Ad formats

The Trade Desk adheres to the IAB Tech Lab CTV Ad Portfolio specifications and guidelines for ad formats. These specifications add signals to support TV environments, interactive overlays, with additional values for ad placement, position, and interaction.

IMPORTANT: Ad formats use additional values for fields from the Standard Adapter. These values represent new signals available as part of the CTV Ad Portfolio and are not included in the Standard Adapter documentation.

Supported ad formats

Supported ad formats are prominent and engaging TV formats for brand-building. The following table lists ad formats that use additional values. For details, see Ad format signals.

Format Description
Pause Ads A TV ad experience initiated when the viewer uses a remote to pause the content being watched.
Menu Ads An ad unit that appears within the user interface (UI) of the TV or streaming platform. These ads are integrated into the home screen or in the content navigation menu.
NOTE: Documentation is coming soon.

Ad format signals

Ad formats use additional values for fields in the Standard Adapter. These values represent new signals available as part of CTV Ad Portfolio and are not included in the Standard Adapter documentation. The following table lists the additional fields available as part of the New CTV Ad Format Signaling Proposal.

Field Description
plcmt The video placement type for the impression. For signals, see Additional placement.
pos The ad position. For signals, see Additional placement positions.
playbackmethod The allowed video playback methods. An empty value indicates that the video can use all methods to play. For signals, see Additional playback methods.
battr Blocked creative attributes. An empty value indicates that all creative attribute types are allowed. For signals, see Additional creative attributes.

Additional placement

The following table lists the additional values for the plcmt field.

Value Name Description
5 Pause A TV ad experience initiated when the viewer uses a remote to pause the content being watched.
6 Screensaver Similar to pause ads, but while pause ads are viewer-initiated, these are OS or app-initiated ad experiences.
7 Overlay Ads that occur during program content and outside of traditional ad breaks. Ad creatives are placed over the program content, often as a banner or picture-in-picture execution. Overlay Ads may support remote-control interaction or QR code scanning as part of the ad experience.
8 Squeezeback Ads displayed alongside or adjacent to content, also known as L-Shape Ads or Double Box Ads. These ads occur during program content and outside of traditional ad breaks. The program content is resized to accommodate the ad. Unlike Overlay Ads, none of the content is covered; instead, the content and ad share screen space.
9 In-scene A form of advertising that integrates branded elements directly within the content rather than appearing as separate pre-roll, mid-roll, overlay, or display formats. In-scene advertising is composited into the video content and blends naturally into the scene, environment, or storyline to maintain contextual relevance and viewer immersion. Typical examples include product placements and virtual out-of-home insertions. Current standardization focuses on out-of-home insertions in non-live content.

Additional placement positions

The following table lists the additional values for the pos field.

Value Name Description
8 Partial Screen A partial-screen ad execution in which the advertisement occupies a portion of the screen while content remains visible.
IMPORTANT: Pause ads are not yet supported.
9 Top Left An ad placement positioned in the upper-left area of the screen.
10 Top Right An ad placement positioned in the upper-right area of the screen.
11 Frame the Content An ad execution that surrounds or frames the content area with advertising elements.
12 Double Box An ad execution that displays content and advertising in a side-by-side or split-screen format.
13 Double Box with Background A Double Box execution that includes an additional branded or decorative background behind the ad and content areas.
14 Bottom Left An ad placement positioned in the lower-left area of the screen.
15 Bottom Right An ad placement positioned in the lower-right area of the screen.

Additional playback methods

The following table lists the additional values for the playbackmethod field.

Value Name Description
8 User-Paused, Sound On Ad experience initiated when the viewer pauses content. Audio is enabled.
IMPORTANT: Pause ads are not yet supported.
9 User-Paused, Sound Off Ad experience initiated when the viewer pauses content. Audio is disabled.
10 Idle-Initiated, Sound On Ad experience initiated by an idle state, such as a screensaver. Audio is enabled.
11 Idle-Initiated, Sound Off Ad experience initiated by an idle state, such as a screensaver. Audio is disabled.

Additional creative attributes

The following table lists the additional values for the battr field. This field is used to block creative attributes.

Value Name Description
19 Advertiser QR Code Creative contains an advertiser QR code intended for viewer interaction.
20 Alpha Channel Transparency Creative supports alpha channel transparency, allowing portions of the creative to be rendered transparently.
21 Static Visual Creative contains no perceptible motion and renders as a static visual, even if delivered in a video file format (for example, MP4). No animated elements or time-based visual transitions are present.
22 Limited Motion (Cinemagraph) Creative contains subtle or localized motion within an otherwise static composition. Motion is minimal, looped, and does not constitute full-scene animation or continuous narrative progression.
23 Full-Motion Video Creative contains continuous or scene-level motion typical of standard video assets, including dynamic visual transitions, camera movement, or narrative progression across frames.