Microsoft Monetize - Troubleshooting creatives

Important

This feature is part of a functionality that is presently in Open Beta. It is currently under development and may be subjected to change without notice. Contact your Microsoft Advertising Account Representative to get it enabled.

The Troubleshooting tab on the Creative Manager window provides troubleshooting information and creative setup analysis depending on the ad format (banner, video, native, and audio) of the creative. You can choose to run additional validations on creatives by navigating to the Troubleshooting tab, where a list of validations will run on the creative and its corresponding troubleshooting information is displayed on the creative details panel.

To access the Troubleshooting tab:

  1. Navigate to the Creative Manager pane by clicking on Advertisers > Creative Manager.
  2. Select an advertiser.
  3. Select the appropriate creative for which you need to view the troubleshooting information. This will open up the details panel.
  4. Click on the Troubleshooting tab on the details panel to view the troubleshooting information under the Creative Setup Analysis pane.

Troubleshooting tab - Creative setup analysis

Error

Find a list of possible error messages for various ad types, their analyses, and resolution steps in the tables below.

Generic ad error messages

Error Message Type Description Analysis Resolution
Click tracking test failed. Error The creative failed to pass the click scan test. For more information on resolving common click scan issues, see Click Track Test.
Include secure URLs to deliver on secure inventory Error The media file URL(s) for the videos uses non-secure protocols (HTTP). Re-upload the media files with secure URLs (HTTPS).
SSL Checking failed. Error The creative failed to pass the SSL test. Check to make sure all portions of the creative utilizes HTTPS secure protocol.

Native ad error messages

Error Message Type Description Analysis Resolution
Creative not rendered correctly, it appears to be blank Error The native creative failed to render. Re-upload a correct creative to preview it. For more information, see Creative Troubleshooting FAQ.

Note: If the creative is third-party hosted, ensure the service is not blocking the adnxs.com or adnxs.net domains.
Error Message Type Description Analysis Resolution
No third-party pixels fired Error The third party pixels associated with the banner did not fire successfully.
Creative not rendered correctly, it appears to be blank Error The banner creative failed to render. Re-upload a correct creative to preview it. For more information, see Creative Troubleshooting FAQ.

Note: If the creative is third-party hosted, ensure the service is not blocking the adnxs.com or adnxs.net domains.
Creative uses HTML local storage, which is not allowed Error The banner creative uses local browser storage. Remove logic utilizing local browser storage and re-upload the banner creative.
Creative is adding X cookies to browser, which is over the allowed limit Error The banner creative adds more than 20 cookies to the browser. Re-upload the creative with less than 20 cookies added to the browser.
Asset of type (For example, HTML) Tag does not match selected template Error The content type of the banner creative does not match its template. (For example, template is HTML (Tag) and the content type is Javascript). Either update the template to match the creative content, or update the creative content to match the expected format of the template.

Video ad error messages

Error Message Type Description Analysis Resolution
Video must have a duration greater than 00:00:00 Error Invalid Duration This occurs most often when the video content does not exist, or when the duration of the video either doesn't exist or is zero. The duration of the creative must be greater than 00:00:00 seconds. Re-upload the creative and ensure the video has a valid content and a proper duration.
Invalid formats detected. These are not supported by Microsoft Advertising Player Error The video file type is neither mp4 nor webm. This is not supported by our Microsoft Advertising Player.

Note: The video may still be eligible for publishers like Netflix depending on their requirements.
Re-upload the creative with a supported format.
No recommended formats were detected Error Invalid File Type Detected When Accessing VAST. No format listed when accessing VAST. The video creative must be created using one of the following file types: 3G2 (3GPP2), 3GP (3GPP), Advanced Systems Format (ASF), Audio Video Interactive (AVI), M2V, M4V, MKV, MOV, M4P, MPE, MPEG, MPEG-2 (MP2), MPEG-4 (MP4), MPG, MPV, OGG, OGV, QuickTime (QT), RM, SWF, TS, VOB, WebM, and Windows Media Video (WMV). Convert the creative to the correct file type and re-upload the creative.
VAST creative with MP4 format is required for CTV inventory Error For non-VPAID creatives, the MP4 file type is missing. Re-upload the creative with a supported file type.
A negative media file attribute was detected. Ensure height, width, and bitrate are positive Error For non-VPAID creatives that have an MP4 file, the height, width and bitrate are less than 0. Re-upload the creative with positive attributes.
Creative not rendered correctly, it appears to be blank Error The video creative failed to render. Re-upload a correct creative to preview it. For more information, see Creative Troubleshooting FAQ.

