section 8). Please email with feedback or questions. This document is available online at Drafted by the Digital Video Technical Standards Working Group. The working group consists of members from the following companies: 33 Across Flashtalking Sabio Mobile A+E Networks Flipboard Simulmedia ABC TV Network Forensiq Sizmek Activision Blizzard Media FreeWheel Smaato Ad-iD Fyber Smart AdServer Adform GMO AD Marketing Inc. Sony Pictures Television AdGear Google Spectrum Reach Adobe Groundtruth SpotX.

2 Adstream GroupM StackAdapt Adswizz GumGum Starcom Worldwide AdTheorent Hearst AdValue Ltd. HIRO-Media Survata ADVR Hulu Taboola Amobee IAB Europe Tapjoy Anyclip IAB Russia Teads Anzu Virtual Reality IAB Tech Lab Telaria Aotter IAB Ukraine TenMax AppNexus InMobi Terragon Group Axel Springer SE Innovid The Media Trust Company BARC India Integral Ad Science The New York Times Bloomberg Intowow Company Blue 449 Invisibly The Trade Desk Bonzai Jivox Timehop Brightcove JW Player Torrential BroadSign Kargo Tremor Video DSP. Browsi KERV Interactive TripleLift Cadent L'Oreal Triton Digital CBS Interactive Ligatus true[X].

3 Celtra Line Turner Broadcasting Centro Liquidus Marketing System Chocolate Medicx Media Solutions Twitter Collectcent Digital Media Meetrics Unruly Pvt. Ltd. Microsoft Advertising Verizon Media Group Comcast Spotlight NASCAR Digital Media Vertebrae Connatix Native Exchange Nativo Verus Media Group Conversant Media NBCU niversal Verve Cox Media Group Netsertive Videology Criteo NeuroMedia Videonow Cyber Communications NEXD ViralGains Inc. Nielsen WWE. Cyberagent, Inc. Ooyala Xandr Dailymotion OpenX Xaxis Deloitte Digital Oracle Data Cloud XUMO. Dentsu Aegis Pagescience Yahoo Digital Advertising Pandora Yahoo Japan Corporation Consortium Inc.

4 PGA TOUR YOSPACE. Digitas LBI Pixalate Zefr Disney Interactive Powerinbox Zentrick Disney Streaming Premion Services Protected Media Publicis Media DoubleVerify PubMatic EMX Digital Quantcast Roku Extreme Reach Rubicon Project The IAB Tech Lab lead on this initiative is Amit Shetty. 2019 IAB Technology Laboratory 2 About IAB Technology Laboratory The IAB Technology Laboratory (Tech Lab) is a non-profit consortium that engages a member community globally to develop foundational technology and standards that enable growth and trust in the digital media ecosystem. Comprised of digital publishers, ad technology firms, agencies, marketers, and other member companies, IAB Tech Lab focuses on improving the digital advertising supply chain, measurement, and consumer experiences, while promoting responsible use of data.

5 Its work includes the OpenRTB real-time bidding protocol, anti- fraud specification, Open Measurement SDK for viewability and verification, VAST Video specification, and DigiTrust identity service. Board members include ExtremeReach, Facebook, Google, GroupM, Hearst Digital Media, Index Exchange, Integral Ad Science, LinkedIn, LiveRamp, MediaMath, Microsoft, Oracle Data Cloud, Pandora, PubMatic, Quantcast, Rakuten Marketing, Telaria, The Trade Desk, Verizon Media Group, Xandr, and Yahoo! Japan. Established in 2014, the IAB Tech Lab is headquartered in New York City with staff in San Francisco, Seattle, and London.

6 Learn more at License: The VAST specification from the IAB Tech Lab is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivatives License. To view a copy of this license, visit or write to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA. 2019 IAB Technology Laboratory 3 Table of Contents Executive Summary 9. VAST Updates 9. VAST Updates 11. VAST updates 12. Intended Audience 12. Resources for Digital In-Stream Video and Audio 12. 1 General Overview 14. VAST Ad Serving and Tracking 14. Client-Side Ad Serving 14. Server-Side Ad Stitching 15. Headers in Server-to-Server Ad Requests and Ad Tracking 16.

7 Ad Verification 18. Long-Form Video Support 19. High-Quality Video 19. Unique Creative Identification 19. Audio Ad Support 20. Audio Player Use Cases: 20. Audibility / Viewability: 20. VAST Ad Requests 20. VAST Interactive Templates 21. Flash Support 22. Handling MediaFile Nodes During the Transition from VPAID 22. 2 VAST Compliance 24. Ad Server Expectations 24. Media Player Expectations 24. General Compliance 24. VAST Ad Types 25. XML Structure 25. Encoding URIs for VAST 26. Tracking 28. VAST Wrappers 29. Infinite Loops and Dead Ends 29. Wrapper Conflict Management and Precedence 29. 2019 IAB Technology Laboratory 4 Error Reporting 30.

8 Ad Server Details: <Error> Element 30. Media Player Details 31. VAST Error Codes Table 31. No Ad Response 33. Industry Icon Support 33. Icon Use Case: AdChoices for Interest-Based Advertising (IBA) 33. The <Icons> Element 33. Precedence and Conflict Management: 34. Viewability Verification and Interactive Linear Creative 35. Publisher Viewability 35. Viewability with Ad Verification Services 36. Interactive Linear Creative Files 36. 3 VAST Implementation 36. Declaring the VAST Response 37. VAST 38. Error (VAST) 38. Ad 38. Ad Pods and Stand-Alone Ads 39. The Ad Element 40. InLine 40. AdSystem 41.

9 AdTitle 41. AdServingId 42. Impression 42. Category 43. Description 44. Advertiser 44. Pricing 44. Survey 44. Expires 45. Error (InLine and Wrapper) 45. ViewableImpression 46. Viewable 46. NotViewable 47. 2019 IAB Technology Laboratory 5 ViewUndetermined 47. Creatives 47. Creative 48. UniversalAdId 48. CreativeExtensions 49. CreativeExtension 50. Linear 51. Duration 51. AdParameters 51. MediaFiles 52. MediaFile 53. Mezzanine 54. InteractiveCreativeFile 55. ClosedCaptionFiles 56. ClosedCaptionFile 56. VideoClicks 57. ClickThrough 57. ClickTracking 57. CustomClick 58. Icons 58. Icon 59. IconViewTracking 59.

10 IconClicks 60. IconClickThrough 60. IconClickTracking 60. IconClickFallbackImages 60. IconClickFallbackImage 61. NonLinearAds 61. NonLinear 62. NonLinearClickThrough 62. NonLinearClickTracking 63. CompanionAds 63. Companion 66. AltText 66. CompanionClickThrough 67. 2019 IAB Technology Laboratory 6 CompanionClickTracking 67. Tracking Event Elements 68. Tracking Event Descriptions 68. TrackingEvents 71. Tracking 71. Creative Resource Files for Non- Video and Non-Audio Creative 72. StaticResource 73. IFrameResource 73. HTMLR esource 73. AdVerifications 74. Verification 74. JavaScriptResource 75.