Here's a step-by-step guide and a brief overview of the best practices for setting up the VAST ad format using AdSpyglass.
1. Create 'Outstream' spot
In the Website section click on [ + Add spot ] button.
In the form choose a website, enter the name for a new spot, select stream type, and Ad type: Outstream. Save it!
2. Create Outstream (VAST) campaign
Navigate to the My Ads section and select the My Campaigns tab, then click on [+ Add campaign] button
Make initial settings for your campaign. The stream must be the same as for the spot you have created before. Ad type: Outstream.
In the Spots, drop-down list select 'Only specific spots' and find your spot. If you want to run this campaign in all suitable In-video spots, select 'Run campaign over the network'.
3. Add Outstream (VAST) creatives to the campaign
When your campaign is ready, click on [ + Add creatives ] button at the right of your campaign.
Name it and select Ad network that you want to import creative from.
If your Ad network list is empty, Link your personal Ad network accounts first.
Read an article: How to link Ad network accounts
Some Ad Networks don't support automated import, so let me explain how to add it manually. You will need to get Zone_id and VAST Link URL. Go to the Ad Network publishers panel and copy-paste both to the form.
If you don't know how to get Zone_id and/or VAST URL from the Ad Network panel, please follow the manual in our knowledge base using a search in the chat widget. All creatives have a similar way to get imported, so if you don't find instructions for your case use any other manual for your ad network.
4. Set your Outstream ads live
Go back to the Website section and get your smart Outstream code. Copy-paste the code the <body> of every page, you want to show the Outstream video box on.
Simply adjust it from the Spot setting with no need to change code every time when needed if placing the New version of code instead of the old one.
⚠️ Make sure you have replaced the old vast code version with the new one on your website.
The list of available setting:
Frequency Capping - the time gap in which ad will be showed. (in seconds) 1:24 (86400) means that you will show one ad every 24hrs. Learn more
Sub frequency capping - the number of creatives that will be shown within one capping period. It's set to 1 ad launch by default. If you set it to 2-3-4..., this will mean how many ads will be shown in a row (for each page update), so that 1 click results in 1 ad, next page update - click and ad launch as a result. If you set it to 0 - ad will be shown constantly (taking into account the total capping).
Position - there are two options to set up outstream position inside your webpage:
Option 1: Inline outstream after script. If you select this option, the outstream will be displayed right after the script that embeds it:
Option 2: Specify position with CSS. If you select this option, you must provide CSS selector and count for the element matching this selector.
For example, if you choose “Specify position with CSS After 3 element(s) with CSS .thumb”, our script will display Outstream after the third element that has class thumb inside your page:
If the Outstream is not displayed, you can see what went wrong in JS console on you website. If you forgot to provide CSS selector, there will be a warning with the following text: “outstream position selector is empty for vast outstream”.
If you set impossible position for the outstream (for example, you set it up to be displayed after 9th thumb, but there are only 6 thumbs on the page), the message will be “Outstream position count is 9, but there are only 6 elements with selector .thumb”.
Width - you can set Outstream width with the help of the corresponding option. The value may be any width that CSS understands. For example, you may specify 100% or 300px. The height of the outstream will be adjusted automatically to match the dimensions of the actual video ad;
Template - if you need to fine-tune HTML-markup for the Outstream, you can provide it inside Template option. You can use any HTML-markup, and use {{OUTSTREAM}} placeholder to specify exact position for the Outstream. This markup will be inserted into your webpage according to the rules from the Outstream position section. If you mistype or forget to use {{OUTSTREAM}} placeholder, Outstream will be displayed without additional markup, and there will be a message like “outstream template <<div></div>> does not have {{OUTSTREAM}} placeholder” inside JS console;
Disable autoscroll - by default, when a visitor first scrolls webpage till an outstream, we scroll the page so that the outstream is 100 pixels from the top of the viewport. Clicking the checkbox disables this behavior.
Disable preload ads - set to True, to disable preloading ads. This will decrease Requests but may lead to long loading ads;
Muted - start video player muted;
Verbosity - input for the console log;
Ad cancel timeout - timeout to wait for the ad to start playing;
Callbacks - will be called whenever the ad run finishes. For example, player.play(); - player launch after ad is finished
Enable VPAID - an interactive ad format that takes control over the ad. If enabled, Ad Network will be able to have full control over your player. However, CPM is usually higher when enabled;
Pause on click - pause video on click;
Advanced settings
Test percentage - traffic percentage going to untargeted consumers;
Onloop - show suitable creatives on infinity loop;
Aggressive feeds - removing checkbox will prevent ads be shown from feeds with no limitation by aggressive ads but may result in CPM and Income decrease;
Min CPM - minimum CPM for the ad to be shown.