Getting Started
Purpose
This guide walks through how to deploy the OVA for Flowplayer plugin.
Contents
- Minimum Runtime Requirements
- An End-To-End Overview
- A Simple Example
- Ad Types
- Analytics
- Javascript API
- Using the Javascript Playlist Controller
- Debugging OVA
Recommended Reading
Stay Up To Date
The OVA team uses a number of mechanisms to help keep everyone abreast of the latest developments:
- Twitter - follow us @openvideoads
- Forums - Follow and share in the discussions on the OVA Forums
- Developer Site - Join the OVA Developer Site and gain access to the most recent news and release candidates
1. Minimum Runtime Requirements
The OVA for Flowplayer Plugin requires:
- A 3.2.x version of Flowplayer that is 3.2.5 or higher (the latest version is always recommended)
- A VAST compliant ad server/network to serve video ads
2. Setup
The successful deployment of an effective video advertising solution requires an efficient Ad Server that manages the task of initiating, running and reporting on a video advertising campaign while the video player sequences and plays back the video ads identified by the Ad Server.
The following diagram illustrates the end-to-end video advertising solution using OVA for Flowplayer.
To deploy your own solution you will need to run:
- Flowplayer (3.2.5 or later)
- The Open Video Ads (OVA) plugin for Flowplayer. This plugin is an Actionscript 3 Flash SWF that is loaded by Flowplayer at runtime to facilitate the scheduling and playback of video advertising against a set of show streams. The OVA for Flowplayer plugin can be downloaded from the OVA Developer Site. You must first register on the developer site (found at http://developer.longatilvideo.com/ova) to gain access to the release packages listed on the "Download the Latest" page.
- A VAST complaint Ad Tag delivered from a VAST compliant Ad Server. Two options are possible here:
Open Video Ads supports any VAST 1.0 or 2.0 compliant ad servers. In addition, a number of enhancements are supported for a range of specific VAST compliant video ad servers. The list of supported ad servers can be found here.
For further information on the VAST standard, please consult the What is VAST guide.
3. A Simple Example
The following example illustrates a linear, non-interactive pre-roll ad stream and supporting companion being delivered by OVA for Flowplayer. A single VAST ad tag is used to obtain the pre-roll and companion creatives.
The VAST ad tag is a static ad tag that appears as follows:
http://openx.openvideoads.org/openx/www/delivery/fc.php?script=bannerTypeHtml:vastInlineBannerTypeHtml:vastInlineHtml&zones=pre-roll:0.0-0%3D50&nz=1&source=&r=R0.05822725687175989&block=1&format=vast&charset=UTF-8
To run the pre-roll and companion provided by this ad tag, Flowplayer and OVA are setup as follows:
For a detailed walkthrough of the various OVA constructs demonstrated by this example, please refer to the Simple Example guide.
4. Ad Types
In the example above, a single linear ad stream is delivered as a pre-roll along with an accompanying companion ad that is displayed next to the player.
OVA is capable of delivering a wide range of VAST compliant ad types including:
- Pre, Mid and Post-Roll Linear Ad Streams
- Pre, Mid and Post-Roll Linear Interactive (VPAID) Ads
- Static Non-Linear Overlay ads such as images, html, text, javascript, iframe and non-VPAID SWF creatives
- Interactive Non-Linear Overlays ads running VPAID
- Static Non-Linear Non-Overlays ads such as images, html, text, javascript, iframe and non-VPAID SWF creatives
- Companion ads that may accompany either the primary linear or non-linear ad units
An illustration of these ad types can be found in the Supported Ad Formats guide.
To understand how to configure OVA to deliver pre, mid and post-roll linear ad types, please review the Delivering Linear Ads guide.
VPAID ads are explored in the Delivering VPAID Ads guide.
To understand how to configure OVA to run overlays, please consult the Delivering Non-Linear Ads guide while the OVA configuration requirements for companion ads are explored in the Supporting Companions guide.
5. Analytics
A key element of the VAST standard is Ad Tracking
OVA fully supports the VAST requirements for tracking performance by firing the specified VAST impression and tracking events during ad playback.
For a detailed account of how OVA supports the tracking of ad performance, please consult the VAST Tracking guide.
In addition to the standard VAST tracking mechanism, OVA also supports the use of Google Analytics to independently collate and report on ad performance metrics. To understand how to configure OVA to support Google Analytics, please review the Using Google Analytics with OVA guide.
6. Javascript API
To help support a wide range of deployment options, OVA supports a Javascript API. To understand how to use this API, please consult the OVA API guide.
9. Using the Flowplayer Javascript Playlist Controller with OVA
Flowplayer provides a Javascript based "playlist" management plugin that allows users to choose clips from a visual playlist and have the player play them.
If OVA is configured to run along with the Javascript playlist plugin, the ads will appear in the playlist by default. This is not ideal behaviour. Ideally we want just the shows to appear but have the ads automatically play if a show is selected.
To achieve this, a modified version of the Javascript plugin is required. This modified plugin is provided in the '/dist/js' directory of the OVA for Flowplayer download package that can be obtained from the OVA Developer Site.
7. Debugging OVA
To help setup and monitor OVA performance, OVA is capable of being configured to output a wide range of debug information to the browser's Javascript console.
It is important that you become familiar with how to debug OVA when setting it up. This will help to considerably reduce the amount of time it takes to diagnose configuration and runtime issues.
To learn how to debug OVA, please consult the Debugging OVA guide.