Vast troubleshooting
How VAST works:
We create VAST tag with one of the viewability measurement option (VPAID or OMID) and we share with MOAT(or any 3rd party) which then wraps it into VAST tag with either VPAID or OMID or both measurement options in one tag. When we add creative into DSP when we receive from 3rd party, we start campaigns and we then:
1. try to create different version (vast2, vast3, vast4) of the creative, to cover more bid requests (if creative version is vast2 all will be created, if version is vast3 we will create vast3 and vast4, if creative is vast4 only vast 4 will be used)
2. check each bid request, what vast version and measurement option (VPAID/OMID) this bid supports our bidders then select which creative to take to match the bid request information
3. we bid only on "matching" bid request and then get info why we didn't won or we get an impression What to look in creatives: - When sending creative for 3rd party, I suggest not to add any viewability measurement option - this will be less tricky, to get two different measurement (OMID and VPAID). We can add it later, when we get wrapped creatives. - What viewability measurement is used in "received wrapped creative" - search VPAID or OMID - and you will know which is used - If we want more reach - we need creative with OMID instead VPAID (best two separate creatives(in most cases, but could be both in one creative)).
How to check VAST XML:
VAST XML contains all in the information regarding the VAST video you're running, to open it you just need to take the VAST URI and paste it your browser:
Vast Versions:
If you notice that some of VAST campaigns are struggling with spending, it might be that it's because the VAST is running on certain version, most likely VAST 4, most of vast traffic comes from VAST 2 and VAST 3
To check witch VAST version is being used, you need to open pre-wrapped VAST XML, and in the top you will see the vast version :
Usually, the best scenario is when the client shares tags for all VAST versions, but if you get only 1 tag from the client, and it's VAST 4, you can manually change the version by adding &vastVersion=3 or &vastVersion=2 in the end of the tag, for example:
Wrapped tags:
VAST wrapping works by sending our VAST URI from campaign A to the client, then the client wraps that URI and sends it back to us and we set that tag on campaign B. If you see that the wrapped tag looks correct and for some reason campaign B is still not spending anything, it might be because campaign A has expired. The original campaign that we took the URI from and sent to the client needs to be at least pending (it doesn't need to be live), but it cannot be expired, so always set the campaign A duration to the campaigns B ending date.
But there is a workaround if such a case happens, we can create a new campaign C, but it has to have the same creative settings as the original campaign A had before we sent it for wrapping (If the original campaign did not have any OMID/VPAID parameters checked, the new one also needs to have them unchecked for example. If the original creative had only VPAID selected, then the new one should have it selected as well and etc). Then from the new campaign C we take the new VAST URL from the campaigns approval page and change it in the VAST URI:
Filtering reasons:
Here are the main filtering reasons for VAST campaigns you can see in the stattools, and the explanations for each:
video_max_duration - Video is too long (can't really control this part from our part).
video_vast_version - As mentioned previously, campaign is probably running on only 1 vast version or only using VAST 4.0, need to change the version or add additional ones.
video_mime - Wrong creative settings (For example campaign is using OMID but we do receive traffic for OMID).