> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.adcontextprotocol.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # CTV Experience Profiles > AdCP 3.2 models the IAB Tech Lab CTV Ad Portfolio's six on-glass experiences as a ctv_ad_experience vocabulary paired with the canonical formats sellers actually ingest. # CTV Experience Profiles The IAB Tech Lab CTV Ad Portfolio defines seven ad experiences for connected-TV home screens and players: Linear, Menu, Pause, Screensaver, Overlay, Squeezeback, and In-Scene. Linear CTV video needs no new modeling — it's ordinary `video_vast` or `video_hosted` with no experience declared. This page covers the other six, which AdCP 3.2 expresses through a shared `ctv_ad_experience` vocabulary layered on existing canonical formats. No `ctv_*` canonical kinds exist; a format option declares eligibility for at most one experience, and sellers offering several experiences publish sibling format options. This is a creative-**supply** contract, not a restatement of IAB's OpenRTB signaling table. The [signaling annex](#openrtb-and-adcom-signaling-annex) below documents that bridge separately, because what a seller signals on the wire (OpenRTB `plcmt`, Native `plcmttype`) and what a buyer ships as a creative manifest are different concerns. See [Canonical formats](/dist/docs/3.2.0-beta.7/creative/canonical-formats) for the full canonical-format model this page builds on, and [Connected TV](/dist/docs/3.2.0-beta.7/creative/channels/ctv) for the delivery-model (SSAI/CSAI) guide this page complements. ## The six experiences | Experience | IAB description | | ------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `menu` | Smart-TV home/menu surfaces — hero tiles and headline banners on the platform's launch screen | | `pause` | Full-screen unit shown when the viewer pauses content | | `screensaver` | Ambient looping unit shown on player idle | | `overlay` | Semi-transparent unit layered over playing content | | `squeezeback` | Content is visually shrunk and repositioned to share the frame with an ad | | `in_scene` | Brand integration composited into the content itself (virtual product placement) | One format option declares at most one value from this list. ## Experience-to-canonical matrix Validation rejects any `ctv_ad_experience` value on a canonical format that isn't listed below — each of the five listed canonicals enforces its own row via `x-adcp-validation.verifier_constraints.ctv_experience_matrix` schema conditionals; the reference validator's `ctv_experience_matrix` check covers unlisted canonicals (e.g. `html5`) through the semantic layer. The matrix is deliberately plural where the market is: two sellers can both legitimately claim `pause`, one shipping an image and the other a VAST tag. | Experience | Permitted canonicals | Why | | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `menu` | `native_in_feed` (menu profile, video-capable), `sponsored_placement` (catalog tiles) | IAB signals Menu as OpenRTB Native; Fire TV Feature Rotator and Samsung 1st Screen Masthead are video-mandatory heroes, so the asset-bundle canonical needs a video slot; Fire TV Sponsored Tiles are catalog listings, not asset bundles | | `pause` | `image` (with copy via `slots_override`), `video_vast` (nonlinear) | Netflix and Disney's largest pause-ad products ingest a raw image plus copy — no VAST tag involved; sellers that do ingest VAST for pause remain covered | | `screensaver` | `image`, `video_hosted`, `video_vast` (nonlinear) | Seller-composited ambient surfaces accept whichever asset shape the platform renders on idle | | `overlay` | `native_in_feed` (asset bundle), `video_vast` (nonlinear) | Overlay sellers split on ingestion: asset-bundle sellers take video, logo, imagery, copy, and activation copy without VAST tags (`native_in_feed`); VAST-ingesting pipelines use NonLinearAds (`video_vast`). A seller offering both publishes sibling format options | | `squeezeback` | `video_vast` (nonlinear), `sponsored_placement` | Choose by resolution boundary: `video_vast` receives a finished buyer-supplied asset; `sponsored_placement` lets the seller resolve a catalog reference into the rendered frame at serve time | | `in_scene` | `video_vast` (nonlinear), `sponsored_placement` | Choose by the same resolution boundary; brand-placement