Addressing GPT Slot Render Failures: A Guide for Publishers Using Prebid, GAM, and Open Bidding

As a publisher utilizing Prebid, Google Ad Manager (GAM), and Open Bidding, you may have encountered issues with the collapseEmptyDivs function, leading to false positives or slot render failures. In this article, we’ll explore potential solutions to address these issues, ensuring that your ad setup runs smoothly and effectively.

Understanding the Issue

In some cases, the slotRenderEnded event may report a slot as non-empty, even though the creative has not been successfully downloaded or rendered. This can cause the collapseEmptyDivs function to malfunction, leading to undesired behavior on your site.

Potential Solutions

1. Implement a Custom Slot Render Failure Detection

Instead of solely relying on the slotRenderEnded event, you can create a custom function to detect when an ad slot render fails. To do this, listen for both the slotRenderEnded and impressionViewable events, and use a combination of their event data to determine if a slot should be considered empty.

Here’s a sample implementation:

googletag.cmd.push(function() {
  googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotRenderEnded', function(event) {
    var slot = event.slot;
    var isEmpty = event.isEmpty;

    if (!isEmpty) {
      googletag.pubads().addEventListener('impressionViewable', function(viewableEvent) {
        if (viewableEvent.slot === slot) {
          // The ad is viewable, so it was rendered successfully.
        } else {
          // The ad is not viewable, so consider it a render failure and collapse the slot.
          googletag.cmd.push(function() {
            googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs(true, [slot]);
          });
        }
      });
    } else {
      // The slot is empty, so collapse it.
      googletag.cmd.push(function() {
        googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs(true, [slot]);
      });
    }
  });
});

2. Monitor Slot Timeout

Another approach to address the issue is to monitor slot timeout. If a slot fails to render within a specified time, consider it a failure and collapse the slot accordingly.

Here’s a sample implementation:

function handleSlotRenderTimeout(slot) {
  // Collapse the slot if it has not rendered within the specified timeout period.
  googletag.cmd.push(function() {
    googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs(true, [slot]);
  });
}

googletag.cmd.push(function() {
  googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotRenderEnded', function(event) {
    var slot = event.slot;
    var isEmpty = event.isEmpty;

    if (!isEmpty) {
      // Set a timeout to monitor slot rendering.
      var slotRenderTimeout = setTimeout(function() {
        handleSlotRenderTimeout(slot);
      }, 2000); // Adjust the timeout value as needed.

      googletag.pubads().addEventListener('impressionViewable', function(viewableEvent) {
        if (viewableEvent.slot === slot) {
          // The ad is viewable, so it was rendered successfully. Clear the timeout.
          clearTimeout(slotRenderTimeout);
        }
      });
    } else {
      // The slot is empty, so collapse it.
      googletag.cmd.push(function() {
        googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs(true, [slot]);
      });
    }
  });
});

By implementing one of these solutions, you can effectively address GPT slot render failures and improve the performance of your Prebid, GAM, and Open Bidding setup. Always monitor and optimize your implementation to ensure seamless user experience and efficient ad delivery. As you continue to refine your ad setup, you’ll be better equipped to maximize revenue and maintain a high-quality user experience on your website. Stay vigilant for any changes in ad performance and be prepared to adapt your strategy as needed to keep your ad ecosystem running smoothly.

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