Tag Archives: html5

Final days for migrating AdWords ads from Flash to HTML5

What do I need to do?
Please migrate any existing Flash display ads to HTML5 by January 2, 2017, when Flash ads will stop serving. In May 2016 we announced that you would no longer be able to upload Flash display ads in AdWords by June 30, 2016 with tips on how to migrate.

If you have video ads built in Flash, they will not be affected at this time. You do not need to migrate these ads.

Where can I learn more?
Questions? Visit us on the AdWords API Forum or our Google+ page.
Nadine Sundquist, AdWords API Team

Flash and Chrome

Adobe Flash Player played a pivotal role in the adoption of video, gaming and animation on the Web. Today, sites typically use technologies like HTML5, giving you improved security, reduced power consumption and faster page load times. Going forward, Chrome will de-emphasize Flash in favor of HTML5. Here’s what that means for you.

Today, more than 90% of Flash on the web loads behind the scenes to support things like page analytics. This kind of Flash slows you down, and starting this September, Chrome 53 will begin to block it. HTML5 is much lighter and faster, and publishers are switching over to speed up page loading and save you more battery life. You’ll see an improvement in responsiveness and efficiency for many sites.

This is similar to a change we made last September, when some Flash content became click-to-play with Chrome 42. This had an immediate, positive impact for our users by improving page load times and saving battery power.

In December, Chrome 55 will make HTML5 the default experience, except for sites which only support Flash. For those, you’ll be prompted to enable Flash when you first visit the site. Aside from that, the only change you’ll notice is a safer and more power-efficient browsing experience.

Flash helped make the Web a rich, dynamic experience, and shaped the modern set of web standards. We continue to work closely with Adobe to ensure that your web experience is as fast and secure as possible and to help the Web transition to HTML5.

Posted by Anthony LaForge, curator of Flash in Chrome.

Sunset of Google’s Swiffy tool

TL;DR: Swiffy will stop converting SWF files from 1st July, 2016.

Recently, we announced that we're transitioning all of our display ads to HTML5. As part of this transition, we're sunsetting our Swiffy Flash conversion service and support for the Swiffy Flash extension on July 1st 2016. After this date, you will no longer be able to use either to convert SWF files to HTML5. We will continue to serve the Swiffy runtimes, so any file you convert before the sunset date will continue to play.

Today more consumers are using the web in HTML5-compatible environments than Flash-compatible environments. In order to reach as large an audience as possible, we encourage everyone to transition to HTML5 authoring.

Developers who currently create Flash SWF files have several ways to switch to HTML5, including Adobe Animate and Google Web Designer. If you need to play an existing Flash SWF file in your browser alone, you may be able to use Mozilla's Shumway.

 - , on behalf of AdWords API Team.

Begin migrating from Flash to HTML5 ads before June 30th

What is changing?

Starting June 30, 2016, you will no longer be able to upload Flash display ads in AdWords. By January 2, 2017 existing Flash ads will no longer serve on the Google Display Network. In order for your ads to keep serving, you will need to migrate any existing Flash ads to HTML5. If you need help migrating, check out the Help Center Article on updating Flash ads to HTML5 ads.

If you have video ads built in Flash, they will not be affected at this time. You do not need to migrate these ads.

Where can I learn more? Questions? Visit us on the AdWords API Forum or our Google+ page.

Nadine Sundquist, AdWords API Team

In-browser code snippet execution now available in the IMA HTML5 docs

Have you ever wished you could experiment with IMA HTML5 SDK features without having to download our samples, modify them for the feature, and host them on your own webserver? Now you can with our new Codepen snippets!

We’ve added codepen snippets to several HTML5 guides. These snippets allow you to modify and execute Javascript right in your browser. To test different aspects of a new feature, you can simply modify the Javascript and re-run the sample, without having to download the files or host them yourself. Codepen snippets are now available for the following guides:

For more information, check out the guides above. We’ll continue to add codepen snippets to new guides as they are released, so keep an eye out! As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us via the support forum.

 - , IMA SDK Team

Important changes for gaming publishers using the IMA HTML5 SDK

In the coming weeks, we’ll be making changes to the way the IMA HTML5 SDK handles AdSense and Ad Exchange non-linear and full slot ads. To facilitate these changes, we’re adding a new API: AdsRequest.forceNonLinearFullSlot. Gaming publishers are required to set this parameter to true to ensure that all ads returned to your player are correctly rendered as full slot ads. This change is planned to go live the week of November 30th. Keep an eye on our release notes for the exact date as the change is released.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us via the support forum.

 - , IMA SDK Team

IMA HTML5 – changes to non-linear and full slot ads for AdSense and Ad Exchange

In the coming weeks, we’ll be making changes to the way the IMA HTML5 SDK handles AdSense and Ad Exchange non-linear and full slot ads. You should be aware of these changes to ensure that your video player behaves as expected once the changes have taken effect.

