Criteria and Conditions

Criteria resources specify custom characteristics for display units, frames, and ad copies. Schedulers can then precisely target campaigns.

Use conditions to control when and where content should and should not play.

The "Criteria" training video is part of the "Network Setup" playlist:

Note: If you are new to Broadsign Control, we suggest you start with the Network Setup playlist.

Criteria: Outlines how to create and organize criteria.

To be able to select display units and frame criteria when booking a campaign, you must first enable this option. Once enabled, you will be able to see them in the Add Campaign Wizard. For more details, see Campaign Options

You can apply criteria to the following resources:

Criteria Types

As criteria can be used for different purposes, sort them by type so that you use them in the correct context. Typing of criteria is completely optional. However, it can be useful. For example, if your criteria are properly typed, then you won’t see any conditions or display unit criteria when assigning a frame criterion to a frame.

To be able to assign criteria to an ad copy during its creation, you must enable the option. See The Defaults Section

If you enable it, you can choose whether you would like Broadsign Control Administrator to ask if you would like to assign criteria each time you create a new ad copy or have the application prompt you to do so automatically.

Note: Criteria typing is a user-convenience feature only. Types are used exclusively to hide inappropriate criteria when selecting them for assignment or when re-targeting a display unit. Once you assign a criterion, changing its type has no functional effect.

There are five types of criteria:

  • All: This is the default type. Criteria of this type can be used for any purpose.
  • Display Unit: Criteria of this type can be associated to display units and used for Media Package, Event and Campaign targeting.
  • Frame: Criteria of this type can be associated to frames and used for Media Package, Event and Campaign targeting.
  • Ad Copy: Criteria of this type can be associated to ad copies and will be used by the player to select the correct ad copy from a bundle.
  • Condition: Criteria of this type can be used assigned to campaigns and display units in order to toggle on and off certain content according to external conditions.

If you select "Criteria & Conditions" from the resource tabs on the left, then right-click anywhere in the work area, you will see this menu:

  • Add Criteria: Opens the Add Criteria Wizard.
  • Edit Criteria: Opens the Criteria Properties dialogue box.
  • Deactivate Criteria: Deactivates any selected criteria.
  • Add Criteria Folder: Opens the "Add a folder" dialogue box.
  • Edit Folder: Opens the Criteria Folder Properties dialog box.

  • Deactivate All: Deactivates all folders that are nested within the selected folder.

    Warning: The Deactivate All action will also deactivate all the associations between the targeted resources and other resources in your network.

    The links to the deleted resources cannot be re-activated by revealing them with a disabled Hide Inactive Resource box in the Window menu.

For general information about adding, editing and deactivating resources, see Overview - Resources.

To add criteria, use one of the following methods:

  • Go to the Network Setup ribbon, and then select the "Criteria or Condition" icon.

  • From the resource tabs on the left, select "Criteria & Conditions". Then, right-click anywhere in the work area. From the contextual menu, select Add Criteria.

By default, the Add Criteria Wizard contains the following pages:

  • Welcome: Name the criteria.

  • Criteria Type: Select the criteria type. See Criteria Types.

To edit a criterion, use one of the following methods:

  • From the list panel, select a criterion. Then, from the view bar, select Edit.

  • From the list panel, double-click on a criterion.

In the Criteria Properties, you will find the following tabs:

  • The General Tab
  • The Display Units Tab
  • The Frames Tab
  • The Ad Copies Tab
  • The Condition Schedule Tab
  • The Geofencing Tab
  • The Geometry Tab

In the General tab, you will find:

  • the resource ID;
  • the name of the resource (editable);
  • the activation button; and,
  • the criterion type (editable).

In the Display Units tab, you can see which display units have this criterion or condition assigned to them. Criteria and conditions are assigned independently to display units, and are displayed in two separate sections. Criteria are used to tag display units for targeting purposes; conditions are used to control when certain content should and should not play.

Note: The Display Units tab only appears if the criterion's type is "All" or "Display Unit".

  • Add: Opens the Select Resources dialogue box. You can select any number of display units from your network.

  • Edit: Available to click once you select a display unit from the list panel. Opens the properties dialogue box of that display unit. See Edit Display Unit Properties.
  • Remove: Available to click once you select a display unit from the list panel. Removes the display unit from the list. Using "Shift" or "Ctrl", you can delete some or all of your display units at once.

