Video Ads

Updated

Pro feature. Available in MediaShield Pro.

PRO - requires MediaShield Pro. This page covers only what Pro adds: choosing which ads a site or a video plays. The ad engine and the site-wide placement settings are in the free plugin, see Video Ads in the free guide.

Choose which sponsor video ads play on which video, and override where the breaks go for one video. The ads themselves come from WB Ad Manager (its Pro module with the "Video Ad" type). MediaShield plays them.

Why use it#

Without Pro, every video plays the same pool of ads. With Pro, a sponsor's ad can be tied to the videos where it belongs, a free preview can run with no ads, and one long lesson can have its own break pattern. You stay in control of the viewing experience on each video instead of one rule for the whole site.

Before you start#

  • The free plugin is set up for ads first: turn on Enable In-Video Ads and choose pre-roll, mid-rolls and skip rules under MediaShield > Settings > Video Ads. The steps and defaults are in the free Video Ads guide.
  • WB Ad Manager Pro is active and you have created at least one enabled ad of type Video Ad. Without it, no ad screen or box appears in MediaShield, and no ads play.
  • The ads play inside the MediaShield player. A video that plays in a platform's own embedded player (for example Bunny's embed or YouTube) cannot carry in-video ads. For Bunny, turn on direct playback.

Where Pro adds ad controls#

Level Where What it controls
Whole site, which ads MediaShield > Video Ad Defaults The default set of ads used by every video that uses the site default
One video Video edit screen > Video Ads Use the default, choose ads for this video, or no ads. Optional own placement

The site-wide placement (master switch, pre-roll, mid-roll count, skip delay, full-view rule, break markers) is a free setting and keeps working as before.

Set the default ads for the site#

  1. Go to MediaShield > Video Ad Defaults. It appears only when WB Ad Manager supplies video ads.
  2. Tick the ads that should be the default set.
  3. Click Save Defaults. "Default video ads saved." confirms it.

If you tick nothing, videos that use the site default play every enabled video ad.

Choose ads for one video#

  1. Open the video under Videos.
  2. Scroll to the Video Ads box.
  3. Pick one of three options:
    • Use site default ads: plays the default set above. This is the starting choice.
    • Choose ads for this video: shows a searchable list with a count such as "2 of 8 selected". Tick the ads to use. They rotate across the breaks in list order. The list shows the first 200 ads, so narrow it in WB Ad Manager if you have more.
    • No ads on this video: nothing plays.
  4. Optional: tick Override break placement for this video to set your own Pre-roll, Mid-rolls (0 to 10, spread evenly) and Post-roll for this video only. Without it the site settings apply.
  5. Click Update.

If you choose ads for a video and none of them can be used any more (for example they were deleted), the video falls back to the site default, then to all enabled video ads.

The box shows what the site-wide default currently is, for example "pre-roll on, 3 mid-rolls", so you can see what you are overriding.

What viewers see#

Viewers see the same labelled ad break as in the free plugin: "Advertisement", a countdown and a Skip button when skipping is allowed. A video set to No ads on this video plays straight through.

Settings and options for this feature#

Name Default What it does
ms_ads_default_ad_ids (Video Ad Defaults) empty = all enabled video ads The site default set
Per video: ad choice Use site default Default, custom or none
Per video: ads none The ads chosen for this video
Per video: override placement Off Use this video's own pre, mid and post-roll
Per video: pre-roll, mid-rolls, post-roll Off, 0, Off Only used when the override is ticked

Next steps#

If no ads appear, see Troubleshooting.