Pre-Roll Desktop
Place your brand’s video creative before high-quality, premium video content that consumers have chosen to watch. Advertisers have the ability to target relevant content channels and audiences in order to effectively deliver their brand message by leveraging video placements that play prior to, or in between publisher video content. Companion banners, where applicable, are displayed alongside the video player.
Deliverables
| Ad components | File type | Dimensions | Max file size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Host-Initiated Video, 1st party served (to be transcoded by us) | MP4 and MOV | 1920 x 1080 or 960 x 540 (16:9) | 300 MB |
| Host-Initiated Video, 3rd party served | MP4 and WebM | 1920 x 1080 or 960 x 540 (16:9) | 2.5 MB |
| Companion Banner 1 (optional) | PNG, JPG, VAST or MP4* | 300 x 250 | 40 KB |
| Companion Banner 2 (optional) | PNG, JPG, VAST or MP4* | 300 x 600 | 40 KB |
Available Features
| Ad components | File type | Dimensions | Max file size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ad Bar Overlay | HTML, CSS, JS, JPG, PNG, SVG | Up to 1920px wide x 1080px tall | 300 KB |
Ad Bar size is customizable
Best Practices
- Ad Bar Overlay displays over video asset
- Not recommended for mobile due to the size of the screen
- Keep the crucial elements of the ad bar to only 1/4 of the 16:9 video real estate
- Creative should support the video content and not interfere with crucial elements like messaging or logo in the video space
- Relevant messaging/CTA should not interfere with video player controls
- Should include a clear CTA
- Get creative with the space and break out of the typical rectangular shape
- Use animation time-mapping to support the video content
- Hour
- Minute
- Second
- AM/PM
- Day of Week
Layout
- Countdown placement & formatting are customizable
Copy Options
- Customizable
Countdown Required Deliverables
- Start and end dates of countdown
- Start and end time of countdown (including timezone)
Time of Day Required Deliverables
- List of times or days-of-week and corresponding messaging/creative.
Notes
- Supported across all time zones
- Leverages the user's clock (with IP-lookup as backup) to determine time
- Countdown clocks should only auto-animate the “seconds” for up to :15, per standard ad spec guideline. Can request an ad policy exception to have countdown animate indefinitely, as long as it is not too flashy or distracting
Required Elements
Image
- File Types: JPG, GIF, PNG (Equirectangular)
- 2:1 aspect ratio (2048x1024 minimum)
- Up to 2MB
- Up to 2-6 touchpoints
- Include CTA
- Avoid putting price or inventory that could change
| Ad components | File type | Dimensions | Max file size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canvas Overlay | HTML, CSS, JS, JPG, PNG, SVG or MP4 | Equivalent to pre-roll video dimensions (1920 x 1080 or 960 x 540) | 300 KB |
- Not recommended for mobile due to the size of the screen
- The video frame will reduce in size to allow for the canvas to display at a larger, more prominent size.
- The Canvas Overlay asset will display at full dimensions of the video ad space (1920x1080 or 960x540) while the video asset will resize within the video player.
Secondary Features
- Carousel
- Dynamic
- Social Share
- Touchpoints
- Carousel size is customizable
- Up to 5 cards is recommended
- Static or video allowed
- Toggle functionality (< >) is required
General
*MP4 files are not accepted for Companion Banners serving via Video SSP
*Companion banners only allowed with site served video file.
Screen Support
- Desktop
1st Party Served Video Guidelines
- Resolution: 1080p - 1920x1080 (recommended), or 720p - 1280x720 (minimum)
- Codec: H.264 MP4 (recommended), MOV, or raw AVI accepted
- Bitrate: 1500 kbps
- Frame Rate: 30 fps or 29.97 fps
- Do not include slates, leaders or countdowns
- Field Order: None, progressive scan only
- Audio Bitrate: 128 kbps minimum
- Audio Codec: AAC / MP3 / MP4
3rd Party Served Video Guidelines
VAST
- VAST tag must not have browser, geo or any other targeting on the 3rd Party side
- IAB VAST 2.0 and 3.0 supported (wrappers: Up to 5)
- Codec: H.264 MP4
- Resolution: 1280x720 or 640x360
- Bitrate: Minimums - 1500 kbps (1280x720) or 600 kbps (640x360)
- Field Order: None, progressive scan only
- Frame Rate: 30 fps or 29.97 fps
- Do not include slates, leaders or countdowns
- Audio Bitrate: 128 kbps minimum
- Audio Codec: AAC / MP3 / MP4
VPAID
- IAB VPAID 2.0 (JS, HTML) supported
- Interactive Pre-roll (IPR) is only supported with VPAID tags
Audio
- Audio should be synced with the video player’s audio state
- Audio is permitted upon user interaction with the ad
- If a (click or tap) interaction triggers audio, the ad must contain a clearly defined Call-To-Action informing the user that audio will be initiated
Companion Banners
Animation: Up to 15 seconds
IMPORTANT: VAST tags and Companion Banner tags cannot be served separately - Companion Banner must be wrapped within the VAST tag to serve
*MP4 files are not accepted for Companion Banners serving via Verizon Media Video SSP
Animation
- For O&O: Up to 30 seconds (recommended :06s or :15s)
- For DSP: Up to 120 seconds
Ad Vendor
Ads must be site served or served by an approved vendor.
3rd Party Ad Tags & Trackers
Approved 3rd party vendors are allowed to serve select ads. To find out which ad formats are approved to serve via 3rd party, reach out to your Sales POC.
Approved 3rd party vendor trackers (e.g. click, impression, etc.) are allowed across ad formats.
For a list of approved 3rd party vendors, please visit the 3rd Party Vendor List.
Ad Policies & Guidelines
Ads must comply with Global Yahoo Advertising Policies.
HTML5 Guidelines
HTML5 ad specifications must follow HTML5 Guidelines.
SSL Compliance
Ads & 3rd party vendors must be secure and SSL compliant.
Creative Submission Timelines
Refer to Creative Submission Guidelines for ad design & build SLAs.