Vilcus vast error

Vilcus Cendum
〈« we live in a time when people say that, outside of us, everyone’s free of the old burdens. but if you ask me, they just wind up manifesting in new and bizarre ways. »〉
First Appearance
Emanant Aspect	Rage
Age	20 Repitonian Solar Sweeps
Gender Identity	Agender (He/She/They)
Status	Alive
Screen Name	contumaciousCommentator
Typing Style	Speaks in all lowercase with normal punctuation unless he’s using his chucklevoodoo, which they switch to all caps for. Surrounds messages in brackets «〈« like this »〉».
Strife Specibi	Fistkind
Fetch Modus	Analyst
Relations	Sterco Exurdo — Kismesis / Matesprit (Physically coupled. Deceased.)
	v·d·e
Chatlogs ======> ======> ======> ======> ======>

Vilcus Cendum is a secondary troll in Vast Error. His associated alchemic sigil is Hot Fire, which is worn on the lapels of their vest. One of their horns is broken off while the other is shaped and angled like a triangle with a piercing at the end of it. Her Mirthamaniac face paint is reminiscent of a skull.

Vilcus is formerly a high ranking member of the Mirthamaniacs, outclassing Pozzol Broyer. They were known for being an announcer for carnage matches between the cult members and the lowbloods they round up to murder. Vilcus’ chucklevoodoo influences ecstasy and adrenaline in others, using this to excite the crowd whenever he’s doing commentary on matches. Despite this position, Vilcus wasn’t allowed freedom in her commentary, as she’s assigned scripts to follow much to her displeasure.

They’ve left the cult after the murder of their redblood bondmate Sterco after the help of Taz in covering for them. Vilcus hasn’t made an appearance since, though they are still alive.

Etymology

The name Vilcus may be derived from the word Vilicus, which means «servant». Cendum comes from «incendium», a Latin word for fire, conflagration, and fervor, both as a connection to their alchemic sigil and their ecstasy chucklevoodoo/psyop.

Biography

Personality and traits

Relationships

Tazsia Poemme

After Taz’s scream in the arena, Vilcus visits her and offers her something to vent her anger into, that gift being the Ferocity Weaver. They were sympathetic towards her and allowed her to be honest when the rest of the Mirthamaniacs didn’t allow her that agency, and recognized her being forced into the position she’s in as wrong. Because Vilcus couldn’t exactly get Taz out without causing a dangerous uproar, they offered to cover for her so that way she can still be with her friends outside of the cult. This continued for two sweeps until Sterco, Vilcus’ bondmate, was kidnapped and murdered by Pozzol. In the aftermath, Taz helps them escape the Mirthimaniacs by faking their death. They held a fairly close and trusting relationship, one that may be considered familial in nature, heavily contrasting Taz and Pozzol’s abusive relationship.

Pozzol Broyer

Vilcus is implied to have been part of the Mirthamaniacs longer than Pozzol, making him a senior to Pozzol with him referring to them as «an elder brother». The two have a strong disliking for each other due to their vast difference in morals and for the fact that Vilcus was helping Taz. Pozzol ends up killing her bonded matesprit as means of getting rid of them all while being extremely cruel in the process with a desire to remember this moment for Vilcus to remember as well.

Sterco Exurdo

Sterco is Vilcus’ deceased bondmate. Initially a kismesisitude, the two of them were vacillating between flushed and pitch. After Vilcus helped Taz, Pozzol killed him. He’s implied to be the person Vilcus was talking about with Taz when stating that chucklevoodoos don’t work on those one’s close with and having friends the Mirthamaniacs would want to get rid of.

Trivia

Gallery

References

v·d·e Vast Error Characters
Trolls	Page of Heart Rogue of Mind Bard of Breath Heir of Light Sova Amalie Dismas Mersiv Arcjec Voorat Jentha Briati sanguineAllegory [SA] gigantisDebilitation [GD] animatedHumorist [AH] furbishFacilitated [FF] Mage of Life Seer of Hope Witch of Doom Knight of Space Ellsee Raines Albion Shukra Serpaz Helilo Laivan Ferroo existereOracle [EO] demiurgeQuantified [DQ] pliableDecadence [PD] windlessArtificer [WA] Prince of Blood Sylph of Rage Thief of Time Maid of Void Occeus Coliad Taz Poemme Murrit Turkin Calder Kerian macabreExude [ME] perniciousOverkill [PO] unclaspedKahuna [UK] grandioseSaturation [GS]
Sestro Enthal Hamifi Hekrix Racren Innali Turnin Kaikai
Edolon Vryche Seinru Narako Pozzol Broyer Talald Hieron
Weird Al
Denizens	Jegudial Forcas Zehanpuryu Af Lilith Bathkol Sorush Haniel Wormwood Azbogah Gusion Procel
Carapacians	♠ Scathing Sharper ♦ Defrauding Dealer ♥ Hustle Bones ♣ Charmed Defalcator Exonerated Executor
Other	Ancestors · Lusus · Rogi Consorts ♠♦ The Dead Shufflers ♥♣ White Noise · Mimesis · Kheparia · Gaiaeon Minor Characters

