Audio creatives are audio ads that play in a publisher’s digital audio player. They are handled similarly to video creatives, except they only have audio and no video component.
About VAST for in-stream audioDisplay & Video 360 uses the Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) standard to serve audio ads. This is the same standard used for video and VPAID content. Audio VAST content is audio-only and doesn’t contain any video media files. Even though they both use VAST, you can’t add audio files to video creatives or video files to audio creatives.
Display & Video 360 is VAST 2.0, VAST 3.0, and VAST 4.0 compliant. Always check the IAB’s specifications (2.0, 3.0, 4.0) to see what features are available on each version of VAST.
The Digital Audio Ad Serving Template (DAAST) is not supported.
If your audio creatives are hosted on an ad server other than Display & Video 360 or Campaign Manager 360, you can add them to Display & Video 360 using third-party audio VAST tags.
The raw audio asset you upload to Display & Video 360 is known as your source file. Display & Video 360 will also transcode your asset. Transcodes are alternate versions of your source file that have different formats or properties, each designed for specific audio players or bandwidths.
Your source file plus any other versions are all serving files. These serving files each have the same audio content as your original asset, just in different formats or with different properties.
When there are multiple serving files, the publisher's system can choose the best version of your asset for each impression, based on factors such as device type, connection speed, and the audio player on the site.
You can assign image or HTML5 creatives to display around the publisher’s audio player. These are delivered in the same VAST tag as your serving files. Companions serve while the audio content is playing and remain after the content has completed.
When you assign a creative as a companion, it doesn't act the same as a regular creative. Only the image or rendered HTML is shown in the audio player. All landing page URLs in the companion will be overwritten with the landing page URL you provide for the audio creative.
- Companion creatives must be hosted by Display & Video 360 (you can't assign a creative synced from Campaign Manager 360 as a companion).
- Responsive, data-driven, and rich media creatives cannot be assigned as companions.
- Campaign Manager 360 tracking ads are not supported for audio companions.
Create a companion when you upload your audio creative
To save time, you can upload both an audio creative and a companion creative at the same time. Follow the steps below to add an audio creative, then instead of assigning an existing creative as a companion, upload a new companion creative asset. When you create a companion in this way, the creative will be saved as a separate creative in your advertiser.
Creative name
The name of the new companion creative will be a combination of the uploaded file name and the audio creative's name. For example, if the uploaded filename is "MyCompanionCreative.zip" and your audio creative is named "MyAudioCreative", the new companion creative will be named "MyCompanionCreative - MyAudioCreative". If the resulting creative name is longer than 256 characters, the audio creative name will be shortened to meet this maximum.
Landing pages
The new companion creative will inherit the landing page of the audio creative. Any existing landing pages in the creative asset will be overwritten.
Upload an audio creative into Display & Video 360
You can upload an audio creative directly into Display & Video 360 and assign existing display creatives as companions. Before you get started, review the Audio guidelines for best practices on choosing the right audio clip and companion.
Add an audio creative-
Open an advertiser, then click Creatives in the left menu.
- On the page that loads, click New.
- Click Upload
Audio file.
Note: If you have a third-party VAST tag instead of an audio file, follow the audio VAST tag steps instead. - In the Assets panel on the right:
- Drag the audio file you want to use for this creative from your computer and drop it over "Drop file here".
- Or click Upload, then select the source file from your computer.
- Audio creatives hosted by Display & Video 360 can be up to 1 GB, but some inventory sources may have lower file size limits. See Guidelines for audio creatives for more information.
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Enter a landing page URL, beginning with
http://orhttps://. If you're using a click tracker URL that redirects to your final landing page URL, enter this here. -
(Optional) Add a companion creative to show alongside your audio ad in supported audio players.
When you assign a companion, take note of the following:
- Landing page URLs set in companion creatives will be overwritten with the landing page URL you set for the audio creative.
- Responsive creatives are not supported.
- Companion creatives must be hosted by Display & Video 360 (you can't assign a creative synced from Campaign Manager 360 as a companion).
- Campaign Manager 360 tracking ads are not supported for audio companions.
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To assign a creative that's already been uploaded to your advertiser, click Assign, then select the creative you want to use and click Select.
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If you haven't uploaded the companion to your advertiser yet, click Upload, then select the source file from your computer. After you save, this asset will be saved as a separate creative in your advertiser and assigned as a companion to your audio creative.
- At the top, click Creative details. Enter a name for the creative in Display & Video 360.
- After you add a source file, you’ll see information in the Serving files section as transcodes are generated. You can save and leave this page to work on other things while the transcodes are processing.