class, with interactivity forbidden regardless of delivery path | Linear CTV video declares no `ctv_ad_experience` at all — it's plain `video_vast` or `video_hosted`. ## Buy-time commitment and runtime eligibility `ctv_ad_experience` describes where one format option is eligible to render. It does **not** by itself promise that every impression in the product will use that experience. The ordinary product and package format-selection contract determines when the choice becomes binding: * **Buyer-selected or guaranteed inventory** — the package commits a specific format option. The accepted package's `formats_to_provide` contains that option, so selecting a `pause` option is a firm buy-time commitment to pause inventory. * **Runtime-resolved inventory** — the product publishes one sibling format option per eligible experience. The accepted package's `formats_to_provide` identifies the option set for which the seller requires creative coverage; the buyer supplies compatible creatives for those options, and the player chooses among the covered options per impression from viewer state. `formats_pending` exposes any required option that still lacks creative coverage. A runtime selector MUST use only a creative validated for the option it chooses. It cannot reinterpret one option's creative under a different `ctv_ad_experience`, silently drop an uncovered required option, or treat a product-level union as permission to violate placement-level format narrowing. If the buyer wants to cover fewer options than the seller requires, that is a package refinement before commitment, not an implicit runtime fallback. Cells with multiple permitted canonicals use the same model: the seller publishes one sibling format option per canonical it accepts, and normal option selection resolves the contract. There is no `fallback_canonical` field. For `squeezeback` and `in_scene`, choose `sponsored_placement` when the seller resolves a catalog reference at serve time; choose `video_vast` when the seller receives a finished asset, even if that asset was produced earlier from catalog data. ## Constraint profiles Beyond the matrix, each experience carries its own conditional constraints, enforced where noted on the canonical's schema: * **`overlay`, `squeezeback`** — minimum duration of 10 seconds (`duration_ms_exact` or the floor of `duration_ms_range` must be at least `10000`). * **`in_scene`** — minimum 3-second brand-exposure duration, and **no interactivity**: `vpaid_enabled` must be `false` (or absent). The all-profile SIMID prohibition below also applies. * **`pause`** — no duration floor. The unit ends on a viewer or device action (resume, timeout), not a fixed clock. * **Every `video_vast` CTV profile forbids SIMID.** VAST 4.1+ carries SIMID through `` under Linear ``; `NonLinearAds` has no such element. Because all five video-backed CTV profiles require `creative_type: "nonlinear"`, `simid_supported` must be `false` or absent. Viewer activation on these surfaces uses `activation_methods`; NonLinearAds may still use their own `HTMLResource` plus `apiFramework` interactivity where the specific profile permits it. * **VPAID support is capability-specific on the interactive profiles.** Allowing `vpaid_enabled: true` on `pause`, `overlay`, `screensaver`, and `squeezeback` is intentional: it lets a seller explicitly advertise a NonLinear `apiFramework` integration when its CTV player actually implements one. It is not a claim that VPAID is common or recommended on CTV; sellers without that runtime support omit the flag or set it to `false`. `in_scene` remains categorically non-interactive and therefore forbids it. ### `creative_type` and the `linear_required` migration `video_vast` format options gained an explicit `creative_type` enum (`linear | nonlinear | either`) that supersedes the older boolean `linear_required`. Any option declaring `ctv_ad_experience` MUST set `creative_type: "nonlinear"` — all five non-`menu` experiences are NonLinearAds. When both fields are present, `creative_type` wins. For options that predate this field: * `linear_required: true` with no `creative_type` is read as `creative_type: "linear"`. * `linear_required: false` with no `creative_type` is read as `creative_type: "either"` — the absence of a linear requirement means either creative class satisfies the