Test tags and troubleshoot live issues for in-stream or VPAID

Follow the steps below to test your tag before you send it to publishers, or to troubleshoot live issues after you send the tag to publishers. This ensures that your in-stream audio, in-stream video or VPAID creatives can render properly on your publisher's audio or video player.

Test tags with the Video Suite Inspector

1. Visit the Video Suite Inspector page.

2. Copy the URL of a tag for a placement that has your creative. Paste the URL into the input field.

3. Select the VAST tag radio button. Click Test Ad.

4. Does your creative render properly?

   Yes. You're ready to send the tag to your publisher's site.

   No. In that case, your tag will not work on your publisher's site, either. Open your campaign in Campaign Manager 360 to make sure your creative has been trafficked correctly.

Note that in-stream audio creatives will play audio in the Video Suite Inspector with a blank screen. 

Before you test tags in the Video Suite Inspector, make sure your tags meet the following criteria:

• You generated the tag more than 15 minutes ago. New tags usually take around 5 minutes to propagate, but may take as long as 15 minutes.

• If you're using an in-stream creative, it must include at least one of the main video assets: MP4 or 3GP. In your in-stream video creative properties, under Serving files, check the Include in serving column. Set at least one of the serving files (MP4 or 3GP) to ON.

• The creative status is active.

• Your creative is assigned to an active ad.

• Your active ad is assigned to a placement.

• The ad targeting settings allow you to view the ad. For example, if you target an ad to a different time, location, or browser, you won't meet the targeting criteria and the tag will not load your creative in your VAST inspector.

Best practices for testing tags in the Video Suite Inspector

• Check the following properties:
  • Events are firing properly and in the correct sequence
  • The video quality is high
  • Any companions load

Troubleshoot common serving issues

My video plays in the Video Suite Inspector, but not on the publisher's site.

• Ask your publisher to check tag implementation with their support team (publishers on Google Ad Manager sites can contact Ad Manager support).

• Ask your publisher to contact their video player platform support team for steps to enable the player to load videos with VAST tags.

The incorrect video file or a file with poor video quality is called by the publisher’s player

Check your creative to see if the required transcodes are available in the Serving files section.

If they are, make sure that the format and resolution of your asset meets the publisher’s video specification.

My pre-fetch tag is not serving any assets

If your pre-fetch tag is not serving assets, there are a few things to check:

• Ensure both the creative’s source file and serving files are correctly turned on or off based on the publisher’s video specifications.
• Check that there’s an untargeted ad associated with your placement.
• See if you have any ad blocking set on either the site, campaign, or placement.

There are no Active View metrics recorded for my creative

In-stream video, VPAID, and in-stream video redirect creatives may have reduced availability for features that rely on VPAID, such as Active View and Campaign Manager 360 Verification, based on how the publisher serves video ads. For these creative types to support measurement, you must have Active View enabled in in-stream video placement settings.

• In-stream video creatives: Available if the publisher supports VPAID or uses the IMA SDK to serve video ads.

• In-stream video redirect creatives: Available if the publisher supports VPAID or uses the IMA SDK to serve video ads. You also need to set the VPAID measurement adapter in your placement in-stream video settings to "On" and cannot use the “Let Campaign Manager 360 decide” option. This prevents Campaign Manager 360 from sending a blank tag if a publisher does not support VPAID..

• VPAID creatives: Available if the publisher supports VPAID or uses the IMA SDK to serve video ads.

You can check with your publisher to see if these features will be available for their site.

If your creative is eligible for Active View and you don’t see any data, check that the site is enabled for Active View by checking their site properties. Navigate to Trafficking > Site Properties > Settings and make sure that "Active View and Verification for video ads" is checked. You'll also need to check that the specific placement you're troubleshooting has Active View enabled. Navigate to Campaign Manager 360 Trafficking > Impacted placement > In-stream video settings and see if the "Active View and Verification for video ads" toggle is ON or OFF. 

The publisher is unable to control the video resolution

Check what transcodes you have enabled in the Serving files section of the creative and if they meet the publisher’s video specification.