v·d·e Trolls
Redbloods	Yeshin Laevis Cinare Montor Valtel Gurtea The Annalist
Sova Amalie Racren Innali Cepros Xirong Nocent Bystan
Bronzebloods	Talald Hieron The Fomenter Dismas Mersiv Garnie
Rodere Husske Mayzee Degner Veibod
Yellowbloods	Mshiri Libeta Vyr Sturra Vellia
Mosura Briati (The Supernova) Jentha Briati Lipsen Fluxum
Hayyan Refero Sabine Berare Notrel Evantt
Greenbloods	Sirage Feltri Mekris Cyprim Shukra (The Exemplar) Albion Shukra
Pascal Linole Pomace Aumtzi Maught Raurou Dersal
Jadebloods	Gerbat Batrav Glomer Hicner Cepora Hamifi Hekrix
Tealbloods	Turnin Kaikai Serpaz Helilo Arcamu Iopara
Secily Iopara Crytum Lydian Aislin Cadlys Rankor
Bluebloods	Bytcon Krypto The Jagerman Laivan Ferroo
Necron Exmort Iderra
Indigobloods	Divino Nikola Rypite Koldan
Occeus Coliad Dexous
Purplebloods	Cretas Mglina Gingou Disone Nezrui Rigida Keiksi Ezlilu
Seinru Narako Fortmistress Deadlock Tazsia Poemme Endari Vernir
Clarud Enthal (The Executive) Sestro Enthal Vilcus Cendum
Edolon Vryche Pozzol Broyer Neilna Uldiaz
Violetbloods	Caesar Consceleratus Persolus Calder Kerian
Oricka Rourst Acerigger Switchem Murrit Turkin
Fuchsiabloods
Special / Unknown	Thesal Voorat (The Unknown/The Forgiven) Arcjec Voorat Zekura Raines (The Vivifier)
Ellsee Raines Ahlina Robiad Weird Al

Каждый день мы в том или ином виде сталкиваемся с рекламой: на сайтах — с тизерной, в блогах — c нативной, во ВКонтакте и Яндекс.Музыке — c аудиорекламой, на YouTube, стриминговых сервисах и в онлайн-кинотеатрах — с видео. О последней и пойдет речь.

В этой статье я расскажу, как работает видеореклама в интернете, и какими спецификациями она описывается.

Что такое VAST?

Прежде чем начать описывать спецификацию, давайте прикинем, как вообще мы можем показать видеорекламу на сайте? Первое, что приходит в голову – залить файл с рекламным роликом куда-нибудь на сервер, и попросить владельца сайта, у которого мы будем рекламироваться, вставить на страницу тег video со ссылкой на наш рекламный ролик:

<video id="ourVideoAd" src="https://ourhosting.dev/ourVideoAd.mp4"></video>

Неплохо, но как понять, сколько человек его посмотрело? Посмотрело ли вообще? Досмотрели ли они его до конца? Скольких людей заинтересовала реклама? Как нам отправить их на лендинг?

Ответ на все эти вопросы и дает VAST — Video Ad Serving Template, спецификация, разрабатываемая Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) и содержащая в себе всю информацию о рекламе: ее физическое нахождение, формат, урлы, которые будут вызываться при наступлении разных событий и т.д.

Ремарка: VAST — это обычный XML.

Из чего состоит VAST?

Последняя версия спецификации в настоящий момент — 4.2, но в реальности, все, в том числе и Google, используют версию 3.0, по ней и будем строить наш пример.

Итак, всё начинается с тега VAST с атрибутом version:

 <VAST version="3.0"></VAST>

У тега VAST есть дочерние узлы Error и Ad. Error используется в случае, если сервер не вернул рекламу. Если есть нода Error, то других дочерних узлов у VAST быть не должно:

 <VAST version="3.0">
  <Error><![CDATA[http://ouradserver.com/noadhandler?error=true]]></Error>
 </VAST>

Тег Ad — родительский элемент для узлов InLine или Wrapper.

Атрибуты:

— id: строковый индетификатор
— sequence: целое число больше нуля. Позволяет объединять рекламу в так называемые Ad Pods. Зачем это нужно? Например, рекламный видеоплеер поддерживает показ двух креативов подряд. Или, если по каким-то причинам креатив не показывается, плеер может перейти к следующему. Или, вы нацелены на Smart TV, в котором плеер несколько раз прерывает воспроизведения основного контента. В целом, тут нет однозначного поведения, очень многое зависит от конкретного плеера, в которым показывается ваш VAST.

Пример с Ad Pods:

 <VAST version="3.0">
  <Ad id="aGVscA" sequence="1">...</Ad>
  <Ad id="aGVscB" sequence="2">...</Ad>
  <Ad id="aGVscC" sequence="3">...</Ad>
  ...
  <Ad id="aGVscD" sequence="99">...</Ad>
 </VAST>

Итак, если рекламный сервер не вернул ошибку, то VAST может быть с тегом InLine:

 <VAST version="3.0">
  <Ad id="aGVscA">
   <InLine>
    ...
   </InLine>
  </Ad>
 </VAST>

либо c тегом Wrapper:

 <VAST version="3.0">
  <Ad id="SWFt">
    <Wrapper>
      ...
    </Wrapper>
  </Ad>
 </VAST>

В чем разница между InLine и Wrapper? Тег InLine содержит все, что необходимо для запуска VAST «прямо сейчас», то есть, рекламные креативы, трекинг-урлы и так далее. Wrapper — содержит ссылку на другой VAST. Если в этом месте вам показалось, что запахло рекурсией, то вам не показалось. Чуть позже расскажу подробнее, зачем нужно использовать Wrapper, а сейчас рассмотрим структуру тега InLine.

InLine

Обязательные ноды:

• AdSystem: название рекламной системы, которая предоставила VAST
• AdTitle: заголовок VAST’a
• Impression: ссылка, которая дернется, когда наступит событие impression
• Creatives: контейнер для тегов Creative

Ремарка: событие impression наступает, когда показан первый фрейм креатива.

