Advanced Size Mapping Module

Overview

The Advanced Size Mapping module enables configuration of responsive ad units with more flexibility than the core sizeConfig feature. It detects the browser viewport dimensions, and based on that, applies a series of checks on the ad unit to determine:

  • which banner sizes should be active
  • what the playerSize is for a video media type
  • whether the native media type should be active
  • whether a particular bidder should participate in the auction

The module can act on all three media types, banner, video, and native, and can be used to control their behavior. It can also activate/deactivate a particular bidder based on some checks.
It also has support for labels which are used to render ad units conditionally.

Differences Between Global and AdUnit Level sizeConfig

If you’ve used sizeConfig in Prebid.js before, read this section to learn about the differences. If you haven’t used sizeConfig before, you can skip to the next section.

  • The biggest change to size mapping is the introduction of AdUnit and Bidder level sizeConfig declarations. Instead of defining a global sizeConfig object configured in pbjs.setConfig, each Ad Unit and Bidder can define and control their own set of sizeConfig rules. This process makes it easier to reason which sizes should be active for the current viewport size in complex scenarios.

  • A sizeConfig parameter may be specified on the AdUnit mediaType or a bidder. In these scenarios, the syntax is a little different than with the global configuration. Here’s an example for a sizeConfig object for banner media type:

  mediaTypes: {
    banner: {
      sizeConfig: [
        { minViewPort: [0, 0], sizes: [] }, // deactivate if viewport < 750px
        { minViewPort: [750, 0], sizes: [[300, 250], [300, 600]] } // activate viewport > 750px
      ];
    }
  }
  • Labels aren’t defined in AdUnit sizeConfig objects. Instead of funneling viewport sizes into a small number of labeled scenarios, the Advanced Size Mapping approach allows each AdUnit and Bidder to define separate size buckets. Labels are still an effective way to do other tasks such as filtering AdUnits and Bidders based on their geo location. For more details on Labels, visit Conditional Ad Units.

  • Likewise, mediaQuery is not used in AdUnit sizeConfig objects. Instead, an array of size buckets is defined by just the minViewPort property. Only one size bucket activates based on viewport size.

It may be useful to compare the globally-configured sizeConfig with the AdUnit-level sizeConfig. Here is an example using global sizeConfig.

Here’s that same example using Advanced Size Mapping:

  const adUnit = {
    code: "ad-slot-1",
    mediaTypes: {
      banner: {
        sizeConfig: [
          { minViewPort: [0, 0], sizes: [[300, 250], [300, 100]] },
          { minViewPort: [768, 0], sizes: [[728, 90], [300, 250]] },
          { minViewPort: [1200, 0], sizes: [[970, 90], [728, 90], [300, 250]] },
          { minViewPort: [1600, 0], sizes: [[1000, 300], [970, 90], [728, 90], [300, 250]] }
        ]
      }
    }
  }

Note the tradeoff here: If you’re specifying duplicate sizeConfigs on every AdUnit, you might be better off using the global sizeConfig approach. But if the global approach isn’t flexible enough for your site design, the AdUnit-level approach is the right way to go.

WARNING: If AdUnit level sizeConfigs are found, global sizeConfig will be ignored.

How to Setup AdUnit-Level sizeConfig

AdUnit-Level sizeConfig Has Two Parts

I. Size Bucket (Declared using minViewPort)

As the name suggests, minViewPort signifies the minimum viewport size for the size bucket to become active. It’s declared as an array of two numbers. The first number indicates the viewport width, the second indicates viewport height. For example, if minViewPort is [750, 0], this size bucket will activate only when viewport width is greater than 750. If there was any previous size bucket active for a smaller viewport, it’ll get deactivated.

NOTE: Only one size bucket in each array will be active for the current viewport size.

II. Associated Property

What happens as a result of each active size bucket changes based on the media type and whether it was defined at the AdUnit or Bidder level. This table summarizes the scenarios:

Where Defined Available Property Example Description
mediaTypes.banner sizes [[300, 250],[300, 100]] or [] Defines banner sizes that will be sent as part of bid requests for this size range. Declaring an empty array turns off banners for this AdUnit when the viewport is in that range.
mediaTypes.video playerSize [[640, 400]] or [] Defines the video player-size that will be sent as part of bid requests. Declaring an empty array turns off the video mediaType for this AdUnit in this size range.
mediaTypes.native active true Indicates whether Native mediaTypes should be active or not for this size bucket in this AdUnit.
bids.bidder relevantMediaTypes ['banner', 'video', 'native'] or ['none'] An array that defines a list of mediaTypes that a bidder will bid on for this size bucket in this AdUnit. Set to [‘none’] if no mediaType of this size bucket.

Examples

An AdUnit with Banner Media Type, Bidder-Level sizeConfig, and Labels

Note that the labels are assumed to be passed in via pbjs.requestBids().

