STAINES-UPON-THAMES, U.K.—Dynamic ad insertion provider Yospace has named Stuart Barnes as vice president of international business development.

Working alongside Vice President of Commercial Ed New, Barnes is tasked with bolstering Yospace’s ability to accelerate adoption of digital ad insertion across North America, Europe and the APAC region.

“Stuart has a proven track record in building great customer relationships and delivering success for some of the best-known media companies in the world,” Yospace CEO Tim Sewell said in a statement. “He rejoins Yospace at a time when the role of advertising to media companies has never been more important.”

Barnes brings to Yospace more than 20 years of experience in the digital video industry, including a prior five-year stint with the company, Yospace said. He also led sales efforts for ad-tech firm Brightcove in London and then for the company’s media category in the United States. He later joined Vimeo as vice president, Americas, where he helped evolve the video platform’s enterprise sales division.

Barnes and his teams helped position both Brightcove and Vimeo for their initial public offerings in 2012 and 2021, respectively, Yospace said.

“Having worked with Stuart for a number of years, I know full well the added value he will bring to Yospace," New said in a statement. “His decision to rejoin the company is a further validation of the market-leading position the wider Yospace team has achieved. I cannot wait to work alongside him again and turbocharge our sales capabilities.”

Barnes also relaunched and chaired the New York Video Meetup, a community of several thousand video professionals, in 2023.

“Yospace’s impressive roster of global customers, including DirectTV, Fox, ITV, RTL,TV4, Nine Entertainment, Seven West Media and many more, is a testament to its value to media organizations worldwide,” Barnes said. “Reliable and scalable dynamic ad insertion is absolutely pivotal to their success, so it’s a perfect time to be coming on board. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to once again work with Tim, Ed and the rest of the team at such an exciting time.”

At first glance, the rise of ad-supported streaming video could feel like a return to familiar TV models. Traditional broadcast television was always supported by advertisements. Netflix’s bold emergence in 2007 seemed to signal that the internet would be different. For OTT television viewers, a monthly subscription meant premium content with no advertisements.

The media landscape today looks different than it did then. In 2023, Netflix, along with top streamers Hulu, Max, and Disney+, began offering a cheaper subscription tier for viewers who didn’t mind watching a few ads, a model that Peacock launched with years ago. 

At the same time, ad-supported services like Freevee and Tubi began rising in popularity and critical reception, while free advertising-based streaming television (FAST) channels caught on by adopting a cable-like set schedule. Today, as sports streaming breaks new viewership records and social media video apps like TikTok continue to define culture, it’s clear that internet video means watching ads.

Behind the scenes, video service providers know that streaming ads are an entirely different process than they were on cable, with personalized ads being selected and triggered in the moment. It’s a new technical challenge to navigate. As the popularity of ad-supported streaming video rises, so do the expectations of audiences for a perfect viewing experience. When ad insertion can directly lead to streaming issues, that’s easier said than done.

How Ads Are Inserted into Streaming Video
Streaming ads are generally “dynamically inserted” into the content they’re accompanying, instead of being packaged together in advance like on cable TV. The ads come from a different origin server than the rest of the content, which is pulled from its source to a video player that inserts the ads in real time.

The most common way to achieve dynamic ad insertion (DAI) involves using SCTE-35 ad cues. These cues are added at appropriate spots in the content. When the video player reaches a cue, it triggers an “ad pod,” or a group of ads playing in a row. The cue contains information on how long the pod will last and how many ads should fill it. 

With that information, the video player pulls the required ads to fill the pod all from different sources, often personalized to the preferences or general location of the viewer. DAI is complex, and the level of required technological interaction leads to errors more often than it ideally should.

The Errors Involved with DAI
Streaming ad issues happen frequently. Anyone who has watched ad-supported video is familiar with them. Common errors include ads starting early, late, or not playing in full before they are cut off; significant buffering before or during the ads; a single ad being repeated multiple times in an ad pod; and ads playing with an entirely different audio or picture quality than the content itself.

The most severe ad issues involve slates, which commonly appear on FAST channels. Since FAST runs on a set schedule with frequent ad breaks, slates often fill the regularly scheduled intervals. Slates can include countdown timers to the content continuing, or a static image promising a return to the programming. 

With DAI, these slates can appear entirely blank — convincing the viewer that the slate has crashed — or, even worse, crash the stream immediately. Witbe’s independent research has observed that up to 30% of all FAST viewing sessions are affected by an ad insertion error.

The Path Forward for Video Service Providers
The impact that ad insertion errors have on streaming video is significant. So, how can they be fixed? The answer is important to video service providers, who depend on revenue from third-party advertisers. 

If viewers are unable to watch the ads due to streaming errors, providers are unable to sell those ad impressions (i.e., views) — and often, those viewers don’t return in the future. On the other hand, if advertisers experience their ads not being properly aired, they can withhold payment or quit working with a provider.

Of course, there is no single mistake that leads to ad insertion issues. The errors that reach viewers could have been introduced at several different stops in the video delivery pathway. However, there is a single way to discover the issues affecting viewers at home: ad monitoring.

