Overview

This article explains the troubleshooting tools you can use as a customer if you see inappropriate ads displayed on your website/app or if you need more details about ads blocked in your network.

Transparency report - web

As a workaround, you can disable the Third-Party Storage Partitioning parameter to be able to use the transparency report in Google Chrome:

• open Chrome
• visit the Flags page, copying this URL into your browser : chrome://flags/#third-party-storage-partitioning
• set the flag to Disabled.

Even though Equativ works with great care and sophisticated tools to ensure ad quality, you may see unwanted/malicious ads on your websites. To investigate such ads, you can create the transparency report for web ads:

• open the URL of the transparency report in the browser where you saw the unwanted/malicious ad; keep in mind: the browser must allow Equativ’s cookies, i. e. the browser must accept third party cookies; mobile browsers tend to be more restrictive in terms of third party cookies acceptance than desktop browsers; therefore it is more likely that the transparency report does not work in a mobile web browser than in a desktop browser
• since the transparency report relies on Equativ’s cookies, do not delete your cookies before opening the transparency report
• the transparency report will list the last 50 RTB impressions in the browser with the following details (columns):
  • Timestamp - the timestamp in UTC time
  • Bid - the ID of the bid 
  • Page - the page Id sent in the ad request
  • Format - the format Id sent in the ad request
  • Adomain - the domain of the advertiser whose ad was served
  • Equativ Creative ID - Equativ’s internal creative Id

With the Adomain from the transparency report, you can block the advertiser right away by creating a delivery rule as explained in chapter “Blocking advertiser domains” in the Ensure ad quality: ad blocking article. Once you have run the transparency report, reach out to your main point of contact at Equativ and provide:

• all the details from the transparency report
• a description of the issue, e.g. rendering issues, functionality problems, erroneous categorization, fraudulent activity etc.; in case of inappropriate ads, add a short explanation why the ad is inappropriate
• any additional information that might be relevant, such as:
  • screenshot of the ad
  • logs of http sniffers/debugging tools (e. g. HttpWatch or Chrome DevTools)
  • details about the device, operating system and browser
  • patterns according to which the ad is shown
  • details about the geolocation (country where the ad is shown)

Transparency report - in-app

Even though Equativ works with great care and sophisticated tools to ensure ad quality, you may see unwanted/malicious ads in apps that use Equativ’s in-app SDK. To investigate such ads, you can create a transparency report for in-app ads (banner and interstitial placements). The transparency report works in apps with Equativ’s in-app display SDK (Android/iOS) version 7.1 or higher. 

• once you see the ad, hold two fingers on the ad content until the “Equativ transparency report” dialogue appears 
• enter the reason for which you want to send this report: Layout issue, Missing ad, Undesirable ad, Malicious ad or Other (in case of Other, provide details in the according field)

• once you have made your choice, click Report this ad and share your report per e-mail; the e-mail draft contains: reason you selected previously, app name, app bundle id, OS name, OS version, platform (device model), Equativ SDK version, screenshot of the ad (attachment), json ad response (attachment)
• add any relevant details for the selected reason beneath “Please add additional info here” e.g. rendering issues, erroneous categorization, fraudulent activity, why an ad is undesirable etc.
• add any other information that could be relevant or useful, such as:
  • logs of debugging tools (e. g. HttpWatch or Chrome DevTools)
  • patterns according to which the ad is shown
  • details about the geolocation (country where the ad is shown)
• finally, send the e-mail

End-user creative feedback

End-users can also provide feedback on creatives displayed on a website. To provide the feedback, the end-user clicks on the according button located on the creative and chooses one of these options:

1. The ad is covering the page content.
2. There is no ad shown here.
3. The ad is inappropriate.
4. The ad is malicious.
5. I am not interested in this ad.
6. This ad is not appropriate for my age.

The end-user then sends the feedback to Equativ, which evaluates it and takes appropriate measures. Note that the feedback is stored temporarily but deleted permanently after 30 days. 

Bid status in RTB health 

You can use the RTB Health tool to determine statistics about how often creatives are blocked and the reasons why they are blocked. In the RTB Health tool, you can set these filters to refine your investigation: time frames, deals, RTB insertions, partners and buyers.

From the bid statuses indicated by the RTB Health tool, you can draw conclusions about the reasons why creatives are being blocked. The relevant bid statuses are:

• New advertiser (not yet audited) - the advertiser has been blocked by Equativ, because it is new and not yet audited
• Sensitive Advertiser Blocked by Equativ - the advertiser has been blocked by Equativ because it is sensitive
• Creative belonging to sensitive category blocked by Equativ - the creative has been blocked by Equativ because it belongs to a sensitive category
• Sensitive Creative (malware...) blocked by Equativ - the creative has been blocked by Equativ because it is sensitive (e. g. malware)
• Sensitive Buyer blocked by Equativ - the buyer has been blocked by Equativ because it is sensitive
• Sensitive Creative blocked by Equativ Quality Tool - the creative has been blocked by Equativ’s quality tool
• Invalid Admarkup - the creative’s markup (code) is incorrect