option, not that the option somehow became nonlinear-only. New format options should set `creative_type` directly and drop `linear_required`. ## Menu profile on native\_in\_feed `native_in_feed` is the only canonical whose CTV profile lives on an otherwise web/app-native canonical, because IAB signals Menu as OpenRTB Native and the largest platforms (Fire TV, Samsung, Google TV) render menu heroes as video-capable tiles. Three parameters carry the profile, valid only alongside `ctv_ad_experience: "menu"`: | Parameter | Values | Maps to | | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `menu_placement` | `tile`, `headline_banner` | OpenRTB Native `plcmttype` 1 (tile/feed) and 3 (headline banner) | | `focus_behavior` | `none`, `autoplay_muted`, `autoplay_sound` | AdCOM `playbackmethod` on the video the remote focus triggers | | `video` slot | optional VAST document | Native 1.2's `vasttag` asset — the same slot IAB Native uses to carry embedded video, not a separate video canonical | A menu hero remains `native_in_feed` rather than `video_hosted` or `video_vast` because the platform assembles the full tile (background image, logo, copy, and the focus-triggered video) as one asset bundle — the video rides inside that bundle rather than being the unit itself. `focus_behavior: autoplay_muted` or `autoplay_sound` only makes sense when the format option's effective slots include the `video` asset group. This pairing is documented as a verifier constraint (`focus_video_pairing`) but is **not** enforced by a JSON Schema conditional today — see [Validating CTV manifests](#validating-ctv-manifests) for why, and the note on schema-vs-semantic enforcement in the compliance vectors. ## Motion level and activation vocabularies Two shared vocabularies carry the interaction layer across every CTV-capable canonical. **`motion_level`** — one of `static`, `limited_motion`, `full_motion`, mapping 1:1 to the ratified AdCOM creative attributes 21–23. Sellers constrain the accepted level on a format option; buyers declare the level their creative carries. `image` always narrows `motion_level` to `static` or `limited_motion` — `full_motion` maps to Full-Motion Video (AdCOM attr 23), which has no meaning on a static-image canonical regardless of whether a CTV experience is declared. **`activation_methods`** — the array of viewer activation mechanisms a format option offers, drawn from `qr_code`, `deep_link`, `push_notification`, `email`, `tune_in`, `text_message`. Formats offering copy-bearing activations declare normative character-limited copy slots via `slots_override`: `push_notification` → `activation_message`; `text_message` → `activation_text_message`; `email` → `activation_email_subject` + `activation_email_body`. Absent a dedicated slot, the activation resolves through the manifest's `landing_page_url`. **Activations are engagement events, never impressions.** A viewer scanning a QR code, following a deep link, or responding to a push notification generates an engagement event on top of the one rendered ad impression — it does not create a second impression. See [Measurement](#measurement). ## Validating CTV manifests `ctv_ad_experience`, `menu_placement`, `focus_behavior`, `creative_type`, `motion_level`, and `activation_methods` are all properties of a seller's **format option** — they describe what a product offers, not fields a buyer sets on a creative manifest. A buyer never writes `ctv_ad_experience: "pause"` into a manifest; instead, the buyer selects a product or format option that already declares `pause`, and ships assets that satisfy it. This means `validate_input` checks two different things depending on the target: * **`targets: [{ kind: "canonical", id: "video_vast" }]`** validates manifest structure only — asset types, VAST delivery shape, and any asset-level hints such as `duration_ms` on the `vast_tag` asset. It cannot evaluate `ctv_ad_experience`, because the manifest doesn't carry it. * **`targets: [{ kind: "product", id: "..." }]`** validates the manifest against that product's specific format-option declaration, including its experience and duration constraints. A `vast_tag` asset whose `duration_ms` hint is below an `overlay` product's 10-second floor returns `validated_fail` with a `duration_ms_range`-style violation citing the product's declared