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VAST-4.4-nonlinear-no-renderable-asset

VAST-4.4-nonlinear-no-renderable-asset

<NonLinear> has a SIMID interactive file but no renderable fallback asset

WarningCTV Ad PortfolioIAB CTV Ad Portfolio §Secure Interactive Ad Units (Fallback Media)All VAST versions

Short answer

The CTV Ad Portfolio guidance is explicit about fallback: if a player cannot execute the SIMID file and no ready-to-render <MediaFile> is available, it fires the error URI and the impression is lost. SIMID support on CTV devices is far from universal, so an interactive-only NonLinear will silently no-fill on much of the install base. Ship a <MediaFile> or a <StaticResource> alongside the interactive layer.

Why this matters in production

This rule is a strong risk signal. Tags with this issue often still parse, but they become brittle across SDKs, SSAI resolvers, and CTV environments. The CTV Ad Portfolio standardises Pause, Screensaver, Overlay, Squeezeback and In-Scene ads, which ran for years on bespoke per-publisher integrations. These rules cover the VAST side of that contract: the NonLinear MediaFiles delivery model, the AdCOM signals round-tripped into Extensions so stitchers can validate the experience without the bid object, and the QR code block. The signaling guidance is final; the VAST 4.4 schema that accompanies it is still a working-group draft, so anything sourced only from the schema is reported as a warning or a note. Affected scope: All VAST versions.

Invalid

<NonLinear width="1920" height="1080">
  <MediaFiles>
    <InteractiveCreativeFile type="text/html" apiFramework="SIMID">
      <![CDATA[https://cdn.example.com/simid.html]]>
    </InteractiveCreativeFile>
  </MediaFiles>
</NonLinear>

Valid

<NonLinear width="1920" height="1080">
  <MediaFiles>
    <MediaFile delivery="progressive" type="video/mp4" width="1920" height="1080">
      <![CDATA[https://cdn.example.com/fallback.mp4]]>
    </MediaFile>
    <InteractiveCreativeFile type="text/html" apiFramework="SIMID">
      <![CDATA[https://cdn.example.com/simid.html]]>
    </InteractiveCreativeFile>
  </MediaFiles>
</NonLinear>
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Other CTV Ad Portfolio rules

VAST-4.4-version-attributeDocument declares VAST 4.4, a working-group draft rather than a published specVAST-4.4-nonlinear-mediafiles-empty<NonLinear> <MediaFiles> contains no renderable or interactive assetVAST-4.4-nonlinear-simid-iframe<IFrameResource apiFramework="SIMID"> is superseded by <InteractiveCreativeFile> in NonLinearVAST-4.4-nonlinear-video-no-duration<NonLinear> delivers video but has no <Duration>: quartile tracking cannot fireVAST-4.4-adcom-extension-unknown-signal<Extension ext="adcom"> type is not plcmt, pos, playbackmethod or attrVAST-4.4-adcom-extension-type-mismatch<Extension> type attribute and AdCOM payload element name disagreeVAST-4.4-adcom-signal-not-integerAdCOM signal payload in <Extension> is not an integerVAST-4.4-adcom-plcmt-valueAdCOM plcmt outside the Plcmt Subtypes (Video) range 1–9