Glossary

Video advertising
error codes.

Definitions, causes, and recommended actions for the error codes ad-ops teams hit across VAST 3.0 and 4.x, VPAID, the IMA3 SDK, and player SDKs from Brightcove, JWPlayer, and FreeWheel. 73 codes across 11 categories.

Each entry names the code, whether it’s fatal to the ad break, the underlying cause, and the action publishers and buyers should take. Deep-link to any code via the #code-NNN anchor.

Index

100 – 102

VAST XML Document Errors

100 Fatal: VAST XML parsing error

Cause This can be caused when the buyer’s response is either malformed or an otherwise invalid XML document, or a redirect VAST URL that fails to resolve successfully

Recommended action Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Verify that the VAST XML is correctly formatted and contains all of the required elements and attributes. Refer to the VAST specification from the IAB
101 Fatal: VAST schema validation error

Cause This can be caused when the buyer’s response is missing required elements or attributes of the XML or contained unrecognized elements, according to the IAB standard, such as:

InLine and Wrapper both present

AdTagURI missing in Wrapper element

Duration missing

Missing Ad node or MediaFile node

Offset attribute on Progress event is missing or not a valid value

Recommended action Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer -Verify that the VAST XML is correctly formatted and contains all of the required elements and attributes. Refer to the VAST specification from the IAB
102 Fatal: VAST version of response not supported

Cause This can be caused when a video player does not support the VAST version specified in the bid request, i.e. the bidder did not respect the VAST version(s) listed in the bid request or the exchange is sending wrong VAST version(s) in the bid request

Recommended action Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure that only supported VAST versions are sent in a response

200 – 203

VAST Creative File Errors

200 Sometimes fatal: Video player expecting different ad type

Cause This can be caused when a video player does not expect or support an ad type requested in a bid request. For example:

Player wanted Skippable Linear, but got back Linear

Player wanted Linear, but got back Skippable Linear

For Skippable Linear, skipoffset doesn’t meet publisher expectations

Bidder did not respect the skip-ability/skipoffset in the bid request

Exchange is sending wrong skip-ability/skipoffset in the bid request

Recommended action Publisher – Check for trafficking errors or alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure that only specified ad types are sent in a response, and that skippable linear creatives respect the skip offset attribute
201 Sometimes fatal: Video player expecting different linearity

Cause This can be caused when the linearity in the buyer’s response does not match the video player’s request. For example:

Bidder did not respect the linearity in the bid request.

Exchange is sending wrong linearity in the bid request

Ensure linearity requested is being respected

Recommended action Publisher – Ensure that the correct linearity is specified in the ad request
Buyer – Ensure that the response only includes linearity specified in the request
202 Sometimes fatal: Video player expecting different duration

Cause This can be caused when the creative returned is a different duration than specified. For example, a creative of duration 30 seconds is returned, but the actual MediaFile duration is 60 seconds

Recommended action Publisher – Ensure that the creative duration is set properly in DFP
Buyer – Ensure that the response respects the max duration specified in the request
203 Sometimes fatal: Video player expecting different size

Cause This can be caused when a buyer’s returned MediaFiles are incompatible with the device from which the bid request is sent. For example:

When high bitrate creatives are returned to mobile devices

No MediaFile is available with dimensions that are matching for the device (i.e. mobile devices that cannot play full HD)

Recommended action Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure that your response includes MediaFiles that are compatible with different technologies and devices, including bitrates

300 – 303

VAST Ad Request Errors

300 Fatal: General wrapper error

Cause This can be caused when the wrapper limit is reached

Recommended action This is a general wrapper error and is not actionable, however:

Check that all VAST URIs are reachable and not timing out

Ensure wrapper limit is not reached
301 / 301:20301 Fatal: VAST redirect timeout reached

Cause This can be caused when a VAST redirect tag does not return a response within the timeout (5 seconds is the default) specified in a wrapper element, due to one of the following:

Non-optimized page

Player timeout set too low

Invalid URI, unreachable or request timeout for a URI, or other exceptions related to requesting a VAST URI.

