Frequently Asked Questions

The onboarding process for advertisers is simple and involves the following steps:

1. Account Creation: Provide your email address, password, and phone number to create your account.
2. Profile Verification: Complete the profile verification by submitting necessary documents such as GST number, PAN card, GST certificate, and CIN number (if applicable). Also, provide relevant business details.
3. Authorisation Check: Ensure that the domain ID of your official email matches the domain of your website URL to pass the authorisation check.
4. Add Brand Name and Logo: Include your brand name and logo to personalise your account.
5. Grant Access to Team: Manage user access by granting different levels of permissions, such as edit, view, or admin, to team members.

   Once you have submitted the required documents for profile verification in step 2, our team will review and approve them within XX hours. You will receive an email notification regarding the approval. Please note that certain banned categories are not allowed to advertise on our platform. For more information, refer to the provided link.

The onboarding process for agencies is simple and involves the following steps:

1. Account Creation: Provide your email, password, and phone number to create your account.
2. Profile Verification: Complete the profile verification by submitting your GST number, PAN card, GST certificate, and CIN number (if applicable). Also, provide detailed information about your business.
3. Authorization Check: Verify that the domain ID of your official email matches the domain of your website URL.
4. Brand Name and Logo: Add your agency’s brand name and upload your logo for identification purposes.
5. User Access Management: Grant access to your team members with specific roles such as editing, viewing, or administration.

After you have submitted the required documents for profile verification, we will review them and provide approval within XX hours. You will receive an email notification regarding the approval status. Please be aware that there are certain banned categories that are not permitted to advertise on our platform. For more information, refer to the provided link.

To complete your profile, you will need to provide the following details: For Advertisers:

1. GST Number of the Advertiser along with the supporting document
2. PAN Card number of the Advertiser along with the supporting document
3. CIN Number (applicable in case of a company) of the Advertiser

For Agencies:

1. GST Number of the Agency along with the supporting document
2. PAN Card number of the Agency along with the supporting document
3. CIN Number (applicable in case of a company) of the Agency
4. GST number of the advertiser

Please ensure that you provide accurate and valid information for the completion of your profile.

An agency has the ability to add multiple advertisers or brands under its account. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Navigate to Business Settings.
3. Select Advertisers.
4. Click on “Add Advertiser” and provide the name of the advertiser along with their logo.
5. Enter the GST number associated with the advertiser.
6. Add the brand name.

An agency can grant access to different users at the brand level, allowing the advertiser’s team to have full access to their campaign. To grant access, follow these steps:

1. Select the brand name for which you want to grant access.</li
2. Go to Settings and navigate to Business Settings.</li
3. Click on “Add New User” and provide the required details.

Absolutely! You can create multiple accesses within the same account and assign varying levels of permissions, such as View, Edit, and Admin. This allows you to control and manage the access rights based on individual roles and responsibilities.

The following categories are prohibited from advertising on the Disney+ Hotstar platform: Tobacco and Alcohol, Magical Remedies, Occult Services, Infant Milk Products, Chit Funds, Firearms, Weapons and Ammunitions, Gambling, Games of Chance, Legal Services, and Cryptocurrency.

For assistance with login issues and error messages, please contact our Helpdesk support for prompt resolution.

Yes, having a GST number is mandatory. If you do not have a GST number, please provide us with your details and our sales team will contact you.

You can upload creatives in multiple languages, including English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada. If your creative is in Hindi or English, it can be run on all language feeds, and you can also select targeting options. However, if your creative is in a regional language, such as Tamil, Telugu, or Kannada, the campaign will be limited to the respective regional feeds as a ROS (Run of Site) campaign. In this case, you won’t be able to select additional targeting options like geography or demographics.

You can make online payments to get your campaigns running using a credit card, debit card, or Netbanking.

There is no credit option available for running the campaign. All campaigns on Hotstar Self-Serve operate in a pre-paid mode.

Once your campaign is approved, you will be notified via email and on your dashboard. Click the “Pay” button to initiate an online transaction. You will be prompted to provide a GSTIN number, which will be printed on your final invoices. Follow these simple steps to take the campaign live: Choose a payment method, enter your payment details, and complete the transaction.

Within 48 hours of the invoice being generated, any unused campaign budget will be credited to your account balance. You can check your account balance under the “Billings and Payments” tab, where it is initially set to INR 0. Once the refund is processed, the refunded amount will reflect in your account balance. These funds can be utilised for future campaigns. If you decide not to run another campaign and wish to transfer the account balance to your original billing method, please reach out to our helpdesk team for assistance.

