Advertising Troubleshooting Checklist

In this topic, you will learn about common issues associated with advertising in Brightcove Player and how to resolve these issues.

Introduction

When integrating ad solutions with Brightcove Player, it is important to determine where an error occurs. Walk through the steps below to help determine where the issue is happening.

If you are new to advertising concepts, review the Learning Guide: Video Advertising

This topic covers two types of advertising. Choose the one that you are working with:

Once you complete the steps below and you still can't resolve the issue, then please open a support ticket.

Client-side advertising (IMA3 VOD)

If you are working with client-side ads using IMA3, walk through these steps:

Check ad tag URL

First, you want to make sure your ad tag URL is setup correctly and functioning properly.

  1. Load the ad server URL (aka ad tag) in your browser to see if it looks ok.
  2. Google provides a set of sample ad tags. Copy an ad tag URL and paste it into a browser to see the XML code.
  3. In a browser, navigate to the IMA HTML5 Video Suite Inspector.
    Video suite inspector
    Video suite inspector
  4. Enter your VAST or VMAP ad tag without header bidding into the text field.
  5. Click Test Ad.
  6. You should see your ad playing in the Video Player area.
  7. If this does NOT work, here are some possible reasons:
    • An issue with your ad server
    • Ad targeting parameters are too specific to return an ad
    • You don't have any default/fallback ads when ad targeting fails to find an ad

Check ad events

You can also use a Brightcove demo page to see the Brightcove IMA3 SDK events associated with your ad tag URL.

  1. In a browser, open the Brightcove IMA3 Plugin Demo.
  2. In the Tag input area, enter your ad tag URL.
  3. Click Reload Player.
  4. Start video playback.

  5. You should see Brightcove IMA3 events and Brightcove Analytics events being displayed.

    Brightcove IMA3 Plugin Demo
    Brightcove IMA3 Plugin Demo

Test in standalone player

If your Ad Tag is correct and working in the previous steps, then build a standalone page with a Brightcove player and see if it works as expected.

  1. In Video Cloud Studio, navigate to the Players module and create a new player or use the default player.
  2. In the left navigation, click Advertising.

  3. Select Enable Client-Side (IMA) and enter your ad tag URL.

    Studio CSAI
    Studio CSAI
  4. Click Save.
  5. Click Publish & Embed and then click Publish.
  6. Copy the Advanced code and paste it into a simple HTML page.
  7. If your ads play, then continue.

Test header bidding

If you are using header bidding, make sure you are performing tasks in the correct order to avoid race conditions. A good way to isolate an issue from a complexity of code is to start with a simple sample.

  1. Open the Jump Start: Header Bidding Ad document.
  2. Enter values for your Video Cloud Account ID and Video ID.
  3. Click Build the Player.
  4. If this works, click Copy Code to Clipboard.
  5. Restructure your code to perform tasks in the following order: (you can paste the code from the Jump Start which is in this order)
    1. Load prebid
    2. Load Brightcove Player
    3. Load IMA3 plugins
  6. Test the new structure of code.
  7. If this works, modify the code in your .js file in the same way.

Ads still not playing?

If your ads are still not playing, please submit your issue.

Server-side advertising (SSAI VOD)

If you are working with server-side ads with VOD, walk through these steps:

Check ad tag URL

First, you want to make sure your ad tag URL is setup correctly and functioning properly.

  1. Load the ad server URL (aka ad tag) in your browser to see if it looks ok.
  2. Google provides a set of sample ad tags. Copy an ad tag URL and paste it into a browser to see the XML code.
  3. In a browser, navigate to the IMA HTML5 Video Suite Inspector.
    Video suite inspector
    Video suite inspector
  4. Enter your VAST or VMAP ad tag without header bidding into the text field.
  5. Click Test Ad.
  6. You should see your ad playing in the Video Player area.
  7. If this does NOT work, here are some possible reasons:
    • An issue with your ad server
    • Ad targeting parameters are too specific to return an ad
    • You don't have any default/fallback ads when ad targeting fails to find an ad

Test in standalone player

If your Ad Tag is correct, build a standalone page with a Brightcove player and see if it works as expected.

  1. In Video Cloud Studio, navigate to the Players module and create a new player or use the default player.
  2. In the left navigation, click Advertising.

  3. Select Enable Server-Side (SSAI) and select your ad configuration.

    Studio SSAI
    Studio SSAI
  4. Click Save.
  5. Click Publish & Embed and then click Publish.
  6. Copy the Advanced code and paste it into a simple HTML page.
  7. If your ads play, then continue.

Ads still not playing?

If your ads are still not playing, please submit your issue.

Submit your issue

Gather the following information and share it with the support team.

  1. Take note of OS/browser/version where the issue occurs.
  2. Does the issue happen across several devices/networks?
  3. Include information on the testing you have done above.
  4. Log files from the standalone test will be helpful:
  5. Use the following to enter your issue to the support team: