Purpose
In the ever-changing world of digital advertising, it can be hard to keep up. Understanding the nuances of display specs is crucial for advertisers to ensure that their files meet the necessary requirements to run everywhere. This page outlines Innovid’s display requirements and relevant definitions.
The differences between Standard and Rich Media display
Standard display creative:
- A single .html, .gif, .png, or .jpg file format of usually 200K or less
- Can be static or animated
- Contains no video
- Usually contains a single click-through covering the entire ad unit
Rich media creative:
- Usually exceeds 200K
- May use multiple files
- May contain video
- May include detailed tracking metrics on user interactivity
- Contains multiple click-through links
- May contain other special features (product carousel, store locator/map etc)
Required display specs
Innovid uses the IAB spec to determine whether the ad weight is compatible with the ad size. Note that the spec validations for display should be used as a recommendation. The IAB spec is a standard in the industry, but there are publishers that are less strict than IAB and still approve creatives below these requirements.
Below is a list of IAB standard file sizes that Innovid supports:
Fixed Size Ad Specifications
| Ad Unit Name | Fixed Size (px) |
|
Billboard |
970x250 |
| Smartphone Banner | 300x50 or 320x50 |
| Leaderboard | 728x90 |
| Super Leaderboard/Pushdown | 970x90 |
| Portrait | 300x1050 |
| Skyscraper | 160x600 |
| Medium Rectangle | 300x250 |
| 20x60 | 120x60 |
| Mobile Phone Interstitial | 640x1136 or 750x1334 or 1080x1920 |
| Feature Phone Small Banner | 120x20 |
| Feature Phone Medium Banner | 168x28 |
| Feature Phone Large Banner | 216x36 |
Check out the official IAB specs available here.
Uploading a custom size
- In the “Campaign Creatives” section, upload a display asset.
- In the Display Upload pop-up window, a dropdown menu will appear for Dimensions. If this list does not contain the needed dimensions of the asset, the text box at the bottom can be used to create a new dimension.
- Any new dimensions that were used and weren’t on Innovid’s dimensions list will be added to the list automatically for future use but only for the specific campaign.
Threshold: Innovid validates the ad weight determined by the dimension of the creative. This is called the threshold, which consists of an initial load and subload.
-
- Initial load: Minimum files necessary for completing the first visual of the ad (usually the Polite Image)
- Subload: Includes the rest of the creative content usually, it refers to the Primary Asset
Ad threshold requirements vary according to ad dimension. The official IAB specs, available here, list the compatible thresholds.
Best practices and requirements for display
Upon uploading your creative display unit to Innovid's platform, please provide a URL for the unit to click out to. Innovid will apply this URL across the entire creative.
Note: If your creative contains any additional interactive elements like button rollovers, clickable elements like buttons, hotspots, etc, and requires more than 1 click tag, then you will be required to include Innovid's Open Creative API. Including the functions from this API will disable the main click tag applied when uploading your creative to Innovid's platform so that your interactive elements remain interactive, clickable, and reportable. Or, if you'd like to include video assets in your display banner, please check out our page on Building Display Ads With In-Banner Video.
Additional requirements:
- Make sure a 1px border or stroke is applied to all creatives - this is a requirement by all publishers and an IAB recommendation
- Monitor file size and make sure that it adheres to IAB display specs
- When implementing multiple click tags, please make sure that any labels are named intuitively/readable for reporting purposes. The same goes for labeling any interactive events
- Innovid does not require a backup/fallback image, but a polite load image may be uploaded in the same dimensions as the ad size - 300x250, 728x90, 160x600, etc.
- The polite image is loaded before the HTML content, so only includes either the background image or the contents of the first frame before any animation
Audio ad spec
Digital audio ads are usually 15 to 30 seconds long and are, in many cases, accompanied by a companion banner. By consolidating audio inventory with Innovid, clients enjoy a streamlined launch process and one unified platform to track all of their digital media. Innovid supports audio ad serving via a VAST tag. Where VAST tags are not accepted due to audio publisher limitations, Innovid is happy to implement 1x1s so that clients can still see standard impressions and, in the case of companion banners, clicks. Innovid’s audio ad requirements and specs are as follows:
Audio length:
- When uploaded to the platform, Innovid will flag any creative over 60 seconds in length as out of spec.
File type:
- Recommended: .mp3
- Note: When Innovid is 3P serving audio via VAST tags, the platform will encode the tag to include both .mp3 and .ogg versions of the creative.
File size:
- 6MB max
Audio bitrate:
- Through the trafficking process, Innovid automatically encodes the audio file bitrate to 160 kbps once trafficked in a VAST tag.
Companion banners:
- File type: .gif or .jpg
- Dimensions of the creative depend on the spec required by the publisher.
- Note: If served as 1x1s, the client can provide the publisher with the creative directly, or Innovid can send it along with the 1x1 tracking. If served through VAST, Innovid will traffic the companion banner along with the audio assets(s).
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