Может возникнуть вопрос, почему теги AdSystem, и AdTitle являются обязательными. Отчасти, из-за фрода. Дело в том, что в качестве креатива может быть произвольный js-код, забегая вперед скажу, что такие креативы называются VPAID креативами. Т.е., произвольный js-код, который выполняется на миллионах клиентских машин. Если кто-то из владельцев сайтов начнет жаловаться, что реклама вдруг стала перенаправлять пользователей на сомнительные сайты с мобильными подписками, то наличие этих тегов облегчит поиски виновного.

Итак, VAST c нодой InLine:

 <VAST version="3.0">
  <Ad id="aGVscA">
   <InLine>
    <AdSystem>Our AdSystem</AdSystem>
    <AdTitle>Our video ad</AdTitle>
    <AdServingId>a532d16d-4d7f-4440-bd29-2ec05553fc80</AdServingId>
    <Impression><![CDATA[https://adserver.com/track/impression]]></Impression>
    <Creatives>
        ...
    </Creatives>
   </InLine>
  </Ad>
 </VAST>

Как я уже сказал выше, тег Creatives является контейнером для тегов Creative, у которых есть атрибуты:

• id: id рекламного сервера, которой предоставил VAST
• sequence: порядковый номер, показывающий, каким по счету воcпроизводить креатив. Не нужно путать с атрибутом sequence в теге Ad.
• apiFramework: API Framework, согласно протоколу openRTB

Элемент Creatives может содержать ноды Linear, NonLinearAds или CompanionAds.

Так как 99% рекламы в Интернете — Linear креативы, то дальше будем рассматривать только их.

Linear — имеет обязательный атрибут skipoffset — через сколько времени можно пропустить креатив, в формате hh:mm:ss.

Обязательные ноды Linear:

• Duration — продолжительность креатива, в формате hh:mm:ss:mmm. Миллисекунды опциональны.
• MediaFiles — содержит ноды MediaFile, не менее одной.

Нода MediaFile — содержит информацию о медиафайле, который будет воспроизводиться. Имеет следующие атрибуты:

• id: id креатива
• delivery: progressive для протоколов последовательного скачивания, например, HTTP, streaming для стриминговых
• type: MIME type файла. Например, video/mp4, video/webm, etc.
• bitrate, либо minBitrate и maxBitrate: битрейт.
• width: ширина креатива
• height: высота креатива
• scalable: булевое значение, указывающее, предназначен ли медиафайл для масштабирования до больших размеров.
• mantainAspectRation булевое значение, указывающее, должно ли сохраняться соотношение сторон, при масштабировании креатива.
• codec: кодек, в соответствии с RFC 4281
• apiFramework: API Framework, согласно протоколу openRTB

Атрибуты delivery, type, width и height, являются обязательными, остальные — нет. Для файлов, у которых нет ширины и высоты, например, если это аудио-файл, можно указывать ноль в качестве значений width и height.

Получается так:

 <VAST version="3.0">
  <Ad id="aGVscA">
   <InLine>
    <AdSystem>Our AdSystem</AdSystem>
    <AdTitle>Our video ad</AdTitle>
    <AdServingId>a532d16d-4d7f-4440-bd29-2ec05553fc80</AdServingId>
    <Impression><![CDATA[https://adserver.com/track/impression]]></Impression>
     <Creatives>
      <Creative>
       <Linear skipoffset="00:00:05">
        <Duration>00:00:20</Duration>
         <MediaFiles>
          <MediaFile
           delivery="progressive"
           type="video/mp4"
           width="672"
           height="480">
            <![CDATA[{mediafile url}]]>
           </MediaFile>
           </MediaFiles>
       </Linear>
      </Creative>
     </Creatives>
   </InLine>
  </Ad>
 </VAST>

Хорошо, сейчас мы собрали валидный VAST, в который можно подставить свои значения и хоть сейчас запускать в рекламные сети. Но, к сожалению, в нём отсутствует ссылки для статистики и лендинга. Давайте это исправим, и рассмотрим двe необязательные по спецификации ноды – TrackingEvents и VideoClicks.

TrackingEvents — фактически, тут перечисляются урлы, который должен дергать плеер во время наступления различных событий. Урлы находятся в теге Tracking с атрибутом event, значениeм которого является строка с названием события. Например, событие start будет выглядеть так:

 <Tracking type="start"><![CDATA[https://adserver.com/track/start]]></Tracking>

Список основных событий:

• start: креатив загрузился и начал воспроизводиться
• creativeView: вообще, креатив может состоять из нескольких креативов, или показываться на одних платформах, и не показываться на других. creativeView позволяет отслеживать, какой креатив просматривается, и, следовательно, какие платформы более распространены.
• firstQuartile: было воспроизведено 25% продолжительности креатива
• midpoint: было воспроизведено 50% продолжительности
• thirdQuartile: было воспроизведено 75% продолжительности
• complete: креатив был полностью воспроизведен
• mute: пользователь убрал звук у креатива
• unmute: пользователь включил креативу звук
• pause: пользователь поставил креатив на паузу
• rewind: пользователь почему-то решил перемотать креатив назад
• resume: пользователь снял воспроизведение креатива с паузы
• fullscreen: пользователь открыл креатив на полный экран
• exitFullscreen: пользователь решил выйти из режима fullscreen
• expand: пользователь нажал кнопочку «expand»
• collapse: пользователь нажал кнопочку «collapse»
• skip: пользователь пропустил креатив (на ютубе очень популярна эта опция)

В реальной жизни, поддержка тех или иных событий лежит на плеере. Например, он может не поддерживать события fullscreen, или skip. Плеер также может не иметь панель управления воспроизведением, т.е., у него могут отсутствововать кнопки типа expand, collapse, rewind, etc. Критически важные события — start, creativeView, firstQuartile, midpoint, thirdQuartile, complete.

