Flash is not supported in Ad Manager

Consistent with the actions of all major browsers, including Chrome, Flash technologies are not supported in Ad Manager in favor of HTML5, which is available on more devices and also offers improved security, reduced power consumption, and faster page load times.

Timeline

Flash was officially unsupported as of July 3, 2017.

• You can not upload Flash display or overlay creatives.
• You can not create or update Flash creatives through the API.
• You can no longer update Flash creatives through the UI.
• Any existing Flash creatives have stopped serving.
• Support has ended for our Flash IMA SDK. Google no longer works on bugs or issues found in the SDK.
• Support has ended for Flash VPAID in the HTML5 SDK.

Impact

The following categories of Flash creatives are impacted:

• "Flash" creative type
• "Custom" creative type only if a Flash file is uploaded as an Ad Manager hosted asset
• System creative templates
  • "Floating Flash overlay"
  • "Pop-up or pop-under window with Flash content"
  • "Flash banner with optional third-party tracking"
  • "Flash expandable"
  • "Flash pushdown"
  • "Flash with Google +1"
• Custom creative templates
  • Any creative template that includes a Flash file
• Any creative generated using templates that include a Flash file
• Ad Manager hosted video does not accept the following for upload:
  • .FLV files
  • VPAID .SWFs

Creatives with Flash assets hosted outside of Ad Manager are not impacted by these changes and continue to serve. This includes creatives served through a non-Google ad network or exchange.

However, these creatives are unlikely to render correctly on the user's screen because Flash support is ending for all major browsers. Best practice suggests you migrate all Flash creatives to a supported creative type. 

Fix impacted creatives

Take action to ensure your Flash creatives have been replaced by equivalent non-Flash assets. In some cases, this may require reaching out to the advertiser or agency for an updated creative. Once you have a replacement creative, you should make the following changes to the existing creative:

• "Flash" creative type
  1. Make an equivalent creative in an allowed format (for example, image, HTML5).
  2. Associate the new creative to running line items.
  3. Deactivate the previous creative.
• "Custom" creative type only if a Flash file has been uploaded
  1. Delete the Flash file from the creative.
  2. Update the creative code as necessary.
• Any creatives generated using templates that include a Flash file
  1. Choose a new creative template that doesn't use Flash and generate a new creative.
  2. Associate the new creative to running line items.
  3. Deactivate the previous creative.