Note: If the creative is third-party hosted, ensure the service is not blocking the adnxs.com or adnxs.net domains.

Warning

Find a list of possible warning messages for various ad types, their analyses, and resolution steps in the tables below.

Warning Message Type Description Analysis Resolution
Creative rendered correctly. There are X errors and Y warnings that might impact performance and functionality Warning The banner creative was rendered with some errors and/or warnings.
Creative is loading X files which is over the allowed limit Warning The banner creative was loaded with more than 20 files. Re-upload the creative with less than 20 files.
Creative is loading X Kb which is over the allowed limit Warning The banner creative was loaded with a file size of more than 4 MB. Re-upload the creative with a file size of less than 4 MB.

Video ad warning messages

Warning Message Type Description Analysis Resolution
Invalid formats video/x-flv detected. These are not supported by Microsoft Advertising Player Warning This creative has a Flash based transcoding, which may not be supported by all video players This video format is not accepted. The video creative must be created using one of the following file types: 3G2 (3GPP2), 3GP (3GPP), Advanced Systems Format (ASF), Audio Video Interactive (AVI), M2V, M4V, MKV, MOV, M4P, MPE, MPEG, MPEG-2 (MP2), MPEG-4 (MP4), MPG, MPV, OGG, OGV, QuickTime (QT), RM, SWF, TS, VOB, WebM, and Windows Media Video (WMV). Re-upload the creative with a supported format to preview the creative.
Targeting Outstream is recommended for creatives over 30 seconds Warning 15-30 seconds is the normal accepted range for Instream videos. Your video creative is over 30 seconds and therefore does not meet industry standards. It may be limited in serving on all inventory. For more information, see Instream vs.Outstream Video Ads.
To serve on CTV inventory, upload a VAST creative with MP4 format, minimum resolution of 1280x720 and minimum bitrate of 2000 kbps Warning For VPAID creatives, if the MP4 file type is missing, the following error message will be displayed. Re-upload the creative with a supported file type and recommended specifications.
VAST with format video/x-flv. Provide video/mp4 and/or video/webm formats to maximize reach Warning This creative has a Flash based transcoding, which may not be supported by all video players Flash-based video file format is only accepted by some publishers. It is more likely to be accepted by publishers if the file format used is mp4 or webm. Re-upload the creative with video/mp4 and/or video/webm formats to maximize reach.
Max provided resolution and bitrate do not meet recommended CTV specifications of 1280x720 and minimum bitrate of 2000 kbps Warning For non-VPAID creatives that have an MP4 file, either the height and/or width and/or bitrate is above the max height/width/bitrate specifications. Re-upload the creative with the recommended CTV specifications.

Success

Find a list of possible success messages for various ad types and their descriptions in the table below.

Generic ad success messages

Success Message Type Description
SSL Checking Passed Success The banner creative successfully passed the SSL
Click tracking test passed Success The creative successfully passed the click scan test.
Creative URLs have secure prefixes Success The media file URL(s) for the videos uses secure HTTPS.
Success Message Type Description
Asset of type (Ex: HTML) Tag correctly entered Success The content type of the banner creative matches its template. (For example, template is HTML (Tag) and the content type is HTML).
X third-party pixels fired Success The third party pixels associated with the banner fired successfully.
Creative does not use HTML local storage Success The banner creative does not use local browser storage.
Creative is adding X cookies to browser of 20 allowed Success The banner creative adds 20 or less cookies to the browser.
Creative rendered correctly and no javascript issues were detected Success The banner creative was rendered with no errors or warnings.
Creative is loading 73.6 kB which is less than the 4 MB allowed Success The banner creative loads are less than 4 MB.

Video ad success messages

Success Message Type Description
Creative meets recommended CTV inventory specifications Success For VPAID creatives, the MP4 file type is present.
VAST with formats (video/xxx, video/yyy, etc) Success The video/audio is valid and has the following formats video/mp4 and/or video/webm
VPAID with format application/javascript Success This creative was detected with VPAID, which is an accepted format by Microsoft Advertising.