Looking to set up an Outbrain campaign with Xandr? Easy! Just follow the steps below and you’ll be on your way 🙂

NOTE that Xandr only supports targeting of Outbrain inventory in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. Buyers outside of these geos are welcome to target Outbrain inventory via Xandr within the listed markets above.

In this guide we will cover the following:

• Uploading Creatives
• Creative Specs
• Deal ID Set Up
• Troubleshooting

Xandr Console & Hierarchy

• The Xandr Console hierarchy is as follows: Advertisers > IO > Line Item. Within each layer, you set rules/targeting parameters that can affect the lower layers.
• Before uploading creatives and setting up your deal, be sure the applicable advertiser and line item(s) have been created

Uploading Native Creatives

Please follow the steps listed below:

• For creative set-up, go to Creative Manager > Select Advertiser > Create New > Select Format Native Single (one creative) or Native Bulk (multiple creatives). If creative is third-party served, click the “Third-Party URL” tab and enter the URL. Follow steps as listed above.
• Upload creative and preview
• Assign any third-party tracking – JS/Impression/Click tracking is supported
• Choose carefully when selecting the “Competitive Exclusions” classification. These are used to prevent creatives with competitive brands or categories from serving alongside each other and can therefore interfere with performance.
• Select creative audit/QA option.
• Click save.

Native Creative Specifications

Important creative specifications to note are:

• Description (Body Text) is only partially supported
  A description is partially supported across the Outbrain network. This means that your inputted Description/Body Text will not be shown across all Outbrain placements, only the select publisher placements which support it. For this reason, you should make sure your headline (title) can stand alone.
• One headline is required for each ad

Your headline should be engaging and able to stand alone. For this reason, Outbrain recommends using a longer headline (Title) with descriptive copy.

• Never use images with text within them
  To create the best possible ad experience, Outbrain does not approve images that contain text within them. Ensure any necessary text is in your headline.

Deal ID Set Up

• Follow the typical steps to create a New Deal.
• Once your Deal is set up, create a Line Item to target the deal provided.
• Go to Advertisers > Select Advertiser > Line Items > Basic Setup > Supply Strategy: Deals > then select “Specific Deals”

• Scroll down to Targeting > Deal > click “Edit” to open Deals Targeting

• Enter the Name or ID of a seller with deals available to you and select the seller (or scroll through the list of sellers) and select the seller.
• The seller’s (Outbrain’s) available deals will display in the Deals tab.
• To target (include or exclude) specific deals on the Deals tab:
  • Click the green check to include the deal
  • Click the red dash to exclude the deal
• Viewing Deal Details: The eye icon will allow you to review the deal status, ask price (aka the “floor”), etc.
• Enter remaining details > Basic Setup > Budget can be specified here, if set amount is desired for this line item. By default, the line item media budget is set as “unlimited.”

• Under the Revenue Type section, selecting the “CPM” option is best.
• Enter the fixed dollar amount to bid in the Revenue Value CPM field, making sure it is greater than or equal to the suggested minimum bid value for the deal + your buying fees.

• Specify any advanced targeting. Since the flow of impressions is already restricted, we recommend not adding advanced targeting.

• Add your respective creatives to the line item under Associated Creatives to set creative rotation preferences, landing URLs, etc.
• Build out a line item to ensure you’re building out your targeting parameters, goals and assigning creatives.

Troubleshooting

Activation and Under Delivery/Scaling Concerns?

• Run campaign ID in the Xandr Console Campaign Doctor app. To access the Campaign Doctor, follow these steps:
  • Apps Tab > Marketplace > Ad Operations under “Categories” and then install/launch “Campaign Doctor”
• Check settings in Partner Center to make sure you are not blocking a specific seller, like Outbrain.
  • Lack of available impressions.
  • Creative size mismatch.
  • Bidding below the pre-negotiated deal price agreed upon.
• Confirm the Deal type. In the line item’s “Basic Setup,” make sure the “Supply Strategy” is set to “Deals,” then select ‘Specific Deals.”
• Use the Debug Auction! A debug auction simulates a real auction without actually logging or serving anything. It then presents the results in your browser. The log shows the Impression Bug communicating with all active Bidders (including the Xandr Console) and then shows the member-specific decisioning.
• Access reporting: Select deal > My Actions > Show in Reporting.
  • When creating the report, make sure that you have selected Buyers as a dimension to display all buys which are targeting the respective deal, and which are successfully winning impressions. Utilize these learnings to troubleshoot set-up.

Stumped? Reach out to your TTD or Outbrain support contact(s). We are here to help! For more information regarding Outbrain’s programmatic offering, please refer to this Help Center Article.