This SAS KB article documents the recommended setup approach for running a native placement through S2S in SAS 360 Match with Adform.

Recommended Setup Approach

1.  Confirm that Adform is enabled as the S2S partner. Adform is a supported SAS 360 Match partner, but the back-end partner connection and any required credentials or configuration should be enabled by SAS Technical Support.

2.  Configure the Partner mappings in SAS 360 Match. In the Partners area, confirm that the relevant site mappings and size mappings are configured for Adform. These mappings connect the SAS 360 Match site/size context to the corresponding Adform configuration.

3.  Create or update the Placement. In Targeting ► Placements, configure the placement with the appropriate target, site, size, channel, and floor price. Set Impression Format = Native, which tells SAS 360 Match to send a native impression object in the outbound bid request instead of a banner or video impression.

4.  Add Adform to the placement. On the placement, select Adform and enter the required Adform placement/key value if applicable, along with the desired floor price. The bid must meet or exceed the configured floor to win.

5.  Define the native assets requested. The native JSON assets describe what SAS 360 Match asks Adform to return. For example, title or headline, main image, body text, icon, CTA text, and link. The assets requested in the native request are the fields that the partner should return in the native response. SAS 360 Match does not enforce every requested asset, so this should be validated with Adform during testing.

Note: Ensure that the "assets" string is present, as it is required by Adform. Here is an example:

"native": {
    "request": {
      "assets": [
      {
        "id": 1,
        "required": 1,
        "img": {
          "type": 3,
          "w": 199,
          "h": 199,
          "mimes": [
            "image/jpeg",
            "image/png",
            "image/webp"
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "id": 2,
        "required": 1,
        "title": {
          "len": 90
        }
      }
    ]
  }
  },

6.  Ensure an eligible flight/creative can be selected. Placements are evaluated during ad serving after a normal SAS 360 Match request selects an eligible flight creative in a biddable tier. If no flight creative matches the request, the placement will not serve even if the placement itself is configured correctly.

7.  Test the full request path. Test with an ad call that matches the site, size, targeting, tier, and placement configuration, and confirm the Adform bid request or response flow and rendering behavior end to end.

How the Native Response Is Returned and Rendered

SAS recommends that you leave Treat bid response as a creative off. With the default behavior, SAS 360 Match returns the partner's adm content rather than the full bid response. The full bid response can include bid metadata, such as price and seat information, which is usually not what the publisher application or page template should render.

In the default native path, the returned native adm can be passed through for the publisher's app, SDK, or page-side native renderer to process, which is generally the most flexible production approach. Adform returns the native asset payload, and the publisher-side renderer decides how to display the title, image, body, CTA, click link, and trackers.

Purpose of the Format Field

Use the placement Format if you want SAS 360 Match to apply a creative or template layer to the returned native response. In other words, instead of simply passing the native adm through, a format template can reference the returned native fields and construct a specific output, such as a small HTML or JSON structure.

HTML can be useful for a simple or controlled use case, but SAS recommends that you use it carefully. For production native integrations, a JSON template with publisher-side rendering is usually more flexible because the app or page can handle layout, styling, tracking behavior, and any native-specific rendering rules.

Token Syntax for Format Templates

If you use a Format template to reference values from the returned native response, you should use the network-creative token model. The expected pattern is as follows:

%%NC.assets[0].title.text%%

%%NC.assets[1].img.url%%

%%NC.assets[2].data.value%%

%%NC.link.url%%

For the title example, the likely correct syntax is as follows:

%%NC.assets[0].title.text%%

The following is an example of the incorrect syntax:

%%NC.native.assets.0.title.text%%

%%NC.native.assets.title.text%%

The exact array index depends on the order of the assets that Adform returns. The native asset ID values are also important because they tie the response assets back to the assets requested.

Important Testing Notes

• Confirm that the Adform placement/key, site mapping, and size mapping all match the request that you test.
• Confirm that the placement target does not conflict with the selected site or other targeting rules.
• Confirm that a biddable tier and eligible flight creative are available, because the placement is evaluated as part of the normal serving flow.
• If a custom format returns JSON, confirm the response content type or MIME behavior required by the consuming app or page.
• Because native rendering depends on how the publisher application or page consumes the returned payload, SAS recommends that you validate with a real Adform test response before moving this into production.

In summary, set the placement to Native; complete the Adform partner/site/size/placement mapping; define the native assets that you want requested; leave Treat bid response as a creative off unless you specifically need the entire bid response; and either let the publisher renderer consume the returned native adm directly or use a SAS 360 Match Format template with %%NC...%% tokens for a more controlled transformation.