Native ads are designed to complement the look and feel of publisher content. All native ad formats for Authorized Buyers adhere to the guidelines below. Some of the requirements shown are controlled by publishers, but provided here for informational purposes.
Required ad elements
Required elements for native ads include ad attribution, the AdChoices overlay, image elements, text elements, and other elements depending on the format.
Ad attribution and the AdChoices overlay are used to clearly mark native ads as advertisements, which are required so that users don’t mistake them for content. It’s important to understand the difference between the two:
1. Ad attribution
Ad attribution is controlled by the publisher and is not related to the ad components that are returned.
Publishers must adhere to the following:
- Ads must display one of the following attributions:
- "Ad" or "Advertisement"
- A badge that says "Ad" (minimum 15px height/width)
2. AdChoices overlay
If the buyer declares an AdChoices URL in the bid response, a standard AdChoices icon is added to the native creative and linked to this URL. If no AdChoices URL is declared in the bid response, the AdChoices icon will not be shown displayed in the ad.
Image elements
- Publishers are allowed to scale the image down without modifying the aspect ratio.
- Publishers are allowed to crop the image symmetrically by up to 20% in only one dimension (height or width).
Image padding
Authorized Buyers automatically adds padding to images that do not conform to the aspect ratio set in bid requests, preventing the image from becoming distorted. The added padding will always be grey colored and the image itself will never be cropped.
When an image that does not conform to the aspect ratio is detected, Authorized Buyers will cache the image URL for up to 24 hours. If the buyer resubmits the image with the correct aspect ratio and a new image URL, the image will not be subject to padding.
Text elements
- Text assets that are longer than the maximum character limit may be truncated and ellipsized by Authorized Buyers or the publisher.
- Font size must be consistent with other surrounding elements in the app.
Required elements by specific native ad format
- App install ad:
- Headline
- App icon
- Call-to-action (CTA)
- Content ad:
- Headline
- Body
Video native ads must be in the form of VAST URL. The VAST URL will be added to the video field.
Differentiation from content
Publishers are required to ensure ads are easily distinguishable from surrounding content by using one of the following methods:
- The ad has a distinctly different background color.
- The ad has a distinct border enclosing all four sides.
Prohibited
- Camouflaging ad elements as navigation controls in surrounding content
- Camouflaging ad attribution/label(s)
Additional policies
- Only the ad titles, URLs, CTA, and image assets can be clickable (no clickable "white" space)
- The background of the ad must be not clickable. If publishers use the image element as the background of the ad, the image must be not clickable.
Learn more about the native ad formats available with Authorized Buyers, or for detailed developer documentation, see the Authorized Buyers Real-Time Bidding (RTB) Protocol.