About publisher certifications

Publisher certification is a process in which an Amazon Ad Server ad format is certified on a publisher’s site or page, and/or their partner’s advertising space. The certification process ensures that the ad format displays and behaves as expected for usage with mutual clients. The certification of an ad format can also be done with networks and programmatic channels.

At Amazon Ad Server, publisher certifications are handled by the Pub Care team. For the most part, the process includes e-mail correspondence between our team and the publisher.

Environments

Certification can be done in all environments currently available/supported. Certification Service Level Agreement (SLA) can vary greatly due to a number of factors such as, communication delays, or the complexity of issues.

	Testing environment	Note	SLA
Desktop web	Latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Explorer		Up to 1 week
Mobile/tablet web	Latest versions of native browser, on a real device: Chrome (Android), Safari (iOS)	If a special device is required, certification is done using a virtual testing infrastructure.	Up to 2 weeks
Mobile/tablet in-app	Publisher-provided test/live application, on a real device		Up to 3 or 4 weeks
Streaming TV	Real device/service	Limited to in-stream formats.	Up to 1 week

If, for any reason, a testing environment is not available, the approval is done through data comparison. The publisher sets the status of the provided test tag to live, for a specific number of impressions (between 500 and 5000). Then, the reports from both sides are compared, to make sure the discrepancy is not higher than 10%.

Certification types

Certification requests are divided into these categories:

Client-requested certifications: For publishers listed in a client-delivered media plan.
Strategic certifications: For major publishers that do not appear on any immediate client media plans, but we want to certify proactively in order to expand our reach. These certifications are driven by internally set milestone dates and prioritized by account tiers.

Requesting a certification

Important

Important: Due to possible delays, such as communication delays or other complex issues that may occur, it is highly recommended to initiate the certification process several weeks before the live campaign.

Step 1: Identify ad formats and channels

Before initiating a certification, collect the following information to ensure that the ad formats you want to work with are not already certified:

Specific sites and apps where you would like to run ads.
Ad formats that you would like to get certified on these sites. For more information, see Amazon Ad Server ad formats.

Share the list of ad formats and channels with your Amazon Ad Server contact. Your contact will check whether there are any ad formats already certified.

Step 2: Collect publisher/network Information

Perform the following actions:

For the ad formats that are not yet certified on the channels you want to work with, do this:
1. Confirm with the publisher/network that Amazon Ad Server (AAS) tags are supported.
2. Confirm with the publisher/network that the ad formats you chose are allowed on their sites or channels.
Once AAS tags and ad formats are supported, do this:
1. Request from the publisher/network that an ad operations contact assist our publisher care team in implementing test tags.
  
  Important
  
  Important: Please note that the conversation with the publisher care team will be held in English.
2. Ask the publisher/network about the expected turnaround time to complete the necessary certifications.

Step 3: Request a certification

Note

Note: For a Customer Success Manager or a creative engineer handling the certification for a customer, reach out to publisher care team.

To request certification, contact the publisher care team by sending an email to sizmek-pubcert@amazon.com; and provide the following information:

Ad formats and channels, see Step 1.
1. A summary of required ad formats, per site, network, or apps
Publisher/network information, see Step 2.
1. Publisher's contact
2. Publisher's technical specifications
All relevant campaign details, such as media agency, advertiser, and date that campaign will go live.
Include key dates, revenue information, and any additional relevant information.

What does the publisher certification do?

Once the Amazon Ad Server publisher care team has all of the required information, they will work with the publisher/network contact you provided.

Manual testing is conducted to minimize the possibility of encountering issues during the live campaign. The testing process consists of the following steps:

The publisher care team sends a test tag to the publisher.
The publisher implements the tag in an environment that closely resembles their live environment.
The publisher care team tests the template, making sure it displays, functions, and behaves as expected, without obstructing the site content.
The publisher care team checks all ad server calls, making sure they are pinging correctly and without significant delays.
When required, the publisher care team compares the data with the publisher, making sure there are no significant discrepancies present.
If everything works as expected, the certification is complete and the publisher is approved to run the tested ad format.

Once the process is complete, you will receive an email notification.