floor. Whether a given format option's `ctv_ad_experience` pairing is legal at all is evaluated when the format option itself is authored, before any buyer manifest exists to check. The enforcement is two-layer: **JSON Schema conditionals** (in the canonical's `allOf`) reject categorically invalid pairings — an unlisted experience value, `menu` on `video_vast`, missing `creative_type: "nonlinear"`, `simid_supported: true` on any `video_vast` CTV profile, or `vpaid_enabled: true` on `in_scene`; **the semantic validator** mirrors those rules for defense in depth and enforces everything else — duration floors (overlay/squeezeback ≥ 10 s, in\_scene ≥ 3 s), the matrix row for unlisted canonicals such as `html5`, and the `focus_video_pairing` slot check. Missing copy slots for `push_notification`, `text_message`, or `email` remain non-blocking: `validate_input` returns `validated_pass` with a `ctv_activation_copy_slots` entry in `warnings[]`. Rules appear in one place only: numeric duration constants live exclusively in the semantic validator, not duplicated into schema conditionals. See [Canonical formats — validate\_input](/dist/docs/3.2.0-beta.7/creative/canonical-formats#validation-flow--validate_input) for the general `validate_input` contract. ## OpenRTB and AdCOM signaling annex IAB's own signaling model maps five of the six experiences to OpenRTB Video with VAST NonLinearAds, and Menu to OpenRTB Native. AdCP preserves this mapping as a documentation bridge for AdCP↔OpenRTB adapters; it is not the creative-supply contract described above. | AdCOM/OpenRTB field | Values | AdCP experience | | ------------------- | ------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `plcmt` | 5 | `pause` | | `plcmt` | 6 | `screensaver` | | `plcmt` | 7 | `overlay` | | `plcmt` | 8 | `squeezeback` | | `plcmt` | 9 | `in_scene` | | `playbackmethod` | 8, 9 | Pause-page-initiated playback, sound on (8) / off (9) | | `playbackmethod` | 10, 11 | Idle-initiated playback (screensaver-class), sound on (10) / off (11) | | Creative `attr` | 21 | `motion_level: "static"` | | Creative `attr` | 22 | `motion_level: "limited_motion"` | | Creative `attr` | 23 | `motion_level: "full_motion"` | | Native `plcmttype` | 1 | `menu_placement: "tile"` | | Native `plcmttype` | 3 | `menu_placement: "headline_banner"` | Adapters bridging AdCP to OpenRTB round-trip `pos`, `attr`, and `plcmt` through VAST `` so the experience, motion class, and placement survive a VAST-wrapped delivery path even though VAST itself has no native fields for them. ## VAST versioning `vast_version` supports VAST 2.0 through 4.3. VAST 4.3 ships no XSD of its own — IAB's `vast_4.2.xsd` remains the authoritative schema for 4.3 documents, so a validator MUST NOT reject a tag declaring `version="4.3"` for want of a 4.3-specific schema. VAST 4.4 is deliberately absent from the enum: `vast_4.4.xsd` is still annotated "DRAFT for working group discussion," not a published specification, and AdCP adds it only once IAB publishes a final schema. The non-interactive NonLinearAds pattern every non-`menu` experience relies on remains valid under 4.2 serialization — sellers don't need 4.3 or a future 4.4 to express `overlay`, `squeezeback`, `in_scene`, `pause`, or `screensaver` creative. This does not make SIMID serializable under NonLinearAds; SIMID's `` remains Linear-only. ## Measurement Each experience opportunity renders exactly **one** impression. Remote-control selection, QR-code scans, and every value in `activation_methods` are engagement events layered on top of that one impression — they are never counted as additional impressions. ## See also * [Canonical formats](/dist/docs/3.2.0-beta.7/creative/canonical-formats) — the full canonical-format model, `validate_input` contract, and `ProductFormatDeclaration` shape * [Connected TV](/dist/docs/3.2.0-beta.7/creative/channels/ctv) — SSAI/CSAI delivery models and companion-ad guidance * [Sponsored Placement adapter contracts](/dist/docs/3.2.0-beta.7/creative/sponsored-placement-adapter-contracts) — per-adopter catalog-driven runtime contracts for the `menu`, `squeezeback`, and `in_scene` rows that route to `sponsored_placement` * [`validate_input`](/dist/docs/3.2.0-beta.7/creative/canonical-formats#validation-flow--validate_input) — manifest preflight against canonicals and products