Passing Creative Audit
Prepare secure, accurate, and policy-compliant creatives that move through the audit process efficiently and are ready to serve across approved publisher environments.
Prepare every creative for approval
Following the correct security, content, brand, action, and landing-page requirements helps ensure that creatives meet the standards required for approval. Review every component before submission to reduce avoidable rejections and campaign delays.
Prevent malvertising before it reaches users
Strict policies and automated systems continuously monitor creatives for malicious advertising, malware, viruses, blocked domains, and unapproved third-party ad servers.
Immediate enforcementAnti-Malvertising Policy
Every client must comply with the anti-malvertising policy. Violations can result in account suspension or termination.
Automated monitoring systems
Automated checks scan for malware, viruses, domain blocklist matches, and tags from unapproved third-party ad servers.
Immediate deactivation
Any detected malvertising threat results in the immediate deactivation of the affected creative to protect users and publishers.
What auditors evaluate
Keep the creative, offer, brand identity, and destination consistent so auditors can accurately classify and approve the campaign.
Creative content
Content and offer classification should create a clear, consistent experience for the intended audience.
- The landing-page language should match the creative language. A Spanish creative should link to a Spanish page.
- The creative receives a brand category based on the landing-page content.
- Sensitive or controversial offers are flagged and may face publisher-specific restrictions.
Brand consistency
The creative and landing page must represent one identical, recognizable brand or product offering.
- Do not rotate between different brands or unrelated brand names in one creative.
- A functional URL is required when a new brand must be created during the audit.
- The brand name and category are determined during the audit process.
Offer classification
Auditors use the destination experience to understand and accurately classify the advertised offer.
- The promoted offer must be clear and accurately represented.
- The destination should support the creative’s primary message.
- Sensitive content must be disclosed and classified correctly.
Keep every click safe and functional
User actions and the landing-page experience must be predictable, accessible, and ready for review when the creative enters the audit queue.
No automatic downloads
Clicking the creative must not initiate a file download. This prevents unexpected behavior and protects users from potential security risks.
Landing-page requirements
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01
Compliant content
Landing-page content must follow all applicable advertising and content guidelines.
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02
Live and functional
The final destination must load correctly and remain functional during the audit.
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03
Accessible to audit systems
The page must be viewable from the IP addresses used by the audit process.
Plan submissions to avoid preventable delays
A paced, intentional submission process gives auditors time to review each creative and gives your team time to resolve issues before the scheduled campaign launch.
Submit creatives early
Submit creatives at least one week before the scheduled flight date.
- Allow time to resolve issues discovered during the audit.
- Confirm compliance before the campaign launch date.
- Add extra lead time during holidays and other high-volume advertising periods.
Pace creative submissions
Submit creatives over an appropriate period instead of sending a very large batch at once.
- Large batches can place unnecessary pressure on the audit queue.
- Heavy bulk submissions may cause platform-wide delays.
- Unexpected volume can result in submissions being deprioritized.
Avoid automated submissions
Do not use scripts or automation tools to send unreviewed creatives into the audit process.
- Automated submissions can create glitches and incorrect entries.
- Bulk scripts may increase audit fees and processing delays.
- Review every creative thoroughly before submitting it.
Stay in contact
Coordinate with your representative or the Audit Client Services team when a large submission is planned.
- Communicate expected creative volume in advance.
- Explain when bulk submission is operationally necessary.
- Give the audit team time to plan and help mitigate delays.
Complete the final audit-readiness check
A proactive review of security, content, branding, actions, and landing-page availability helps minimize rejections and keeps campaign delivery on schedule.
- ✓ Confirm the creative contains no malware or unapproved ad tags.
- ✓ Match the creative language with the landing-page language.
- ✓ Use one clear and consistent brand or product offering.
- ✓ Prevent creative clicks from starting automatic downloads.
- ✓ Keep the landing page live, functional, and accessible.
- ✓ Submit early and communicate large-volume audit plans.
Need help preparing for creative audit?
Crosstide Media can help review creative security, content alignment, brand consistency, click behavior, and landing-page readiness before submission.