Step-by-Step: Implementing Advertising

This document provides a hands-on introduction to using the IMA3 Plugin to display advertisements in Brightcove Player.

Verify VAST tag

To be sure the VAST ad tag you have is valid with Google follow these steps.

  1. Obtain an ad tag. (If you do not have one, use the one that follows this step for demo purposes.) In this quick start it is assumed you have an ad that includes a pre-roll, but any inline ad will work. 
    https://solutions.brightcove.com/bcls/brightcove-player/vmap/simple-vmap.xml
  2. To verify the validity of your ad tag, be sure you have copied its URL and browse to the following page:

    Video Suite Inspector (clicking this link will cause the page to open in a new window or tab). If you are using the supplied URL from step 1, you will see the ad tag plays a pre-roll, a mid-roll at 5 seconds and a post-roll.

  3. Paste your ad tag URL into the Input type form input field.
  4. Click TEST AD and you will see your ad play, followed by the Google supplied video content.
  5. Be sure the test complete successfully, then proceed to the next section. If the test failed, you need to check your ad tag.

Enable advertising

Brightcove Player relies on the IMA3 Plugin to play VAST ads. To add said plugin to a player, follow these steps.

  1. Log in to Studio.
  2. From the Primary Navigation open the PLAYERS module and either create a new player or locate the player to which you wish to add advertising functionality.
  3. Click the link for the player to open the player's properties.
  4. Click Advertising in the left navigation menu.
  5. Check the Enable Client-Side (IMA).
  6. For the Ad Tag, enter the ad tag from above. For testing, you can use the following: 
    https://solutions.brightcove.com/bcls/brightcove-player/vmap/simple-vmap.xml
  7. Leave the other values as the defaults. Your Advertising section should appear as follows:
    studio advertising
  8. Click Save.
  9. To publish the player, click Publish & Embed > Publish Changes.
  10. To close the open dialog, click Close.

Publish video in player

You publish a video in the newly created player in the Media module. Once you associate the video with your player you publish the video and will then have access to three implementations in which to view the video in your player.

To publish a video your player, follow these steps:

  1. From the Primary Navigation open the MEDIA module.
  2. Select the video you wish to publish to your player. In the top row of buttons, select Publish and Embed and then Publish to web.
    studio select video
  3. From the select control, in the Select Player section of the page, choose your newly created player.
    studio publish
  4. You now have access to the three implementations of the player, Preview in browser, Standard and Advanced. Do not close this window as you will be clicking a link from it.
    studio see implementations

Assign video to player

The Video Content properties are used to assign video content to the player.

To configure the video content properties, follow these steps.

  1. Locate the Video Content section and click Edit.
  2. Add the rendition or renditions of your choice.
  3. Add a poster image. If you do not add a poster image the first frame of the video will be used.
  4. Do not set any dimensions for the video as this will be done via CSS in the page.
  5. Click Save.
  6. Follow the process to publish your player.

Test

Of course, you will want to be sure the ad is working in your player.

To see your add playing in your player, follow these steps.

  1. From the three implementations, click the Preview in browser link.
  2. Play the video and you will see your ad(s) play, followed by the video you assigned to the player.

Of course, you will want to be sure the ad is working in your player. In this case you will test using the preview version of the player so there is no need to wait for the player to actually be published. Although the publish time is not long, using the preview version of the player eliminates any confusion of something not working because the player has not completed publishing.

To see your add playing in your player, follow these steps.

  1. Near the top of the page select Embed Code & URL then Preview Player.
  2. Click the Player URL.
  3. Play the video and you will see your ad(s) play, followed by the video you assigned to the player.