Video ad serving template
The Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) is a standard that defines the communication between an ad server and a media player and uses an XML- based exchange format for this purpose . The standard is managed by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), an association of leading international advertising marketers within a non-profit organization. In German-speaking countries, the IAB is represented by the online marketers' group in the Federal Association of the Digital Economy and the IAB Switzerland Association.
There are currently six versions of the VAST standard: the outdated and no longer in use versions 1.0 and 1.1, as well as versions 2.0, 2.0.1, 3.0 and 4.0.
Google provides an implementation for Interactive Media Ads.
Request
To play video advertising, the media player sends a request to a VAST-enabled ad server. The request usually consists of a URL that contains all the necessary data such as the advertising provider (publisher) or information about the campaign as parameters:
http://<server>/?LR_PUBLISHER_ID=1331&LR_CAMPAIGN_ID=229&LR_SCHEMA=vast2-vpaid
Response
The ad server replies with an XML-based VAST document that defines the following data, among other things:
- Address of the advertising medium to be displayed,
- the way in which the advertising is to be displayed, e.g. upstream of the video (preroll) or downstream of the video (postroll),
- the information to be recorded during media playback (tracking),
- Interactions during the playback of the advertising medium (e.g. clicking on the video leads to the content of the advertiser).
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<VAST version="2.0">
<Ad id="229">
<InLine>
<AdSystem version="1.2.3">AdSystem</AdSystem>
<AdTitle><![CDATA[AdSystem Beispiel]]></AdTitle>
<Description><![CDATA[]]></Description>
<Impression id="LR"><![CDATA [http://server/?metric=impression&cofl=0&pos=0&coid=135&pid=1331&nid=1331&oid=229&olid=2291331&cid=331&tpcid=&vid=&amid=&cc=default&pp=&vv=&tt=&sg=&tsg=&pmu=0&pau=0&psz=0&ctx=&tctx=&coty=0&adt=0&scen=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fserver%2Fsupport%2Fopen-video-ads%2F23120%2Fwhat-is-vast%2F&cb=1259.192.118.68.5.0.690&ver=1&w=&wy=&x=121&y=121&xy=0b79&z2=0]></Impression>
.......
<Creatives>
<Creative sequence="1" id="331">
<Linear>
<Duration>00:00:09</Duration>
<TrackingEvents>
<Tracking event="firstQuartile"><![CDATA [http://server/?metric=view25&pos=0&coid=135&pid=1331&nid=1331&oid=229&olid=2291331&cid=331&tpcid=&vid=&amid=&cc=default&pp=&vv=&tt=&sg=&tsg=&pmu=0&pau=0&psz=0&ctx=&tctx=&coty=0&adt=0&scen=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fserver%2Fsupport%2Fopen-video-ads%2F23120%2Fwhat-is-vast%2F&cb=1259.192.118.68.5.0.690&ver=1&w=&wy=&x=&y=&xy=]></Tracking>
<Tracking event="midpoint"><![CDATA [http://server/?metric=view50&pos=0&coid=135&pid=1331&nid=1331&oid=229&olid=2291331&cid=331&tpcid=&vid=&amid=&cc=default&pp=&vv=&tt=&sg=&tsg=&pmu=0&pau=0&psz=0&ctx=&tctx=&coty=0&adt=0&scen=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fserver%2Fsupport%2Fopen-video-ads%2F23120%2Fwhat-is-vast%2F&cb=1259.192.118.68.5.0.690&ver=1&w=&wy=&x=&y=&xy=]></Tracking>
.......
</TrackingEvents>
<VideoClicks>
<ClickThrough><![CDATA [http://server/?metric=clickthru&pos=0&coid=135&pid=1331&nid=1331&oid=229&olid=2291331&cid=331&tpcid=&vid=&amid=&cc=default&pp=&vv=&tt=&sg=&tsg=&pmu=0&pau=0&psz=0&ctx=&tctx=&coty=0&adt=0&scen=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fserver%2Fsupport%2Fopen-video-ads%2F23120%2Fwhat-is-vast%2F&cb=1259.192.118.68.5.0.690&ver=1&w=&wy=&x=&y=&xy=&redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fserver%2F]></ClickThrough>
</VideoClicks>
<MediaFiles>
<MediaFile delivery="progressive" bitrate="256" width="480" height="352" type="video/x-flv"><![CDATA [http://server/adasset4/1331/229/331/lo.flv]></MediaFile>
......
</MediaFiles>
</Linear>
</Creative>
</Creatives>
</InLine>
</Ad>
</VAST>
Individual evidence
- ^ Teg Grenager: Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) Version 3.0 . In: Interactive Advertising Bureau . 19th July 2012.
- ↑ VAST
- ↑ http://www.iab.com/guidelines/digital-video-ad-serving-template-vast-4-0/
- ↑ Google Interactive Media Ads (IMA)
- ↑ VAST XML Examples (iab)