High latency connection (for example, 3G) or simply a slow response from a buyer

HTTP serving to HTTPS

Recommended action Publisher -Increase the timeout limit of your player
Buyer -Ensure that the VAST redirect URI is reachable and no protocol issues exist (for example, responses hosted on HTTP and served to an HTTPS site
302 / 302:20302 Fatal: Wrapper limit reached

Cause This can be caused when the wrapper limit defined by the video player is reached, due to either:

Too many wrapper responses are received without an inline response

A circular loop of daisy chaining exists (one network bouncing to another and another)

Too many empty VAST responses from video fallback

Recommended action Publisher – Increase the wrapper limit of your player via the SDK
Buyer -Verify that any VAST redirects are not redirecting again to another network. When too many redirects are called from a video player before a valid MediaFile is returned, the player might abort the ad request
303 / 303:20303 Fatal: Empty VAST response returned

Cause This can be caused when no ads are returned in a VAST response after one or more wrappers. This also includes empty VAST responses from video fallback.When working with third-party networks, the fill-rate can be less than 100%. If so, this is an expected error. For example, if the third-party expects to fill 60% of the time, you should expect 40% errors

Recommended action Publisher – Ensure that the error rate is in line with the fill-rate of the third-party network. Video fallback may be helpful to avoid losing impressions
Buyer – Ensure that bids are not being returned with an empty VAST response, and that empty responses are not being returned by the advertiser or agency hosting the creative

400 – 410

VAST Linear Tag Errors

400 / 400:20400 Fatal: General linear error

Cause This can be caused when a video player is unable to display the linear ad. It may occur when the MediaFile is not a valid video file of the specified format, or because the browser restricted autoplay with sound, or another unknown reason

Recommended action Publisher – Check for player issues, enable your player to detect for restricted autoplay, or alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure that the VAST response returns a valid creative
401 Fatal: MediaFile not found

Cause This can be caused when a file cannot be found from a MediaFile URI

Recommended action Publisher – Ensure that all MediaFiles in the response return a valid video asset. If not, alert the buyer
Buyer -Ensure that the VAST response returns a valid creative
402 / 402:20402 Non-fatal: Timeout of MediaFile URI

Cause This can be caused by a problem fetching or playing the MediaFile, and could be any of the following:

The loadVideoTimeout is set too low in the IMA SDK. (the default is 8 seconds)

Low bandwidth or poor website implementation with competing requests that delay loading of the MediaFile

A video auto-plays in a mobile environment, whereas it should be click-to-play (there are some exceptions)

Showing video ads in an auto-play environment (for example, a playlist), while the window is not in focus (either another tab is selected, or window is minimized) (Chrome only)

Recommended action Publisher – Increase the timeout limit of your player
Buyer – Ensure that any CDN-hosted creatives are returned within the specified media timeout
403 Fatal: Could not find MediaFile that is supported by this video player, based on the attributes of the MediaFile element

Cause This can be caused by a VAST response that declares unsupported MIME types for all available MediaFiles. For example:

Bidder did not respect mime types in bid request

Exchange did not send correct mime types

May indicate that the wrong creative type attempted to play such as a Flash creative attempted to play on a mobile device or WebM on iOS

Recommended action Publisher – Ensure that the creative format or technology requested is supported by the video player’s device and platform. For example, VPAID creatives should not be requested from mobile apps
Buyer – Ensure that all returned creatives respect the video format in the bid request
405 Fatal: Problem displaying MediaFile

Cause This can be caused when a faulty creative is returned due to a mismatch between the MIME type and the video file type, a CORS configuration on the creative’s CDN, transcoding-related reason such as an unsupported codec, or unsupported delivery method

Recommended action Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure that all creative MIME types and CDN configurations are accurate
406 Non-fatal: Missing required mezzanine file

Cause This can be caused a VAST response is returned without a required mezzanine file. Publishers with server-side ad implementations (SSAI) often require mezzanine files, which are raw high-quality video files for ad-stitching, or to generate video files of appropriate quality (VAST 4)

Recommended action Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure that a mezzanine file is included in your response when required by the publisher
407 Fatal: Mezzanine file downloaded for the first time

Cause This can be caused when the mezzanine file is downloaded for the first time, so no ad is served. It can also occur when an ad insertion is missed because the creative is being transcoded. It continues to occur until the creative is available for insertion (VAST 4)

Recommended action No action required
408 Fatal: Ad rejected in VAST response

Cause This can be caused when the ad returned in the VAST response is rejected

Recommended action Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure that only approved creatives are returned in your VAST response, or that any advertisers or agencies hosting the creatives are aware of rejections
409 Fatal: Interactive unit in the InteractiveCreativeFile node was not executed

Cause This can be caused when a creative defined in the InteractiveCreativeFile node does not execute

Recommended action Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure that any interactive creatives returned in your response successfully play when requested
410 Fatal: Verification unit in the Verification node was not executed

Cause This can be caused when the code referenced in the AdVerification node does not execute (VAST 4)

Recommended action Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure that the verification code referenced in the response is correctly implemented according to the verification vendor

