Hivestack OnSign TV Integration
Programmatic platforms are a strong trend and a great way to increase DOOH advertisement sales.
Hivestak is a full-featured, worldwide Programmatic Advertising Platform offering easy access to the largest DSPs in the market, such as Yahoo OmniChannel and Google DV360.
This tutorial describes how to integrate OnSign TV Screens to Hivestack.
Requirements:
- An active OnSign TV Account
- An active Hivestack Account
- You should have a Hivestack API Key UAT
- You will need a Hivestack Screen ID for each player screen
- OnSign TV player 10.0.30 or higher
The account must have enabled the following features:
- Custom Attributes
- App Events
- Hivestack App
Step 1 - Configuring Custom Player Attributes
Custom Player Attributes work as local player variables that Apps can access during playback time.
Once a Custom Player Attribute is created within the settings menu, it will be possible to enter a Custom Attribute for each player.
Custom Player Attributes are configured at Settings > Custom Attributes
To use the Hivestack app, these two Custom Attributes must be configured:
- Hivestack API Key - Type Text
- Hivestack Screen ID - Type Text
*Custom Attributes are case-sensitive and must be entered in the exact same spelling.
Step 2 - Entering the API Keys and Screen ID at each player
Now that the Custom Player Attributes are created, it is required to go to the settings of every player and configure the Hivestack API Key and Screen ID
1 - Click on the Player Menu
2 - Select a specific player
3 - Click on Settings
4 - Enter the Hivestack API Ky and Hivestack Screen ID
Step 3 - Setup the Hivestack App
Configuring the Hivestack app follows the same process as any other OnSign TV application.
Click on the Content menu and navigate to the folder where the Hivestack App should be stored.
Click New Button > App -> Then type "Hivestack" on the search box and select the Hivestack App.
1 - Configure the App name (like any other OnSign TV App)
2 - Select the Hivestack Environment the App should connect. This is either Staging, in case you are still validating the solution, or Production, in case your environment is set and ready for showing Ads to your audience.
3 - Select a fallback image. This will be shown when there is no creative available from Hivestack or when there is not enough time to retrieve the creative from the Hivestack platform.
The Debug mode can be activated to provide additional information. This is a handy way to ensure all is working as expected or debug what is wrong in case the app is not correctly presenting the creatives.
Common errors are:
- Using a wrong API Key or an invalid Screen ID won't allow the app to obtain the Creatives from the Hivestack server.
- The media is too large and the full media download was not fully executed on time to be presented. Don't worry, as the media will be downloaded in the background and should be gracefully presented in the next cycle.
Here is an App published with the Debug mode enabled.
Note that as the retrieved media has 20 seconds, the playback of this media will be exactly 20 seconds, even if the published duration of the container is larger.
Step 4 - Create a Wrapper Campaign
The Hivestack app has a variable length behavior. This allows the playback of creatives with different lengths coming from Hivestak. To take advantage of this feature, the Hivestack app should be placed in a container that is at least as long as the largest Creative to be presented.
For example, if the Creative has a maximum length of 15 seconds, the app should be placed either in a campaign that lasts at least 15 seconds or within a playlist, and the playlist item should be set as 15 seconds.
Still, due to its variable behavior, if the received Creative has only 10 seconds, the item will be only played for 10 seconds and skip to the next item.
5 - Hivestack App Playback Report
OnSign TV can provide two different reports for the Hivestack App:
- Content Playack Report- This will count the times the Hivestack App has been presented.
- App Events - This will provide detailed information for every media played by the Hivestack app. This is a great way to cross-reference the number of presented ads, comparing it to the Hivestack Platform reports.
