Outstream Video

What is Outstream Video?

Outstream video (also referred to as "native video" or "in-read") is primarily used in non-video environments (like social feeds or blog posts). Unlike instream video, outstream video doesn't need to play within a stream of video content, so the video ad isn't playing before, during, or after another pre-existing video — effectively, it exists outside of any other "streams of video," usually in an article or a text-based page. So, instead of only showing video ads to people already watching videos, you can show video ads to people reading your editorial content or recipes.

Typically, an outstream video ad appears between two paragraphs of content, and may expand the space between the two paragraphs to fit the video ad as the user scrolls and the ad slot comes into view. The ad disappears or collapses back to its normal size when the video has completed. 

Outstream video ads are best targeted to highly viewable, in-content ad slots and can serve on both mobile and desktop devices. The exact targeting requirements, user experience, and performance may vary by bidder and even advertiser creative.

Some bidders may only pay for outstream video impressions if the video itself comes into view and begins to play. This may result in a discrepancy between the bidder’s reporting and what is reported in Google Ad Manager or Freestar Analytics, in terms of metrics like impressions and revenue. This highlights the importance of targeting highly viewable ad placements, and monitoring bidder reporting for discrepancies in billable impressions and revenue. 

How does Freestar support the Prebid standard for serving outstream video ads?

Freestar supports the Prebid standard for serving multi-format ads, including outstream. We can:

• Enable outstream video ads for specific ad slots and segments of inventory with Freestar’s granular targeting capabilities
• Set Prebid video parameters required by some outstream bidders
• Control which supported outstream bidders are enabled for your outstream inventory
• Add a default video ad renderer for cases when bidders do not supply their own renderer in the bid response

Supported bidders:

• Unruly, Appnexus
• Coming soon: Index, Pubmatic, Rubicon

As with traditional display, Freestar can enable outstream video ads through accounts that Freestar manages with bidders on your behalf, or you can leverage your own bidder relationships to enable outstream.

If Freestar manages accounts with these bidders on your behalf and you have videoable (formerly Freestar Video) enabled for ad units on your site, no action is needed, we’ll take care of rolling out this demand for you when it is available.

If you have your own accounts with any of these bidders and are interested in enabling their outstream demand for your site, we’ll work with you on setup when support for those bidders is available. If you would like to request support for additional bidders, or ask questions about how videoable can help boost your Q4 revenue, please contact accountmanagement@freestar.com.