Serving your first video ad with OpenX

Overview

The OpenX Video Plugin enables you to set up, deliver and track video ads in accordance with the IAB Digital Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) standard. The plugin supports the following types of video ads: inline video ads and overlay video ads. Inline video ads include pre/mid/post-roll ads which take over the full view of the video. Overlay video ads include text or banners appearing within the video frame which click to initiate another video or to open a website. The video plugin also supports the display of up to one companion banner per video ad.

The OpenX Video Plugin works in conjunction with various open source video players and requires an appropriate player-side plugin for each specific video player. All compatible player-side plugins are documented at http://www.openvideoads.org/.

For an introduction to the OpenX Video Plugin, please refer to the documentation here.

For a guide on reporting for video ads, please refer to the documentation here.

OpenX Requirements

The OpenX Video Plugin requires OpenX 2.8.2 or later.

Note: Before you can connect your video player to your OpenX instance, you need to ensure that you have an appropriate "crossdomain.xml" file configured in the doc root of the webserver on the box running the OpenX Ad Server. If you don't do this, when a video ad is requested from OpenX, a security violation will be thrown within Flash and the request will be denied. Here's an example crossdomain.xml file that you can use.

Video Player Requirements

The OpenX Video Plugin requires a compatible video player. The following video player configurations are currently supported:

• Flowplayer 3.1.3 or later
• JW FLV Media Player 4.5 or later
• Custom player implementations (supported through the Open Video Ads VAST Actionscript3 Framework)

To download the appropriate plugin for your video player, go to Inventory > Video Ads - Player Info.

Check back at this screen to see the latest video players and custom player frameworks supported by the OpenX Video Plugin.

Serving your first video ad

To start serving video ads, you will need to do the following:

1. Add a website
2. Add a video ad zone
3. Add an advertiser
4. Add a campaign
5. Add a video ad
6. Link the video ad to the video zone
7. Setup the ad in your video player plugin configuration

1. Add a website

Go to Inventory > Websites to add a website.

See Adding a website for more details.

2. Add a video ad zone

Go to Inventory > Zones to add a zone for the website you just added. In the Add new zone screen, you will see two new zone types for video ad zones.

• Inline Video Ad - Select this zone type to setup pre/mid/post-roll video ads
• Overlay Video Ad - Select this zone type to setup overlay ads

See Adding a zone for more details on adding a new zone.

3. Add an advertiser

Go to Inventory > Advertisers to add an advertiser.

See Adding an advertiser for more details.

4. Add a campaign

Go to Inventory > Campaigns to add a campaign for the advertiser you just added.

See Adding a campaign for more details.

5. Add a video ad

Go to Inventory > Banners to add a video ad for the campaign you just added.

To create an Inline Video ad (pre/mid/post-roll):

• Select the banner type: OpenX Inline Video Ad (pre/mid/post-roll).
• Enter a name for the ad.
• Select the video delivery method (RTMP streaming or HTTP progressive download)
• Enter the appropriate details for your video ad. Follow the format used by the example video ads provided.

  If you selected RTMP streaming, you will need to provide:

  • RTMP Server URL - the streaming URL
  • Video filename - the name of the video file (for MP4 ads, include the file extension ".mp4"; for FLV ads, do not include the file extension)
  • Video type - MP4 or FLV
  • Video duration in seconds - the exact duration of the video (it is important that you do not provide a duration that is longer than the actual video)
  • Destination URL (optional) - the landing page to go to when the user clicks the video

  If you selected HTTP progressive, you will need to provide:

  • Video URL - the location of the video file
  • Video type - MP4 or FLV
  • Video duration in seconds - the exact duration of the video (it is important that you do not provide a duration that is longer than the actual video)
  • Destination URL (optional) - the landing page to go to when the user clicks the video
• If the parent campaign is a remnant campaign, you may associate a companion banner to this video ad by selecting a banner from the companion banner dropdown. This banner will appear for the duration of the video ad. You will need to specify where this companion banner appears on the page while setting up your video ad in the video player plugin configuration.
• Save the new video ad.
• The video ad will play the next time you return to the banner properties screen.

To create an Overlay Video ad:

• Select the banner type: OpenX Overlay Video Ad
• Enter a name for the ad.
• Select the type of overlay to create (image, swf, text or HTML) and provide the file or content for your overlay.
• Select the click action (open a page in a new window, or play a video) and enter the appropriate details.

  If you selected "Open a page in a new window", you will need to provide the destination URL.

  If you selected "Play a video", you will need to provide all the details listed in the section above on "Add a video ad".

• If the parent campaign is a remnant campaign, you may associate a companion banner to this video ad by selecting a banner from the companion banner dropdown. This banner will appear for the duration of the video ad. You will need to specify where this companion banner appears on the page while setting up your video ad in the video player plugin configuration.
• Save the new video ad.
• If you added an overlay-initiated video, the video will play the next time you return to the banner properties screen.

6. Link the video ad to the video zone

Go to the Linked Zones tab of your video ad to link the video ad to the corresponding video zone you created. Note that you can only link OpenX Inline Video Ads to Inline Video ad zones and you can only link OpenX Overlay Video Ads to Overlay Video ad zones.

See Linking banners to zones for more details.

7. Set up the ad in your video player configuration

At this point you must configure your video player plugin to schedule and play your video ads. A brief guide may be found here.

• If you are using Flowplayer, follow the related documentation for setting up OpenX video ads on Flowplayer.
• If you are using Longtail JW Player, follow the related documentation for setting up OpenX video ads on JW Player.
• If you are using a custom player, follow the related documentation on using the VAST Actionscript3 Framework for supporting OpenX video ads in custom players.