LiveRail is a leading proponent of the IAB’s VAST standard for video advertising and is active on the IAB’s various video standards committees and working groups. By supporting VAST, we believe that we can help contribute to a more efficient, more interoperable video advertising ecosystem.
From the IAB’s website: “VAST is designed for any on-demand video player where the ad response is parsed prior to play. For example, use of this standard would be appropriate within an Adobe Flash player if the ad response was requested and parsed in ActionScript but would not be appropriate if contained directly within a SMIL playlist directly sent to the player. It may be possible to use this XML format for applications other than on-demand viewing such as live video streaming, downloadable video players, set-top boxes, etc, but those applications are explicitly beyond the scope of the current effort.”
LiveRail is designed to support any XML standard, and while by default we output campaign data responses in the latest IAB-approved VAST, clients routinely use our robust XML-output/parsing technology to overcome the technical complexities that often arise from working with 3rd parties who still rely on proprietary XML schemas.
In addition to VAST, LiveRail is also an industry leader in the support of VPAID. The VPAID standard allows for complex interactions between non-linear ad units and the underlying video player. VAST alone allows for core data about the assets, trackers and pricing of an ad, but the standard is limited in its ability to load in complex interactive or scripted elements into a player in a standardized way. VPAID overcomes this challenge, and our customers benefit by being at the forefront of support for these advanced standards that enable the broadest distribution and interoperability of their video ads.