diff --git a/vmap/decoder.go b/vmap/decoder.go
index 78163c3..1aae325 100644
--- a/vmap/decoder.go
+++ b/vmap/decoder.go
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ func (adBreak *AdBreak) UnmarshalToken(tok *xmltokenizer.Tokenizer, se *xmltoken
 		case "VAST":
 			var vast VAST
 			if token.SelfClosing {
+				adBreak.AdSource.VASTData.VAST = &VAST{}
 				break
 			}
 			// Reuse Token object in the sync.Pool since we only use it temporarily.
diff --git a/vmap/structure_test.go b/vmap/structure_test.go
index 27a2f28..88f8167 100644
--- a/vmap/structure_test.go
+++ b/vmap/structure_test.go
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ func TestDecodeVmapEmptyVast(t *testing.T) {
 	is.NoErr(err)
 
 	is.Equal(len(vmap.AdBreaks), 1)
+	is.Equal(len(vmap.AdBreaks[0].AdSource.VASTData.VAST.Ad), 0)
 }
 
 func TestDecodeEmptyVast(t *testing.T) {