  • Import: Opens the Import Associated Resources dialogue box. Allows you to mass import resources in a CSV file. See Bulk Criteria Import.

    Note: Mass application of a criterion to several resources will result in mass campaign retargeting. At the domain level, you can configure Broadsign Control Administrator to ask you to confirm each affected campaign. As a result, you may find yourself confirming dozens of retargeted campaigns. For more information, see The Campaigns and Events Section.

In the Frames tab, you can see which frames have this criterion assigned to them. See Frames.

Note: The Frames tab only appears if the criterion's type is "All" or "Frame".

  • Add: Opens the Select Resources dialogue box. You can select any number of frames from your network.

  • Edit: Available to click once you select a frame from the list panel. Opens the properties dialogue box of that frame. See Edit Frame Properties.
  • Remove: Available to click once you select a frame from the list panel. Removes the frame from the list. Using "Shift" or "Ctrl", you can delete some or all of your frames at once.

  • Import: Opens the Import Associated Resources dialogue box. Allows you to mass import resources in a CSV file. See Bulk Criteria Import.

    Note: Mass application of a criterion to several resources will result in mass campaign retargeting. At the domain level, you can configure Broadsign Control Administrator to ask you to confirm each affected campaign. As a result, you may find yourself confirming dozens of retargeted campaigns. For more information, see The Campaigns and Events Section.

In the Ad Copies tab, you can see which ad copies have this criteria assigned to them.

Note: The Ad Copies tab only appears if the criterion's type is "All" or "Ad Copy".

  • Add: Opens the Select Resources dialogue box. You can select any number of ad copies from your network.

  • Edit: Available to click once you select an ad copy from the list panel. Opens the properties dialogue box of that ad copy. See Edit Ad Copy Properties.
  • Remove: Available to click once you select a frame from the list panel. Removes the frame from the list. Using "Shift" or "Ctrl", you can delete some or all of your frames at once.

  • Import: Opens the Import Associated Resources dialogue box. Allows you to mass import resources in a CSV file. See Bulk Criteria Import.

    Note: Mass application of a criterion to several resources will result in mass campaign retargeting. At the domain level, you can configure Broadsign Control Administrator to ask you to confirm each affected campaign. As a result, you may find yourself confirming dozens of retargeted campaigns. For more information, see The Campaigns and Events Section.

When a condition is assigned to a display unit, its condition schedule determines when the condition is toggled on and off. By default, it is always toggled “ON”. Optionally, you can define a schedule with a specific start date, end dates and day of week.

Also, the condition can start and stop being toggled at specific times of the day, or, as a relative offset to opening hours.

Lastly, the on/off state of the condition can be toggled according to a recurrence schedule of every X seconds/minutes/hours. With this schedule, the condition can be automatically toggled on ans off throughout the day.

Geofencing enables users to define geographical boundaries. Once in place, users can target screens within these boundaries ("geotargeting"), to more effectively sell local advertising.

You can track your geofencing network visually, while making adjustments through the interface.

Note: Geofencing and geotargeting are advanced features. We provide a detailed overview and procedures in our Advanced Tutorials section. See Geotargeting.

On the geofencing map, you will see the following icons:

Icon Description
Zoom in and out on the map.

The selection tool. Used to navigate across the map, and select items on it.

Note: When you select an item, its colour will change from grey to blue.
Creates a circular geofencing object.
Creates a polygonal geofencing object.
Creates a square/rectangular geofencing object.
Deletes all selected objects.
Deletes all geofencing objects for the condition.
Zooms the map in our out, as needed, to include all geofencing objects in the view.

Geometry settings allow the default frame size to be overridden during the playback of an ad copy.

If set on a frame criteria and that criteria is then targeted during the campaign wizard, the custom geometry settings will be filled in automatically based on the settings entered here.

It is possible to assign multiple criteria to a frame, so if campaigns with multiple different geometries will be targeted to the frame, a criteria for each custom geometry can be created and then selected during the reservation process.

Broadsign enables you to bulk import criteria into display units, frames and ad copies. You will need to import .csv files containing ID#s of the resources.

