adTag does not play on iOS

[Arnaud Leyder]

Hi IMA team,

I have one problematic tag: https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?sz=640x480&iu=/135011247/Biografie.directmobile.preroll&impl=s&gdfp_req=1&env=vp&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&url=[referrer_url]&description_url=[description_url]&correlator=[timestamp]

Basically it plays on Desktop Chrome, Chrome for Android but it does not play on iOS Safari. I tried it on an iPad with iOS 10.2.1 and a customer tried it on iPhone 7 with latest iOS and we are not able to see the ad. Another user claims he was able to see the ad on an iPhone 6 Plus. I can see the same issue on your vast inspector.

What I see in the log is: 

[Log] ae {type: "adError", target: Eq, h: Eq, l: false, Rc: true, …} (rmp.debug.js, line 15)
[Log] RMP: ADS getErrorCode - 1009 (rmp.debug.js, line 15)
[Log] RMP: ADS getMessage - The VAST response document is empty. (rmp.debug.js, line 15)
[Log] RMP: ADS getType - adLoadError (rmp.debug.js, line 15)
[Log] RMP: ADS getVastErrorCode - 900 (rmp.debug.js, line 15)

I am wondering if there is anything on the IMA SDK side that could prevent playback of this adTag on iOS or if it is completely a server-side issue. I am thinking there could be an issue with the VASTAdTagURI tag but I cannot figure what it is.

Any hint will be appreciated.

Thanks

Arnaud

[Chris Feldman (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Arnaud,

I did not have an issue playing your tag in our VSI on iOS in Safari. I should note that your tag returns a different response on each request. If possible, can you determine the specific VAST response that you're having issues with?

Regards,

Chris Feldman

IMA SDK Team

[Arnaud Leyder]

Ok so I find the root cause of this issue.
The this.adsManager.isCustomPlaybackUsed() method returns false on iOS 10 iPhone. I am almost 100% sure that this.adsManager.isCustomPlaybackUsed() returned true on iOS 10 iPhone until very recently.
On iPad iOS 10 or iPhone iOS 9 this.adsManager.isCustomPlaybackUsed() returns true (as expected and explained here https://developers.google.com/interactive-media-ads/docs/sdks/html5/custom-playback).
This new behavior is causing muted autoplay of IMA ads to break on iOS 10 iPhone while it works on iPad iOS 10.

Can you confirm something changed with the CustomPlayback on iOS 10 iPhone recently?
Is there a way to force use of custom playback on iOS 10 iPhone?

Thanks
Arnaud

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[Chris Feldman (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Arnaud,

I was able to replicate your issue. I'm not positive it's related to the customPlayback discrepancy but we'll investigate. I've reported this to the rest of the team and will let you know as soon as there are any updates.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Regards,

Chris Feldman

IMA SDK Team

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[Arnaud Leyder]

Sorry for the double reporting. Both issues could very well be unrelated but I stumble upon the second one while debugging the first.
For us the customPlayback discrepancy issue is much more important as it has a direct impact on all our users. I can open a new thread if you want to better track it. The initial issue with the adTag is now secondary as it is a specific use case and could be a server side issue.

Thanks
Arnaud

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[Chris Feldman (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Arnaud,

I haven't yet been able to reproduce the issue that you described with isCustomPlaybackUsed() returning incorrectly. Under what exact circumstances are you seeing this issue, and with what tag? 

Are you seeing the same behavior in our HTML5 Advanced Sample? Let me know if you continue to have issues.

Regards,

Chris Feldman
IMA SDK Team

[Arnaud Leyder]

Hi Chris,

Yes I am seeing the same issue with HTML5 Advanced Sample.
In order to reproduce it:
- Change to <video id="content" playsinline> (line 51 in index.html)
- Change to this.application_.log(this.adsManager_.isCustomPlaybackUsed()); (insert at line 157 on ads.js to print logs)

Take an iPhone 6+ with latest iOS 10. See that this.application_.log(this.adsManager_.isCustomPlaybackUsed()); prints false. Without playsinline property it prints true.
It actually seems that it is not only a reporting issue but that custom playback is not used in this case on iPhone in this configuration.

There is also a mention of this issue here: https://developers.google.com/interactive-media-ads/docs/sdks/html5/community?place=msg%2Fima-sdk%2FKd8skSGLYFc%2F3am3D_z7BgAJ
Can you confirm that IMA SDK HTML5 is supporting the playsinline attribute on iOS? Or should we stay away from it for the moment?

Also - and I know I am not the only waiting for this - but we really want to have a well-formed mute/unmute API for mobile with IMA SDK HTML5 to allow for muted autoplay of ads.

Thanks
Arnaud

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[Chris Feldman (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Arnaud,

I'm going to set up my own sample to recreate these conditions and run some test cases. I'll have to follow up with you tomorrow. Thank you for coming back with the extra information.

Regards,

Chris Feldman

IMA SDK Team

[Chris Feldman (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Arnaud,

I recreated the sample with your tag and the changes that you described. I'm still seeing "Custom Playback: True" in my log statements when I test on iOS 10. Can you test with my sample page? Let me see if you see the same thing.

Also, for muted autoplay, you can use the <video muted> HTML5 element. The SDK should also register the muted state when volume is set to 0.

Regards,

Chris Feldman

IMA SDK Team

[Arnaud Leyder]

The correct attribute is playsinline not playsline for the HTML5 video element.
Also we should test with this adTag https://www.radiantmediaplayer.com/vast/tags/inline.xml which is good for testing as this one https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?sz=640x480&iu=/135011247/Biografie.directmobile.preroll&impl=s&gdfp_req=1&env=vp&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&url=[referrer_url]&description_url=[description_url]&correlator=[timestamp] is not likely to be filled 100%. 

Thanks
Arnaud

[Chris Feldman (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Arnuad,

Good catch, I had a typo in my implementation. I was able to replicate the custom playback issue and I'll bring this to the rest of the team for us to investigate. I'll let you know as soon as I have any updates. Thank you for bringing this to our attention

Regards,

Chris Feldman

IMA SDK Team

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[David]

Is there news on this issue yet?  I am still seeing this issue in some cases.  playsinline on IOS10.

[Chris Feldman (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi David,

A fix has been submitted for this issue and should go live with the next SDK release. In this scenario, the SDK will go back to using custom playback by default with iOS 10 and above. You can follow our release notes for more information about the change, and to see when it goes live.

Regards,

Chris Feldman
IMA SDK Team