VPAID stands for Video Player Ad Interface Definition and was created by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Unlike VAST, it is composed of Javascript code instead of XML. VPAID ads are generally found within VAST responses. VPAID was initially introduced to enhance VAST by allowing for interactivity and measurement on video ads, something that VAST was not yet capable of doing. Essentially, by adding VPAID capabilities to its video player, a publisher will be able to capitalize and a larger number of ad opportunities.
Sample VPAID JavaScript from medium.com.
Examples of VPAID Functionality
- User click leads to an overlay that gives information on the different options available for a certain product.
- User click leads to a photo gallery of different images on a certain product.
- Ability to skip a video ad after 5 seconds of viewing.
- User click leads to a dynamic landing page based on the user’s geographical location.
Benefits of VPAID
- Interactivity. This allows for viewers to do things such as clicking into an interactive video ad to learn more within the player, or for a different message to be shown depending on where the user is.
- Measurement. This allows for the tracking of important ad performance metrics such as viewability, video completion rate (VCR), and clickthrough rate (CTR).
- Wider selection of ad types. With more ad types available for monetization, there is more competition for the same video ad opportunity. The increased competition ultimately leads to increased revenue for publishers.
Drawbacks of VPAID
- Issues with mobile app. Whereas mobile web and desktop environments typically support Javascript which is needed for VPAID, mobile app developers must purposely integrate Javascript in order to support VPAID functionality. An app’s SDK or video player needs to be capable of rendering the VPAID ad and all associated measurement events, but many apps are properly built for that.
- Ad reselling. Some arbitrage-based ad networks will purchase premium publisher content in the hopes of reselling it for a profit, all without the publisher’s consent. If the ad network doesn’t find a buyer to resell the inventory to, it can even use VPAID opt-out to leave the publisher with unmonetized inventory. Not only does this decrease publisher revenue, but it also hurts the user experience by slowing down load times with additional auctions.
- Tracker overload. Although the measurability functionality introduced with VPAID allowed advertisers to track performance, some advertisers went overboard and inserted too many event trackers into the tag. This led to an increase in page load time and an overall less satisfying experience for the users.
Looking to the Future
The IAB has released VPAID-I, a new interactive spec that will give publishers more control over VPAID inventory. The IAB has also released the Open Measurement Interface Definition and the OM SDK as a new way to support viewability measurement. There are 3 distinct facets of video advertising that the IAB hopes will be widely adopted as time goes on:
- Delivery through VAST 4
- Interactivity through “VPAID-interactive*” and “VAST Interactive Templates”
- Verification through Open Measurement
Sources
- https://digiday.com/media/what-is-vpaid/
- https://medium.com/varrando/what-is-vast-and-vpaid-how-about-a-vast-vpaid-video-player-dc157004b61f
- https://blog.smaato.com/to-vpaid-or-not-to-vpaid-the-dilemma-of-video-advertising
- https://www.spotx.tv/resources/blog/product-pulse/in-defense-of-vpaid/
- https://www.martechadvisor.com/articles/ads/making-mobile-vpaid-ads-mainstream/
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