Video ad rules

Overview

  
Video ad rules is a feature enabling you to create server side rules used for managing your instream ads’ inventory. 

Using this feature you can define the number of video ads (instances) that should appear in an ad break based on the video content duration. For instance, you can determine to show a maximum of 1 ad in the preroll ad break if the content is shorter than 30 minutes.
Additionally, or as an alternative, you can specify a maximum ad break duration. For instance, you can specify that the preroll ad break must not be longer than 30 seconds.

The Video ad rules feature allows you to achieve a fine and flexible balance between both the user experience during the ad delivery (the amount of ads) and your revenue.
 

VIDEO TUTORIAL

Watch this short instruction video to quickly learn how to use the Video ad rules feature.


 

How it works

  
Video ad rules are server side ad rules which you can create, activate, and manage directly in the Equativ Monetization platform. 

Equativ also offers client side ad rules, which are usually configured by software developers, however, you can compose and test these ad rules on Equativ’s Video Showcase site.

Note: to learn more about the differences between server side and client side ad rules see the “Comparison: client side vs. server side” chapter below in this article.

To use the Video ad rules feature, you must pass the content video duration to Equativ in order to make the rules work. The content video duration is passed in the form of video content metadata and differs depending on the integration method you use:
  

• in case of the Video plugin, use the sas_videoContentDuration key in the Ad Plugin content data;
• in case of the Standalone VAST Request integration method, attach the ctd= parameter to the video ad call and populate it with the duration of the content video in seconds; example: ctd=600 for a 10 minute content video; the value -1 indicates a live stream; for more parameters see the “Parameters” table under the “Standalone VAST Request” chapter of this article: Instream video integration methods.

 

Activating server side ad rules 

The method to activate (enable) server side ad rules, depends on the instream video integration method you are using:

• Video plugin: add the enableSSAR option to the configuration file in JSON format and set it to true; alternatively, add enableSSAR as an object in the configuration as explained here, and set set to true
• Embedded Ad Manager: add the optional parameter enableSSAR and set it to true; the ad call will then work in the same way as the Standalone VAST request (see below), i. e. ssar=1 activates server side ad rules and deactivates client side ad rules; alternatively, you can also set this parameter in the optional JSON configuration file using the same syntax. If the parameter exists in both ad call and JSON configuration file, the setting in the JSON configuration file will override the setting in the ad call
• Standalone VAST request: attach the dedicated ssar= parameter to the video ad call, where:
  • ssar=0 deactivates server side ad rules and activates client side ad rules
  • ssar=1 activates server side ad rules and deactivates client side ad rules
• Instream Video SDK: initialize a SVSAdRules instance from an array of SVSAdRule instances; alternatively, load a remote JSON file as explained in the technical documentation

Creating video ad rules

To create Video ad rules:

1. Go to Inventory > Video Ad Rules


2. Click the New rule button.
  
3. In the new rule window you can see the:
  

• the rules section on the left, 
• and the Builder panel on the right.

 
  
4. To set your criteria details:
  

• Sites – click on the Sites criterion in the rules section; now on the right you can select the desired Sites that you want to target with your video ad rule; you can either toggle the “Target all sites, including sites that will be created in the future” switch or add a selected Site by using the search bar located below;

   
  

• Platforms – click on the Platforms criterion in the rules section; now on the right you can select the desired Platforms that you want to target with your video ad rule; you can either toggle the “Target every platform” switch or add a selected Platform by using the search bar located below;  

 

• Content – click on the Content criterion in the rules section; using the Content section you can select the Content type, Content category and Keywords that you want to target. By default all types and categories are pre-selected (Target all Content types, Target all Content categories, and Target all Keywords switches are on) to make sure you won’t miss any ad calls. We strongly recommend leaving this setting on. 

 

• just type in the keyword in the Keyword field and its value in the Value field, e.g. age=20; you can also use simple keywords: in that case, simply add the keyword in the Keyword field and leave the Value field empty.
• to add multiple keywords click the Add another button; it is possible to have two or more keywords of the same type, e.g. user=logged;user=new; 
• you can exclude keywords from targeting by toggling the Exclude switch, e.g. if you exclude a keyword category=kids all ad calls containing this keyword will be dismissed;

   

• AND matching: in the first Content section you have 3 keywords: user=new;Not user=logged;type=sport, and if they are matched with the same 3 keywords in an ad call you will get 1 preroll, and 2 midrolls (selected in the connected Duration section) in the targeted video content;
• OR matching: if the 3 keywords from the first Content section are not matched, but the ad call contains keywords that match the second Content section, then you will get 1 midroll (selected in the connected Duration section) in the targeted video content;

Examples

• Ad call comes from the Desktop platform and contains 4 keywords: user=new;type=sport;age=20;color=blue – the second Content section is matched, because it has the highest number of matching keywords (3) – step 1 applies.

 

• Ad call comes from the Desktop platform and contains 4 keywords: user=new;type=sport;age=20;color=blue – the third Content section is matched, even though it has the same number of matching keywords as other sections (3), but it has a larger podsize (1 prerolls + 2 midrolls = podsize 3) – step 2 applies.

 

• Ad call comes from the Desktop platform and contains 4 keywords: user=new;type=sport;color=blue;age=20 – the first Content section is matched; it has the same number of matching keywords (3) and the same podsize (2) as other sections, but it’s higher on the list – step 3 applies.

