Creating a New In-stream or Gateway Ad

In-Stream ads run during ad breaks as part of the stream, Gateway Ads play at the beginning of the stream when a listener connects to the stream.

To create a new in-stream or gateway ad, navigate to the Active Campaigns page by clicking on the Ad Management tab, then the Campaigns sub-tab. Select Active Campaigns. 

Best Practice: If you are creating a video Gateway ad, we recommend that you encode your video at the same (or near) bitrate as your stream, or 300 kbps, whichever is lower. See the table below for recommended settings for video ads.

	MP4
Resolution	320 x 240
Pixels Codec	H.264
Frames Per Second	30
Sample Rate	44100
Channels	Stereo
Mono Duration	5-45 seconds

 

To create a new gateway or in-stream ad, follow these steps:

1. On the Active Campaigns screen, select the campaign for which you want to create an ad.
2. Hover your mouse over + Add A New Ad in the upper right of the screen. A menu of ad types appears.
3. Click New In-Stream Ad or New Gateway Ad
4. In General Info, enter the ad's name, description, and (optionally) cart ID. Note: Ad Cart ID is required for ad network accounts only.
5. In Business Info, select the appropriate fields for your campaign type:
   
   1. For a podcast, select an ad zone in Ad Zone (Podcasts Only).
   2. In Ad Placement, select First In Break or Any. Note that Share of voice ads do not use ad placement.
6. In Playout Restrictions, select the appropriate Frequency Capping. You can inherit from Campaign, Enable and create custom restrictions, or Disable capping.
7. In Creatives, select Even (all creatives are played an equal number of times) or Custom (assign a value to each creative and each plays a proportional number of times). For more on weighting, please see Creative Files Overview.
8. Add one or more creatives to use for the ad.
   
   1. In Creative Name, enter a name for the creative file.
   2. In Start Date and End Date, enter the dates to begin and stop use of this creative.
   3. If you have selected Custom weighting for this ad, enter the proportional number for this creative file in the Weighting field.
   4. Select a status of Enabled or Paused for the creative.
   5. If the creative has a companion banner you want to display whenever the creative is aired, enter its details under Companion Banners. 
      1. If the companion banner has already been created and uploaded to the campaign you can select it using the Companion Banners drop down menu.
      2. To upload a file for the companion banner, click Select File, find the file you want to upload, select it, and click Open. If you have a tracking URL for the banner, enter it in the Tracking Url field.
      3. To use a banner already uploaded elsewhere, click VAST Url and enter the URL in the VAST Url field.
9. To add another creative, click + New Creative above or below the creative(s) you have already       created, and follow the steps above. 
   Note: To collapse a creative's details, click the small down-arrow in the upper left of the creative's details box.
   Note: If the duration of a media file is 0, there has been an error and you need to upload that media file again.
   
10. Select either Set Ad Specific Scheduling or Use Campaign Scheduling by clicking the buttons near the bottom of the Create In-Stream Ad dialog.
    1. If you select Use Campaign Scheduling, the ad inherits the scheduling values defined for the campaign.
    2. If you select Set Ad Specific Scheduling, the Scheduling options appear.
       
       1. Select a daypart type from the Daypart Type menu to select when you want this ad to play.
       2. If you want to add another daypart, click Add Another Daypart. Another Daypart Type menu appears.
       3. Repeat the steps above until you have selected all the dayparts during which you want your ad to play.
11. Select either Set Ad Specific Targeting or Use Campaign Targeting by clicking the buttons near the bottom of the Create In-Stream Ad dialog.
    1. If you select Use Campaign Targeting, the ad inherits the targeting values defined for the campaign.
    2. If you select Set Ad Specific Targeting, the Targeting options appear.
       
       1. Click Enabled to enable a kind of targeting and reveal its dialog options.
       2. Click Disabled to disable a kind of targeting and hide its dialog option
          Note: If you do not have targeting options, please contact your sales representative or contact support to find out about pricing.
          
12. When you have configured everything to your liking, click Create.

For more information, see:

• Ads - Overview
• Editing an Ad
• About Targeting