Ad Validation Checklist (50+ data points)

Written by Roy

May 18, 2022 • 34 min read

Host-initiated subload, document.write(), CPU usage... Are you working in ad ops and have to validate ads regularly?

Use this checklist to tick off ad validation tests you've performed on a creative.

List for Ad Tags and HTML5 Ads

	Data point	Description
	Load Size: Total	The total load size of all network responses after loading the creative.
	Load Size: Initial	The total load size of all network responses before the DOMContentLoaded event.
	Load Size: Subload	The total load size of all network responses after the DOMContentLoaded event.
	Network Requests	The total number of network requests after loading the creative.
	CPU Usage	The total CPU time devoted to loading the ad.
	DOMContentLoaded	The time it took for the DOMContentLoaded event to fire.
	Dimensions	The detected with and height of the creative.
	Has Video	Whether or not the creative plays video (even muted).
	Memory Usage	The amount of RAM the ad claimed when fully loaded.
	SSL-Compatibility	Whether or not all requests were made over TLS
	Iframe Count	The number of iframes created by the ad.
	Cookies Dropped	The number of cookies dropped by the ad.
	Heavy Ad Intervention	Removed by Chrome's HAI, based on an educated guess.
	Console Errors	Errors thrown while loading the ad. Usually JavaScript errors.
	Console Warnings	Console warnings thrown while loading the ad.
	Creative Rendered	Returns true if something was painted on the screen.
	Blocked by AdBlock	Probability to be blocked by ad blockers.
	Uses document.write()	Based on the detection of synchronous JS calls.
	Creative Border	High-contrasting border, based on image edge detection.
	Missing Assets	Requests to non-existing assets, resulting in 404s.
	Dialogs and Modals	Detection of JavaScript's confirm() and alert().
	Measurement Pixels	Pixels sent using IMG, XHR and sendBeacon.
	Local Storage	Items set in window.localStorage after loading the ad.
	Syntax Errors	Syntax errors in the HTML code.

Extra tests for HTML5 Ads

	Data point	Description
	Meta tag ad.size	Presence of the meta tag ad.size to define the dimensions.
	Click Tag	Presence of a clickTag (all 4 variants).
	CSS/JS Minified	Whether or not all CSS/JS files have been minified by removing non-essential white space and line breaks.
	Images Optimized	Whether or not all images have been optimized by crunching without quality loss.
	External Assets	Requests to third-party servers, not hosted by the publisher.
	Uses jQuery	Detection of jQuery used in HTML5 ads.
	HTML5 Library	Library detection, based on AdValify's database with fingerprints.
	Hosted File Size	The total size of all files the ad server has to host, after unpacking the zip archive.
	File Types Allowed	This test will pass if only allowed file types are present in the Zip archive (html, js, css, jpg, png, etc).

List for VAST Video Ads

	Data point	Description
	Ad System	As reported by the VAST document.
	CORS Header	Based on the HTTP header of the XML document.
	Creative Count	As reported by the VAST document.
	SSL-Compatibility	Returns true if all assets were loaded over TLS/SSL.
	VAST Version	As reported by the VAST document.
	Wrapper Redirects	Based on internal VAST wrapper redirects (not 302's).
	XML Content-Type	Based on the HTTP response header of the XML file.
	XML Load Time	Time it took to download the XML file.
	XML HTTP Code	Based on the HTTP response header of the XML file.
	XML File Size	The total size of the XML file.
	Impression Logging	Detects if impression logging has been enabled.
	Audio Channels	Detected number of audio channels.
	Audio Compression	Detected audio compression.
	Audio Sample Rate	Detected audio sample rate from the video.
	Audio Codec	Detected audio codec from the video.
	Audio Loudness	Detected audio loudness from the video.
	Audio True Peak	Detected audio true peak.
	Audio Bit Rate	Detected audio bit rate.
	Video Aspect Ratio	Detected aspect ratio from the video.
	Video Dimensions	Detected dimensions from the video.
	Video Duration	Detected video duration in seconds.
	Video Bit Rate	Detected video bit rate, including audio.
	Video Bit Rate Mode	Detected video bit rate mode.
	Video Chroma Subsampling	The chroma subsampling of the video.
	Video Color Space	The color space of the video.
	Video Frame Rate	Detected video frame rate.
	File Size	File size of the video.
	File Format	Detected video container format.
	File Extension	File extension of the video.
	Video Codec	Detected video codec.
	MOOV Atom Location	Should be in the beginning for direct playback.
	Delivery Type	As reported by the VAST document.
	Skip Offset	As reported by the VAST document.
	Video Mime-Type	Based on the HTTP response header of the video.

Perform all tests in a couple of seconds?

No time to check each test manually? Use these free online scanners to validate Ad Tags, HTML5 Ads or VAST tags. Here's a screenshot of what the result looks like. Scanners provided by AdValify.io

Automated scans using APIs

Increase your workflow by scanning hundreds of ads automatically. First, download this PHP class from Github:
https://github.com/AdValify/ad-validator-php

Then, run these lines of code:

include("AdValify.php");
$AdValify = new AdValify();
$result_tag = $AdValify->scanTag("This is an ad tag...");
$result_zip = $AdValify->scanZip("Binary Zip data here...");
$result_vast = $AdValify->scanVAST("URL pointing to VAST document...");

The result will be an array, which you can use further down in your logic. Check out the complete API Documentation for a list of all data points collected by the scanner.

External Resources

open_in_newFree Online Ad Tag Tester

open_in_newFree Online HTML5 Ad Validation

open_in_newFree Online VAST Inspector