Table of Contents
Overview
The DSP submits creatives to several vendors for approval to ensure compliance with industry standards and to prevent the distribution of harmful ads. Detailed technical documentation on the creative approval process is available here, while creative policies can be found here. In order to be alerted about creative approval status', see Alert Settings.
Creative Approval Process
Below is a list of creative approval vendors, and some information around why the DSP submits creatives to each:
| Confiant | We partner with Confiant to scan each creative in the platform to ensure we aren’t serving ads that contain malware. Creatives rejected by Confiant will be blocked from serving entirely. |
| Google Authorized Buyers ("AdX") | Google Authorized Buyers (i.e. "AdX") requires that all creatives submitted by demand partners be approved prior to serving via their exchange. |
| Xandr (Appnexus) | Xandr requires that all demand partners submit creatives for approval prior to serving on their exchange. Creatives typically take 24 hours to be reviewed. |
Creative Approval Statuses
Below is a list of statuses encountered within the creative approval process. Creative audits typically take anywhere from a few hours to over a day, depending on the vendor and the volume of other creatives awaiting review. If a creative has been pending for several days, support can be contacted to verify whether there is an issue.
NOT SUBMITTED Creatives are submitted periodically to each vendor in batches. If Status is Not Submitted, this means that this creative is currently in the queue to be submitted.
PENDING If Status is Pending, this means that your creative has been successfully submitted to the creative approval vendor, and awaiting a response. It may take up to 24 hours to get a response in the case of Xandr.
REJECTED If Status is Rejected, this means that vendor has not approved your creative - see below for details around what you can do if this occurs.
ERROR WITH APPROVAL PROCESS If Status is Error With Approval Process, this means that an error occurred somewhere throughout the process - for details, please contact support, and provide the creative ID in question.
Creatives will be automatically re-submitted in the event of common errors, such as timeouts or connection failures with the creative approval vendor. Creatives that are in an Inactive state will not be submitted for audit.
For any status not listed above, please contact your customer success manager with the relevant creative ID for further assistance.
What to Do If a Creative is Rejected
Below are some steps you can take if your creative is rejected from any of these vendors. For details on why your creative was rejected, click the ‘View History’ button within the ‘Approval Status’ section of your creative:
Confiant
If a creative is rejected by Confiant or marked as ‘suspicious,’ contact support for assistance. In most cases, it will not be possible to alter this status, as it typically indicates the creative may contain malware or is otherwise harmful. However, in certain situations, an override may be possible (e.g., if the rejection is clearly a false positive, if the inventory intended for serving the creative is owned, or if explicit permission from the publisher has been obtained).
Google Authorized Buyers (AdX)
If a creative is rejected by Google, click View More for details regarding the rejection reason, such as BROKEN_URL. For clarification or further instructions on how to resolve the issue, contact support. Alternatively, if there is a billable seat on AdX, Google Support may be contacted directly.
Xandr (AppNexus)
Similar to AdX, if a creative is rejected by Xandr (AppNexus), click View More for details on the rejection reason. The rejection reason should be clearly listed.
It is important to know that Xandr refers to third-party creative IDs as "creative codes," which should be shared with the Xandr team in the following format: <Buzz Key>-<Creative ID>.
Creative Approvals on Other Exchanges
In addition to Xandr (AppNexus) and Google AdX, most other exchanges also have a creative approval process. However, Xandr and AdX are the only two supply partners that expose their approval process to external parties via an API, making them the only supply partners whose approval processes can be accessed by customers.
If one or more creatives are bidding but not winning impressions on a particular exchange, Support can assist by connecting with the relevant SSP contact(s) to investigate and confirm whether the creative has been blocked.