Loss reason 209: Creative Filtered - Category Exclusions

What it means

The creative's category hits bcat or a deal's category blocks.

The exchange reports this code by expanding the ${AUCTION_LOSS} macro in the bid's loss notice URL (lurl). A bidder that does not set lurl never sees it, and never learns why it lost.

What to do about it

The 200-series means the exchange's creative policy rejected the ad after the auction logic: size, format, security, category, attribute, or store exclusions, or a creative still pending review. Compare what your adm actually contains against what the imp offered (the validator's markup-vs-mtype and markup-vs-imp checks catch format mismatches), and pre-sync creative approvals with exchanges that require review.

Related

• The full loss reason table
• ${AUCTION_MIN_TO_WIN}: the price-discovery companion macro
• Loss reason 207: Creative Filtered - Not Secure
• Loss reason 208: Creative Filtered - Language Exclusions
• Loss reason 210: Creative Filtered - Creative Attribute Exclusions
• Loss reason 211: Creative Filtered - Ad Type Exclusions