VPAID js problem with adsManager.start()

[klim...@tiscali.it]

Hello,

I have a problem with a Vpaid js creative. If the adsManager.start() method is invoked in the ADS_MANAGER_LOADED event callback then everything is fine:

// Initialize the ads manager. Ad rules playlist will start at this time.
adsManager.init(640, 360, google.ima.ViewMode.NORMAL);
// Call start to show ads. Single video and overlay ads will
// start at this time; this call will be ignored for ad rules, as ad rules
// ads start when the adsManager is initialized.
adsManager.start();

If the adsManager.start() method is invoked later than the creative becomes unclickable.

// Initialize the ads manager. Ad rules playlist will start at this time.
adsManager.init(640, 360, google.ima.ViewMode.NORMAL);
// Call start to show ads. Single video and overlay ads will
// start at this time; this call will be ignored for ad rules, as ad rules
// ads start when the adsManager is initialized.
setTimeout(function() {
    adsManager.start();
}, 2000);

Inspecting the HTML generated by the SDK in the two cases I could find the following difference inside the iframe with source "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/loader12.html":

Synchronous (clickable) case:

<div id="slot" style="height: 360px; cursor: pointer;">

Asynchronous (unclickable) case:

<div id="slot" style="height: 0px; cursor: pointer;">

Is there anything I can do to make it work in the asynchronous case?

Thanks!

[klim...@tiscali.it]

Some more details and test page:

- I'm using the HTML5 SDK

- If the setTimeout() interval is small (100ms) the ad is clickable

- Test page: http://test.vvvvid.it:8082/vhtml/test/imatest2.html

[Chris Feldman (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi,

I'd like to determine whether or not your issue is related to your VPAID creative or our SDK. Can you test your implementation with one of our sample VPAID tags and see if it exhibits the same behavior? If our tags work correctly, I'd ask that you reach out to your creative provider as the issue is likely coming from the VPAID ad.

Regards,

Chris Feldman

IMA SDK Team

[klim...@tiscali.it]

Hi Chris,

thanks for your response. I could not find any javascript VPAID creative in the sample tags. However I verified the problem with two different javascript VPAIDs: the first one is a Moat wrapped ad which is currently online on our site, the second is a test VPAID I found online (http://rtr.innovid.com/r1.5554946ab01d97.36996823;cb=347838465783). Both of them exhibit the same behavior.

I modified the test page so that you can now specify the VAST URL to use. If you prefere me to do more tests please send me a tag url with a js vpaid.

Regards,

Francesco

[Chris Feldman (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Francesco,

After some testing, I was able to replicate your issue. Like with your page, the clickthrough on my page doesn't initialize when a 2 second delay is introduced between init and start. That page was based on our Simple Example. However, when I based my page off of our Advanced Example, the same 2 second delay didn't cause any issues. I'm going to bring this to the rest of the team to investigate what's causing the discrepancy, but in the meantime I suggest trying to emulate the implementation used in our Advanced Example. As it is more robust, the Advanced Example is likely to better suit your needs anyway.

I'll let you know if we make any progress in determining why the simple page is having issues with this particular workflow. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Regards,

Chris Feldman

IMA SDK Team

[Chris Feldman (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Francesco,

I have to amend my answer a bit. It looks like this issue only arises when VPAID mode is set to ENABLED, or not set at all. Everything works fine with VPAID mode set to INSECURE. I realize now that my Advanced Example based test page was INSECURE, while the Simple Example test page did not have a VPAID mode set. Our team also determined that when the issue does arise, the ad is still rendering it's click elements, it's just rendering them with size 0x0. This is an issue with the ad itself, which you'll have to resolve with your creative provider.

To get this working right now, you have a two options. You can either use INSECURE mode for VPAID, or if that isn't an option, you can use ENABLED mode if you keep init and start together. Is there a reason you have to have the two calls separate? You could delay both and then call them back to back at a later time.

Let me know if you continue to have issues.

Regards,

Chris Feldman

IMA SDK Team