Давайте добавим в наш VAST TrackingEvents:

 <VAST version="3.0">
  <Ad id="aGVscA">
   <InLine>
     <AdSystem>Our AdSystem</AdSystem>
     <AdTitle>Our video ad</AdTitle>
     <AdServingId>a532d16d-4d7f-4440-bd29-2ec05553fc80</AdServingId>
     <Impression><![CDATA[https://adserver.com/track/impression]]></Impression>
     <TrackingEvents>
      <Tracking type="start"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
      <Tracking type="creativeView"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
      <Tracking type="firstQuartile"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
      <Tracking type="midpoint"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
      <Tracking type="thirdQuartile"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
      <Tracking type="complete"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
      <Tracking type="skip"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
      <Tracking type="close"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
     </TrackingEvents>
     <Creatives>
       <Creative>
        <Linear skipoffset="00:00:05">
         <Duration>00:00:20</Duration>
         <MediaFiles>
          <MediaFile
            delivery="progressive"
            type="video/mp4"
            width="672"
            height="480">
             <![CDATA[{mediafile url}]]>
          </MediaFile>
         </MediaFiles>
        </Linear>
       </Creative>
     </Creatives>
   </InLine>
  </Ad>
 </VAST>

Тег VideoClicks может содержать три ноды:

• ClickThrough: урл, на который плеер должен отправить пользователя при клике на креатив. Грубо говоря, ссылка на лендинг, со всякими get-параметрами.
• ClickTracking: урл, который трекает сам факт clickthrough, т.е., клик по креативу или по явной ссылке
• CustomClick: урл, который трекает всякие другие клики (non-clickthrough)

В 90% вастов используются первые два тега.

В итоге, у нас получился вот такой InLine VAST:

 <VAST version="3.0">
  <Ad id="aGVscA">
   <InLine>
     <AdSystem>Our AdSystem</AdSystem>
     <AdTitle>Our video ad</AdTitle>
     <AdServingId>a532d16d-4d7f-4440-bd29-2ec05553fc80</AdServingId>
     <Impression><![CDATA[https://adserver.com/track/impression]]></Impression>
     <TrackingEvents>
      <Tracking type="start"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
      <Tracking type="creativeView"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
      <Tracking type="firstQuartile"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
      <Tracking type="midpoint"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
      <Tracking type="thirdQuartile"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
      <Tracking type="complete"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
      <Tracking type="skip"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
      <Tracking type="close"><![CDATA[{your url}]]></Tracking>
     </TrackingEvents>
     <VideoClicks>
      <ClickThrough><![CDATA[{your landing}]]></ClickThrough>
      <ClickTracking><![CDATA[{your url}]]></ClickTracking>
     </VideoClicks>
     <Creatives>
       <Creative>
        <Linear skipoffset="00:00:05">
         <Duration>00:00:20</Duration>
         <MediaFiles>
          <MediaFile
            delivery="progressive"
            type="video/mp4"
            width="672"
            height="480">
             <![CDATA[{mediafile url}]]>
          </MediaFile>
         </MediaFiles>
        </Linear>
       </Creative>
     </Creatives>
   </InLine>
  </Ad>
 </VAST>

Wrapper

Как я уже писал выше, если вы видите тег Wrapper в васте, это значит, что этот VAST содержит в себе ссылку на другой VAST. А тот, в свою очередь, также может содержать в себе ссылку на другой VAST. А тот, в свою очередь …, ну вы поняли.

Зачем нужен тег Wrapper? Его используют, например, когда одна рекламная сеть продает траффик другой рекламной сети, та, в свою очередь, тоже продает траффик в другую рекламную сеть и ваш VAST гуляют по Интернету, пока не найдется релевантный пользователь, которому покажут ваш креатив. Но на каждом этапе, все участники этой схемы вставляют трекинг-пиксели, чтобы вести свою статистику.

Ремарка: спецификация не рекомендует использовать более пяти уровней вложенности, но, как я писал, каждый плеер может вести себя по-своему.

Итак, Wrapper обязательно должен содержать ноды AdSystem, VASTAdTagURI и Impression. Про AdSystem и Impression мы уже говорили, а в теге VASTAdTagURI как раз и содержится ссылка на следующий VAST:

VAST с тегом Wrapper:

 <VAST version="3.0">
  <Ad id="SWFt">
    <Wrapper>
     <AdSystem>Our AdSystem</AdSystem>
     <Impression><![CDATA[https://adserver.com/track/impression]]></Impression>
     <VASTAdTagURI><![CDATA[https://adserver.com/anotherVAST.xml]]></VASTAdTagURI>
    </Wrapper>
  </Ad>
 </VAST>

Ремарка: VAST может содержать либо тег InLine, либо Wrapper, но не оба тега сразу.

Заключение

В этой статье мы с вами шаг за шагом построили VAST и рассмотрели основные теги, которые он содержит. Вы можете подставить свои урлы и проверить его валидность, например, в Video Suite Inspector от Google.

