VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) is a standard containing all advertising information: its physical location, format, structure. A VAST template is an XML document that is requested by the video player. It also contains URLs that the player must call to track the events of viewing the ad, which will then be used by the ad server to generate statistics.
This standard supports the following types of video advertising: sidebar (a video played before or after the main video, or during an advertising break), overlay (an advertising message in the form of text and/or an image displayed over the main video without interrupting playback), and a joint banner (an advertisement that is displayed on a web page outside of the video player).
The main purpose of VAST is to program the video player so that it can show the video advertisements on various sites and devices (mobile devices, desktops, and tablets) according to the publishers’ requests. It provides the following pointers:
- Which ad to play
- How long should the ad be displayed
- What are the options to skip an ad
- The user’s way after clicking on the button
- How to demonstrate an advertisement
