Before you start

Before you start using the Video Ad Exchange (VEX) offer, make sure you:

• sign a direct contract with each third party SSP you intend to integrate
• sign the contract addendum with Equativ for the use of the Video Ad Exchange offer
• await activation of the VEX workflow in your network
• add the new parameter vex to all the ad requests you are sending to Equativ; this example shows a VAST ad request, with the vex parameter inserted among the query string parameters:

https://videoapi.smartadserver.com/ac?vex&siteid=557168&pgid=1694693&fmtid=27153&ab=1&tgt=&oc=1&out=vast4&ps=1&pb=0&visit=S&vcn=s&vph=[playerHeight]&vpw=[playerWidth]&vpmt=[playbackMethod]&skip=&mabd=[maxAdBreakDuration]&ctd=[contentDuration]&tmstp=[timestamp]

Creating a Video Ad Exchange campaign

To create a Video Ad Exchange campaign, go to the campaign list, click on New campaign and select the channel Video Ad Exchange. 

In the New campaign modal:

• specify a Name, for example “Video Ad Exchange - All SSPs”
• specify the Start and end date, for example the next 2 years
• Select an advertiser - or
• Create a new advertiser. It is recommended to create a separate advertiser for each partner you work with. This allows you to generate reports by advertiser—using the Advertiser report dimension—effectively providing a report for each partner. For more information about reports, see Create reports with Instant Report Builder and Analyze data with Instant Insights. In case of a new advertiser, define the Name and User group (more details in Manage users and user groups). Selecting an agency is not needed.
• click Create

Creating a Video Ad Exchange insertion

Within the newly created Video Ad Exchange campaign, you must create one Video Ad Exchange insertion for each third party SSP you want to integrate. The inventory (Site/Pages/Packs) declared in this insertion will then be monetized by the given third party SSP. To get started, click on + New insertion.  

General settings

• Define a Name, for example “Video Ad Exchange - [my third party SSP]”.
• Select the Cost Type CPM and specify, in the Rate field, the average CPM you expect for this third party SSP. This value will be used to prioritize SSPs against each other, if the insertions are on the eCPM priority level and if the actual CPM is not declared in the <Pricing> node of the VAST ad itself.
• The Additional information section is optional (see chapter “General settings" in the Create direct insertion: general settings and delivery article).

Delivery

• Start and end date / Start and end time / Time zone - fill in the appropriate information.
• Priority - the preselected eCPM priority is recommended and suitable for most implementations. It ensures that programmatic/direct guaranteed insertions (Normal, High, Exclusive) reach their target volumes. On the eCPM level, the Video Ad Exchange insertions can compete with each other based on the CPM retrieved from the VAST ad’s <Pricing> node. If no pricing could be found in the <Pricing> node, the effective CPM (revenue / impressions * 1000) is used as a fallback to determine the most profitable ad. The effective CPM is calculated based on the value you specified in the Rate field (see “General settings” above). 
• Advanced delivery parameters - usually not required for Video Ad Exchange insertions; more details in Create direct insertion: general settings and delivery.

Placements

• Select the Format Video - Linear (selecting Video - Non Linear is possible but since Video Ad Exchange monetization for non-linear video ads is rare, it is not covered in this help article) 
• Select the websites/pages/packs (for more details, see Create direct insertion: inventory
• If needed, select specific ad break types/positions - see Set video ad pod position targeting for more details

Creative template

In the Creative template section, keep the preselected [VIDEO] VAST x - WRAPPER LINEAR creative template. 

Creatives - Upload method

In the Creatives section, click on Add creative and select the Upload method Paste URL. 

Creatives - Settings

In the Settings section:

• define a Name
• paste the VAST URL from the SSP you intend to integrate into the Partner's VAST tag field. The VAST URL you paste here either returns a VAST XML ad directly (containing an <InLine> node with all the ad related information) or it may point to another wrapper or a chain of wrappers (max. 5 wrappers in total; if the 6th ad is not an <InLine> ad, the ad retrieval from the given SSP is aborted). ⚠️ Warning: to comply with the GDPR, the third party SSP located outside the European Economic Area (EEA) whose VAST tag you paste here must be a partner with whom data transfers are covered by a legal transfer mechanism (Standard Contractual Clauses signed between the third party SSP and Equativ). For a full list of partners, see Set up Video Ad Exchange: authorized partners. Integrating a VAST tag calling a SSP that is not on this list is in violation of the GDPR and in breach of Equativ’s contracts! Read more in Set up Video Ad Exchange: authorized partners.
• in the Max. ad duration field, add the maximum duration of ads returned by the given SSP
• click Add creative

Save and put online

Once all settings are made, click Save and put online to activate the insertion.