  
  

• Ad breaks
  • click on the Ad breaks criterion in the rules section
  • on the right, define for which content duration this rule should apply (Min duration / Max duration) or enable the Unlimited checkbox if you want your ad rule to apply for content of unknown maximum duration (e.g. live streams);
  • under Ad break type, click on Prerolls / Midrolls / Postrolls, and fill in:
    • the maximum number of ads in the ad break in the Instances field (max. value: 10) - and/or
    • the maximum total duration of the ad break in the Max Ad break duration (sec) field (max. duration: 600 s);

1. If the ad break is filled based on the Instances defined in the ad rule and if the Instances limit is not reached, Equativ counts the remaining number of unfilled impression opportunities as “noads”.
2. If the ad break is filled based on the Max Ad break duration defined in the ad rule and if some seconds remain unfilled, Equativ will divide these remaining seconds by the average video ad duration of your network (20 s by default) and count the resulting value as “noads”; e. g. if 30 s remain unfilled and if the average video ad duration in your network is 20 s, Equativ counts this as 1 “noad”
3. if both Instances and Max Ad break duration are defined in the ad rule but none of the two limits is reached, Equativ will count “noads” for any unfilled seconds of the ad break like in case 2. above

5. You can add more criteria types (i.e. Platforms, Content, etc.) at any time: just click the cross icon in the panel on the right to get back to the Builder panel view. 
 

6. When you are ready with your settings, click the Save button. Your video ad rule will be saved using the name of the targeted Site.
   

Use cases

In this chapter you can take a look at some example use cases of the Video ad rules usage. 
 

1. General rule

If you’re using the Video ad rules feature, you must create a general, fallback rule that applies whenever any more specific rule doesn’t apply. This “fallback” rule should apply for all criteria in your network (all Sites, all Platforms, all Content categories, all Durations).
 
General rule example:
  

• in the Sites section: set “Target all sites, including sites that will be created in the future” option;
• in the Platforms section: set “Target every platform” option;
• leave the Content section empty;
• in the Duration section:
  • set the rule to apply to every duration (min duration: 0:00; max duration: unlimited);
  • set e.g. 1 preroll;

 

2. Platform rule

Depending on the platform the user is using you might want to have a different number of ads played for the best user experience, e.g. it’s a standard to have fewer ads played on mobile devices, while in TV environments usually more ads are played, because ad acceptance on TV is better than on mobile devices, i.e. user sitting in metro and watching a video on mobile device would accept one or maximum 2 ads.

Platform rule example:
  

• in the Sites section: select several Sites;
• add 2 more Platform sections form the Builder panel on the right:
  • in the first Platform section: select Smartphone;
  • in the second Platform section: select Desktop;
  • in the third Platform section: select TV;
• leave the Content sections empty;
• in the Duration sections:
  • for Smartphone: set e.g. 1 preroll;
  • for Desktop: set e.g. 3 prerolls;
  • for TV: set e.g. 5 prerolls;

 

3. Duration rule

Regarding the user experience, it’s good to adapt the number of ads depending on the video content duration, i.e. the longer the content is, the more ads you can play, as well as add some ads in the middle (midrolls).

Duration rule example:
  

• start from the settings described in the Platform rule above;
• for Platform: Smartphone: leave no duration limits, and 1 preroll;
• for Platform: Desktop: leave no duration limits, but set 1 preroll, and 1 midroll;
• for Platform: TV: 
  • in the Duration section: add two additional Duration sections:
    • in the first one, set the min duration to 0 min and max duration to 5 min, and then set 1 preroll;
    • in the second one set the min duration to 5 and max duration to 25 min, and then set 3 prerolls;
    • and in the third Duration section set the min duration to 25 min, and max duration to unlimited, and then set 3 prerolls, and 2 midrolls;

  
You can always add additional sections to make your rule even more precise. 
 

4. Content rule

If you have some specific video content (e.g. content for kids, live sports, etc.) you can use content metadata to discard ads or add more ads.

Content rules examples:

Content for kids – no ads will be displayed
 

• In the Sites section: select desired Sites;
• In the Platform section: select desired Platforms;
• In the Content section:
  • for Content type: select e.g. “kids”
• In the Duration section: don’t set any ads (i.e. leave this section empty)

Live sports – more ads
 

• In the Sites section: select desired Sites;
• In the Platform section: select desired Platforms;
• In the Content section:
  • for Content category: select e.g. “sport”
• In the Duration section: add more ads, e.g. prerolls

 

Limitations

• Defining the position of midroll ad breaks is not available at the moment, as well as setting the ad break durations, however these options will be available soon.

 

Outlook

• applying ad rules to specific inventory instead of network wide application; 
• all content metadata targeting (see table in chapter “List of video content metadata” in this article);
• other targeting criteria, e. g. audience/semantic targeting, geo-targeting, user behavior targeting (new users vs. revisiting users; users’ skipping behavior etc.).

 

Comparison: client side vs. server side

	Client side ad rules (Video showcase)	Server side ad rules (Video ad rules)
Configuration	done in the video plugin on publisher website	done in the Equativ Monetization Platform
Criteria ad rules can be applied to	content video duration	content video duration; additional criteria coming soon
Ad rules activation	in the video plugin	through the parameter ssar=1 in the video ad call
Web developer (expert) knowledge	required	not required
Notifying the ad rules about the content video duration	notification happens automatically; no manual steps to do	ad rules must be notified about the content video duration using content metadata – by defining Ad Plugin content data in case of Video plugin – or – by passing the ctd= parameter in case of the Standalone VAST Request integration method
Midroll ad breaks: ad rules for number and position in content video	supported	position in content video not supported yet – coming soon
Ad rules for ad break durations	supported	supported soon