IMA HTML5 SDK Videoslot

[Zameer Rehmani]

Hi there!

We are using IMA HTML5 SDK to implement VPAID JS.  On Android 4.0+ it seems that IMA SDK does not play the ad inside the videoslot provided to it by the player.

Is there any way to explicitly force it to play it inside the videoslot given to it?  As of now - it seems to play inside its own video element.

On iOS devices, it seems to play in the videoslot that the player gives it but not on Android....

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

thanks,

Zameer

[Vu Chau (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Zameer,

Currently there is no way to force the ad to play in the video slot that you provide.  The ad will be played inside the video element provided by the SDK that proxies all call to the actual video element.  The reason we do this is to allow for automatic ad playback on mobile. 

Why do you need the ad to play in an external video slot?  If you could elaborate on your use case, perhaps we could find on a workaround.

Thanks,

Vu Chau

IMA SDK Team

[Zameer Rehmani]

Hi Vu,

First as per the IAB specs, as VPAID creator we are required to play the video ad inside the video slot given to us by the client video player.

So that makes it difficult to negotiate with third party vendors when any issues arise because they blame us for not following the rules so to speak.

One such issue we are facing with is in attaining a certificate from a third party vendor that will allows us to play our ads via VPAID in their video ad ecosystem.

They specifically require us to play the video ad inside the video slot they provide so that they can access the video slot for their own purposes.

For now - they will not give us a certificate to play our ads on Android.  Any workarounds will really help.

thanks,

Zameer

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "Interactive Media Ads SDK" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/ima-sdk/oysRgnjyPC4/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to ima-sdk+u...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to ima...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/ima-sdk.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Vu Chau (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Zameer,

If any third-party player provides a video element to the SDK, then the video proxy will forward all calls and refer to that video element.  The behaviors across the spectrum should be the same.  By design, we have chosen to pass in a proxied video element because we want to play the ad in a secure iframe.  Even though that is not to spec, the other option (i.e. passing in a new video element) would cause the ad not to play on mobile without a user click.  The video proxy and the provided video slot behave the same, so your vendors can trust that transparency.  We currently don't have a way to force it otherwise.

When the publisher enables INSECURE VPAID mode in their player, then everything will be to spec and there should be no problem. All you need to do is setVpaidMode(INSECURE).

Vu Chau

IMA SDK Team

[Daniel Deychak]

Hi Vu,

Is there a requirement that needs to be met for the custom video element. I do see that the opt_videoElement needs to be a type of HTMLVideoElement. I guess this means a custom html5 element may not be used that attempts to implement the same interface? 

https://developers.google.com/interactive-media-ads/docs/sdks/html5/v3/apis#ima.AdDisplayContainer

[Vu Chau (IMA SDK Team)]

Hi Daniel,

There is no requirement as far as I know (provided you follow the instructions outlined).  

On desktop, we will use our default video player, so you won't have to worry about passing in your custom player.  If you are on the mobile web, the SDK will use your custom video player.  If you don't have separate sites for desktop and mobile users, then we recommend passing in the custom player as a safe measure, and the SDK will decide based on the current platform.  

Only one player will be used, so there should be no issues with duplicated interface.

Vu Chau

IMA SDK Team