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Sponsored Video Ads

What is a Sponsored Video Ad?​

Sponsored Video Ads leverage video content to deliver an engaging ad experience within the marketplace. These ads appear in dedicated video slots – for instance, embedded in video content sections or as scrollable in-feed video units. A Sponsored Video Ad creative consists of a video file (with an optional thumbnail preview), typically accompanied by a duration indicator and a call-to-action prompt. The format allows advertisers to use sight, sound, and motion to capture shopper attention. As the GoWit platform description notes, video ads help “reach your target audience and increase sales using engaging elements with video ads.” In practice, the video will play within the site/app’s ad player, encourages viewers to click through for more details or to purchase. Sponsored Video Ads are often employed for brand storytelling and product demonstration – they can convey richer information about a product or brand in a short span, driving engagement and interest. This format usually supports awareness objectives (similar to display ads), but with the added impact of multimedia content to boost recall and user interaction.

Required Fields for Sponsored Video & Sponsored Brand Video Ad Requests​

Sponsored Video ad requests share some common required parameters with other ad formats, but have a simpler context since they’re not product-specific. The main required fields are:

  • Session ID (session_id) – A stable and unique identifier for the user across the attribution window (not a short, expiring “browser session” token). Include it in every ad request and all events.
    Business purpose: The session_id is used for attribution and frequency control. It ties the delivered ad to the user’s session so that any impressions, clicks, or conversions can be attributed back to this ad view—so it must remain persistent across page views, reloads, and even browser restarts (store via first-party cookie, localStorage or persistent storage). In other words, session_id allows GoWit to track that “User session X saw Ad Y and later purchased Product Z.” This is critical for measuring performance (conversions, ROAS) and for enforcing any per-session limits (like not showing the same ad too many times). Always provide a consistent session_id for a user across pageviews to avoid breaking attribution chains.

Optional Fields for Sponsored Video & Sponsored Brand Video Ads and Their Uses​

While a video ad can be fetched with minimal info, providing contextual data can help GoWit select the most relevant video ad (if advertisers have set up targeting constraints). Optional fields include:

  • Ad Context – Contextual fields that inform the ad server about the current page and user intent. If the video ad is on a page that has a specific context like a search query or category, you may pass those:

    • search: If this video ad is on a search results page (less common, but suppose you had a video ad slot in search), providing the query helps target relevant video ads. For instance, if the user searched “fitness equipment” and you have a video ad slot, the platform could decide to show a fitness brand’s video ad, but only if it knows the query

    • category (or category_id): If on a category or department page, pass the category name or ID. E.g., user is browsing “Beauty > Skin Care” section and there’s a video ad slot – knowing the category allows selection of a beauty-related video ad if available. Advertisers can target categories for video campaigns just like other formats.

  • Customer Info (customer_id) – The ID of the customer. In addition to session_id, if you have a more persistent ID for the customer, you can send it in this field. Business purpose: Customer data is used for advanced targeting and personalization. A customer.id improves attribution. session_id links events within a device/session, while a stable customer.id links events across sessions and devices; together they support end-to-end and cross-device sale attribution (e.g., ad viewed on web, purchase completed later in the app).
    Note: Do not send disallowed PII; if derived from PII (e.g., email), hash/salt per your privacy policy and user consent. If omitted, ads are selected more generically and attribution remains session-scoped.

  • Location (location_id) – Indicates the user’s current store/fulfillment location (e.g., a store or warehouse code).
    Business purpose: When a Sponsored Video campaign is created with Connected Products enabled, location_id is used to constrain banner eligibility to products available at that location.

  • Filters (filters) – Optional array of predefined tag groups ([][]string) from your product integration. Evaluated only when the Sponsored Video campaign is created with Connected Products enabled.

  • Page Number (page_number) – Use zero-based indexing (0 for the first page) only if your display placement appears on paginated views.
    Business purpose: Provides analytics context and allows pagination-aware delivery when needed. For top-of-page display banners, the recommended practice is to keep ads consistent across pagination.

These fields are optional because not all video placements have a clear query or category (e.g., homepage banners are general). But when applicable, they function as additional filters or signals for the ad selection.

Key Aspect​

From a business standpoint, Sponsored Video ads are often introduced after a partner has mastered basic formats. They can have a big impact but also require that your pipeline for events and monitoring is solid (video is heavier and more complex to debug). The documentation suggests to “layer in Sponsored Video last” after other formats, precisely because of this added complexity with players and viewability. So in your integration timeline, you might implement this format in a later phase.