Integral Ad Science VAST validator guide
Short answer: IAS video verification is a wrapper on unified.adsafeprotected.com. The path carries the advertiser id and the publisher id, and originalVast carries the tag being measured. Validate that wrapper and the inline behind it. apiFrameworks decides whether the tag may use VPAID, OMID, or VAST alone.
Need an IAS VAST validator?
Inspect the Multimedia Tag hop, then validate the creative the origin URL returns.
Quick reference
| Role | Verification wrapper, Multimedia Tag or Unified Video Pixel |
| Tag host | unified.adsafeprotected.com/v2/{advertiserId}/{publisherId} |
| Origin parameter | originalVast or originalVastUrl |
| VAST-only frameworks | apiFrameworks=7 |
| Force VAST 2.0 | vastVersion=2 and mode=strict |
One tag, then a pixel fallback
IAS's video solutions guide describes the Multimedia Tag as one video verification tag for web, in-app, and CTV. It says the tag uses server-side unwrapping, measures VAST quartiles when VPAID or OMID is absent, and can block on web VPAID and on CTV VAST when the tag is blocking-configured. A monitoring-configured tag measures without that block. If the media partner will not accept the Multimedia Tag, IAS says to use the Unified Video Pixel, which is appended under the original tag the way a display monitoring pixel is. Site-served CTV gets the pixel only. The guide also says CTV partners can be wrapped except YouTube and Hulu.
Microsoft documents the generated video tag URL as unified.adsafeprotected.com/v2/{advertiserId}/{publisherId}. Both path segments are the ids from IAS tag setup. Display & Video 360's bulk wrap example for IAS uses fw.adsafeprotected.com and puts the origin tag in originalVast with the ${DC_VAST_URL} macro. The same Display & Video 360 page caps a wrapped VAST URL at 1,024 characters and lists IAS with DoubleVerify as an approved video verification provider.
apiFrameworks picks the execution path
The video solutions guide maps apiFrameworks to what the platform can run. Use 7 when the platform cannot accept VPAID. Use 0 when it cannot accept VPAID or an OMID extension. Use 7.2 when it accepts VPAID and OMID. Use 2 when it accepts VPAID only. Leave the macro unsubstituted when the platform has no stated preference. To force the VAST version, the same guide says to set vastVersion=2 and mode=strict, and its example is VAST 2.0.
A CTV player that ignores VPAID will not execute a tag left on apiFrameworks=2. Set the parameter for the player you are buying, then confirm the wrapper still resolves to a media file. The VPAID migration guide covers what to do when the only creative is still an interactive API framework.
Pre-flight checklist
- The path is /v2/ followed by the advertiser id and the publisher id.
- originalVast points at the origin tag, or the macro is ready to be filled.
- apiFrameworks matches the player: 7 for VAST-only, 2 for VPAID-only, 7.2 when OMID is also available.
- A blocking tag is used only where IAS says blocking applies.
- The resolved inline passes the validator and includes a playable media file.