1. Voltax Help Center
  2. General
  3. Ad Server - External

MM Ad Server Documentation

  1. Advertisers: 

The first step in using Minute Media’s Ad Server is configuring an Advertiser. After an Advertiser is created, users can add campaigns, line items, and creatives. Adding a new Advertiser can be easily completed by going to Ad Server>>Advertisers in Voltax HQ.

  1. Advertisers Table

    1. Name: Set a unique Advertiser name that will enable you to recognize it when creating or editing an Advertiser
    2. Type: Categorize each Advertiser as a Brand, Network, or Agency. 

Note: This is simply to group advertisers for reporting purposes.

  1. ID: Each Advertiser entity will be assigned a unique Voltax ID. The ID will never change, even if the user edits the Advertiser’s name, Type, or ADA_ID.
  2. Last Modified: The time and date of the last modification made to the Advertiser

Edit: To edit an existing Advertiser, use the ‘...’ button on the right side of the table or click on the Advertiser's name. Advertisers cannot be deleted.

Search: By name or ID, or using the Advertisers Type filter

Default or additional fields can be added, removed, or re-ordered by selecting Visible Column Names and then dragging and dropping. Your column configuration is saved locally on your computer.

  1. Create Advertiser

  1. Create Advertiser: To create a new Advertiser, click on the ‘Create Advertiser’ button in the top-right corner of the screen
    • Advertiser Name: Set a unique Advertiser name that will enable you to recognize it when creating or editing an Advertiser
    • Advertiser Type: Categorize each Advertiser by one of the following types - The Advertiser type is only used for organizational purposes 
      1. Brand: Used if Minute Media is working directly with a brand 
      2. Network: Used if Minute Media is working with an intermediary between advertisers and brands
      3. Agency: Used if Minute Media is working with an Ad Agency 

  1. Campaigns:

After an Advertiser is created, users can begin creating Campaigns.

  1. Campaigns Table 

    1. Name: Displays the name of the campaign to allow you to recognize it when editing or searching for the campaign 
    2. Advertiser: This displays the advertiser with which the campaign is associated. Once a campaign is saved, it cannot be changed.
    3. Salesperson: This field defines the salesperson responsible for the campaign. To add salespeople, please contact the helpdesk or your account manager.
    4. Owner: This defines which ad ops member is responsible for the campaign. Owners must be defined manually in the ad server. To add owners, please contact the helpdesk or your account manager
    5. Last Modified: The time and date of the last modification made to the Campaign
    6. Edit Campaign: To edit, clone, or archive a campaign, use the ‘...’ button on the far right side of the table. Campaigns cannot be deleted.
    7. Insertion Order ID: External campaign ID
    8. ID: Each Campaign entity will be assigned a unique Voltax ID to classify the campaign. The ID can’t be edited or changed.

Filtering: Users can filter by Campaign Type, Salesperson (including Owner), and whether a campaign is Archived or Unarchived using the table using the dropdown menus in the left corner of the page

Search: By name or ID

Default or additional fields can be added, removed, or reordered by selecting Visible Column Names and then dragging and dropping. Your column configuration is saved locally on your computer.

 

  1. Create Campaign

    1. Create Campaign: To create a new campaign, click on the ‘Create Campaign button in the top-right corner of the screen
      • Campaign Name: Create a unique name for the campaign that allows you to recognize it when editing or searching for the campaign 
      • Advertiser: Select an Advertiser from the dropdown menu. Once the campaign is saved, the advertiser cannot be changed.
        1. Add New Advertiser: Use this shortcut to quickly configure a new advertiser without navigating to the Advertiser section 
      • Salesperson: Select a salesperson from the dropdown menu
      • Owner: Select a campaign owner from the dropdown menu (only Salesperson is mandatory)
      • Insertion Order Campaign Code: Enter an external code for an external reporting platform for reporting purposes (optional)

  1. Campaign Details

Clicking on a campaign’s name or using the edit button will bring the user to the Campaign Details page.

  1. Campaign Details Header: Within the header of the Campaign Details screen, users can see a summary of the campaign’s configuration, as well as average performance metrics:
    • Impressions
    • CTR
    • Viewability
    • Completion Rate
  2. Users also have buttons for the functions below: 
    • Archive
    • Clone
    • Edit

  1. Line Item Table within a campaign

  1. Name: Displays the name of the line item to allow you to recognize it when editing or searching for the line item
  2. Start Date - this is converted to the user’s local timezone 
  3. End Date - this is converted to the user’s local timezone 
  4. Type: Categorizes the line item by Video Ad, Video Ad+Content, Promoted Content
  5. Priority: Categorizes the line item by Sponsorship, Price Based, Guaranteed
  6. Status: Displays the current status of the line item
    • Completed
    • Draft
    • Delivering
    • Paused
    • Pending 
    • Ended
  7. CTR
  8. Action Buttons
    • Edit
    • Copy ID
    • Active / Pause / Archive (depends on current status)
    • View Notes

Default or additional fields can be added, removed, or re-ordered by selecting Visible Column Names and then dragging and dropping. Your column configuration is saved locally on your computer.

Multiple line items can be selected using the checkboxes in the left-hand column, and bulk actions can be performed:

  • Edit
  • Clone
  • Pause

  1. Line Items: 

Note - Line Items must be created via each individual campaign but can be edited from the master Line Items screen

After creating a campaign, users can begin creating Line Items. A line item is a specific campaign component that outlines the details of a single ad placement. It typically includes the ad format, placement location, target audience, budget, and duration.

  1. Create Line Item

    1. Create Line Item: Once users enter the Campaign Details page, they will see the ‘Create Line Item’ button in the top-right corner.
      • Line Item Name: Create a unique name for the Line Item that allows you to recognize it when editing or searching 
      • Type: Select which type of Line Item from one of the options below:
        1. Video Ad 
        2. Video Ad + Content
        3. Promoted Content

Note: Creative types are locked depending on which Line Item type is selected, so ensure you choose the correct configuration for your needs.

  • Insertion Order Line Item Code: Enter an external code for the AirTable reporting platform for tracking purposes (optional)

  • Line Item Settings - universal fields for all line item priorities:
    1. Timezone
      1. Chicago
      2. London
      3. Los Angeles
      4. New York
      5. Sao Paolo
      6. Sydney
      7. Tokyo
    2. Start Date
    3. End Date
    4. Time Parting
    5. Gross CPM: Used for calculating and reporting gross revenues
    6. Net CPM: Used for calculating and reporting net revenues
    7. Auction CPM: The CPM from which the line item’s auction score is calculated. See the Video Player Auction Logic section for more score information.
    8. Currency
      1. USD
      2. AUD
      3. CAD
      4. GBP
      5. BRL
    9. Creative Optimization
      1. Evenly
      2. Completion Rate
      3. As many as possible
      4. CTR
      5. Viewability
      6. Error Rate
      7. Weighted
    10. Enable Duration Score Adjustment: Check this box to enable line item score reduction when the creative has an above-average creative duration. See the Video Player Auction Logic section for more score information.
      1. Expected Ad Duration: The expected average duration of creatives associated with the line item (in seconds)
      2. Expect Ad Interval: The expected interval duration between ads on the targeted supply
    11. Skip Video Content:
      1. Define the number of seconds before the content skips without user engagement. 
      2. Only required for Video Ad + Content or Promoted Content line items.
      3. If this is left blank, the player will retain any existing content skip settings already configured
    12. User Capping
      1. XX Requests/Impressions per user per XX Hours/Days/Lifetime
      2. Lifetime cap is limited to 90 days
    13. Disable Midrolls: Check this box to prevent midrolls from running while the content is playing. Only applicable for Video Ad + Content or Promoted Content line items
    14. Line Item Notes: Freeform text input for line items. Notes can also be previewed from in actions of a line item in a table, or by selecting the notes icon in the line item summary.
  • Sponsorship-specific settings: Sponsorship line items always have first look and deliver 100% of the time against their targeted supply.
    1. Rate Type
      1. CPM (cost per mille / thousand)
      2. CPD (cost per day)

 

  • Guaranteed specific settings: Guaranteed line items have fixed impression goals and start and end dates. The line item can be prioritized above programmatic demand to meet its impression goal. For more information, see Video Player Auction logic.
    1. Rate Type
      1. CPM (cost per thousand impressions)
      2. vCPM (cost per thousand viewable impressions)
    2. Sub Priority: For more information, see Video Player Auction Logic
      1. High
      2. Low
      3. Custom
    3. Impression Goal: Set the impression target the line is committed to hitting. If enough supply is available, the score will always be adjusted to meet the goal. For more information, see the Video Player Auction Logic section.
    4. Pacing: 
      1. Even - The line item will maintain approx. 100% pacing
      2. Frontloaded - The line item will maintain approx. 125% pacing
      3. Custom - The line items will maintain a custom pacing curve until halfway through the campaign
      4. ASAP - The line item will deliver as soon as possible
    5. Impressions Buffer: Automatically add additional impressions to the goal to avoid discrepancies with 3rd party systems. The percentage is decided dynamically based on the total goal. Buffer impressions do not incur revenue in reporting, or a campaign or line item booked/projected revenues.
    6. Disable EOC Campaign Delivery: Check this box to prevent automatic accelerated delivery at the end of the campaign (EOC) hours. If this box is not selected, the campaign may marginally under-delivery even when enough supply is available.

 

  • Price Based specific settings: Price-based lines compete based on their CPM against the open auction (and guaranteed line items where possible)
    1. Rate Type
      1. CPM only (cost per thousand impressions)
    2. Request Cap: A line item can deliver the maximum number of requests in a given period, but this cap is not guaranteed to be reached.
    3. Disable Error Score Adjustment: Check this box to prevent score reduction when a line item has a higher-than-average error rate. For more information, see Video Player Auction Logic.

  • Supply Targeting
    1. Inventory
      1. List of Voltax Organisations & associated domains which have recorded at least 5,000 player embeds in the last 30 days
      2. Searchable by Organisation name or domain name
      3. Include or exclude permitted
    2. Ad Unit
      1. Searchable by ad unit name or ID
      2. Include or exclude permitted
    3. Geography
      1. List of countries
      2. Can expand certain countries to see a list of states or provinces (e.g., USA, Brazil, Canada)
      3. Can expand states to see a list of major cities
      4. Missing cities can be added upon request. Please email the helpdesk.
      5. Include or exclude permitted 
    4. Zip Code Targeting
      1. Include/exclude field
      2. OR relationship between zip codes
      3. US Only - additional countries could be added on request; please email the helpdesk
    5. Device Category
    6. Browser
    7. Browser Language
    8. Operating System
    9. Jounce Classification
      1. Filter sites based on inventory quality, as defined by Jounce Media 
      2. Cheap Reach, MFA, or Premium
      3. Include or exclude permitted
      4. Site classifications are updated daily via API
    10. URL
      1. OR relationship between URL values
      2. Include or exclude permitted
    11. UTM
      1. OR relationship between UTM values
      2. Dropdown to select different UTM values
    12. Video ID
      1. The video ID plays at the time a request to the ad server is made
    13. User Identifier 
      1. Number between 00 and 99.
      2. Users watching the video player are assigned a two-digit number based on their cookie ID. This allows for A/B testing against a certain percentage of traffic.
    14. Player Size
      1. Small 
      2. Medium
      3. Large
    15. Player Behavior
      1. Audio Configuration (Sound On or Sound Off)
      2. Playback Setting (Auto Play, Click to Play, Scroll to Play)
      3. Viewport Position (In View, Out of View, Inactive Tab)
    16. Ad Slot
      1. The sequential position of the ad within a user session
    17. Video Content Provider
      1. The owner of the video content currently playing. The owner is defined when the RSS feed is imported into the Voltax VMS.
    18. Video Tag
      1. Metadata applied to the video content currently playing. The metadata could have been defined at individual video level or inherited from the RSS feed.
    19. Custom Targeting
      1. Custom parameters are sent to the video player by the publisher. Typically used to pass GAM custom key value pairs for ad targeting.

  1. Master Line Item Table

  1. Name: Displays the name of the line item to allow you to recognize it when editing or searching for the line item
  2. Advertiser: Displays the specific advertiser associated with the campaign and line item. It cannot be changed once the line item is saved.
  3. Campaign: This displays the campaign associated with the line item. Once the line item is saved, it cannot be changed.
  4. Start Date - this is converted to the user’s local timezone 
  5. End Date - this is converted to the user’s local timezone 
  6. Type: Categorizes the line item by Video Ad, Video Ad+Content, Promoted Content
  7. Priority: Categorizes the line item by Sponsorship, Price Based, Guaranteed
  8. Status: Displays the current status of the line item
    • Completed
    • Draft
    • Delivering
    • Paused
    • Pending 
    • Ended
  9. Last Modified: What time and date the last modification was made to the line item

Search: By name or ID

  1.  Actions button:
    • Edit
    • Copy ID
    • Active / Pause / Archive (depends on current status)
    • View Notes

Default or additional fields can be added, removed, or re-ordered by selecting Visible Column Names and then dragging and dropping. Your column configuration is saved locally on your computer.

Multiple line items can be selected using the checkboxes in the left-hand column, and bulk actions can be performed:

  • Apply Preset
  • Pause
  • Archive

  1. Line Item Details

Clicking on a line item’s name or using the edit button will take the user to the Line Items Details page.

  1. Line Items Details Header: Users can see detailed configuration details on the left-hand side within the header of the Line Items Details screen. On the right, there are a number of high-level metrics, too:
    • Impressions
    • CTR
    • Viewability
    • Completion Rate. 
    • Error Rate
    • Pacing
  2. Users also have buttons for the following actions:
    • Pause
    • Clone
    • Edit
    • View Notes
  3. Booked Revenue: This is only available for guaranteed line items. The numbers are updated daily at midnight UTC. Calculations are based on the current net CPM and impression goal.
    • Total Booked: Total net revenue the line item is due to deliver. 
    • Delivered: Total net revenue already delivered. 
    • Projected Daily Revenue: Average net revenue due to be delivered per day. 
    • Note: All booked revenue numbers are calculated based on the currently configured CPM and impressions. Unlike historic reporting reports, the booked revenue numbers will update retroactively if a CPM is changed mid-campaign.
  4. Graphs: Three visualizations are available showing historic data, which is approximately 3-4 hours delayed versus the metrics in the top right of the screen
    • Delivery - requests, impressions, and errors by day or hour
    • KPIs - viewability, completion rate, and pacing by day or hour
    • Revenue - gross, net, and auction revenue by day or hour

  1. Line Item Details - Creatives Table: Under the Line Item Details Header, you’ll find the list of Creatives associated with the Line Item. If there are no Creatives for the selected Line Item, users can use the ‘Create Creative’ button at the bottom of the page. If there are listed Creatives, users can find the button in the top-right corner of the page.
    • Name: Displays the name of the Creative to allow you to recognize it when editing or searching for the Creative
    • Delivered: Displays the number of impressions each Creative has generated 
    • Viewability: Displays the viewability (%) for each Creative 
    • Completion: Displays the completion rate of each Creative 
    • ID: The creative’s unique Voltax ID. The system generates this ID, which will never change.
    • Status: Displays whether the Creative is active, paused, or pending (video file is still uploading)
    • Last Modified: Displays the time and date the last modification was made to the Creative 
    • Weight:
      1. The weight factor to be applied to the creative
      2. If weighted optimization has been selected, this field is editable
      3. A creative with a weight of 3 would serve 3 times as many impressions as a creative with a weight of 1.

Default or additional fields can be added, removed, or reordered by selecting Visible Column Names and then dragging and dropping. Your column configuration is saved locally on your computer.

  1. Create Creative (From Line Item)

  • Add Creative: Search by name or ID. The results will only show existing creatives which match the line item’s Advertiser and Line Item Type 
  • New Creative:
    1. Creative Name: Create a unique name for the Creative that allows you to recognize it when editing or searching
    2. Advertiser: The Advertiser section will be locked, depending on the Line Item configuration
    3. Creative Type: The Creative Type will be locked, depending on the Line Item configuration

See the' Creatives' section for more information on creative types and their set-up.

  1. Targeting Presets

Users can configure and save preset targeting groups to be used across multiple campaigns and line items. 

Navigate to the ‘Targeting Presets’ screen and click ‘Create Preset’ to start creating different targeting groups. 

  1. Create Preset
    1. Preset Name: Set a unique name for the preset targeting group so it’s easy to identify in the future
    2. Targeting Options - all options that are available within supply targeting at the line item level

Please note that there is no ongoing connection between line items and pre-sets. Editing a pre-set does not change any previously used line items. 

Pre-sets can be applied to the supply targeting of individual line items via the supply targeting component in the line item edit screen. Or they can be applied in bulk to multiple line items by selecting the left-hand checkbox in a line item table.

  1. Creatives

Once users have created a Line Item, they need to specify which Creatives will be shown. Creatives can be added via the Line Items Details or the Creatives pages, but the configuration is slightly different. While Line Items need to be linked to a specific Campaign, Creatives can be configured and used across different Campaigns and Line Items. 

  1. Creative Table

    1. Name: Displays the name of the Creative to allow you to recognize it when editing or searching for the Creative
    2. Advertiser: Displays which Advertiser the Creative is associated with
    3. Type: Displays which type of Creative has been selected (Video Ad, Video Ad+Content, Promoted Content)
    4. ID: Displays the Creative’s unique ID. The system generates this ID, which will never change.
    5. Last Modified: Displays the time and date the last modification was made to the Creative 

  1. Create a New Creative 

    1. Create Creative: From the Creatives screen, use the button in the top right corner of the screen to begin creating a new creative 
      • Creative Name: Enter a unique name for the Creative to allow you to recognize it when editing or searching for it later 
      • Description: Optional text field
      • Advertiser: Select an Advertiser from the drop-down menu
        1. Add New Advertiser: Users can easily configure a new advertiser from the ‘Create Creative’ screen

  1. Creative Types

    1. Video Ad & Video Ad + Content Fields:
      • VAST Source
        1. Advertiser VAST URL
          1. Enter a VAST, VPAID, or SIMID URL provided by the advertiser
          2. VAST 2.0 to 4.1, VPAID 2.0 or below, SIMID 1.0

  • Video File: Create an ad using a raw video asset
    1. Upload Video: .mp4 or. MOV files
    2. Clickthrough URL: Destination link the user is sent to when the ad is clicked. Must be a webpage starting with https://
    3. Skip button: This can optionally be enabled with a timer between 1 to 6 seconds.

  • ‘Show Macros Table’:
    1. Shows a list of all supported macros and their required format
    2. Many common macro placeholders are automatically replaced, and some unsupported macros are removed. Below, a preview of the modified VAST URL is available. Changes will be reflected once the creative is saved.

  • Enable Companion Ad
    1. Triggers a display ad that renders on top of the video player content once the video Ad has finished playing.
    2. The companion will be removed when the next ad begins playing.
    3. Upload Image: Accepts a 300x60 file
    4. Clickthrough URL: Destination page when the user clicks the companion ad
    5. Alt text: Text shown on hover
    6. Creative View Pixel: Records every companion impression event

  • Add Pixel
    1. Pixel name: Choose the VAST pixel event you wish to track
      1. Impression
      2. Start
      3. Quartiles
      4. Completion
      5. Click
    2. Value: The pixel to be used. Macros placeholders should be replaced as per the macro table.

  • Associated Line Items (Optional): 
    1. Select line items from the drop-down menu to associate the creative.
    2. Once a line item has been activated, creatives cannot be disassociated.
    3. When searching, only line items that match both the  advertiser and line item type will be visible

  1. Video Ad + Content Specific Fields
    • Content/Playlist ID: 
      1. Enter the Voltax Video or Playlist ID associated with the content you’d like linked to the video ad. 
      2. If a playlist is used, ensure the playlist is set to 1 video maximum
      3. When the user enters a video ID, validation will check if it has any VMS restrictions against it.
        A warning message will appear when a restriction is found on the video.
    • Coming Next:
      1. Show messaging during ad playback about the upcoming piece of content
      2. The title of the upcoming content will be displayed. This can only be edited by renaming the video inside the VMS.
  1. Promoted Content Specific Fields
    • Content/Playlist ID:
      1. Enter the Voltax Video or Playlist ID associated with the content you’d like linked to the video ad. 
      2. If a playlist is used, ensure the playlist is set to 1 video maximum.
      3. When the user enters a video ID, validation will check if it has any VMS restrictions against it. 
      4. A warning message will appear when a restriction is found on the video.
    • Call To Action:
      1. Optionally trigger a clickable call to action button that sits on the top left corner of the content.
      2. CTA Button Title: The Call to Action messaging (e.g., ‘Click Here’ or ‘Explore Belize’)
      3. CTA Button Link: The landing page the user will be sent to if they click the button

  1. Creative Optimisation

  1. Goals & Metrics
    • Give users the ability to choose how line items prioritize individual creatives to improve CTR, viewability, error rate, or completion rate
    • Give the selector more flexibility on how many creatives to return for a winning line item to reduce critical pacing and over-delivery issues
    • New line items must meet several criteria to be eligible for optimization:
      1. Have been running for 8 hours (active status) with all creatives delivering evenly
      2. Ad server will revert to even delivery evenly every time a new creative is added
      3. Ad server will continue delivering evenly if each creative has received less than 10,000 impressions
      4. Ad server will continue delivering evenly if the CTR option is selected and CTRs have less than 0.02% variance
      5. Ad server will continue delivering evenly if the viewability/completion/error rate option is selected and variance is less than 5%
      6. If a line item is pacing under 100%, all creatives will be returned, ordered by the selected metric
    • The calculator will begin allocating 75% to higher-performing creative(s) when possible. 
      1. The calculator will constantly reassess the best creative performance 
      2. If the best-performing creative has changed, the calculator should begin allocating 75% to new creative
    • If a line item is set to As Many As Possible, all creatives should be returned randomly
    • If a line item is set to evenly, the ad server will randomly select one or more creatives.
    • If a line item is set to Weighted:
      1. The weighted field in the line item’s creative table will become editable
      2. A creative with a weight of 3 would serve 3 times as many impressions as a creative with a weight of 1.
      3. Lines with an equal weight will serve an equal number of impressions

  1. Ad Units

Users must create and assign a unique ad unit for each Minute Media video player to call the ad server during an auction. 

  1. Ad Unit Table

    1. Name: Set a unique ad unit name that you will recognize when creating, editing, copying, or pasting. 
      • The ad unit name will automatically inherit the tenant, organization, and property to which it belongs.
    2. ID: Each ad unit will be assigned a unique Voltax ID. The ID cannot be edited.
    3. Last Modified: The time and date of the last modification made to the Advertiser
  2. Search by ad unit name or ID
  3. Filter: Hide or show archived and unarchived ad units.

  1. Video Player Logic

To integrate the ad server with a video player, place the Ad Unit URL in the ‘Ad Server Tag’ field:

The player regularly requests the ad server during a user session. The ad server responds with a maximum of 5 matching line items per ad request. However, many ad server responses could return less than 5 line items or no line items at all.

Depending on the number of creatives associated with each line item and the creative optimization settings chosen, each line item could return more than one creative. This means more than five creatives can be returned to the video player per request and added to the ad queue.

The ad server will never return more than 1 line item that involves content in the same response. i.e. a video ad + content and promoted content line cannot be returned in the same ad response. This is because the video player can only make the decision to play one piece of content from the ad server at a time.

The creatives are added to the video player’s ad queue based on their score. Ad Server line Items compete against programmatic ads in the video player’s auction based on their score. 

The score is an adjusted CPM, and the calculation is based on the auction CPM. The final score’s calculation is adjusted on the basis of several factors.

 The line item’s priority dictates the most significant impact on the score:

  • Sponsorship line item scores always compete at a score of $1000
  • Guaranteed line items set to ASAP delivery always compete at $999
  • Guaranteed line items set to High have a maximum score of $998
  • Guaranteed line items set to Low have a maximum score of $100
  • Guaranteed lines set to a custom priority can manually define a maximum score between $1 and $50
  • Price Based line items compete at their auction CPM

The score is further adjusted based on the following factors:

  • Error rate adjustment: The score of a line item is reduced for line items with a high error rate and increased for line items with a low error rate
  • Creative duration adjustment: The score of a line item is reduced for line items with a long creative duration (more than 15s) and increased for line items with a low creative duration (less than 15s)
  • For Guaranteed line items, line item pacing heavily influences the score:
    • Line items pacing critically (below 90%) have their score heavily increased 
    • Line items pacing below 100% have their score slightly increased
    • Line items pacing above 100% have their score slightly decreased
    • Line items pacing above 125% have their score heavily decreased
    • These pacing thresholds can change if the line item has been set to a frontloaded or custom pacing curve.

The player will remove, ignore, or re-order certain video ads in its queue:

  • Video Ad and Video Ad + Content lines that do not meet the player’s minimum floor price will be ignored
  • Creative IDs returned by the ad server that have already returned a VAST error in that session will be ignored if their score is less than $1000. This is to avoid repeatedly requesting unresponsive ads with high scores. Sponsorship lines are exempt from this as their score is 1000.
  • If a player is configured with pre-roll pods, Video Ad + Content and Promoted Content creative IDs will play towards the end of the pod. Video Ad line items will play first in any available slots, even if their score is lower. This ensures that the content plays last once all ads have finished.
  • Every time a new piece of content begins playing, creative IDs from any line items with Video Tag or Video Content Owner targeting will be removed. This is to avoid delivering creative IDs against content that does not meet the line item’s targeting

Programmatic Guaranteed Set-Up (Magnite)

  1. Create a new campaign in the Voltax Ad Server
    1. Select Campaign Type = Programmatic Guaranteed
    2. Copy the Campaign ID
  2. Login to Magnite
  3. Go to Campaigns > Deals Management > My Deals
  4. Select Create Deal > Programmatic Guaranteed - Ad Server Controlled
  5. Input deal name
  6. Select DSP (not the exact seat ID)
    1. Paste the campaign ID from Voltax into the Buyer Deal ID field
  7. Create your rule - 

Please note: You can only create one rule per PG, so it's best to combine multiple flights into one rule. Otherwise, you will have to create another deal ID.

  1. Input deal name again as rule name
  2. Select currency
  3. Input CPM
  4. Input impression goal
  5. Ensure budget matches
  6. Input start and end dates (pay attention to the timezone when making changes)
  7. Select buyer seat by searching for name/ID
  8. You do not need to select an Advertiser
  9. Format = Video
  10. Save and copy the tag
  1. Create a new videoAd line item in the Voltax ad server that matches all of the Magnite rule settings
  2. Create a new VAST creative
    1. Paste the tag from Magnite into the external VAST field
    2. Add the following parameters to the end of the VAST without editing any part of the URL
&width={{.PlayerWidth}}&height={{.PlayerHeight}}&rp_schain={{.SupplyChain}}&gdpr={{.GDPR}}&gdpr_consent={{.GDPRConsent}}&rf={{.PageUrl}}

Forecasting

Forecasts are based on historic player load data. For any given forecast, a formula calculates the maximum available impressions. 

This is based on the total number of player loads and the average player load duration for those video players. 

The forecast has the maximum available player load duration and removes the time that elapses between ads (the ad interval) and the period of time when the ad itself is playing. 

  1. Select start date and end date (mandatory - UTC)
  2. Ad interval: Input the expected time duration between ads (mandatory). This is required for forecasting because ads cannot be shown during the interval, which affects the maximum available playback time
  3. Ad Duration: Input expected ad duration length (mandatory). This is required for the forecast because the ad duration affects the maximum available playback time.
  4. Supply targeting: Select the desired supply targeting configuration (all optional). The following fields are currently available:
    1. Inventory
    2. Geography (country only)
    3. Operating System
    4. Player Size
    5. Audience
  5. Run Forecast
    1. Will return a maximum total number of impressions that can be sold
    2. The available impressions are broken out in a table based on all of the different sub-targeting options

Debugging Ad Responses

Requests from the video player to the ad server can be inspected by searching for selector.voltaxam.com/ads 

  • The payload tab shows a list of all the parameters included in the ad request. 
  • In order for a creative to be eligible to win, the line item supply targeting must match all of the relevant parameters in the payload
  • A full list of the parameters can be found here.

  • In the response tab, a list of all eligible line items are shown. The ad response contains information about the winning creative & line item, including:
    • Line item ID
    • Line item Type
    • If midrolls have been disabled
    • If content skip has been adjusted
    • Gross, Net, and Auction CPMs
    • The score of the line item in the auction
    • Creative IDs
    • The final VAST (asset URL)
    • Pixels that the VAST will drop
    • If the call to action button has been enabled

  • The creative ID or asset URL can be pasted into the search bar to see if the ad has won the auction and been returned by the video player
  • If an ad-creative.com response containing the creative ID cannot be found, it has lost in the player auction to programmatic demand

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