Questions
Flex HTML ads, clicked links opening inside the ad frame and not a new window
We just transitioned to Flex yesterday and one of the problems we've run into is with HTML ads.
When clicked, they are opening the resulting link right there inside the small 300x250 pixel ad box, instead of opening the link in a new tab/window (which is what happens with all other ad types and for HTML ads on Zen).
I'm being told this is intended behavior and nothing can be done on Town News' side of things.
How are y'all getting around this? We've got a major advertiser pretty upset with us right now. I suggested the workaround of them adding the target="_blank" on their side but of course they balked since they've got the same HTML ad tags running across numerous sites and this isn't a problem anywhere else.
Help!
Answer
I've never had that happen.
I'm being told this is intended behavior and nothing can be done on Town News' side of things.
This is Town News telling you this? They intended ads to be opened in a 300x250 space? Which ad is it?
Yep, I feel like something is getting lost in translation.
That said, I think I just got it fixed with some information on this page: http://help.bloxcms.com/knowledge-base/applications/marketplace/banner_ads/faq/article_390b3fae-2bed-11e5-b1ec-6fc8179da59f.html
I was able to add in target="_blank" to code provided by the advertiser and it seems to be working now.
Hi guys!
Yes, for HTML ads we had to more to iframes so they would load asynchronously... it helps with people who use networks through Ad Manager and when they were synchronous they would really slow down the page. This also allowed us to implement some new technologies such as refreshable ads, or ad blocks.
As you discovered, a target="_blank" would help.
Also, I would consider this a temporary emergency workaround if you had to, but we still do have the "legacy" mode on HTML ads (which is at the very bottom of the ad size list), which will not load the ad async, and will thus not be in an iframe. It is deprecated though, and some day it will likely not be supported. But, it can help with transitioning ads or with emergencies.
OK that makes sense and faster is definitely better. However it should definitely be more obvious that clicks in HTML ads won't behave as they do in other types of ads like images.
Maybe a simple warning can be included in the dialog box like this example:
Customer support service by UserEcho
Hi guys!
Yes, for HTML ads we had to more to iframes so they would load asynchronously... it helps with people who use networks through Ad Manager and when they were synchronous they would really slow down the page. This also allowed us to implement some new technologies such as refreshable ads, or ad blocks.
As you discovered, a target="_blank" would help.
Also, I would consider this a temporary emergency workaround if you had to, but we still do have the "legacy" mode on HTML ads (which is at the very bottom of the ad size list), which will not load the ad async, and will thus not be in an iframe. It is deprecated though, and some day it will likely not be supported. But, it can help with transitioning ads or with emergencies.