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title: "Creative Pre-Approval Process"
canonical: "https://hub.freewheel.tv/space/BC/672235525/Creative%20Pre-Approval%20Process"
format: markdown
---
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# Overview

Buyer Cloud supports FreeWheel creative approval for creatives running against eligible Programmatic Guaranteed (PG) and Private Marketplace (PMP) deals.

FreeWheel approval helps ensure that creatives meet publisher requirements before they begin serving, or while serving if the deal configuration allows it.

## How it Works

When an active video creative is associated with an active line item targeting a FreeWheel deal, Buyer Cloud checks the deal's FreeWheel configuration.

Two settings determine whether creative pre-approval can be applied:

- The Pre-Ingest Permission determines whether the creative can be submitted to FreeWheel for approval before delivery.
- The Clearance Level determines whether approval is required for the creative to serve.

Buyer Cloud automatically reads these settings from the FreeWheel deal configuration.

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# Pre-Approval Eligibility

Whether a creative is eligible for creative pre-approval depends on its pre-ingest permission setting and its clearance level.

## Pre-Ingest Permission

When FreeWheel pre-ingest is *Required *or *Allowed*, the creative is submitted through the FreeWheel pre-approval workflow. FreeWheel is displayed as an approval vendor in the Creative Approvals table. See the [FreeWheel Approval Statuses](#FreeWheel-Approval-Statuses) table below for all FreeWheel creative approval statuses and how they affect serving.

For deals where pre-ingest is *Not Allowed *or *Not* *Available*, Buyer Cloud does not submit the creative through the FreeWheel pre-approval process. As a result, FreeWheel will not appear in the Creative Approvals table for these deals.

## Clearance Level

FreeWheel's clearance level determines whether approval is required for delivery. The table below shows how the deal clearance level affects the approval status needed for the creative to serve:

| **Deal Clearance Level** | **Approval Status** |
| --- | --- |
| **Pending** | **Approved** | **Rejected** |
| **Restrictive** | Does not deliver until approved | Delivers | Does not deliver |
| **Permissive** | Can deliver | Delivers | Does not deliver |

### Restrictive Clearance Level

For a restrictive deal, FreeWheel requires creative approval before it can deliver.

A creative that remains pending or has been rejected will not deliver on that deal.

### Permissive Clearance Level

For a permissive deal, explicit approval is not required before delivery.

A pending creative can therefore deliver. Publishers using permissive clearance may leave acceptable creatives in pending status and only change the status when they need to explicitly reject a creative.

> ℹ️ For permissive deals, a long-running Pending status does not necessarily indicate a problem. The creative may still be eligible to deliver.

## Approval for Deals without Pre-Approval Eligibility

Some FreeWheel deals do not support pre-approval.

For these deals:

- Buyer Cloud does not submit the creative through the FreeWheel pre-approval workflow.
- The creative is still sent to FreeWheel as part of the bid response.

Because Buyer Cloud does not receive approval feedback for these deals, a FreeWheel approval status may not be available in the Buyer Cloud Creative Approvals UI. However, the deal is still subject to FreeWheel's approval and policy checks. Approval and policy enforcement can instead occur through:

- Live bidding and delivery
- Publisher approval workflows
- FreeWheel publisher tools such as Streaming Hub / TACT

In these cases, FreeWheel approval issues may be visible through delivery behavior or publisher tools rather than through a FreeWheel approval status in Buyer Cloud.

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# FreeWheel Approval Statuses

When FreeWheel pre-approval is enabled for a deal, you can view its status alongside other creative approval vendors in Buyer Cloud. The table below shows all possible approval statuses and their meanings:

| **Approval Status** | **Description** |
| --- | --- |
| **Pending** | The creative has been submitted to FreeWheel, and a decision has not yet been returned.<br>For restrictive deals, pending means the creative is waiting for approval and cannot deliver until FreeWheel approves it.<br>For permissive deals, pending creatives can deliver. Publishers may therefore leave creatives in pending status indefinitely because an explicit approved status is not required for delivery. |
| **Approved** | FreeWheel has approved the creative. If all other required approvals are complete, the creative is eligible to serve. |
| **Rejected** | FreeWheel rejected the creative. The creative will not serve where FreeWheel approval is required until it is corrected and resubmitted. |
| **Targeted deal does not support creative pre-approval** | FreeWheel pre-ingest is not available for the deal. |
| **Not required / Not submitted** | FreeWheel approval is not currently active. |
| **Error / Suspicious** | FreeWheel identified an operational or policy issue. These statuses are treated as blocking approval results. |

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# Troubleshoot Rejected Creatives

If your creative is marked as rejected, view the rejection reason in the creative's approval history.

FreeWheel may return rejection reasons related to attributes such as:

- Creative domain or landing page
- Creative duration
- Asset quality
- Creative category
- Other publisher requirements

After correcting the issue, update and resubmit the creative. The creative will return to the approval workflow and be submitted to FreeWheel again.