VAST tracking events / Linear, NonLinear, Companion
creativeView VAST tracking event
Short answer: Fires when the creative is first displayed. Primary signal for NonLinear and companions.
When it fires
The player has rendered the creative for the first time. On linear ads this often duplicates the Impression. On NonLinear overlays and companions it is the main exposure signal, because those formats have no quartile timeline.
Where creativeView is the exposure and where it is a duplicate
On a NonLinear overlay or a companion, creativeView is the first evidence the creative was actually drawn. Those formats have no linear playhead, so start and the quartiles are the wrong instruments. A pause ad, a squeezeback, or a companion measured only with linear quartiles reports an empty column while the creative was on screen.
On a linear ad, creativeView often lands in the same second as the Impression. The impression is its own element at InLine, and it is the event most contracts bill. creativeView is a tracking event inside the creative. Counting both as reach double-counts one display. Use creativeView as the exposure signal when the creative is not linear, and use it as a cross-check when it is.
A creativeView with no later events
A linear creativeView followed by no start means the creative was displayed and the first frame of the media file never rendered. That split is the one loaded cannot give you on VAST 2.0 or 3.0, because loaded arrived in 4.1. Treat the gap as a media or exit problem, then look at whether the player also fired an Error URL.
On a NonLinear creative, creativeView with no overlayViewDuration means you know the overlay appeared and you do not know how long it stayed. overlayViewDuration is a VAST 4.0 event. A 3.0 overlay has creativeView, acceptInvitation, and close, and no duration beacon unless you add progress, which belongs on Linear.
Markup the player will not call
creativeView has been in the event set since VAST 2.0, on Linear, NonLinear, and Companion. A misspelled event attribute is a different string. event="creativeview" and event="CreativeView" do not match. The URL stays in the file.
The event name is case-sensitive. This tracker is never requested.
<Linear>
<TrackingEvents>
<Tracking event="CreativeView"><![CDATA[https://track.example.com/cv]]></Tracking>
</TrackingEvents>
</Linear>VAST XML fragment only. This excerpt belongs inside a complete VAST document, so standalone validation will fail until it is wrapped in a full <VAST>response.
When the column stays empty
creativeView is in the VAST 2.0 set, and the current version still includes it. An empty column on a current player is not a version mismatch.
Each wrapper hop may include its own creativeView URL. The player requests every one of them when the event happens, so a chain of four hops produces four calls for one playback. An http URL on an https page is dropped by the browser before the ad server sees a miss. The event name can be right and the scheme can still zero the column.
Where it is valid
| 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.1+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Legal containers: Linear, NonLinear, Companion. An event in the wrong container is not a player error. It is a URL nobody calls.
Using it in a tag
Put it in a Linear TrackingEvents block. The same event name is also valid on NonLinear and Companion.
<Linear>
<TrackingEvents>
<Tracking event="creativeView">
<![CDATA[https://track.example.com/creativeView]]>
</Tracking>
</TrackingEvents>
</Linear>VAST XML fragment only. This excerpt belongs inside a complete VAST document, so standalone validation will fail until it is wrapped in a full <VAST>response.
Related vastlint rules
- VAST-4.1-tracking-event-value: Tracking event attribute not in the valid set for this VAST version
Related events
- start: Fires when linear playback actually begins, first frame rendered.
- loaded: Fires when the player has the media file and is ready. VAST 4.1+.
- overlayViewDuration: Fires with how long a NonLinear overlay was in view. VAST 4.0+.
Check the XML, then confirm the beacons fire
Validate the event names and containers on the document. Test a live URL when the XML is clean and reporting is still empty.