OVA Tags with several Ads

Hi Alexander,

This is a really tricky one. I'm not surprised that you couldn't get it right.. Here's the config:

Things to note about this setup:

1. Best run RC7 now - there was a bug with the mid-roll repeating that was fixed in RC7 - I'm not sure if it impacts your case but best use RC7 to be safe (RC7 is the development trunk)

2. "oneAdPerRequest":false tells OVA that all ad slots are coming back in one request

3. "repeat":3 repeats the mid-roll position three times

I've tested it. Here's your setup running:

Hope that helps :)

Paul

Hi Paul,
Thanks for that answer, it works great!

What I wonder, however, is if it's possible to combine all of these Ads? If I repeat the mid-roll 3 times, then the player will show "This advertisement runs for XX seconds", then again "for YY seconds" and again "for ZZ seconds". I'm looking to be able to chain these Ads into one mid-roll if you know what I mean.

To explain that tag I used in the example,
2se_break, 2se_midroll etc are the "content units", so this Ad provider will return Ads matching these content units and if I repeat 2se_midroll 3 times in the EAScu_keys, it will return me 3 mid-roll Ads.

So that whole tag is basically what I use for all mid-rolls, but for pre-rolls and post-rolls there are different content units used, so a different tag must be used as well. So that "repeat" is sort of done by repeating the content unit in the call.

Hopefully that sheds some light on why I want to "chain" the ads returned from 1 call.

BR Alexander

Hi Alexander...

Gotcha.. it's a nice idea, but unfortunately OVA can't do that at the moment.

The primary reason why it's not an easy thing to just turn on in OVA is that OVA pulls the duration for the ad notice from the metadata. It could use the VAST values and add them together and start with that, and then adjust that total as the metadata is picked up, but unfortunately it doesn't currently work that way.

I've logged to ticket here with the request for an enhancement. I do like the idea...

http://developer.longtailvideo.com/ova/ticket/335

Sorry it's not an easy answer for you..

Paul

Hi again,

I wasn't looking for an easy answer, those are no fun ;)

Thanks for opening that ticket. From the top of my head I don't see it as a difficult implementation in the form of an option, sort of like "trustVastDurations", since it is up to those who book these ad campaigns to input correct durations or their services will not show proper countdowns.

Adjusting the total duration by adding metadata along the way is great too, but perhaps should be optional? Let's say someone inputs wrong duration somewhere and the timer jumps from 5 sec to 1 sec in the end. I for one am more used with ads ending when the countdown still has a few seconds on it, rather than seeing a countdown be adjusted. However that could be another option in the config, "adjustCountdown" or similar.

Anyway, thank you so much for the support. Is it possible to subscribe to that ticket so I can find out when it has been resolved or if there are any further questions I might be able to help with on the subject?

~Alexander

Hi... added the extra suggestions to the ticket. Some good ideas there.

If you drop me your email address to enquiries@openvideoads.org I'll add you as CC to the ticket. We've temporarily disabled open access to the ticketing because we were getting hammered daily by SPAM engines posting silly ads... we'll get it turned back on soon with a better anti-SPAM mechanism...

Paul