- (Optional) To add third-party tracking URLs, click Serving properties, then click Add URL and select the type of URL you want to include. You can enter multiple versions of each type of URL. Don’t include any HTML tags in the third-party URL field.
- (Optional) To add an integration code or notes, click Additional details.
- Save. After saving is complete, you can preview your audio file in Ad Canvas.
Audio file.Available third-party tracking URLs
- Impression: Tracks impressions.
- Click tracking: Tracks clicks. This URL is for tracking only. If you're using a click tracker URL that redirects to your final landing page URL, enter this as the landing page URL in the "Assets" section of the creative.
- Start: Tracks the number of times a user starts playing content.
- Frst quartile: Tracks the number of times the content plays to 25% of its length.
- Midpoint: Tracks the number of times the content plays to 50% of its length.
- Third quartile: Tracks the number of times the content plays to 75% of its length.
- Complete: Tracks the number of times the content plays to the end.
- Mute: Tracks the number of times a user mutes the content.
- Pause: Tracks the number of times a user pauses the content.
- Rewind: Tracks the number of times a user rewinds the content.
- Full screen: Tracks the number of times a user expands the player to full-screen size.
- Stop: Tracks the number of times a user stops the content.
- Custom: Tracks the number of times a user performs a custom click, such as clicking on a hot spot.
- Skip: Tracks the number of times a user skips the content.
- Progress: Tracks an optional time marker agreed upon with the publisher.
When you upload a file, Display & Video 360 processes it in two ways:
- Display & Video 360 validates the asset to make sure it works, and may generate a more efficient version.
- Display & Video 360 transcodes the asset into a number of alternative versions that use different file formats or have different properties (resolution, audio bit rate), each designed for specific players or bandwidths. These transcodes give a publisher's system more options to choose from for each impression on your audio creative and ensures that the appropriate file serves based on the viewer’s connection and screen size.
You can find all of the transcodes in the Serving files section of your creative. You’ll see a status next to each transcode:
| Transcode status | What it means |
|---|---|
| The transcode is in progress. This should only take a few minutes. If it takes more than an hour, try uploading the source file again. | |
| The transcode is complete and ready to serve. | |
| There's an issue with the transcode that must be fixed before it can serve. |
Upload to YouTube
- After you upload your creative to Display & Video 360 and save it, go to the Creative details tab.
- Click YouTube uploads.
- Select a YouTube channel. If you can't select a channel, make sure the Google Account you use with Display & Video 360 has manager or editor permissions for the YouTube channel you want to upload to.
- Enter a title for the video on YouTube.
- Enter a description for the video on YouTube. For video attributions, use the following format:
[Channel Name]|[Video Title]|[Video ID]
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Select the privacy setting for the video on YouTube. Note: Only Public or Unlisted video privacy settings are supported when you upload from Display & Video 360.
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Select a companion asset with a 16:9 aspect ratio. If you don't select a companion asset, a black background will be used instead.
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Click Upload to YouTube.
The video will be created and uploaded to YouTube, and you'll see the YouTube URL. You can copy this URL to use it in other campaigns.
About YouTube uploads
- If the video is private, you'll only be able to see the YouTube channel name and video title if you have edit permissions for the YouTube channel it was uploaded to.
- If you make a change to the creative in Display & Video 360, you can upload the creative to YouTube again, and a new video and URL will be created. You can't edit or remove existing YouTube video uploads from Display & Video 360.
Preview an audio creative
You can open a preview to listen to audio creatives and make sure they work correctly. If you just saved the creative, you might need to wait a few minutes for the audio to be processed before you can play it.
- Open an audio creative.
- Click Preview or
. If the audio creative has an Ad Canvas tab, hover over the preview area, then click Preview
. A preview of your audio ad opens in a mobile streaming app preview. Most audio inventory is available through audio streaming apps, so this preview is the closest to what people will see and hear when your ad serves.
- Find the audio player controls at the bottom of the device screen. Click play to hear your audio file. You can also pause or adjust the volume. How to test creative events
- Preview companion creatives, if assigned. Open the Companion size menu to select a different companion. In mobile preview mode, companion creatives are only visible while the audio is playing. If you have multiple companions and want to see them all on one page, use the Preview mode menu to switch to assets preview.
Frequently asked questions
What audio file formats does Display & Video 360 support for hosted audio creatives?Display & Video 360 can host .mp3 and .ogg audio creatives.
Google Marketing Platform uses Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) specifications to format audio creatives.
| File type | Audio bit rate (kbps) |
|---|---|
| MP3 | 312 |
| OGG | 192 |