All campaign charges are net of TDS, meaning you pay Disney+ Hotstar the full amount due, while the TDS portion is paid separately to the government as per the usual requirements. Once you provide the TDS certificate within 120 days of the invoice date, Disney+ Hotstar will verify the payment and reimburse the corresponding TDS amount to you. Please ensure the timely submission of the TDS certificate for a smooth refund process.

Campaigns created through the Self-Serve platform on Disney+ Hotstar enable you to effectively reach your target audience and generate awareness for your product or service. During the campaign creation process, the platform provides an estimate of the number of impressions (the number of times the ad will be shown to viewers) and reach (the unique number of viewers who will see the ad) that you can expect to achieve. This ensures transparency and allows you to make informed decisions for your campaign’s success.

Advertising on Disney+ Hotstar on cricketing tournaments provides brands with a unique opportunity to achieve a substantial reach within a relatively short timeframe of approximately 15-50 days, particularly during marquee tournaments such as the Asia Cup 2023 and ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. This concentrated exposure allows campaigns to make a significant impact and effectively reach a wide audience.

For optimal campaign effectiveness, we recommend a minimum budget of INR 2 lac.

Step 1: Create a New Campaign
To initiate your campaign creation process, click on the “Create Campaign” button located on the Home page or within the Campaigns section of your dashboard.

Step 2: Enter Campaign Name and Select Brand
Provide a descriptive name for your campaign that will enable easy identification in the future. Additionally, select the appropriate brand from the dropdown list.

Step 3: Choose Campaign Type
From the available options, select the campaign type that aligns with your objectives. The default option is typically set to “Awareness.”

Step 4: Select Cricketing Property and Tournament
Choose the cricketing property that is most relevant to your campaign, ensuring that it reaches the intended audience. Additionally, specify the tournament with which your ad will be associated.

Fill Ad Set Details: To create a new ad set, click on the “Create Ad Set” button in the ”Create Campaign” window.

Step 1: Fill in the Ad Set Details
Click on the “Create Ad Set” button in the “Create Campaign” window. Enter the Ad Set Name and Total Budget. Select the Ad Placement, such as video pre-roll or video mid-roll. Choose the Video Duration for your ad. Once you’ve filled in these details, you can save your ad set as a draft or proceed to the next step.

Step 2: Select Content to Advertise On
Choose between “By Date” or “By Package”. If you select “By Package”, choose from the available packages, each containing different matches, dates, and times. If you choose “By Date”, provide a date range. Estimated audience reach, available impressions, and CPM will be displayed based on your selection.

Step 3: Set Audience Targeting
Select audience targeting options like geography, age, and device type to reach the right audience for your ad campaign. This helps increase the effectiveness of your advertising efforts.

Step 4: Upload Video Creatives
In this step, you’ll upload video creatives for the selected content. Click on “New Ad” to create a new ad. Enter the Ad name, Title, Description, and select the CTA (Call to Action) for the ad. Choose the language and upload the Video creative from your system or the Media Library. Enter the Landing Page URL. Preview how your ad will look under “Ad Preview”. Add a Tracker for the ad, including the Tracker URL and Type of Tracker (Clicks or Impressions).

Once you’ve completed these steps, your ad sets are ready to go!

The minimum campaign duration is set at 3 days. However, please note that if a day includes double headers (two matches in a day), both matches will be considered as part of the same day for the campaign.

Only video advertisements are accepted through the Self-Serve platform. The campaign duration can vary from 5 seconds to 30 seconds.

On the Self-Serve platform, it is not possible to select individual matches for advertising. Instead, you have two options for creating a campaign: 1) Duration-based selection and 2) Package-based selection.

For duration-based selection, the pricing of the campaign is calculated based on the duration chosen and the type of matches included within that duration. The minimum campaign duration is 3 days, and the maximum duration can span the entire length of the campaign, which can vary from 3 to 48 days.

Alternatively, if you prefer to run a campaign on specific matches, you can choose from pre-created packages. These packages are designed with the selection of certain types of matches, such as India matches, India + Non-India matches, and more.

No, selecting targeting for your campaign is not mandatory. If you choose not to select targeting, your campaign will be shown to any user who watches live cricket during the delivery of your campaign at a pan-India level.

