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Creative - FAQ

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This page gives insights on FAQs for creatives.

Ad quality

Can I rotate brands in my creative or show more than one brand at the same time?

No, each creative may show only one brand. This may not change during the lifetime that the creative is used on the platform unless the creative stops serving, set put into the queue for reaudit, and is audited for the new brand. Creatives also may not show more than one brand. If the creative is clearly for an online retailer and shows a product now made by that retailer, but is a sample product you can buy at that retailer, and if the creative clicks through to that retailer's website, then this is fine.

Do I have to set the brand of my creative?

No, this is done by our auditing team.

What exactly is a brand?

BMW is a brand. BMW 5-series is not considered a separate brand.

Why are my creatives not serving?

There are a number of reasons a creative may not be serving:

  • If a creative has active=0, it will not serve.
  • If a creative has is_expired=1, it both has not served and has not been modified in over last 14 days (on the 15th day, it is updated as Expired). As of March 2018, expired creatives will be automatically reactivated if your bidder resumes bidding with the creative.
  • If a creative has failed the Microsoft audit, it will not serve on Microsoft inventory.
  • If a creative is "pending" for the Xandr audit, it will only serve on the portion of the inventory that allows unaudited creatives.

Sellers in Xandr can also choose to ban by the brand, category, language, technical attribute or buyer, so an otherwise-valid creative may be banned by a seller.

How can I find the brands and brand categories that Xandr audit assigned to my creatives?

To check the brand and brand category assigned by Xandr audit to your creatives:

  • Using the creative-service, get the "brand" field of the creative. This will have the brand ID and name, and the category ID for the brand. E.g:
    • GET https://api.adnxs.com/creative/MEMBER_ID/CREATIVE_ID
  • Using the Category Service, you can get the name of the Category.
    • To get a specific category:
      • GET https://api.adnxs.com/category/CATEGORY_ID
    • To get all categories:
      • GET https://api.adnxs.com/category

Audit - General

Can I pass macro values into the creative audit that are used when the creative is previewed?

No, the creative must serve without any dynamic parameters being passed in when the creative is previewed as part of the creative audit.

Example: Say the creative URL is https://cnd.server.com/123.js?camp={CAMP}, and the value passed for CAMP in the bid response would result in a creative being served for brand ABC. Then calling the URL https://cnd.server.com/123.js?camp={CAMP}, without any macro replacement, must also result in a creative being returned for brand ABC.

Can I serve one creative in the audit and another when I win an auction?

No, the creative that is uploaded into Xandr must show an advertisement for the underlying brand when it is previewed, as well as when it is delivered in RTB. This means that the creative must be able to serve without any macros being populated.

Do I have to pay separately for the MSFT audit and the Xandr audit?

No, when the auditors review a creative, they will audit it for both Microsoft and Xandr. This is all included in the same audit fee. The fields audit_status and msft_audit_status will be populated accordingly.

How can I set a creative to be active?

This can be done using the Creative Service by setting the active field to "active." This can also be done through the bidder UI in the creative tab, by selecting the creative in question, then checking the "active" box in the full edit screen.

How do I make sure my creatives aren't audited?

Using the Creative Service, set the audit status to "no-audit".

How do I put my creative in the audit queue?

Using the Creative Service, set the allow_audit field to true. This can also be done through the bidder UI in the creative tab, by selecting the creative in question, then checking "resubmit" in the Audit Status field. The creative must also be active and the member the creative is registered under must also be active.

If I disagree with the results of an audit, what should I do?

Use our Customer Support form at Customer Care to contact the Ad Quality team.

What does is_expired=1 mean?

This means that the creative both has not served and has not been modified in over last14 days, and it is effectively inactive (on the 15th day, it is updated as Expired). As of March 2018, expired creatives will be automatically reactivated if your bidder resumes bidding with the creative.

Audit status

How can I get the audit status of my creatives?

There are three methods that are available:

  1. Using the Creative Service.
    • To use the creative service, you can make daily calls using the min_last_modified parameter, in the format of YYYY-MM-DD to see all creatives that have had their status changed. You should also use the num_elements and start_element parameter.
    • For example, if you run https://api.adnxs.com/creative/12345?min_last_modified=2018-05-15&num_elements=100&start_element=0, the results will include 100 creatives modified since May 15, 2018. The count parameter will include the total number of creatives, but because the API will only return up to 100 objects at a time, you can page through the results by using the start_element parameter.
  2. Use the audit notify request.
    • When creatives are audited, audit notify requests are sent to the handler if this has been set up in the Bidder Service.
    • In order to set use an audit notify request handler, you must have a single endpoint that can receive and process these requests as they are sent.
  3. Use an Excel export.
    • If you would like a weekly report of your creative status sent by email, please speak with your Xandr technical and account team.
  4. Use the bidder UI.

What is returned when I call the creative service?

The entire creative object is return when you call the creative service, so you will need to parse out the relevant audit status parameters.

Macros

Are custom macros or Xandr macros replaced first?

Xandr macros are replaced first, so you cannot return Xandr macros in the custom macros portion of your bid response.

Uploading Creatives

Can I upload multiple creatives in one API call?

No. But you can programmatically upload multiple creatives in consecutive POSTs to the API. Please note that you only make 60 writes in a rolling 60-second window.

How can I upload creatives?

You can upload creatives using the Creative Service API.

How do I upload a Flash creative?

In the Creative Service API, you can either provide a link in the media_url field, or provide a tag using the content field. If you host a javascript file that delivers the flash, you would specify the URL of your javascript in the media_url, and the format would be url-js. The media_url may be, for example, https://ad.sample_site.com/ad_server/ads.js?my_ad_id=12345&price_paid=$\{PRICE_PAID\}&custom_macro=$\{custom_macro\} would call your delivery javascript.

In the alternative, you may want Xandr to deliver the javascript or iframe that delivers the flash. For example, you may use format "iframe-html" (or raw-js, if you enter the raw javascript - not if you use an html tag that calls javascript) and set the content to be:

<SCRIPT 
 TYPE="text/javascript" 
 SRC="https://ad.sample_site.com/ad_server/ads.js?my_ad_id=12345&price_paid=${PRICE_PAID}&custom_macro=${custom_macro}">
</SCRIPT>

What is the creative code?

The code is your internal ID for a creative. When a creative is made in Xandr, it is given an ID in our system (e.g. 12345). If you internally refer to this creative as abc, you would specify the code of the creative as abc. When you bid, you then submit either 12345 as the ID or abc as the code.

Warning

Ensure that the code you are using is unique. If it's already in the system, you would encounter an error during the upload saying Creative code already exists in the system, please select a different one.

What is the correct format to use?

The format can be one of: url-html,url-js, flash, image, raw-js, iframe-html, or text. The values url-html and url-js are to be used when you're using the media_url parameter in the creative. This means that the creative is defined purely by a reference to a website that has html or javascript content. The format raw-js should be used when the creative is purely javascript. This mean that the creative is only javascript. If the creative is in the following format:

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">javascript here....</script>

then the creative is iframe-html and not raw-js.

If there's a javascript tag, you can still bid with iframe creatives (and vice-versa) - Xandr will format the content of your creative appropriately. For example, we will use document.write(...) around your iframe creative for javascript tags.