Overview

Formerly named "HbbTV L Banner". The "L-banner HbbTV" creative template displays a non-linear, L-shaped ad along with video ads on connected HbbTV devices.

The video ad is streamed through regular terrestrial TV signal while the L Banner is served using the broadband connection of the TV.

The HbbTV L Banner format has been developed in cooperation with the TV solution provider Enensys: broadcasters upload and validate the L Banner ad to Enensys’ Adsreach system and leverage Equativ’s system to manage the ad decisioning. For instance, a brand’s video ad is served through the terrestrial TV signal and an L Banner advertising for local offers is served, using Equativ’s geo-targeting feature.

Before you start

The L-banner HbbTV format is for TV broadcasters (TV channels) only and requires a contract and account with Equativ’s partner Enensys. If you are using Equativ to manage internet-based video advertising (in-stream/out-stream video ads), then this ad format is not for you. To get started, please reach out to your Technical Account Manager at Equativ who will help you with the setup in Enensys’ Adsreach system and will walk you through the setup in Monetize.

Initial setup

Inventory setup (Equativ)

In the menu Administration > Sites & Pages in Monetize, you must create at least one website and one page with the “Video - Non Linear” format; you can add more granularity (e. g. individual website per TV channel, individual page per TV show etc.); read sections “Video formats” and “Video inventory” in the Create in-stream video insertion guide for more details.

Embed SDK setup (Enensys)

Enensys sets up an embed SDK and deploys it in the TV channel’s HbbTV app on TV devices; if the HbbTV is connected to the internet (broadband connection available), the embed SDK will call Equativ to retrieve the L Banner; this ad call contains all required information for Equativ to select and deliver the appropriate L Banner:

• the Ids of the site/page/format as set up in the “Inventory setup” step (see above)
• metadata (e. g. content category), retrieved from the terrestrial TV signal to call the appropriate L Banner
• other relevant information provided by the TV channel’s app that can be leveraged using Equativ’s targeting features (geographical data etc.)

Campaign management

Step 1 - L Banner configuration in Adsreach

To set up the L Banner itself:

• sign in to Enensys’ Adsreach system
• upload the ad’s assets
• validate/configure the ad: resizing to match the different TV devices; adding specific behavior of the ad such as expand effect or displaying the L Banner x seconds after the video ad started etc.

Once you are done with the L Banner configuration, you retrieve its JSON config file URL; you will later paste this URL in an insertion in Equativ’s UI to establish the link between both systems; the JSON config file contains all the parameters of the L Banner ad, including the URL of the creative etc.

Step 2 - Insertion creation

Sign in to Equativ’s UI and create an in-stream video insertion following the instructions in chapters “Creating advertiser and campaign” and “Creating insertions” in Create in-stream video insertion. Specific settings required for the L-banner HbbTV creative template:

• the Channel of the campaign/insertion must be set to Direct (at this time, RTB - including programmatic guaranteed - is not yet supported for the L-banner HbbTV format)
• in the Placement section, select the “Video - Non Linear” format

Step 3 - L-banner HbbTV creative template configuration

In the Creative template section, select the L-banner HbbTV creative template. If the creative template is not available, ask your Technical Account Manager at Equativ to enable it in your network. Paste the URL of the JSON config file you retrieved from Adsreach (see Step 1 above) into the L Banner config parameter field.

About the ad response

Your insertion will be called by the embed SDK if the given HbbTV device is currently online. Equativ will select and deliver this insertion if its placement and targeting criteria match with the ones passed by the embed SDK when it calls Equativ. The ad response Equativ sends is a VAST file where the JSON config file is embedded in a custom element <LBannerTV> (<Extension> node). Finally, the embed SDK in the TV channel’s app will interpret the VAST file, render the ad and fire the appropriate tracking pixels.

Step 4 - Targeting

In the Targeting section of the insertion, define the appropriate targeting criteria, e. g. geo targeting or Set video content metadata targeting targeting.