500 – 503

VAST Non-Linear Tag Errors

500 Fatal: General NonLinearAds error

Cause This can be caused when a video player is unable to display a non-linear ad, for an unknown reason

Recommended action Publisher – Check for video player issues or alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure that the VAST response returns a valid creative
501 Fatal: Non-linear ad creative dimensions do not align with creative display area

Cause This can be caused when a non-linear ad is unable to play because the creative dimensions did not align with creative display area (the creative dimension was too large). It may occur if you use CSS styles to set width and height of the video content element

Recommended action Publisher – Ensure that the set width and height match the display area. If you set the width and height of the video content element with CSS styles, set them with HTML attributes instead
Buyer -Alert the publisher
502 Fatal: Unable to fetch NonLinearAds/NonLinear resource

Cause This can be caused when the buyer’s response returns a non-linear ad that fails to return a valid creative

Recommended action Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer -Ensure that valid creatives are returned in the non-linear ad response
503 / 503:20503 Fatal: Could not find NonLinearresource with supported type

Cause This error can be caused when a creative size is larger than the player size, or not a proper media type

Recommended action Publisher – Ensure that requested creative sizes and media types are acceptable for the video player
Buyer -Alert the publisher

600 – 604

VAST Companion Ad Errors

600 Sometimes fatal: General CompanionAds error

Cause This can be caused when a publisher is unable to display a companion ad, for an unknown reason

Recommended action Publisher – Check for ad serving issues, or alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure that the VAST response returns a valid creative
601 Sometimes fatal: Companion creative dimensions did not align with companion display area

Cause This can be caused when the companion creative dimensions do not fit within Companion display area (i.e., no available space)

Recommended action Publisher – Ensure that the requested companion ad size fits within the dimension of the ad unit from which the request is made
Buyer – Alert the publisher
602 Sometimes fatal: Unable to display Required Companion

Cause This can be caused the publisher is unable to render the companion ad creative returned in the VAST response

Recommended action Publisher – Check for ad serving issues, or alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure that the VAST response returns a valid creative
603 Sometimes fatal: Unable to fetch CompanionAds/Companion resource

Cause This can be caused when the buyer’s response returns a companion ad that fails to return a valid creative

Recommended action Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure that valid creatives are returned in the companion ad response
604 Sometimes fatal: Could not find Companion resource with supported type

Cause This can be caused when a publisher requests an unsupported creative type for the companion ad slot

Recommended action Publisher – Ensure that specified creative types are supported for the companion ad slot
Buyer – Alert the publisher

900 – 901

VPAID Errors

900 / 900:20900 Fatal: Undefined VAST 2 error

Cause This is the result of an unknown VAST 2 error, which likely stopped the ad request

Recommended action Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Work with the publisher to troubleshoot the exact issue
901 / 901:20901 Fatal: General VPAID error

Cause This can be caused by any VPAID error, which could be any of the following:

SSP VPAID wrapper not buying

SSP VPAID wrapper timeout

VPAID creatives required insecure mode

An Ad Exchange “IMA Adapter” tag is used with the IMA SDK, and a VPAID ad is returned (the “Direct SDK” tag should be used)

Recommended action Publisher – Ensure that any VPAID creative requests are supported for devices and players. You can use video creative profiles to control which creatives are eligible to serve
Buyer – Ensure that any VAST responses that return HTML5 VPAID wrappers from IAS/DV/MOAT include an MP4 asset, and that the wrapper is not aborting playback. Also, ensure that you don’t bid on impressions without a determined advertiser or buyer, or attempt to initiate a client-side resale

Brightcove Player Ad Errors

adtimeout Fatal: IMA3 has timed out

Cause A timeout managed by the plugin has expired and regular video content has begun to play. Ad integrations have a fixed amount of time to inform the plugin of their intent during playback. If the ad integration is blocked by network conditions or an error, this event will fire and regular playback resumes rather than stalling the player indefinitely

Recommended action
ima3-hardtimeout Fatal: IMA3 hard timeout reached

Cause A timeout managed by the Brightcove Player has expired and the ad execution has been abandoned with regular video content started. Brightcove has a setting that gives the IMA plugin a fixed amount of time to complete its execution. If it fails to do so the Player will abandon the ad execution irrespective of how far it has reached in its cycle.

Recommended action If you see a high rate of this error type it’s advisable to adjust the levels accordingly in your Brightcove player settings
ima3error Fatal: IMA3 SDK failed to load

Cause There was an error loading the IMA3 SDK from Google. If it occurs, no ads will be displayed and regular content will be started. The cause of this could be due to an active ad blocker intercepting the call to load the SDK. Or other network conditions might have caused the IMA3 SDK to not load properly.

