Creative Specifications (Display)

This article provides our specifications for third-party hosted and Quantcast-hosted display assets. A list of common errors associated with these assets can be found here. 

Content Standards

• Ads with a white background must include a distinct border to clearly identify where the page ends and the advertisement begins
• The sponsor of the advertising message must be clearly identified
• Landing pages must match the offer being made in the advertisement
• Product claims, warranties, guarantees, or other assurances must comply with applicable laws and regulations
• Ad unit and landing page must have detailed disclosures as appropriate; in particular, full terms and conditions of the offer must be easily accessible on the landing page
• Quantcast reserves the right to request additional changes to submitted ads that do not comply with content standards. For any ads that are not in compliance with content standards and not revised, Quantcast reserves the right to reject the creative execution.

Quantcast Platform-Hosted and 3rd Party-Served Creative Specifications

Quantcast requires all clients to provide SSL-compliant tags.

Top Performing IAB Sizes

Ad Unit	Dimensions	Max File Size (GIF/JPG/HTML5)*	Max File Size (3rd Party)	Max FPS	Audio	Animation
Wide Skyscraper	160×600	450kb	150k Initial 2.2 MB Polite	24 FPS	Click Only	30 Seconds 3 Loops
Rectangle	300×250	450kb	150k Initial 2.2 MB Polite	24 FPS	Click Only	30 Seconds 3 Loops
Mobile Leaderboard	320×50	250kb	150k Initial 2.2 MB Polite	24 FPS	Click Only	30 Seconds 3 Loops
Leaderboard	728×90	350kb	150k Initial 2.2 MB Polite	24 FPS	Click Only	30 Seconds 3 Loops
Half-Page	300x600	550kb	150k Initial 2.2 MB Polite	24 FPS	Click Only	30 Seconds 3 Loops
Billboard	970x250	550kb	150k Initial 2.2 MB Polite	24 FPS	Click Only	30 Seconds 3 Loops

* For HTML5, provide one zipped folder for each creative containing all assets (CSS, images, JavaScript, HTML, etc). Backup images for each are required.

Additional IAB Sizes

Ad Unit	Dimensions	Max File Size (GIF/JPG/HTML5)*	Max File Size (3rd Party)	Max FPS	Audio	Animation
Skyscraper	120×600	350kb	150k Initial 2.2 MB Polite	24 FPS	Click Only	30 Seconds 3 Loops
Mobile Banner	300×50	250kb	150k Initial 2.2 MB Polite	24 FPS	Click Only	30 Seconds 3 Loops
Banner	468×60	250k	150k Initial 2.2 MB Polite	24 FPS	Click Only	30 Seconds 3 Loops
Desktop Large Rectangle	336×280	450k	150k Initial 2.2 MB Polite	24 FPS	Click Only	30 Seconds 3 Loops
Desktop Large Leaderboard	970×90	450k	150k Initial 2.2 MB Polite	24 FPS	Click Only	30 Seconds 3 Loops

* For HTML5, provide one zipped folder for each creative containing all assets (CSS, images, JavaScript, HTML, etc). Backup images for each are required.

Accepted 3rd Party Tag Vendors:

• AdForm
• Google Rich Media
• EyeReturn
• Flashtalking
• Jivox
• Mediaplex
• Sizmek

* Supported, but require a week turnaround to enable.
** Click tracking is not supported for blocking technologies or branded URLs

If your vendor is not listed above, please contact us to discuss integration.

Non-Expandable Rich Media 

Creative using Rich Media must adhere to the following specifications:

Ad Unit	Dimension	Initial Max File Size	Rich Max File Size	Animation Length
Skyscraper	120x600	350k	2MB	30 Seconds
Wide Skyscraper	160x600	450k	2MB	30 Seconds
Rectangle	300x250	450k	2MB	30 Seconds
Half Page	300x600	550k	2MB	30 Seconds
Full Page	468x60	250k	2MB	30 Seconds
Leaderboard	728x90	350k	2MB	30 Seconds

Ad Choices

• The Ad Choices icon is fully supported and added by default to all campaign creatives with an add-on fee.
• The icon measures 77×15 pixels and will be placed in the upper right-hand corner of the creative. 

In-Banner Video Creative 

The platform will automatically detect and configure third-party ad server (3PAS) In-Banner Video (IBV) creatives.

Types

• Auto-Play In-Banner Video creative
• User-Initiated In-Banner Video creative

All IAB standard sizes are supported.

Expandable Rich Media

Creative using Rich Media must adhere to the following specifications:

Ad Unit	Start Dimension	Expanded Dimensions	Expansion Direction	Expand Action	Initial Max File Size	Final Max File Size	Close Button	Close Action
Skyscraper	120x600	240x600	Left, Right, Up, Down, Fullscreen	Automatic, Hover, or Click	450k	2.2MB Polite	Required: Top Left, 16pt	Click or Mouse off
Wide Skyscraper	160x600	320x600	Left, Right, Up, Down, Fullscreen	Automatic, Hover, or Click	450k	2.2MB Polite	Required: Top Left, 16pt	Click or Mouse off
Medium Rectangle	300x250	500x300	Left, Right, Up, Down, Fullscreen	Automatic, Hover, or Click	450k	2.2MB Polite	Required: Top Left, 16pt	Click or Mouse off
Full Banner	468x60	468x210	Left, Right, Up, Down, Fullscreen	Automatic, Hover, or Click	450k	2.2MB Polite	Required: Top Left, 16pt	Click or Mouse off
Leaderboard	728x90	728x300	Left, Right, Up, Down, Fullscreen	Automatic, Hover, or Click	450k	2.2MB Polite	Required: Top Left, 16pt	Click or Mouse off
Half Banner	234x60	300x250	Left, Right, Up, Down, Fullscreen	Automatic, Hover, or Click	450k	2.2MB Polite	Required: Top Left, 16pt	Click or Mouse off
Button	120x60	120x240	Left, Right, Up, Down, Fullscreen	Automatic, Hover, or Click	450k	2.2MB Polite	Required: Top Left, 16pt	Click or Mouse off
Rectangle	180x150	300x300	Left, Right, Up, Down, Fullscreen	Automatic, Hover, or Click	450k	2.2MB Polite	Required: Top Left, 16pt	Click or Mouse off
Half Page	300x600	560x600	Left, Right, Up, Down, Fullscreen	Automatic, Hover, or Click	450k	2.2MB Polite	Required: Top Left, 16pt	Click or Mouse off

