VAST macros / Playback and timing
[ADPLAYHEAD] VAST macro
Short answer: The current playhead position within the ad creative. Introduced in VAST 4.1.
What it means
Resolves to the elapsed time within the ad at the moment the macro fires, in HH:MM:SS.mmm. This is the VAST 4.1 replacement for the ambiguous [CONTENTPLAYHEAD].
Example value
After the player substitutes the macro, [ADPLAYHEAD] becomes something like:
00:00:07.500Where it is valid
Tracking, error, and click URLs during ad playback.
Macros are case-sensitive and substituted only inside URL fields. A macro written in the wrong case, or placed where it has no defined value, is sent to the server as literal text instead of a value.
Using it in a tag
<Impression><![CDATA[https://t.example.com/i?val=[ADPLAYHEAD]&cb=[CACHEBUSTING]]]></Impression>VAST XML fragment only. This excerpt belongs inside a complete VAST document, so standalone validation will fail until it is wrapped in a full <VAST>response.
Related vastlint rules
- VAST-2.0-macro-unknown: URL contains a [MACRO] that is not a recognised IAB VAST macro
- VAST-2.0-macro-lowercase: Recognised macro is not uppercase — players match macro names case-sensitively
Related macros
- [CONTENTPLAYHEAD]: Deprecated playhead macro; use [ADPLAYHEAD] instead.
- [MEDIAPLAYHEAD]: Deprecated playhead macro; use [ADPLAYHEAD] instead.
- [ASSETURI]: The URI of the media asset currently being played.
Validate your macros
vastlint flags unknown, mis-cased, deprecated, out-of-context, and unencoded macros in any tracking, click, error, impression, or media URL:
# CLI: exits non-zero on errors, ideal for pipelines
vastlint check creative.xmlUse the right tool for this failure
If you already have the resolved XML, run a pure spec check. If you only have a live tag URL, test that endpoint first. If the failure happens in the wrapper chain, inspect each hop.