If you have an ad blocker installed in your web browser, you may experience issues while using Smartly. Some antivirus suites can also block ads. Please review your browser extensions and software installed on your computer to determine if they might be causing issues. We recommend disabling or uninstalling any browser extension(s) and software to restore full functionality for the Smartly app.
Alternatively, you can try to allowlist or filter list our app domain app.smartly.io, but this approach is not guaranteed to work. Allowlisting the app domain typically only hides error messages from being visible and does not actually address the issue.
Known locations in the app where ad blockers can cause issues such as ads not being visible:
On company level view: Unable to find ad accounts
In single campaign view > ads listing: Blocked network requests to Smartly's ads API
In campaign creation wizard> Creative > Ad preview column (Right side): Facebook's realtime generated ad preview does not load or shows errors
Ad dimension preview in Campaigns reporting: Facebook's realtime generated ad preview
Campaigns Reporting > pivot table actions: Actions look to be executing but is actually going in endless loop of failed network requests because requests are being blocked.
We intentionally detect for these ad blocker extensions in Google Chrome:
AdBlock
Adblock Plus
Ghostery
List of software known to disrupt functionality in the Smartly app:
Kaspersky Protection (antivirus software) – Google Chrome extension and desktop software
If you're using a particular browser extension or software that you would want our UI to to alert you for, please share this feedback with your Customer Success Manager or in our support chat so we can look into adding that coverage.
FAQ
How do ad blockers work?
Ad blockers are designed to look for specific naming that suggests
ad tracking activity and/or
some form of ad delivery (placements on websites) is taking place
For example, image files with the dimensions 600x600 in their name (ad_600x600), network requests that end in /ads, and network requests to specific websites (e.g., google.com) can indicate ad activity.
Ad tracking is achieved by sending network requests. As a result, ad blockers will check the naming of these network requests to see if suggestive of an ad and then stops the request. This prevents websites from downloading ad assets or sending data. Which leads to silent errors on the webpage. These errors are intentionally made silent to not disrupt a user's web browser experience. You need these network requests to functional when you are on a an ad buying platform such as Smartly.
Ad delivery requires images or videos to be downloaded. If ads were successfully downloaded, then ad blockers will target that placement on the webpage and make it invisible to the user by editing the display settings. Similarly to how ad tracking is prevented, this method is also silent. You won't see the ad because it'll appear like it is not there.
How do ad blocker's disrupt Smartly's functionality?
Ad blockers prevent the Smartly app from interfacing with both its internal APIs and with external APIs of ad buying partners (Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter).
How to quickly rule out if a browser extension is responsible for unexpected behavior?
A quick way to do this test is to use the Incognito mode in Google Chrome. In Incognito mode, all extensions are disabled by default. Log into Smartly on your incognito Chrome browser and try your action again. If the issue cannot be replicated, review your browser extensions to check which one is causing the unexpected behavior.
To test whether a browser extension is causing issues on your regular browser, all browser extensions and try again. Afterwards, repeat this for individual extensions to narrow down the culprit.