Run direct campaigns

Sell your own ad slots to an advertiser, upload or link the creative, set pacing and targeting, and watch delivery.

A direct campaign is an ad you sold yourself, outside LtvAdx's marketplace. You enter the deal here, add the advertiser's video, pick the channels, and LtvAdx serves it on those channels. It is useful for guaranteed buys, sponsorships, and for checking that a new channel really can play an ad.

Direct campaigns come first. When one matches a break, it is chosen before any marketplace or programmatic demand. They don't need your channel to have a floor price or a verified app-ads.txt line. They do need the channel to be approved.

Steps

1. Open Direct Campaigns and select New Campaign.
2. Enter the Campaign Name and the Advertiser Name. Add a brand name if you want one.
3. Choose the Type: Standard, or Roadblock (100% share of voice).
4. Set the Start Date and End Date. Days are counted in UTC.
5. Enter Target Impressions and Sold CPM (USD) if you know them.
6. Add the creative (see below).
7. Choose the Ad Break Types it can run in. Pre-roll and mid-roll are ticked to start with.
8. Pick the channels under Channels. The campaign serves only on the ones you pick.
9. Choose Pacing, and optionally platforms and countries.
10. Select Create Campaign. It starts as a draft.
11. When it is ready, select Activate.

You can't activate until the campaign has a creative and at least one channel, and its end date hasn't passed. The card says what is missing, for example *No creative: add one before activating*.

The creative

Choose one of two tabs.

• Upload a video. An MP4 or MOV file, up to 300 MB and 120 seconds. LtvAdx converts it so it plays on every player and in SSAI. Its length is read from the file. Conversion takes a minute or two and the card shows it as processing. If you replace a video, the old one keeps serving until the new one is ready. If your account isn't approved yet, a processed video goes live once it is.
• Link (MP4 or VAST tag). A public https address. An MP4 file is served directly with the click-through and companion you enter. Any other address is treated as the advertiser's VAST tag, and their ad server supplies the video, click-through and companion. Streaming manifests and other video formats (.m3u8, .mpd, .webm, .mov and similar) are refused. For a link, also pick the Duration. The campaign is only served into breaks at least that long.

Saving a link on a campaign that has an uploaded video removes the video, and the link serves instead. Add a Click-through URL and an optional 300×250 Companion banner URL.

Delivery and pacing

• Target Impressions is a cap. The campaign stops serving when it has delivered that many, and is marked completed. It also completes when its end date passes.
• Pacing works against the target. *Even* spreads delivery across the flight. *Front-loaded* delivers more early and all by the end. *As fast as possible* has no curve. An hour that under-delivers is caught up later. Without target impressions there is nothing to pace and the campaign delivers as fast as possible.
• A completed campaign whose flight hasn't ended and whose goal isn't met has a Reopen button.
• Pause stops it and Resume starts it again.

Targeting

• Platforms. None ticked means all platforms.
• Countries. Two-letter codes, such as IN, AE, US. Matched against the viewer's country from their IP address. If you set countries and the viewer's country can't be worked out, the campaign is skipped.
• Ad Break Types. The tag's breakType must be one of them. See Get your VAST tag.
• If your tag sets duration, a campaign whose video is longer than that is skipped.

If several of your campaigns match, a roadblock beats a standard one, and then the one with the larger target goes first. A roadblock with Full pod takeover leaves no room for other ads in that pod.

Reading the numbers

Select Report on a card to see Delivered, Target, Pacing and Revenue (gross). Gross revenue is delivered impressions times your sold CPM. LtvAdx charges a platform fee per thousand impressions on direct-sold delivery, so your net is less. How that reaches you is in Publisher payouts and Revenue share.

If a campaign isn't serving

The amber line on its card says what is wrong when the problem is in the campaign itself. If it says nothing, work through No ads on my channel. The usual causes are an unapproved channel, a flight that hasn't started, the wrong break type, a tag duration shorter than the video, and a goal already met.

Owner, admin and manager seats can create, edit, activate and pause campaigns and upload their videos. Other seats can see the campaigns and their reports.