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Create and Manage Ad Units

Learn how to create and configure Ad Units in the Sovrn Ad Management platform. 

Creating Ad Units

Ad units can be created manually, copied from an existing ad unit, or uploaded. If your ad units are child ad units in your GAM as opposed to top level ad units, you will need to use the Upload option. 

Changes made in Ad Units will not be live on the site until the working version you are editing is deployed. We recommend reviewing instructions for Editing and Deploying Versions prior to updating Settings.

Create a New Ad Unit

  1. Click Ad Manager, then Ad Units 

  2. Click + Ad Unit 

  3. Enter an Ad Unit Name

  4. Configure the Ad Unit Settings

Copy an Existing Ad Unit

  1. Click Ad Manager, then Ad Units 

  2. Click the copy icon next to the Ad Unit being copied

  3. Update Ad Unit Name

  4. Update Ad Unit Settings if desired

Upload Ad Units

This is the best option for uploading ad units that already exist in GAM, or bulk adding new ad units. This option must be utilized if you are adding child ad units as opposed to top level ad units from your GAM.

  1. Click Ad Manager, then Ad Units 

  2. Click Upload Ad Units

  3. Click Download the Template

  4. Paste ad units from a GAM export into the template, or fill it out with information for new ad units.

    1. Use the code column to indicate the full ad unit path if it is not a Top level ad unit (i.e. domain/desktop/ad_unit_1)  

    2. You will also need to upload any parent ad units included in the path in a separate row 

    3. Example Formatting: 

      rtaImage (12).jpeg
  5. Upload the file.

NOTE: Ad units will also be created in the linked GAM account upon upload if they do not already exist. Updates to the Description and Placement columns for existing ad units will also be reflected in GAM.

  1. Click the edit icon next to each uploaded ad unit and configure Ad Unit Settings. At a minimum, breakpoints and creative sizes must be added to the ad unit Size Map for ads to serve.

Ad Unit Settings

By default all ad units will inherit the global settings configured on the Settings page. Any changes made within the ad unit will override these global settings.

Details

Type 

Indicates which Ad Unit type is being created. 

  • Standard Display (Most Common) - an ad unit running standard IAB display sizes.

  • Anchored Display - an adhesion ad unit that is “sticky” to the bottom, right or left side of the screen. 

    • Recommended sizes for bottom adhesion are 728x90, 970x90 and Sticky Horizontal on desktop, and 320x50, 300x50 and Sticky Horizontal on mobile.

    • Recommended size for right or left adhesion is 160x600 on desktop.  

  • Slider - an adhesion unit, most commonly used for outstream video, that is “sticky” to the corner of the screen.

    • Recommended size is 400x300 (a video size). On desktop, 300x250 display is also supported.

Ad Tags

There are two options for implementing the Ad Unit tag on page.

  •  Div (Most Common) - copy the predefined code snippet and add to the page where the ad should appear.

  • Custom Target - enter CSS to target the ad unit to an existing div already on the page.

NOTE: Ad tags can also be downloaded in bulk by clicking the Download Tags button on the top of the Ad Units page.

Size Mapping 

Define which ad sizes can be loaded into the ad unit at a specific screen width. Click Add Width Break to add each breakpoint for the site layout, and select which sizes should serve at each breakpoint.

rtaImage (13).jpeg
  • Screen Width - indicates the minimum screen resolution at which the associated sizes are eligible to show.

  • Possible Ad Sizes - standard IAB display sizes are available for selection, as well as some specialty sizes to utilize for adhesion and native formats. Read more about available sizes.

  • Use Flex - when enabled, ad slots are dynamically inserted based on the ad space available and the value of the bids in the bid pool.  For example, if an ad unit has both a 300x600 and 300x250 added to the Size Map and Use Flex enabled, two 300x250s could potentially serve into the ad unit if the cumulative value of their bids is greater than the value of the 300x600 bid. 

    rtaImage (14).jpeg

Behavior

Lazy Load 

Enable Lazy Load to delay ad render for ad slots below the fold. This can improve viewability and performance metrics.

  • Render Margin - indicates the vertical distance away from the viewport an ad unit must be to render the ad, set as a percentage of the viewport height. For example, if the user?s browser window is 800px in height and the Render Margin is set to 200%, the ad will render when it is within 1600px of the bottom edge of the viewport. 

Auto Delete

Enable Auto Delete to automatically delete ad slots when they are scrolled out of view. This can help improve page performance on long format articles or infinite scroll layouts.

  • Scroll Margin - indicates the vertical distance away from the viewport an ad unit must be to be deleted from the page. For example, if the user’s browser window is 800px in height and Scroll Margin is set to 200%, the ad unit will be deleted once it is more than 1600px away from the top edge of the viewport. 

Refresh

Enables automatic, time-based refresh of in-view ad units.

  • Refresh interval - the minimum time (in seconds) the ad unit must be on page before it is eligible to refresh.

  • Maximum refreshes - the maximum number of times a given ad unit may be automatically refreshed

 NOTE: Ads can also be manually refreshed on the page using the function:

CODE
ProperMedia.ad_project.refreshSlotByName('slot_name') 

The refresh settings above should not be used if ad units are being manually refreshed using this function.

Ad Disclosure 

Displays the word “Advertisement” above or below the ad unit. Clearly labeling ad units can help prevent accidental clicks on ads.

Rules

Price Floors

Sets the minimum bid required for the ad unit. Bids from header bidder demand partners below this value will not be used. Click Add Size to set a floor for a specific creative size.

 NOTE: This floor will be sent to header bidder demand partners. A corresponding price floor will need to be created in the publisher GAM to apply these floors to AdX.

URL Rules

Creates rule groups to define the conditions under which an ad unit should display, based on URL and/or pageview count.

You can make rules to exclude ad units or only show ad units on specific URLs or when particular URL parameters are present. 

  • For URLs, only include the main domain, do not include the http or www (i.e. sovrn.com)

  • For URL parameters, include the entire parameter but not the “?”.

For example, if you are passing the UTM Source “newsletter”, and you would like to exclude an ad unit from pages containing that parameter, set up the rule as follows:

rtaImage (15).jpeg

 Page View Count Rules

You can make rules to only show ad units above or below a specific session depth. For example, if you only want the user to see an ad unit on the 4th page view of their session and above, set up the rule as follows:

rtaImage (16).jpeg

Need more help? 

If you still have questions, please reach out to admanagement@sovrn.com.

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