How to make custom native tower ads

Tower ads are horizontal banner ads that float and stay over the page as the viewer scrolls. You can use native templates to create tower ad items that are tailored to your needs.

A sample tower ad

This feature requires the Enhanced Ads add-on. For more information on adding add-ons to your subscription, read How to change your subscription.

In this guide, we're going to create a simple tower ad using a custom native ad template. This type of native template has all the code - HTML, JavaScript, and style element - necessary to display the ad properly.

If you'd rather sanitize the template and have only HTML inside it, you should make your tower ad using a styled native ad template instead. For more information on the differences between custom native ads and styled native ads, read About native ad templates.

Templates for custom native ad items are not compatible with styled native ad items, and vice-versa.

You will learn:

  1. How to create a template for a custom tower ad. You can customize the sample code to fit your needs.
  2. How to create a custom tower ad item once you have a custom tower template.

How to create a custom tower ad template

This template will require the user to provide the URL to where the image creative is hosted when creating the tower ad item.

  1. Click Templates in the left navigation menu. The Templates section will appear.
  2. Click Native Ad Templates. The Native Ad Templates subsection will appear.
  3. Click Add Native Ad Template. The New Native Template window will appear.
  4. Click Custom Rendering/API. The New Native Ad Template page will appear.

Selecting a native template type

  1. Name the template then add an image URL variable for the image that will be in the ad. In our sample code, we called this variable ImageURL.

Creating a custom native tower ad template in AdButler

You can save variables and use them in other templates. After adding a variable, click on the three dots at the far right of the variable fields then click Save Variable as Template. To use a saved variable, click Add Saved Variable while creating a native template.
  1. Enter the code in the HTML Template (Custom Rendering) field, then click Save Changes.

Here's the code we used in our example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <style>
            .tower-container {
                width: 250px;
                height: 500px;
                position: fixed;
                bottom: auto;
                top: 250px;
                left: 1rem;
            }

            .tower-image {
                max-height: 100%;
                max-width: 100%;
                object-fit: cover;
                margin: 0;
                padding: 0;
                border: 0;
            }

            .tower-close-button-container {
                position: absolute;
                top: 5px;
                right: 5px;
                cursor: pointer;
            }

            .tower-close-button {
                width: 21px;
                text-align: center;
                display: inline-block;
                color: #ffffff;
                font-size: 18px;
                background: #000000;
                border-radius: 21px;
                user-select: none;
            }
        </style>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div class="tower-container">
            <a target="_blank" href="[TRACKING_LINK]">
                <img class="tower-image" src="[%ImageURL%]">
            </a>
            <div class="tower-close-button-container">
                <span class="tower-close-button" onclick="closeButton()">×</span>
            </div>
        </div>
        <script>
            function closeButton() {
                document.querySelector('.tower-container').style.display = 'none';
            }
        </script>
    </body>
</html>

You can now use this template to create a custom tower ad item.

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How to create a custom tower ad item

  1. Go to the section of the relevant zone (Your AdButler > Publishers > Your Publisher > Your Zone) or campaign (Your AdButler > Advertisers > Your Advertiser > Your Campaign).
Custom native tower ad items can be assigned only to Standard zones with the size set to Dynamic. The zone size can be configured only when creating a zone and cannot be changed afterward.
  1. Click Add Ad Item in the Ad Items table. The Add Ad Item window will appear.
  2. Click Native (Custom Rendering/API). The New Ad Item page will appear.

Creating a native (custom rendering/API) ad item

  1. Set the ad item's size to Dynamic.
  2. Select your tower custom native ad template in the Template dropdown menu.
  3. Fill in the rest of the fields as needed, including the image URL. If you entered a destination URL, you can test it by clicking Open Destination URL to the right of the field.
  4. Click Save Ad Item.

Creating a tower ad custom native ad item in AdButler

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