Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) is a specification defined and released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) that sets a standard for communication requirements between ad servers and video players in order to present video ads.
It is a data structure declared using XML.
VAST has 8 versions: 1.0 (deprecated), 1.1 (deprecated), 2.0, 2.0.1 (the schema version as the official VAST 2.0 schema), 2.6, 3.0, 4.0, 4.1 and 4.2.
Request In order to play a video ad in a video player, the video player sends a request to a VAST ad server.
It is a simple HTTP based URL that typically appears as follows:
https://www.example.com/?LR_PUBLISHER_ID=1331&LR_CAMPAIGN_ID=229&LR_SCHEMA=vast2-vpaid
Response The ad server responds with a VAST data structure that declares these parameters: The ad media that should be played How the ad media should be played What should be tracked as the media is played The companion ad that should be displayed alongside the master ad
For example, the above request returns the following response (trimmed): <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <VAST version="2.0"> <Ad id="229"> <InLine> <AdSystem version="4.9.0-10">LiveRail</AdSystem> <AdTitle><![CDATA[LiveRail creative 1]]></AdTitle> <Description><![CDATA[]]></Description> <Impression id="LR"><![CDATA[http://t4.liverail.com/?metric=impression&cofl=0&pos=0&coid=135&pid=1331&nid=1331&oid=229&olid=2291331&cid=331&tpcid=&vid=&amid=&cc=default&pp=&vv=&tt=&sg=&tsg=&pmu=0&pau=0&psz=0&ctx=&tctx=&coty=0&adt=0&scen=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.longtailvideo.com%2Fsupport%2Fopen-video-ads%2F23120%2Fwhat-is-vast%2F&cb=1259.192.118.68.5.0.690&ver=1&w=&wy=&x=121&y=121&xy=0b79&z2=0]]></Impression> ....... <Creatives> <Creative sequence="1" id="331"> <Linear> <Duration>00:00:09</Duration> <TrackingEvents> <Tracking event="firstQuartile"><![CDATA[http://t4.liverail.com/?metric=view25&pos=0&coid=135&pid=1331&nid=1331&oid=229&olid=2291331&cid=331&tpcid=&vid=&amid=&cc=default&pp=&vv=&tt=&sg=&tsg=&pmu=0&pau=0&psz=0&ctx=&tctx=&coty=0&adt=0&scen=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.longtailvideo.com%2Fsupport%2Fopen-video-ads%2F23120%2Fwhat-is-vast%2F&cb=1259.192.118.68.5.0.690&ver=1&w=&wy=&x=&y=&xy=]]></Tracking> <Tracking event="midpoint"><![CDATA[http://t4.liverail.com/?metric=view50&pos=0&coid=135&pid=1331&nid=1331&oid=229&olid=2291331&cid=331&tpcid=&vid=&amid=&cc=default&pp=&vv=&tt=&sg=&tsg=&pmu=0&pau=0&psz=0&ctx=&tctx=&coty=0&adt=0&scen=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.longtailvideo.com%2Fsupport%2Fopen-video-ads%2F23120%2Fwhat-is-vast%2F&cb=1259.192.118.68.5.0.690&ver=1&w=&wy=&x=&y=&xy=]]></Tracking> ....... </TrackingEvents> <VideoClicks> <ClickThrough><![CDATA[http://t4.liverail.com/?metric=clickthru&pos=0&coid=135&pid=1331&nid=1331&oid=229&olid=2291331&cid=331&tpcid=&vid=&amid=&cc=default&pp=&vv=&tt=&sg=&tsg=&pmu=0&pau=0&psz=0&ctx=&tctx=&coty=0&adt=0&scen=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.longtailvideo.com%2Fsupport%2Fopen-video-ads%2F23120%2Fwhat-is-vast%2F&cb=1259.192.118.68.5.0.690&ver=1&w=&wy=&x=&y=&xy=&redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fliverail.com%2F]]></ClickThrough> </VideoClicks> <MediaFiles> <MediaFile delivery="progressive" bitrate="256" width="480" height="352" type="video/x-flv"><![CDATA[http://cdn.liverail.com/adasset4/1331/229/331/lo.flv]]></MediaFile> ...... </MediaFiles> ...... </Linear> </Creative> </Creatives> </InLine> </Ad> </VAST>
See also Interactive Advertising Bureau
References
External links https://iabtechlab.com/standards/vast/