Definitions

A non-linear ad is a static or animated ad that displays over the video content during content playback. These are also sometimes referred to as “bottom-third” ads, because they typically take up the bottom third of the video player.

A non-linear ad.

A full slot ad is a static or animated ad that usually appears before or after the content, occupying the entire view area. It renders a close button that when clicked closes the ad and, if rendered before the content, triggers the content to start.

A full slot ad.

Current behavior

Currently, non-linear ads are rendered as expected, but full slot ads are also rendered as non-linear ads. So instead of pausing, the video continues to play underneath them while they take up a large portion of the video display.

New behavior

With the new behavior, any non-linear AdSense or Ad Exchange ad greater than 90 pixels in height will be rendered as a full slot ad. This means it will take up the entire video display. When the user clicks the close button, the content will start.

We will also be adding a new UI to these full slot ads which includes a countdown timer and a skip button. You should remove any custom UI elements you’ve added for full slot ads to ensure there are no conflicts with this new UI.

Lastly, to ensure that your ads are rendered properly, make sure your AdDisplayContainer is rendered on top of everything else and takes up the full size of your video player.

Full slot ad with the updated UI.

Testing the changes

If you’d like to test these changes, you can load the test version of our SDK by replacing your load of ima3.js with ima3_test.js. This is a watermarked test binary that changes frequently and without notice; it is not intended for use in production.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us via the support forum.

 - , IMA SDK Team

New ad UI and click behavior for IMA HTML5 SDK

Starting this week, we’re going to incrementally roll out a change in the way the IMA HTML5 SDK handles an ad’s UI.

We will be adding a Learn More button to Ad Exchange and AdSense ads on both desktop and mobile. Clicking on the button will take the user to the advertiser’s site, while clicking elsewhere on the ad will pause or resume it. This is a change from the existing behavior, where clicking anywhere on the ad opens the advertiser’s site.

The new ad UI.

This change will also be rolling out to all mobile web ads that do not use custom click tracking. Note that ads that have no UI before the change will gain a UI with this change. This will allow our mobile web behavior to be consistent with native mobile behavior.

If you have any questions about these changes, feel free to contact us via the support forum.

 - , IMA SDK Team

IMA HTML5 SDK custom playback changes

On September 16th, 2015, the IMA HTML5 SDK will change how it handles custom playback. In order to provide a more seamless ad experience, custom playback on Android 4.0+ devices will be disabled.

As per a previous change, the SDK only selects custom playback when necessary. Since Android 4.0+ devices support standard rendering, it is no longer necessary to use custom playback on these devices.

What must I do to prepare for this change?

  1. Double check to make sure you’re always passing in your content video element as the custom playback element. Custom playback will still be used in pre-4.0 Android environments.
  2. On mobile, be sure you’re calling AdDisplayContainer.initialize() as a result of a user action. This method is not necessary in custom playback, but it must be called to play ads using standard rendering. Otherwise your ad video will not play. We recommend you always call this method on mobile, so your implementation will be ready for any future devices that support standard rendering.
  3. If your code requires a reference to the <video> element playing the ad, then this change might break your implementation. Instead, check the return value of AdsManager.isCustomPlaybackUsed(). If the value is true, the content video reference will be the same as the ad video reference.

If you have any questions about these changes, feel free to contact us via the support forum.

 - , IMA SDK Team

Make Mobile Work 2.0: Continuing the Mobile Conversation With Brand Marketers

Last year we started the Make Mobile Work initiative in partnership with the IAB to foster adoption of HTML5 and cross-screen creative, and it quickly became the IAB Mobile Center’s lynchpin for marketer outreach as interest in the program accelerated.

For 2015, we’re excited to bring back Make Mobile Work for another round of educational and practical conversations for brand marketers, to help them succeed in our increasingly mobile-first world.The importance of HTML5 for digital marketing continues to be at the center of the Make Mobile Work message, building on the success of the HTML5 Week we hosted last week.

Make Mobile Work webinars will address three important topics over the remainder of 2015. These webinars are curated with marketer business decision-makers in mind—they will keep the jargon to a minimum and focus on sharing practical examples and learning.

The IAB’s Tech Lab is also working to update their standard ad units to reflect the file size needs of HTML5-based ads. This is a timely effort as connectivity technologies have changed along with the rise of HTML5 and it’s vital to realign buyer and seller expectations around ad file weights that will enable engaging ads, while not harming webpage or ad-load performance. Make Mobile Work will help to spread the word about this process and its outcomes and implications.

Along with the other members of the Mobile Center, we’re looking forward to continuing to help brands large and small, novice and experienced, get the know-how they need to make mobile work for them.

Posted by Becky Chappell, DoubleClick Product Marketing