Recommended action If you see a high rate of this error it’s advisable to contact your Brightcove Support rep to investigate further

JWPlayer Ad Errors

900:60001 Fatal: No Ad element in VAST document after following wrappers.

Cause When working with third-party networks, the fill-rate can be less than 100%. If so, this is an expected error. For example, if the third-party expects to fill 60% of the time, you should expect 40% errors. You can check to ensure that the error rate is in line with the fill-rate of the third-party network.
Some ad providers use empty VAST 3.0 responses to show that they have received the request but do not wish to fill it.

Recommended action
60002 Fatal: The amount of ad impressions your account has generated in the calendar month exceeds the specified limit.

Cause .

Recommended action Contact your JW Player sales representative for more details or for upgrade options
60003 Fatal: The viewer has an ad blocker app or extension installed for their browser.

Cause

Recommended action
60004 Fatal: Issue with CDN server.<br/> Timeout (in milliseconds) when loading a VPAID ad response. If loading takes longer than this timeout, the ad playback is canceled.

Cause Can be caused by low bandwidth, or poor website implementation with competing requests that delay the loading of the VPAID ad response.

Recommended action he timeout is configurable for using the creativeTimeout and requestTimeout configuration options. However, increasing the timeout could potentially negatively affect user experience.
1002:60005 Fatal: No Ad element in VAST document after following wrappers.

Cause When working with third-party networks, the fill-rate can be less than 100%. If so, this is an expected error. For example, if the third-party expects to fill 60% of the time, you should expect 40% errors. You can check to ensure that the error rate is in line with the fill-rate of the third-party network.
Some ad providers use empty VAST 3.0 responses to show that they have received the request but do not wish to fill it.

Recommended action
900:60006 Fatal: An ad tag failed to download, but not inside of a wrapper.

Cause

Recommended action
900:60007 Fatal: An ad tag failed to play because of an unsupported operating system.

Cause

Recommended action
60900 Fatal: Unknown error.

Cause .

Recommended action

1005 – 2048

IMA3 SDK Errors

1005 / 900:1005 Fatal: The Ad Request Failed

Cause There has been a CORS error when the IMA SDK attempted to request the add / process the VAST document.

Recommended action Ensure that all ad server URIs, media file URIs and tracking URIs follow CORS best practices (see https://enable-cors.org/). Also ensure that your players are not embedded in non-approved domains.
1007 Fatal: Media Asset Not Found

Cause Could not find a media file that is supported by this video player, based on the attributes of the MediaFile element.This may indicate that the wrong creative type attempted to play. This error type is more common on mobile

Recommended action Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure the right media file format is being targeted to the right device type
1007 / 900:1007 Fatal: Media Asset Not Found

Cause Could not find a media file that is supported by this video player, based on the attributes of the MediaFile element.This may indicate that the wrong creative type attempted to play. This error type is more common on mobile

Recommended action Publisher – Alert the buyer
Buyer – Ensure the right media file format is being targeted to the right device type
1009 / 900:1009 / 900:21009 Fatal: Empty VAST Response

Cause No ads VAST response after one or more wrappers. This also includes the number of empty VAST responses from fallback. When working with third-party networks, the fill-rate can be less than 100%. If so, this is an expected error. For example, if the third-party expects to fill 60% of the time, you should expect 40% errors

Recommended action Check to ensure that the error rate is in line with the fill-rate of the third-party network
1010 / 900:1010, / 900:21010 Fatal: Unknown Ad Response

Cause The response from the ad server was malformed or indeterminate

Recommended action
1011 / 900:1011 Fatal: Unsupported Locale

Cause The locale specified for the SDK is not supported

Recommended action Check the settings of the IMA SDK to ensure locale is set properly
1105 / 900:1105 Fatal: Invalid AdX Extension

Cause An invalid AdX extension was found

Recommended action
1012 / 900:1012 / 900:21012 Fatal: Request blocked / Network error

Cause There was a problem requesting ads from the server due to an error caused by an invalid or malformed XML file.

