Block a named advertiser, campaign or banner from your inventory

What it is and why

A named block is the one hard stop for direct demand: it removes a banner, a campaign or a whole advertiser from a placement, a site or every site, whatever any category rule or matching rule says, and it is the fix for a DSP creative that got past bcat. It is the first layer of Use case: brand safety with category rules, domain lists and advertiser blocks; the domain lists and category rules are the next two.

Example. “Lucky Seven Casino” has 3 campaigns and 14 banners. One block of the advertiser on the Kidwise site removes all 14 — and every campaign created later — from its 8 placements in one action.

Typical scenarios

You want to avoid…	Use	Does it stop demand?	Lives in
One named advertiser (its 3 campaigns and 14 banners) on your site, or one DSP creative that slipped past bcat	Named blocks	Yes — the only hard stop for direct demand	Banners probability card / analytics

Step by step

Blocks are set on the supply side from the placement, or from an analytics report on the demand side.

The one control that removes hand-linked direct demand — and the fix for any DSP creative that got through. A block is absolute: it removes the pairing regardless of how well any dimension rule or matching rule matches.

1. On Account → Publishers → site → zone → placement, open the Banners probability card — it lists every banner that can currently win on this placement.

2. Click the Block button at the end of the row (a circle with a slash). The popover offers Block as Banner, Campaign or Advertiser (blocking the advertiser removes all its campaigns and banners at once, including campaigns created later) and On — this Placement, the whole Site, or All sites. Click Block, then confirm.

   

3. The block appears on the placement’s (or site’s) Pre-targeting card under Excluded: Blocking and can be removed there.

   

4. In the other direction, an advertiser or network manager blocks a site or placement from demand: run an Account → Analytics report grouped by Site or Placement together with Banner or Campaign, tick rows, and click Block site / Block placement in the selection bar — the rule lands on the banner’s or campaign’s Targeting card. The success toast appears whatever the server answered, so confirm the chip under Excluded: Blocking there.

Full behaviour and scopes: Block demand and inventory.

Caveats and exceptions

Named blocks

• Creating a block silently switches the targeting card on for the entity that receives it (a block cannot work with targeting off), which also re-activates that entity’s positive rules. Blocks then keep applying even if you later switch the card off — the switch only governs positive dimension rules.
• The Block buttons are drawn only for roles allowed that scope — each scope (placement / site / all sites; blocked sites / blocked placements on the demand side) is switched on separately, per role, and none is on out of the box.

The caveats that apply to every layer — what none of the four controls can do, competitive separation and the roles — are on Use case: brand safety with category rules, domain lists and advertiser blocks.

Not working?

A block is missing, or a block changed what else serves? The likely causes:

Symptom	Likely cause	Check
No Block button on the Banners probability row	The block scope is not granted; none is on out of the box	Admin → Users and roles → block scopes (placement / site / all sites)
Rules on the placement stopped applying after a block was removed, or positive rules came back unexpectedly	A block switches the targeting card on; removing it does not switch it off	Placement → Pre-targeting card switch
Block site from analytics showed a success toast but no chip	The toast appears whatever the server answered	Banner / campaign → Targeting → Excluded: Blocking

The other layers, and the verification step, are on Use case: brand safety with category rules, domain lists and advertiser blocks.

Reference

Full behaviour and scopes: Block demand and inventory (pre-targeting blocks). Which permission each control needs is in the reference table of the use case.

Related

• Use case: brand safety with category rules, domain lists and advertiser blocks
• Keep your ads off named domains and apps
• Steer automatic pairing with a category rule
• Block demand and inventory (pre-targeting blocks)
• Protect your inventory from bad creatives and bad traffic