IOS SDK Rendering API supports VAST version 3 and above

[BaiShuoyang]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Currently the rendering API of the IOS SDK only supports VAST 2.0 and VAST 2.0 Wrapper. The industry has already moved to higher version of VAST because of the advanced features supported such as improvement on OM support, support for Secure Interactive Media Interface Definition (SIMID), support for SSAI, support for DAAST, etc. Based on our own stats, more than 80% of in-app video campaigns run on VAST version 3 and above.

Describe the solution you'd like
Need IOS SDK rendering API to support VAST version higher than 2.0. Ideally support until the latest VAST 4.3.

Describe alternatives you've considered
No alternative seems to be available for us at the moment, as we are using Prebid IOS SDK as the rendering engine. And our publishers are not using GAM so original API is not an option here.

Additional context
None

[karimMourra]

Is the VAST Parser implemented in the Prebid iOS SDK ? Or this a 3rd party solution?

[fowler446]

It's worth pointing out that the IMA iOS library has support for higher versions of VAST:
https://developers.google.com/interactive-media-ads/docs/sdks/ios/client-side/compatibility#vast3-footnote

Perhaps we should build that into Prebid? I'm not super familiar with mobile so forgive my ignorance.

[BaiShuoyang]

Is the VAST Parser implemented in the Prebid iOS SDK ? Or this a 3rd party solution?

@karimMourra Below players are used in Prebid IOS and Android SDK.

• iOS video player: AVPlayer
• Android video player: android.exoplayer2.ExoPlayer

[YuriyVelichkoPI]

IMA iOS library has support for higher versions of VAST

Prebid SDK renderers the video ads using an internal engine:

• VAST parser
• wrapper around AVPlayer/ExoPlayer.

So supporting new VAST features means extending these components.

Technically we can utilize the Google IMA SDK for rendering the video ads. However, we need to consider the following caveats of this approach:

• In any case, the IMA will be a part of Prebid SDK video ad units. Prebid SDK will still manage the interstitial layouts and in-app ad views. IMA will just render the media content.
• The IMA will become an obligatory dependency. Prebid SDK doesn't have dependencies now. Prebid SDK also doesn't have a modular architecture, so ALL publishers will have to integrate IMA alongside the Prebid SDK.
• We need to be sure that publishers who want to integrate Prebid SDK without an ad server, especially without Google, will be ok with such a dependency.
• Migration from the internal engine to IMA will have a similar ETA with supporting new VAST features.
• Rendering with IMA can be implemented via rendering delegation feature. In this case, the publisher and demand partner can decide which rendering engine to use - Prebid or IMA.

Supporting new VAST features is not a complex task. Adding new dependencies in own turn may lead to pitfalls and unsupported scenarios (limited by IMA).

Prebid SDK is already compatible with Google IMA in the Original API integration scenario when Prebid SDK doesn't manage the ad space but just transports the bid.

[karimMourra]

I think having support for both the IMA SDK and our own VAST parser would be ideal. At JW Player, our iOS SDK uses both the IMA SDK and our own VAST parser, and the customer makes the decision via our config. About 60% of our customers use the IMA option.