Полезные ссылки:

• Спецификация VAST 3.0 от IAB
• Примеры VAST’ов на гитхабе IAB

    open/close all folders 

Trolls

    Sovara Amalie 

(Encases her words in stage direction parantheses.)

(types in italics.)

(Uses proper punctuation in lower case.)

(Types in names such as ALBION in all caps.)

(Ocassionally uses owl emoticons u^u and ovo.)

    Dismas Mersiv 

He repl/ces the letter / and the letter / with sl/shes///

 /nd ends sentences with three sl/shes th/t resemble his sc/rs///

    Arcjec Voorat 

XDXD Types with perfect grammar and punctuation. XDXD 

XDXD Places XDXD at the beginning and end of his sentences. XDXD

    Jentha Briati 

Tends to s stutter a bit on k key words

Stutter i i increases the m m m more a anxious s s she is

    Ellsee Raines 

SpΣaks with thΣ tonguΣ of thΣ vivifiΣr. Replaces 'e' with 'Σ'

All punctuation is upsidΣ down¡¡

    Albion Shukra 

*types*by*putting**'s*between*her*words*.

    Serpaz Helilo 

All of her words are in the comic sans font which is described as a "funny inflection" in her voice.

    Laivan Ferroo 

Splits and ends his sentences with a dash- so it allows him to breathe-

It differs when its a new sentence- He capitalizes the first word-

    Occeus Coliad 

    Tazsia ‘Taz’ Poemme 

~She begins and ends her sen+ences wi+h a +ilde and replaces +'s wi+h plus signs~

~She also CAPI+ALIZES words some+imes for emphasis~

    Murrit Turkin 

>([places an old television around every sentence]

>([replaces 'h' with # to represent television static]

>([doesn't use capital letters])

>([uses memes, slang, references, insults and nicknames on the reg, ya dig?])

    Calder Kerian 

He does not use a typing quirk of any sort because he sees it as silly and useless.

Ancestors

     The Annalist 

     The Unknown/The Forgiven 

     The Vivifier 

     The Exemplar 

     The Jagerman 

     Acerigger Switchem 

     Caesar Consceleratus Persolus 

Other Characters

    White Noise 

     Weird Al 

     Edolon 

     Sestro 

     Hamifi 

     Rogi 

     The Dead Shufflers 

VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) is a script that allows communication between video players and ad servers. Publishers can give details to the video player about the necessary parameters of ads and how they should be displayed.

VAST has been a standard for serving and tracking video ads, but VAST errors signal about problems in these ads and can bring extra hassle for publishers when dealing with them.

Read this article to learn about all of the most common VAST errors and how to prevent or solve them!

Table of Contents:

• What are VAST Errors?
• How Can I Create a VAST Error Report?
• VAST Error Code Types And How To Fix Them
• Fatal Error Codes
• Potentially Non-fatal Error Codes
• Best Practices to Follow to Avoid VAST Errors

What are VAST Errors?

VAST errors indicate malfunctions between the ad server and video player communication due to wrong ad sizes, missing information, or other technical issues. 

They can be divided into “fatal” and “potentially non-fatal” errors.

How Can I Create a VAST Error Report?

Here are 8 steps on how to create a VAST error report through Google Ad Manager: 

1. First, navigate to Reporting → Report and click “New report”.

1. Set the type of report to Historical with a date range. 

1. Click on Filters (optional): 
   • Click on the Request type.
   • Select is any of. 
   • In the search field, type or select Video Tag. 
   • Click Apply.

1. Add the following report dimensions:
   • The type of line item associated with the creative that serves the ad slot request.
   • The name of the line item.
   • The name of the ad unit (top-level). 

1. Select the following metrics from the “Total” section:
   • Total code served count–number of times Google Ad platforms (Google Ad Manager, AdSense, etc.), as well as third-party networks, responded to an ad request. 
   • Total impressions.

1. Select Total error count from the “Video viewership” section.

1. Select all error codes in the “Video errors” section.

1. Run your report.

It’s important to note that VAST error reporting is available for VAST 3 and up.

Fatal Error Codes

Fatal error codes most likely have stopped the ad from being served, leading to another ad being requested or the repeating of video content playback. 

100 – XML parsing error

VAST error 100 indicates a problem with the XML document or a failed VAST ad tag URL redirect. It can be the result of a faulty buyer’s response or an invalid XML document.

XML documents are text files that contain any form of structured data, which is necessary for data transport. VAST ad tag URL is used by a player to retrieve video and audio ads. 

How to solve it?

Publishers should alert the buyer to verify that the VAST XML is correctly formatted according to the IAB guidelines.

101 – VAST schema validation error

VAST error 101 indicates that the buyer’s response lacks XML’s attributes or contains unknown elements.

Some of the possible causes are shown in the image below, such as missing Ad node or MediaFile node, Duration missing, etc. 

Source: IAB Tech lab 

How to solve it?

Publishers should inform the buyer to assure that the VAST XML formatting contains all of the required information.

102 – VAST version of response not supported

VAST error 102 indicates that there are possible issues with the VAST version–the video player doesn’t support the bid request’s VAST version, or the exchange sends the wrong one.

There’s a possibility that the VAST doesn’t contain a version, and then it can be considered as a schema validation issue–the file is missing or has invalid information.

How to solve it?

Publishers should inform the buyer to ensure only supported VAST versions.

204 – Required ad category is missing

VAST error 204 occurs when an ad category was required but not provided.

How to solve it?

Make sure to include an ad category if it’s necessary. 

300 – General Wrapper error

VAST error 300 is considered to be a general wrapper error, which occurs when the wrapper limit is reached and it isn’t actionable.