Targeting options can be utilised when you want to reach a specific set of users, such as males, users in specific cities like Mumbai or Gujarat, or users with particular interests. However, if you do not have any specific criteria and you want your ad to reach the maximum number of users within your chosen budget, you can skip the targeting options.

Level 1 – Geography-based: Target specific cities or states to reach your desired audience.

Level 2 (Advanced):
Age-based: Segment your audience based on age groups such as under 30 and 30+.
Device price-based: Target users based on the price range of their devices, such as devices priced at 15k+ or other price categories.
Platform: Choose specific platforms to target, including Android, iOS, Android TV, Firestick, or other platforms.

You can select up to two levels of targeting for your campaigns, including geography-based targeting and advanced targeting options mentioned above. It’s important to note that the more targeting options you select, the smaller your target audience size will be, which may result in reduced reach.

For advertisers in the alcoholic beverages, gaming, or betting industries, their campaigns will be automatically targeted to selected markets, with the exclusion of states where the consumption or usage of specific categories/products is prohibited.

If you have a creative in a regional language, your campaign will exclusively run on the respective regional feed (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada) at a pan-India level. No other targeting options such as geography or demographics can be selected.

The commitment made by the Self-Serve platform is focused on the delivery of impressions rather than reach. We provide a reach range that indicates the estimated delivery of the campaign to a specific audience.

Campaigns cannot be paused at any stage once they are live.

Yes, stopping the campaign is allowed. Once you raise a request to stop the campaign, it will continue to run as it is for the next 48 hours. After the 48-hour period, the campaign will be stopped.

Once the campaign is created or started, there are three metrics that can be updated:

Budget: The budget can only be increased and cannot be decreased once set.

Campaign Duration: The campaign duration can only be extended and cannot be reduced from the already selected duration.

Creative: A new creative can be added, but it must have the same language and duration (e.g., 10 seconds, 15 seconds) as the previously uploaded creative. If a new creative with a different language or duration is to be added, a new ad set needs to be created.

Please note that changes to these metrics may take at least 72 hours to reflect. In the meantime, the campaign will continue to run based on the previous specifications.

When a user requests mid-flight changes, the request is sent to the Product Revenue Strategy (PRS) team for approval. The approval process typically takes a maximum of 72 hours. During this time, the campaign will continue to run based on the existing campaign details until the changes are approved.

Through the Self-Serve platform, you have the option to run two different types of ads: Mid-roll ads and Pre-roll ads.

A mid-roll ad is an advertisement that is shown during the middle of a video, typically ranging from 10 to 60 seconds in duration. These ads cannot be skipped by the viewer and are integrated within the video stream. Mid-roll video ads are highly effective for branding purposes, sequential storytelling, and driving consideration for your products or services.

Here are the creative specifications for mid-roll ads:

Dimensions: 1920 × 1080 (16:9)
File Type: MP4
Duration: 10 to 60 seconds
Maximum File Size: 500 MB
Frame Rate: 25 FPS
Campaign Title: Maximum 24 characters (including spaces)

Please ensure your creative meets these specifications for optimal playback and compatibility.

A pre-roll ad on Disney+ Hotstar is a non-skippable video ad that automatically plays for 6 to 10 seconds before the video stream starts. It is displayed on both mobile and desktop. The maximum duration of a pre-roll ad may vary depending on the objective chosen for your campaign. For brand awareness and traffic objectives, the maximum duration is up to 6 seconds, while for impact objectives, it can be up to 10 seconds.

This pre-roll ad format ensures that your message reaches viewers right at the beginning of their video content, capturing their attention and delivering your key marketing message effectively.

Here are the creative specifications for pre-roll ads on Disney+ Hotstar:

Dimensions: 1920 × 1080 (16:9)
File Type: MP4
Duration: Up to 6 seconds for brand awareness objective, up to 10 seconds for impact objective
Max File Size: 500 MB
Frame Rate: 25 FPS
Campaign Title: Maximum 24 characters (including spaces)

These specifications ensure that your pre-roll ads are optimized for display on Hotstar’s platform, delivering a seamless and engaging viewing experience for the audience.

We provide reporting at the unit level based on the type of campaign. For Run of Site (RoS) campaigns, reporting will be at the RoS level. For targeted campaigns, reporting will be at the cluster level. Please note that quartile reporting is not available in a live environment.