Ensure that your .csv files are in the following format:

7194; 11146; 11152; 11155; 4257; 5922; 5933; 5944

The process for mass applying criteria is the same for each of the three possible resources. We will use display units in our example.

Mass Apply Criteria to Display Units:

  1. Select a criterion from your domain.

  2. Open the criterion properties, and go to Display Units. See Edit Criteria Properties.

  3. Click Import. The Import Associated Resources dialogue box opens.

  4. Select the .csv file for importing in one of two ways:
    • Enter the path to your .csv file; or,

    • Click Browse. Windows file explorer opens. Select your .csv file, and then click Open.

  5. Click Next. The Import Results page appears.

    • Broadsign Control Administrator will find the resource and include its name in the import results list.

    • If there are any formatting issues in the .csv file, a brief description of the problem will appear in the Status column.

  6. Click Finish.

The imported display units will appear in the list panel.

Note: Mass application of a criterion to several resources will result in mass campaign retargeting. At the domain level, you can configure Broadsign Control Administrator to ask you to confirm each affected campaign. As a result, you may find yourself confirming dozens of retargeted campaigns. For more information, see The Campaigns and Events Section.

Note: If you are a developer, and would like to know how to use Broadsign Control API to mass apply criteria to resources, see Mass Apply Criteria to Resources (SOAP).

In the list panel of explorer view, each resource has a column selector menu. With this menu, you can configure the list panel to display information you want.

To access a resource's column selector menu:

  1. From the view bar, select Explorer view.
  2. In the list panel, hover your pointer over the panel header.
  3. Right-click, and the column selector menu will appear.

  4. Select as many column options as you want.

  • Id: Indicates the unique ID number of the resource. See Overview - Resources.
  • Active: Indicates whether the resource is in an "active" or "inactive" state. See Overview - Resources.
  • Folder Id: Indicates the unique ID number of the resource folder.
  • Domain Id: Indicates the unique ID number of the domain. See The General Section.
  • Type: Indicates the options selected for the criteria or condition. See Edit Criteria Properties.
    • 0 = ALL
    • 1 = Display Unit
    • 2 = Frame
    • 3 = DU + Frame
    • 4 = Ad Copy
    • 5 = DU + Ad Copy
    • 6 = Frame + Ad Copy
    • 8 = Condition
    • 9 = DU + Condition
    • 10 = Frame + Condition
    • 11 = DU + Frame + Condition
    • 12 = Ad Copy + Condition
    • 13 = DU + Ad Copy + Condition
    • 14 = Frame + Ad Copy + Condition
  • Attributes
  • Geotargeting Data: The data for any geofencing objects associated with the criterion. See The Geofencing Tab.

Assuming a network where some displays are in indoor venues while some are outdoors, a network operator could create two criteria called “Indoors” and “Outdoors”, and assign each of them to their corresponding display units. Thus, when the time comes to create a reservation and the only desired screens are those that are outdoors, it becomes a simple matter of specifying to return only display units that have the Outdoors criteria assigned to them during the reservation creation process.

Similarly for frames, if the network contains many multi-framed display units, the network operator could assign criteria to each frame describing its function, which would make it easy to distinguish between frames intended to show video content and frames intended to show tickers. Likewise, ad copies can be assigned language or size criteria, for example, to allow them to be aimed at players within a display unit that had specific language or size requirements.

Criteria can be used to target display units, frames, and ad copies according to any characteristic(s) desired by the network operator. Examples include, but are not limited to:

  • the aspect ratio (e.g., Wide-screen, 4:3, 16:9, Portrait)
  • function (e.g., video frame, ticker, highway sign)
  • playback PC hardware (e.g., HD video capable, equipped to play sound)
  • the language in which the content is to be displayed (e.g., English, French, Spanish, German, etc.)

You can select multiple criteria resources during the campaign booking process (see Campaign Booking). By using a combination of these three options, it is possible to precisely target the desired portions of your network:

  • Matching All Of: The selected display units must contain all of the selected criteria. (Corresponds to the logical operator "AND".)
  • Matching Any Of: The selected display units must contain at least one of the selected criteria. (Corresponds to the logical operator "OR".)
  • Doesn't Match: If the display units match any of the criteria in this column, Broadsign Control Administrator will not select them. (Corresponds to the logical operator "NOT".)

After you have created some criteria in your network, you can then move on to other basic steps: