HOW VAST TAG WORKS ON STRIMM
What is VAST tag
A VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) tag was created by the Interactive Advertising Bureau to deliver seamless video ads. It is a script that is designed to allow video players and ad servers to communicate with each other effectively to play video ads on the player. It basically tells the player when to play a video ad, which is coming from an ad server it is connected to. The VAST helps advertisers and publishers save time and generate revenue from the ads.
As an advertiser, you don’t have to build your own ad server or look for individual sponsors, when using a VAST tag. Just pick a reliable third-party video ad server that supports VAST, provides good analytics for the video ads, and then retrieve the tag.
Publishers who use VAST have witnessed a substantial increase in video ad revenue over the years. In fact, video advertising expenditure is predicted to increase to $35 billion in the next couple years, up from $26 billion now.
VAST tag comes in 2 formats: the VAST Tag URL and VAST Tag XML. At Strimm, we accept a VAST Tag URL format only, because it is easier to work with for any user.
Example of a VAST tag URL: https://developers.google.com/interactive-media-ads/docs/sdks/html5/client-side/vastinspector
How To Create a VAST Tag
There are three ways to generate your VAST tag:
1. Manually
2. Through an advertiser's Ad Delivery Network platforms (such as a Google Ad Manager or AdButler.com or Adglare.com or Vastify.io or Adtelligent.com or alike). Such platforms with supply ads for you, count views and issue direct payments.
3. By utilizing Third-Party Tools
First, you need to create an account with an ad server that provides VAST tag URLs, complete a setup of your VAST Tag URL there and copy the tag URL.
Test Your Tag Before Inserting Into Strimm
There are various VAST TAG INSPECTORS available on the market to test your VAST tag URL.
You can use the following one to test your tag, to assure that it has been setup correctly and actually shows ads:
https://www.vastinspector.com/
Tips for VAST ads
Before generating your VAST tag, please pay attention to the following recommendations:
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Make sure your VAST code is free of typos.
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Create a unique ad code for each website and avoid duplication.
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A/B test if you’re running different ad formats simultaneously
How VAST Tag URL works on Strimm
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You need to have an active paid subscription with Strimm, to make a VAST tag work on your account. The video ads thru VAST can be inserted in your channel daily program, for the channels that are embedded on your own website. Please note that it cannot be inserted in your broadcast on Strimm.com, which is a free broadcast for all users and is not a part of a paid subscription.
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The video ads will play as PRE-ROLL ads by default, before the scheduled show starts. The mid-roll video ads can also be injected in the video show, but they can significantly affect the scheduled start time of your next shows, because the ads will shift the start time of the show forward.
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The Cost Metrics should be set to CPM in your Ad server.
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The VAST tag URL should be activated separately on each channel.
Attention: adding numerous video ads to the fixed daily schedule will shift/change the pre-announced start time of the shows, especially if the MID-ROLLS are activated. The shifted start times will not be reflected in the TV guide and your viewers may notice that your scheduled show starts much later. Please consider adding fewer and shorter video ads (no longer than 15 sec each). It is also advisable using PRE-ROLS ads only and having longer (30min+) shows in your daily TV program to avoid a significant shift in the start times.
VAST SETTINGS ON STRIMM:
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In your Production Studio, click on the “Integrate VAST Tag” button and activate the VAST tag on that channel.
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If known, select your VAST Tag version. If it's unknown, then leave it as a version 1.0.
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Paste your copied VAST tag URL in the designated field.
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Turn “Allow ads to be skippable” ON or OFF. Please note that some ad servers have this option to be preset as “skippable ads” ON in the VAST tag URL and it cannot be changed.
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Select how often you want your ads to run. Select “1”, if you want your ads to run before each show, select “2” if you want the ads to run before every other show and so on.
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MID-ROLLS. The ads will appear in your stream as PRE-ROLLS by default. If you want your ads to appear during the show, then activate a MID-ROLLS option, by turning "Allow Mid-Rolls" switch ON.
How Mid-Rolls work:
The duration of each video is different. The Mid-Roll ad breaks are based on the percentage of the video duration
Example: if you select 10% and the show is 10 min long, then the ad will appear every 1 min (10% of a 10 Min video). If you select 50%, then the mid-roll ad will appear only once in the middle of the video (recommended).
Leave it at 0% if you want to keep your ads to run as PRE-ROLLS only (less distraction for the viewers and less shift of the videos start time).
Note: The mid-roll ad breaks will not appear on the videos that are less than 3 min long. Please make sure to have longer-duration videos in your schedule.
7. If you want your video ads to run in a particular time frame, like in the morning or in the evening, then turn the “Run ads in the following time slot only“ option ON and select the start time and end time of when you want the video ads to appear.
8.Click “Save” to save your settings.
You are done with the setup of your VAST tag URL for your TV channel. Congratulations!