Recommended action Contact your Ad server support team for more help
1013 / 900:1013 Fatal: Invalid ad tag

Cause The ad tag URL specified was invalid. It needs to be properly encoded

Recommended action
1020 / 900:1020 Fatal: Stream initialisation failed

Cause There was an error with stream initialisation during server side ad insertion

Recommended action
1021 / 900:1021 / 900:21021 Fatal: Asset fallback no ad replacement

Cause The fallback failed to return an ad

Recommended action Ensure your line items are properly setup and you have sufficient demand in your fallback sequence
1101 / 900:1101 Fatal: Invalid Arguments in the Request

Cause Invalid arguments were provided to IMA SDK methods

Recommended action Please contact the support team of your video player provider
1205 / 900:1205 Fatal: The browser prevented playback initiated without user interaction

Cause Autoplay videos are not supported in some browsers. This error is thrown when the browser has prevent an attempt to auto play

Recommended action
2025 / 900:2025 Fatal: DisplayObject not a child

Cause

Recommended action See Google Support for help –https://developers.google.com/interactive-media-ads/docs/sdks/html5/client-side/reference/js/google.ima.AdError?hl=en
2032 / 900:2032 Fatal: URL access blocked

Cause

Recommended action See Google Support for help –https://developers.google.com/interactive-media-ads/docs/sdks/html5/client-side/reference/js/google.ima.AdError?hl=en
2035 / 900:2035 Fatal: Incorrect path to assets

Cause

Recommended action See Google Support for help –https://developers.google.com/interactive-media-ads/docs/sdks/html5/client-side/reference/js/google.ima.AdError?hl=en
2036 / 900:2036 Fatal: Flash ad failed to load

Cause

Recommended action See Google Support for help –https://developers.google.com/interactive-media-ads/docs/sdks/html5/client-side/reference/js/google.ima.AdError?hl=en
2048 / 900:2048 Fatal: CORS security violation

Cause This is caused when a page or player loaded using HTTPS tries to load a ad resource over HTTP

Recommended action Check and ensure all creative and redirect URIs are being served over HTTPS

Freewheel Errors

req-failed Fatal: Ad Request Failed

Cause Most likely an ad blocker interferes with the ad request. Could also be a https/http mismatch in a redirect or bad network conditions.

Recommended action Check for ad blocking and ensure any redirect tags used are secured. Also look for error clustering around mobiles or other devices that use low bandwidth connections.
_e_3p-comp Fatal: 3rd-party component error

Cause A 3rd party ad creative has failed to load. This could be a video file formatting mismatch or a creative script error (such as a faulty VPAID unit).

Recommended action Review the Creative in question and ensure its format matches the Placement / Targeting set.
_e_timeout Fatal: Ad timeout

Cause The time allotted for the ad request to complete has expired.

Recommended action Let the player increase the timeout time by setting the respective timeout parameter (for example, on iOS video it should be “renderer.video.timeout”).
_e_security Fatal: Security error

Cause There has been a network security error thrown somewhere along the ad fulfilment chain.

Recommended action Check and confirm the format of the creative asset, especially its hosting setup to ensure it doesn’t violate any CORS policy.
_e_io Fatal: Network i/o error

Cause The ad tag used did not return a valid HTTP response

Recommended action Try out the ad tag in a browser to ensure proper response from the server. Ensure there are no typos or unfilled macros.
_e_no-ad Fatal: No Ad Returned

Cause A 3rd party ad server did not return an ad for this request.This error is only counted when it can be recognised as a “no ad” situation, such as empty VAST response, or VAST response without valid ads.

In comparison, the VPAID 1.0 protocol allows creatives to throw errors, but didn’t specify a clear way to specify the error reason as “no ad”, so the VPAID ad cannot generate this error but will only generate eunknown error instead.

Recommended action Notify the 3rd party platform of this error and its location to begin troubleshooting.
_e_no-renderer Fatal: No Renderer Selected

Cause Most typically occurring in mobile apps, the device is unable to render the delivered creative file

Recommended action Ensure a support file format is delivered to the right device. Also check that the right rendering libraries are included in the native code
_e_parse Fatal: Ad parse error

Cause There was a problem requesting ads from the server due to an error caused by an invalid or malformed XML file.

Recommended action Contact your Ad server support team for more help
INVALID_ASSET_CUSTOM_ID Non-fatal: Invalid Asset ID

Cause The video asset id cannot be found in Freewheel MRM system

Recommended action
ASSET_DURATION_NOT_AVAILABLE Non-fatal: Video Asset Duration is Not Available

Cause asset.duration doesn’t appear in adRequest, and doesn’t exist in db.

Recommended action
INVALID_ASSET_DURATION Non-fatal: Asset Duration Not Valid

Cause asset.duration is invalid (less than 1, string, etc…)

Recommended action
NETWORK_NOT_FOUND Fatal: FW Network ID Not Found

Cause he network id set in the AdManager was no valid

Recommended action

Most of these fire as ad-server signals before they show up as customer complaints. Validation Monitors watches the live config that creates them.

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Video advertisingerror codes.

Eleven categories.