How Do I Report Bad Ads?
At Sovrn we strive to provide clean, high-quality ads to our publishers. However, occasionally bad ads do slip through and have to be removed.
Bad ads can refer to redirects, malware, in-banner video, and other related problems such as unwanted autoplay video ads. If you encounter an unwanted ad on your website, we can take the necessary action to block them ONLY IF the proper information associated with the bad ad is provided.
Here is how you can provide the information that Sovrn needs to block bad ads.
Sending an Ad Trace Report
There are many tools that publishers use to keep tabs on bad ads. One of the best tools out there is Confiant, or Ad Lightning. These tools scan all creatives on a site and capture the ad calls of bad ads.
Once a bad ad is found, these tools will alert the publisher so the can take action to block the offending creative. Once a bad ad is found please make sure that it has a Sovrn ad call. If it does, you can send the link to that report to support@sovrn.com and we will take care of the rest!
Taking a Screenshot of the Ad Call
Another way to capture the information for a bad ad is to take a screenshot of the ad call. To do this, please follow the instructions below:
Hover your mouse over the bad ad. Right-click on the ad and select ‘Inspect’
Within developer tools, under the Elements tab, search ‘[sovrn]’ or ‘[lijit]’ by using ctrl+F (PC) or command+F (Mac)
The Sovrn code will begin with ‘[sovrn] Banner’, and will be a green commented out line of code. Take a screenshot of both the code and the creative.
Before sending the screenshot, be sure that the zone ID corresponds to the correct ad unit as listed in the Sovrn Platform. The zone ID is the number listed directly after ‘[sovrn] Banner’, which in this example is ‘270789’
Send a screenshot of the ad and the ad code to support@sovrn.com.
Determining If the Ad Was Served by Sovrn
Of course, if an ad contains ‘Sovrn’ or ‘lijit’ as previously mentioned, it is a Sovrn ad. However, not all ads are directly from Sovrn. Sometimes, we can see which DSP is directly responsible for that bad ad.
If you want to check if the bad ad is being served by Sovrn, check the campaign ID. The campaign ID is the last number in the Sovrn Javascript tag. In this example below, the campaign ID is ‘1673’.
<!--[sovrn] Banner (270789 / a_270789_23307c2e461c4704a713bb91329d3bba / 37945 / 1673)--!>"1673" indicates that the ad was served by Sovrn. However, if the campaign ID reads ‘232’, Sovrn did not fill that impression and we passed back to the next ad partner in your ad stack.
Attribute, Category, or Specific URL Blocks
We can also block unwanted creatives pro actively by attribute, category, and specific URL. More information on how to add any of these types of blocks to your account's block list can be found in this article: Sovrn Ad Quality Block.
If you?re ever uncertain about what information to send, or whether a proactive defense is right for you, reach out to Sovrn Support for help.