What is VPAID?
VPAID (Video Player-Ad Interface Definition) is an older IAB standard that let a video ad run as executable code inside the player, so the ad could be interactive or load measurement scripts. It appears as API framework values 1 and 2 (VPAID 1.0 and 2.0). IAB Tech Lab has since moved its two jobs to SIMID for interactivity and Open Measurement for verification.
Also called: Video Player-Ad Interface Definition, VPAID 2.0, VPAID wrapper.
How it works
A VPAID creative is a program, JavaScript today and Flash in its early years, referenced as a media file in the VAST response. The player loads it and hands over control: the ad decides when to start, pause, and finish, and reports events back through the VPAID interface. That flexibility made VPAID the vehicle for interactive formats and for verification vendors who wrapped other creatives in order to measure them.
In OpenRTB, a player that can run VPAID lists 1 or 2 in Video.api. The spec treats any framework not listed as unsupported, so a VPAID creative returned to an impression without those values may fail to play. Bidders declare a VPAID dependency in Bid.apis in OpenRTB 2.6 (previously the single-value Bid.api). Creative attribute 16 in Bid.attr marks an ad that provides its own skip button, such as one drawn by VPAID code.
Pitfalls: CTV devices and server-side stitched streams generally cannot execute VPAID, so VPAID wrappers on that inventory produce errors and unfilled breaks; measurement wrappers add latency and time out; and sellers keep listing 1 and 2 long after their players dropped support. On current integrations, use Open Measurement (value 7) for verification and SIMID (values 8 and 9) for interactivity.
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Related terms
Every term is in the glossary.