How to prevent it?

There are steps you can take beforehand to avoid this error, like conducting a review of all VAST URIs (Uniform Resource Identifier) to ensure that they’re not timing out and remain reachable. 

301 – Timeout of VAST URI

VAST error 301 indicates a timeout of an unresponsive or broken URI inside a VAST creative. This could also be the fault of poor internet connection, non-optimized page, or HTTP serving to HTTPS. 

How to solve it?

To solve this error publishers can check the validity of the VAST URI to make sure that it’s reachable and without any faults, and increase the video player’s timeout limit.

Also, it’s important to check the internet connection to avoid request time-out, and check if there are no protocol issues.

302 – Wrapper limit reached

VAST error 302 is displayed when the wrapper limit has exceeded. Meaning, each video player often has a specific wrapper limit, and when it’s reached, this error is likely to occur. 

This error can also appear if there are too many wrapper responses received without an inline response. It might also be the cause of too many wrappers or daisy chaining–a loop of  networks bouncing to one another.

How to solve it?

• Increase the wrapper limit of your video player.
• Avoid daisy chaining, as that can cause too many redirects from a video player and cancel any ad request.

303 – No ads VAST response after one or more Wrappers

VAST error 303 appears when an empty VAST response is returned. It can happen when the ad request is contained in a third-party wrapper.

If you work with third-party networks, the offered fill rate is less than 100%, and the remaining percentage portrays the chance of an error occurring. 

For example, if the third-party promises 70% fill rate, then there’s a 30% chance of an error occurring.

How to solve it?

Publishers can resolve this by enabling fallback in Google Ad Manager with these 3 steps:

• Click on Admin, navigate to Video, and then click Video Settings.
• Enable Video Fallback.
• Save these settings.

To avoid this error you should ensure that the bids being returned don’t have an empty VAST.

304 – Fetch timeout 

VAST error 304 indicates that an InLine response returned ad unit failed to result in ad display within the defined time limit

How to solve it?

VAST Wrappers should be limited to five or within the defined time limit before resulting in an InLine response.

400 – General linear error

VAST error 400 indicates that the video player can’t display a linear ad (an ad that appears before, during, or after a pre-existing video content) due to an invalid MediaFile format, the browser’s autoplay restriction, or a different unknown reason.  

Linear ad example

How to solve it?

Publishers can try one of these 3 steps:

• Check if the video player has any issues.
• Enable video player detection for restricted autoplay.
• Contact the buyer, who must check that the VAST response is returning a valid creative. 

401 – File not found

VAST error 401 indicates that a file can’t be found from the MediaFile URI.

How to solve it?

Publishers should alert the buyer, who should ensure that all MediaFile URIs in the VAST response return a valid creative.

402 – Timeout of MediaFile URI

VAST error 402 resembles a timeout that can occur with a problematic media file. If the ad creative takes a lot more time to load, then there’s a high chance that this error might appear. 

VAST ad unit contains a creative that could have problems like large size and platform incompatibility. This error can be caused by low bandwidth or poor website ad implementation. 

How to solve it?

Publishers can optimize their website layouts to increase their page loading speed. You can ease this process by partnering with a monetization platform, like Setupad.

More possible solutions are increasing the video player’s timeout limit, and adjusting the bitrate serving specifically for mobile devices.

403 – Unsupported MIME types for all MediaFiles

VAST error 403 indicates that there have been unsupported MIME types for all available MediaFiles (e.g. WebM on iOS). This error is more common on mobile devices. 

It can also indicate that the wrong creative type attempted to play.

How to solve it?

Publishers should ensure that the creative format is supported by the video player, and buyers should ensure that all returned creatives approve the video format in the bid request.

405 – Problem displaying MediaFile

VAST error 405 occurs when a problematic creative is returned. Creatives can fail because of transcoding-related reasons, such as a mismatch between the MIME type and the video file type, or a CORS issue on the creative’s CDN.

How to solve it?

Publishers should alert the buyer, who must ensure accurate creative MIME types and CDN configurations.

406 – Missing required mezzanine file

VAST error 406 occurs when a VAST response is returned without the required mezzanine file. 

Publishers that rely on SSAI (server-side ad insertion) or ad-stitching require mezzanine files to generate higher-quality videos. 

How to solve it?

Publishers should alert the buyer to check if the mezzanine file is included in the response.

407 – Mezzanine is in the process of being downloaded for the first time

VAST error 407 indicates that mezzanine is in the process of being downloaded, which can take up to several hours. Until then the ad will not be served.

How to solve it?

This error will automatically stop once the mezzanine download and transcoding is finished.

408 – Conditional ad rejected

VAST error 408 occurs when the ad returned in the VAST response is rejected. 

How to solve it?

Publishers should alert the buyer, who must ensure that the VAST response only has approved creatives. Ad creative hosts (advertisers or agencies) should be aware of rejections.

409 – Interactive unit in the InteractiveCreativeFile node was not executed

VAST error 409 indicates that a creative defined in the InteractiveCreativeFile node doesn’t execute. 

How to solve it?

Publishers should alert the buyer, who must ensure that the returned interactive creatives play successfully when requested.

410 – The verification unit in the Verification node was not executed

VAST error 410 occurs when the code in the AdVerification  node (a feature of VAST 4) doesn’t execute.

How to solve it?

Publishers have to alert the buyer, who should check that the code is implemented according to the verification vendor’s specifications.

500 – General NonLinearAds error

VAST error 500 indicates that the video player is unable to display a non-linear ad for an unknown reason. 

