Google Ad Manager 360

OptiView Rebranding

OptiView Ads is the new name for THEOads as part of the OptiView product suite. During the transition, you may still see references to THEOads. OptiView Ads and THEOads refer to the same product.

Google Ad Manager 360 (GAM 360) is the first supported OptiView Ads vendor. It requires a GAM 360 account with Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) and pod serving enabled.

Organization configuration

Google configuration is organization-level and administrator-managed. A Dolby OptiView administrator or account team configures these values; they are not configured through the self-serve Basic API.

Field	Type	Required	Effective service default when unset
google.networkCode	string	Optional in the organization schema; required for GAM signaling	None
google.serviceAccountPath	string	Optional in the organization schema; required for GAM signaling	None
google.eabnLookForwardTimeMs	positive integer	Optional	300000 ms
google.eabnDecisioningMarginMs	positive integer	Optional	5000 ms

The organization-level values override the service defaults. networkCode and serviceAccountPath must be present before EABN can signal a break.

SGAI pod serving

SGAI is server-guided pod serving keyed by the channel's customAssetKey. A customAssetKey is unique within an organization when set. See Channels for channel configuration.

A GAM pod break uses a vendor asset with vendorParameters.type set to "pod":

{
  "type": "vendor",
  "vendor": "gam",
  "uri": "placeholder",
  "vendorParameters": {
    "type": "pod"
  }
}

EABN lifecycle

1. A GAM pod break is created with status PREPARING.
2. EABN waits until the look-forward window opens, then signals a Google DAI ad break through the channel's customAssetKey.
3. Google returns a podId. The vendor asset's uri is set to that pod ID.
4. The break becomes READY when it has a start time, or CUED when it has no start time.
5. For a delivered HLS manifest, the proxy injects the cue and changes READY to SIGNALED.

The player then requests the pod manifest using the vendor asset uri, which is the decisioned podId.

google.eabnLookForwardTimeMs controls when EABN signals a scheduled break: signaling begins when the effective live point reaches start - eabnLookForwardTimeMs. Its effective default is 300000 ms.

google.eabnDecisioningMarginMs is the minimum lead time required for decisioning. If start - effectiveNow falls below this margin, the break is missed instead of being signaled. Its effective default is 5000 ms.

Cue-punch

A CUED break has no start time and waits for a punch before it plays. Punching changes the status from CUED to READY. A GAM pod break cannot be punched until EABN has decisioned it:

Ad break '<id>' is not yet decisioned by EABN

SSAI_DAI

SSAI_DAI is a channel integration. It carries one or more Google DAI asset keys:

{
  "type": "SSAI_DAI",
  "daiAssetKeys": ["sports-main-1", "sports-main-2"]
}

Each DAI asset key can be used by at most one channel integration within an organization. Duplicate keys in one request are de-duplicated. A conflict with another channel integration returns HTTP 409:

One or more daiAssetKeys are already used by another channel integration

Create an integration with the self-serve API:

curl -X POST 'https://ads.example.com/api/v1/channels/sports-main/integrations' \
  -u "$ADS_API_KEY:$ADS_API_SECRET" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'X-Org-ID: org_123' \
  -d '{
    "type": "SSAI_DAI",
    "daiAssetKeys": [
      "sports-main-1",
      "sports-main-2"
    ]
  }'

Best-effort fan-out

At signal time, EABN snapshots the channel integration keys onto the break and fans the break out to each daiAssetKey through Google's by-asset-key ad break endpoint. The signals are best-effort: a failure for one key is logged and does not affect the primary signal or the other keys. An SSAI-only break has no customAssetKey, is not lifecycle-tracked, and never receives a podId.

Proxy cue injection

For an HLS wallclock channel with an SSAI_DAI integration, the proxy finds active wallclock GAM pod breaks within the DVR window and injects EXT-X-DATERANGE cues into the media playlist. The injected cues contain SCTE35-OUT and SCTE35-IN data. After injection, the proxy changes the affected breaks from READY to SIGNALED.

PTS channels receive passthrough manifests with no cue injection. A channel without an SSAI_DAI integration also receives a passthrough manifest with no ad cue injection.

Ad targeting parameters

In V2, a vendor asset's optional assetParameters carry ad-tag and targeting parameters. OptiView Ads forwards them to Google as custom parameters during decisioning.

For the player-side SDK adTagParameters usage, see Ad tag parameters. The player automatically adds theoads_slot.

Custom GAM creatives

Dynamic backdrops and overlays require custom creative templates configured in the GAM console. See Custom GAM creatives.

Troubleshooting

Break status ERROR

A break can be stored with status ERROR and:

Break passed its scheduling window before it could be signaled

This means the break missed its scheduling window because the remaining time fell below the decisioning margin, or the missed-break health check caught it. Schedule pod breaks at least the decisioning margin ahead of the live point and verify the EABN and Google configuration.

GAM configuration error

Break creation returns HTTP 400 when the organization network code, service-account path, or channel custom asset key is missing:

Vendor asset of type GAM requires organization.google.networkCode, organization.google.serviceAccountPath and channel.customAssetKey to be configured

Verify all three values:

• organization.google.networkCode
• organization.google.serviceAccountPath
• channel.customAssetKey

Pod break too close to live

Break creation returns HTTP 400 when a pod break starts too close to the live point:

POD ad breaks must start at least <margin>ms after the live point to allow time for ad decisioning

The default <margin> is 5000.

Break remains PREPARING

If a break never leaves PREPARING, EABN may be skipping the signal because the organization is missing networkCode or serviceAccountPath at signal time. Check the organization Google configuration and confirm that the channel has the required delivery key: customAssetKey for SGAI, or an SSAI_DAI integration with daiAssetKeys.

Related resources

• Channels
• Scheduling breaks
• API reference