Note: Expandable formats that are produced in bespoke sizes by vendors such as JustPremium or Sublime are not supported.

Note: When configuring/editing your Expandable Direction and Expandable Options, please note that our systems cannot detect if there are errors that may result in delivery and performance issues. 

Supported Expandable Creatives

• Expanding ads: Automatically or upon a user interaction, it expands in a given direction pre-configured as a behavior of the banner ad itself (this is normally predetermined by the vendor who builds the actual ad).
• Pushdown ads: Push down ads won’t expand by taking over a portion of the page content, rather the ad will appear as a teaser on the webpage. Interested users can click or hover the mouse on top of it. By doing so, the ad will push down the webpage content to display fully.
• Multi-directional expanding (MDE) ads: Automatically or upon a user interaction, it expands as per its position on the web page. For example, if the ad is placed on the right side of the page, it will automatically expand toward the left side when a user clicks on it or vice versa.
• Lightbox ads: Introduced by Google Display Network (GDN) in 2013. The user sees a small ad initially. This can be expanded either by hovering or clicking on it. In the next stage, the entire screen is dimmed, and a lightbox appears, showing the full ad that the user can interact with.

Skin Creatives

For more detailed information, see our Skin Creatives article.

Supported Vendors and Sizes

Vendor	Declared size for Skin Creative
Sublime	1800x1000
Scoota	970x250
JustPremium	1920x1200

 

Full List of recommended sizes:

In addition to all the above sizes, our platform supports creatives of any user-specified dimension, with a minimum of 10 pixels and a maximum of 10,000 pixels respectively in each dimension, in order to provide support for markets with different inventory sizes. Below is a full list of our recommended sizes based on the IAB specifications.

• 100x72
• 1024x768
• 120x600
• 160x600
• 1800x1000
• 1920x1200
• 180x150
• 200x200
• 250x250
• 300x1050
• 300x250
• 300x50
• 300x600
• 320x50
• 320x480
• 336x280
• 360x280
• 468x60
• 580x400
• 728x90
• 768x640
• 768x1024
• 800x250
• 970x250
• 970x90
• 980x120
• 980x240
• 250x360
• 320x320
• 930x180
• 640x300
• 300x100
• 320x100
• 320x240

Best Practices

• Ensure your company’s logo is prominent and consistent in terms of location and dimension across the different banner sizes within each creative set.
• The value proposition (offer) should be easy to read and simple. It should take up the most space in your ad and be the first thing that your viewer’s eyes are attracted to.
• The call to action should be prominent and clear, being a focal point of the ad. Contrasting colors typically help the button stand out from the background.
• Include brand imagery and clear images of your product. Utilize people and top-selling products when possible.
• Consider using colorful, eye-catching background colors to draw consumer attention.
• As Flash acceptance and support across major browser versions continue to decline, Quantcast recommends migrating to HTML5 ad creatives as an alternative to Flash formats to ensure seamless display across devices and platforms. Alternatively, using an animated GIF/JPG image in lieu of the Flash creative would be recommended to ensure seamless delivery to all browsers and platforms if HTML5 conversion is not possible.
• Due to the variability in the HTML5 format, we request assets or a live tag for testing prior to launch. 

Quantcast supports the Coalition for Better Ads initiative to create a better user experience on desktop and mobile web. As such, we strongly suggest our Advertiser use formats and creative specifications that adhere to the Better Ads Standards as defined at https://www.betterads.org/standards/

Common Errors

In addition to following the creative specifications above, a validation error may surface in the UI that prevents you from saving the creative if there is an issue with the particular creative. Here are the most common errors related to display creative and how to fix them. 

The landing URL must be valid according to these conditions:

• Each URL must look like a URL, in that it must have the standard RFC 3986 format:

  scheme:[//authority]path[?query][#fragment].

• Each URL's scheme must be http or https.
• The authority/domain, path, query string, and fragment must be valid.

Uploaded File Errors:

• Creative dimensions must be between 10 and 10,000 pixels (inclusive) in each dimension. (see above)
• The image asset must not exceed the file size limit for the size of the image asset. The file size is based on the number of pixels in the image asset, i.e. width x height. (see above)

These restrictions are based on recommendations from the IAB: https://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IABNewAdPortfolio_LW_FixedSizeSpec.pdf

3rd Party Tracking HTML Errors:

• Third-party tracking HTML must not contain non-ascii characters
• Third-party tracking HTML must not start with a quotation mark
• Third-party tracking HTML is parsed by an HTML parser. If it cannot be parsed at all, the parser will fail and this must not happen. This occurs when the third-party tracking HTML is not actually HTML.
• Third-party tracking HTML must contain one or more HTML elements/tags.
• Third-party tracking HTML must not contain any not allowed elements. This is the list of allowed elements: "script", "img", "iframe", "div", "noscript"