Line Item Settings


In the Online Video Player, a Line Item allows you to connect an Ad Unit to ad system demand through a VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) URL.  Multiple Line Items can be assigned to an Ad Unit, ordered by priority.  Each Line Item is checked for a viable ad to display and the first that delivers a valid ad will run.

1.0 | Create a Line Item

To create a new line item, navigate to Ad Services > Line Items and then click “Create New Line Item”.

From here, enter in a Title and a VAST URL, toggle the switch on the top right to Enabled, and click Save.  This is the most basic setup for a Line Item.  Read on to learn about our optional Line Item settings.

2.0 | Customise a Line Item

2.1 | General Settings

  • Title – Enter a unique Title for your Line Item here.
  • Code – A Code is automatically generated for you as you enter a Title.
  • Description – This field allows you to describe this Line Item and its use so that you can easily identify it.
  • Timeout – Dictates the maximum time the line item is allowed to start an ad. If it does not deliver within this time, the player will move on to the next line item if available, or play the main content.

2.2 | Creative

  • VAST subtype – While it’s not common, you may need to specify a VAST subtype on your line item.  Enter it here.
  • VAST URL, macros and custom targeting – Enter the full VAST URL to your ad system. You can use the following macros, which will be replaced by our player:
MacroExplanationValue
[url]The url the player is placed on. If the player is placed in an iFrame and the option “attempt iFrame breakout” is not used, the [url] will be the url of the iFrame.a URL encoded string
[deeplink]The deep link of the mediaclip (is the same as [url] if not set)a URL encoded string
[timestamp]The timestamp that the VAST request was done.a number
[correlator]Same as [timestamp]a number
[playerwidth]The width of the player in pixels. When responsive sizing is used the width will return the width of the player at the moment of requesting the ad.a number (in pixels)
[playerheight]The width of the player in pixels. When responsive sizing is used the width will return the width of the player at the moment of requesting the ad.a number (in pixels)
[clipTitle]The title of the clip. Only available for in-streamthe URL encoded title string
[clipID]The ID of the clip. Only available for in-streamthe ID string
[playmode]The playmode selected by the player. Useful for example when using key/value targeting in combination with DfP“html5” or “flash”
[format]The format selected by the player. Almost the same as playmode, but returns another value. Useful in combination with liverail ( LR_FORMAT ).“application/x-shockwave-flash” or “application/javascript”
Note:

You can also add custom parameters, or key values, to the embed code while embedding the player, which will be passed to the VAST URL. By substituting %%<key>%% with the value part of the macro_<key>=<value> embed-code parameter.

An example: If you place %%foo%% in an ad tag url:
https://testsuite.acc.bbvms.com/mediaclip/692.xml?output=vast&targeting=%%foo%%
and book it in your line item, then embedding the player with:
https://testsuite.acc.bbvms.com/p/default/c/213.js?macro_foo=bar
results in the player requesting the VAST URL:
https://testsuite.acc.bbvms.com/mediaclip/692.xml?output=vast&targeting=bar

2.3 | Conditions

The Conditions section allows you to add conditions that need to be met before the line item will load.  This is where you can specify a device type in order to only allow certain demand to apply to mobile, tablet, or desktop devices.

2.4 | Behaviour

  • Use prebid.js – When this box is checked, the line item prompts a Prebid auction to run.  In most cases when you use this option, you shouldn’t enter a VAST URL.
  • Load VAST URL from same domain – This option attempt to call the VAST URL from the same domain that the player is embedded on. Use this option when the ad source relies on the referrer property to be the original domain.
  • Commercial behaviour – Use this section to override the settings in an Ad Unit that decide how frequently a pre-roll or post-roll should display, either once per load, session, or clip.
  • Minimum clip duration for pre-roll/post-roll – Enter a number in seconds. This allows you to set a minimum duration of the media clip in order for the line item to be allowed to run. Example: If you set this to 30 seconds, no ads will run on media clips shorter than 30 seconds. This only applies to line items that are targeted to instream ad units.
  • Allow Skipping – When enabled the user will be able to skip the ad after the specified amount of seconds. You can also alter the text that is displayed during the countdown and the text that is used in the button to skip the ad. Please note: The player respects the GAM setting “skippable” even when the “Allow skipping” setting is disabled in our system.

2.5 Display settings

  • This option overrules the Ad Unit’s settings to display controls. This can be useful if you know that the VAST URL that is booked on the line item will return a VPAID player which has its own controls.

3.0 | VAST Inspector

Using the VAST Inspector tool, you can test how your VAST tag will behave in the Blue Billywig Player in various positions. The player will start to log its own and the IMA’s events. It will also attempt to hit any tracking URLs specified in the VAST tag.Enter a VAST URL or XML into the inspector, configure your position and test your ad.

Check out our VAST Inspector here.

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