{
  code: 'ad-code-1',
  mediaTypes: {
    banner: {
      sizeConfig: [
        { minViewPort: [0, 0], sizes: [] },
        { minViewPort: [900, 0], sizes: [[300, 200], [300, 250]] },
        { minViewPort: [1200, 0], sizes: [[970, 400], [300, 200], [300, 250]] },
        { minViewPort: [1600, 0], sizes: [] }
      ]
    }
  },
  labelAny: ['visitor-us', 'visitor-uk'],
  bids: [{
      bidder: 'bidderA',
      params: {
          placementId: '12345'
      },
      labelAny: ['visitor-us']
  }, {
      bidder: 'bidderB',
      params: {
        accountId: 14062,
      },
      sizeConfig: [
        { minViewPort: [0, 0], relevantMediaTypes: ['none'] },
        { minViewPort: [800, 0], relevantMediaTypes: ['banner'] },
        { minViewPort: [1200, 0], relevantMediaTypes: ['none'] }
      ]
  }]
}

Here are two requests and how they would be handled in this scenario:

I. A request originating in the US, viewport size: [1400px, 800px]

  • Steps for bidderA:
    1. AdUnit passes label check.
    2. Size bucket [1200, 0] gets activated. Sizes: [[970, 400], [300, 200], [300, 250]] are active at AdUnit level.
    3. BidderA passes label check.
    4. Request for Banner media type sent to bidderA with sizes: [[970, 400], [300, 200], [300, 250]]
  • Steps for bidderB:
    1. AdUnit passes label check.
    2. Size bucket [1200, 0] gets activated. Sizes: [[970, 400], [300, 200], [300, 250]] are active at AdUnit level.
    3. At the Bidder level, size bucket, [1200, 0] gets activated. Relevant media types is set to none. This deactivates the bidder.
    4. No bid request is sent for bidderB.

II. A request originating in the UK, viewport size: [1700px, 900px]

  • Steps for both bidders:
    1. AdUnit passes label check.
    2. Size bucket [1600, 0] gets activated. Sizes is [], and an empty array indicates no sizes for the current viewport, which disables the Ad Unit.
    3. No request will be sent to either bidder.

Example of a Multi-Format AdUnit with Bidder-Level sizeConfig

{
    code: 'ad-code-2',
    mediaTypes: {
        banner: {
            sizeConfig: [
                { minViewPort: [0, 0], sizes: [] },
                { minViewPort: [900, 0], sizes: [[300, 200], [300, 600]] }
            ]
        },
        video: {
            context: 'instream',
	    ... other video params ...
            sizeConfig: [
                { minViewPort: [0, 0], playerSize: [] },
                { minViewPort: [1200, 0], playerSize: [640, 400]}
            ]
        },
        native: {
            type: 'image',
            sizeConfig: [
                { minViewPort: [0, 0], active: false },
                { minViewPort: [600, 0], active: true }
            ]
        }
    },
    bids: [{
        bidder: 'bidderA',
        params: {
            placementId: 123
        },
        sizeConfig: [
            { minViewPort: [0, 0], relevantMediaTypes: ['none'] },
            { minViewPort: [700, 0], relevantMediaTypes: ['banner'] },
            { minViewPort: [1300, 0], relevantMediaTypes: ['video'] }
        ]
    }, {
        bidder: 'bidderB',
        params: {
            pubId: '123456'
        },
        sizeConfig: [
            { minViewPort: [0, 0], relevantMediaTypes: ['none'] },
            { minViewPort: [400, 0], relevantMediaTypes: ['native', 'video'] },
            { minViewPort: [1200, 0], relevantMediaTypes: ['none'] }
        ]
    }]
}

Here are two requests and how they would be handled in this scenario:

I. A mobile device with viewport size: [460px, 300px]

  • Steps for both bidders:
    1. Size bucket [0, 0] activates for all three media types. Banner is deactivated due to sizes: []. Video is deactivated since playerSize: []. Native is deactivated since active: false.
    2. Since no media type is active, the AdUnit is deactivated.
    3. No request is sent for either bidder, even though bidderB’s minViewPort would have allowed video or native.

II. A tablet with viewport size: [1100px, 980px]

  • Steps for bidderA:
    1. Size bucket [900, 0] activates for banner media type, so the associated sizes are active. Size bucket [0, 0] activates for video media type. Its associated property is playerSize: [], so the video media type gets disabled. Size bucket [600, 0] activates for native media type. Its associated property is active: true, which keeps native media type active at the AdUnit level.
    2. At the Bidder level, size bucket [700, 0] activates. Associated property relevantMediaTypes is set to ['banner'].
    3. Only the banner media type is sent to bidderA even though native was activated at the AdUnit level.
  • Steps for bidderB:
    1. The AdUnit-level activations are the same as for bidderA.
    2. At the level of bidderB, size bucket [400, 0] activates. Associated property relevantMediaTypes is set to ['native', 'video']. Since video media type is already disabled at the AdUnit level, request for video won’t be sent to the bidder.
    3. Only a request for native media type is sent to bidderB.

Building the Package With Advanced Size Mapping Support

Follow the basic build instructions in the GitHub Prebid.js repo’s main README. To include the Advanced Size Mapping module, the sizeMappingV2 module must be added to the gulp build command:

gulp build --modules=sizeMappingV2,bidAdapter1,bidAdapter2

Further Reading