Non-linear ad example

How to solve it?

Publishers should check for any video player issues, or alert the buyer, who must ensure that the VAST response returns a valid creative.

501 – Unable to display NonLinear Ad

VAST error 501 occurs when a non-linear ad fails to play because the creative’s dimensions are larger than the creative display area. It can also be the result of using CSS styles to set the video content’s dimensions.

How to solve it?

Publishers should ensure that the set width and height match the display area. Instead of CSS styles, use HTML attributes to set video content’s dimensions.

502 – Unable to fetch NonLinearAds/NonLinear resource

VAST error 502 occurs when the buyer’s response returns a non-linear ad that fails to return a valid creative.

How to solve it?

Publishers should alert the buyer, who must ensure that valid creatives are returned in the non-linear ad response. 

503 – Could not find NonLinearresource with a supported type

VAST error 503 occurs when a creative size is bigger than the player size, or it indicates an improper media type. 

How to solve it?

Publishers should check if the video player accepts requested creative sizes and media types.

900 – Undefined VAST 3 error

VAST error 900 is the result of an unknown VAST 3 error, which can stop the ad request.

How to solve it?

Publishers should alert the buyer, and work together to troubleshoot the exact issue.

901 – General VPAID error

VAST error 901 can be the result of:

• SSP VPAID wrapper timeout;
• SSP VPAID wrapper not buying;
• VPAID creatives required insecure mode;
• An Authorized Buyers “IMA adapter” tag is used with IMA SDK, and a VPAID ad is returned. 

How to solve it?

Publishers should ensure that any VPAID requests are supported for devices and players. Use video creative profiles to control and adjust which creatives are eligible to serve.

Potentially Non-fatal Error Codes

Potentially non-fatal errors may allow the ad to continue playing, as they indicate a problem in the application but don’t result in a crash.

200 – Video player expected different ad type

VAST error 200 can occur if a video player doesn’t expect or support an ad type requested in a bid request.

For example, the player supports linear ads but receives a skippable ad.  

How to solve it?

Publishers should check for trafficking errors, or alert the buyer, who should ensure that only specified ad types are sent in a response. 

201 – Video player expecting different linearity

VAST error 201 can occur when the linearity in the buyer’s response doesn’t match the video player’s request. 

For example, a linear ad was requested but a non-linear ad was sent in response.

How to solve it?

Publishers should ensure that the correct linearity is specified in the ad request.

202 – Video player expecting different duration

VAST error 202 can occur when the creative is returned with a different duration than specified.

For example, the actual MediaFile duration is 30 seconds, but a creative is sent with a 15 second duration.

How to solve it?

Publishers should ensure that the creative duration is set properly in Google Ad Manager.

203 – Video player expecting different size

VAST error 203 can occur when returned MediaFiles aren’t compatible with the device from which the bid request is sent. It can be the result of returning high bitrate creatives to mobile devices, which would be slow or impossible to load.

How to solve it?

Publishers should alert the buyer, who must ensure that the response includes MediaFiles compatible with different devices and technologies.

600 – General CompanionAds error

VAST error 600 occurs when a publisher is unable to display a companion ad. A companion ad is a display ad that appears around the video player and usually has a clear call to action.

Companion ad example

How to solve it?

Publishers should check for ad serving issues, or alert the buyer, who must ensure that the VAST response returns a valid creative.

601 – Unable to display companion because creative dimensions do not fit within Companion display area (i.e., no available space)

VAST error 601 occurs when the companion creative dimensions don’t fit within the companion display area. 

How to solve it?

Publishers should ensure that the requested companion ad size fits within the dimension of the ad unit.

602 – Unable to display Required Companion

VAST error 602 occurs when the publisher is unable to render the companion ad creative returned in the VAST response.

How to solve it?

Publishers should check for ad serving issues, or inform the buyer, who must ensure that the VAST response returns a valid creative. 

603 – Unable to fetch CompanionAds/Companion resource

VAST error 603 occurs when the buyer’s response returns a companion ad that fails to return a valid creative. 

How to solve it?

Publishers should inform the buyer, who must ensure that valid creatives are returned in the companion ad response.

604 – Could not find a Companion resource with a supported type

VAST error 604 occurs when a publisher requests an unsupported creative type for the companion ad slot. 

How to solve it?

Publishers should ensure that specific creative types are supported for the companion ad slot.

Best Practices to Follow to Avoid VAST Errors

To avoid possible VAST errors follow these 3 practices: 

• Ensure that DSPs scan all creatives before serving the ad to save time and resolve possible issues and errors.

• Collaborate with your SSPs, DSPs, ad network, and ad servers to improve the performance of your VAST creatives or partner with a monetization platform who will take care of this.

• Implement multiple media files with varying bitrates, so the video player can choose the best one for different network connection speeds.

Conclusion 

This guide includes all popular VAST errors and actionable tips to solve them. If you’re not technically savvy enough or don’t have a dedicated AdOps team, you can partner with a trusted ad provider that has video ad offering and who will solve any errors for you. 

Setupad offers in-stream video ads for publishers with existing video content and a video player. If publishers don’t have video content, we offer a video player that includes demand from all our partner SSPs (Google Adx, Rubicon, etc.) If there are any errors with the player, we immediately contact the video player provider to solve these issues.  

VAST error codes have disrupted video ad serving and left publishers with important time lost. Here are some common VAST errors and their resolution.

VAST error codes continue to disrupt publishers’ experience as they try to leverage video advertising for increasing revenue.

Whether or not to experiment with video advertising  has almost become an outdated question for a publisher. In order to maximise their revenue, publishers must focus on experimenting with programmatic video advertising, 

According to Cisco, 82% of the entire consumer internet traffic will be online videos by the end of 2022. It is evident that users consume video content more than other forms, giving publishers the opportunity to insert ads in between. 

But video advertising comes with its own set of challenges. Despite the technological advancements made in measuring a video ad’s performance, publishers still face error messages in VAST. These VAST error codes are mostly cryptic in nature and render publishers with important time lost. 

If publishers want their video advertising campaigns to succeed, understanding how to interpret and resolve VAST errors is important. 

What is a VAST error?

A VAST error can occur due to a number of reasons and is reported back in case any issue takes place. Ideally, after the code is served for a video ad, the user should be served with that particular ad. However, if the code served request leads to a VAST error, the issue is reported with a numerical code. 

On the basis of the type of VAST error that is reported, the video ad may or may not be served to the user. If the error reported back comes under the ‘non-fatal’ category, then the video player may still play the ad. On the other hand, a ‘fatal’ error will cause the video player to either request for another ad or abort the failed ad request. 

The table below classifies which VAST errors are fatal and which are non-fatal.

Here are some common VAST errors and how publishers can resolve them:

Common VAST Error Codes and Their Resolution

VAST Error 301

This error stands for Timeout of VAST URI. This VAST error normally indicates timeout of an unresponsive or faulty URI inside a VAST creative. However, ad tech experts have often associated a poor network connection or a very high level of latency as the primary causes for this error. 

VAST Error 302

This VAST error is displayed when the wrapper limit has been exceeded. The video player of the ad often has a pre-defined wrapper limit. Whenever that limit is reached, this error is likely to occur. This can happen if there are too many wrapper responses that have been received, but there is no inline response. Some other possible causes are the existence of daisy chaining (explained in the resolution for this error), empty VAST responses, and others. 

Publishers can possibly resolve this by the following solutions:

• To accommodate the creatives, buyers can work with SSPs or publishers to increase the wrapper limit. 
• Avoid daisy chaining which is the process in which ad calls are passed from one network to another. This can cause too many redirects from a video player before an actual media file makes a return, making the video player abort any ad request. 

VAST Error 303

This error generally occurs when an empty VAST response is returned. It is a common error when the ad request is generally contained within a third-party wrapper. Here’s how to resolve this:

Third-party networks often offer a fill rate of less than 100%. To assume the percentage of times that this error can occur, just consider the leftover % of the fill rate. For example, if the fill-rate promised by your third-party network is 60%, there is a 40% chance of this error occurring. The best way for publishers to resolve this is by enabling fallback in Google Ad Manager. This can be enabled by:

• Sign in to your Google Ad Manager account. 
• Click on Admin >> Video >> Video Settings. 
• Enable Video Fallback. 
• Click on Save. 

VAST Error 402

This error generally stands for a timeout that occurs when a media file is problematic. When the ad creative takes a lot more time than usual to load, then this error occurs. Normally the VAST ad unit contains a creative that has issues such as large size, incompatibility of the platform it is trying to serve at. This can be resolved in the following ways:

• Publishers can increase their page load speed by optimizing their website layouts. This can be done by partnering with an ad network (like AdPushup). 
• Another possible solution is increasing the video player’s timeout limit. 
• Adjusting the bitrate for serving on mobile can also solve this error.

Bonus: General VPAID Error

While this is a VPAID error, if video advertising is being considered, this is one of the most common errors that publishers come across. It is also known as Error 901 and often leaves publishers confused because it can have many different causes. Some of the possible causes are:

• An IMA Adapter Tag in Ad Exchange is used with the IMA SDK, but a VPAID ad is returned instead. Error 901 will be a fatal error here.
• VPAID wrapper timeout.
• VPAID wrapper is not buying video files.

Though the causes can be more than the above listed ones, there are some solutions on how to resolve this error. Publishers need to make sure that whichever VPAID creatives they are using are supported across all devices and video players. Whether or not a VPAID creative is eligible to serve can be checked in Google Ad Manager. Here’s how to do it:

• Sign in to your Google Ad Manager account.
• Click on Video >> Video Creative Profiles >> New Video Creative Profile.
• Configuration for the video creative profile is required. The criteria for this include Name, Restrictions, Bitrate, and Resolution. Setting bitrate is optional. Additionally, under Restrictions, if publishers are allowing VPAID, and a VPAID creative is served, setting a bitrate becomes redundant as ads at any possible bitrate can serve.
• Click on Save. 

Also Read: What is Log Level Data and Why Publishers Would Need It?

A List of All the VAST Error Codes

Even though we have already covered the most commonly occurring VAST error codes, there are a plethora of others as well. Here’s a list of all VAST errors and what they mean:

We have picked this information directly from the IAB’s wiki for VAST error codes. For more information, you can read here. 

Best Practices for Publishers to Follow

While publishers can individually do VAST troubleshooting for these errors whenever they occur, the best solution would be to make sure that these errors never occur. Here are some best practices that publishers can follow:

• Collaborate with your SSPs, DSPs, ad network, and other partners to consistently improve the performance of your VAST creatives. An ideal scenario would be for the VAST error codes to never occur. This will allow seamless ad serving, resulting in increased revenue. Work with your partners to understand the problems that are incessantly causing these errors. 
• Always make sure that the DSPs scan the creatives beforehand. This will also benefit them and resolve error-causing issues prior to ad serving.

FAQs