How to Monitor Streaming Ad Performance
It’s a common mantra in internet delivery: verification is key. Streaming performance cannot be improved until it is reliably verified. The same is true for ad performance. Since the ads are dynamically inserted, the errors they cause are often dynamic too: they might not appear the same way across different types of devices. 

Accordingly, service providers interested in ad monitoring should do it on the same real devices and networks that their viewers use. Witbe has observed several ad errors that are only visible through real device monitoring, including ones caused by the interaction with other services on the same device.

Scaling up testing across all the combinations of device models and operating systems their service runs on can only be achieved through automation. Automated testing can evaluate ad performance by specific criteria, including the duration of the ads played; the video and audio quality of the ads; the total amount of buffering involved; the appearance of any slates, particularly blank ones or black screens; and any time the stream crashes, among others. 

Once providers have this data, they can use it to resolve the errors themselves, as well as share successful results and video recordings with advertisers when necessary.

The Benefits of Real Device Ad Monitoring
Dynamically inserted ads are essential for providers, but they currently pose a direct threat to the mission of delivering superior streaming quality. The only way to truly verify and resolve ad errors is by monitoring them on real devices and networks. 

When reliable ad monitoring leads to consistently delivering a strong ad-supported video performance, providers build positive brand awareness and increase their ability to secure ad revenue. When dealing with DAI, real device monitoring is a must.

LOS ALTOS, Calif.—Didja, Inc. has announced that its live local broadcast TV streaming platform LocalBTV is now delivering programmatically-decisioned dynamic advertising insertion (DAI) and replacement (DAR) capabilities to its entire 21-market footprint of DMAs that reach over 30% of the country.

Utilizing a purpose-built adtech stack predicated on real-time, location-aware cloud-based decisioning, LocalBTV's proprietary Edge Video Platform enables participating broadcasters to not only augment the value of their traditional linear broadcast ad inventory, but also generate new revenue from a variety of digital ad demand sources, the company said. 

Station sales teams can enhance their clients' linear over-the-air ads in LocalBTV with in-market, geo-fenced creative versioning – or "re-sell" those avails outright as new inventory for digital-only advertisers. Broadcasters can also choose to tap into LocalBTV's exclusive ad sales rep firm partnerships and/or Magnite's SpotX programmatic sourcing platform for "hands-free" ad revenue generation.

"I'm very proud of how our world-class tech team is solving the very hard problem of integrating impressions-based digital ad insertion into traditional local broadcast TV ad breaks," said Jim Long, CEO of LocalBTV. "I believe we are the only company in the world doing this, and it shows the power of our patented Edge Video Platform as a compelling way to create more revenue for broadcasters."

LocalBTV is a legal virtual-over-the-air (vOTA) streaming "local broadcast bundle" platform – which seeks and secures explicit permission from local broadcast signal owners for inclusion in its unique authenticated geo-fenced "antenna TV without an antenna" service. 

The goal is to help expand in-market access to and viewership of live local broadcast over-the-air (OTA) television to include a variety of increasingly consumer-preferred digital devices – such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and connected TVs.

LocalBTV also offers popular features like cloud-based DVR recording, intuitive program guidance/navigation, and "hyper-local" public, educational and governmental Community Video channels. 

"The utility of LocalBTV has enabled our broadcast stations to reach viewers in environments we intrinsically couldn't reach with pay TV alone," said Josh Castro, GM of the My Central Valley TV station group in Fresno, CA. "In addition to entertaining new audiences, the inclusion of DAI/DAR is a brand-new revenue stream for our stations. As broadcasters, we have never been able to monetize live, linear digital video avails – until now. I can't think of a more natural progression for the broadcast industry than this."

The LocalBTV platform currently powers signal delivery and targeted DAI/DAR to over 200 of the service's 700+ local broadcast TV channels, as well as nearly 100 "hyper-local" Community Video channels across its current 21-market footprint – with plans to reach over 50% of US DMAs by Q3 2022.

More information and the full lineup of available LocalBTV markets is available here: https://www.localbtv.com/.

NEW YORK--SpotX has inked a deal with Syncbak to connect its digital advertising platform to Synkbak’s AdSync proprietary dynamic ad insertion (DAI) solution. Syncbak is also leveraging SpotX for its programmatic ad decisioning layer and ad serving technology.

“At Syncbak, we want to help local broadcasters monetize and make their content available to their viewers on any platform,” said Dean Mandel, vice president, Revenue at Syncbak. “SpotX industry-leading video monetization solutions allow us to present a whole new revenue stream to our users, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with them.”

Launched in May 2018, SBTV and its affiliate destinations allow viewers to stream live and on-demand local TV station content on any device. The SimpleSync platform lets local stations stream their content to any vMVPD, their own sites and apps, and Syncbak's direct to consumer app. SBTV is available on Apple TV, Roku, iOS, Android and the web.

[Read: Syncbak To Conduct 'First Ever' Live OTT Broadcast Using Local Dynamic Ad Insertion]

As a result of the partnership, SpotX is connecting advertisers directly to Syncbak’s premium, local, live, and on-demand video inventory which runs across the SBTV website, the SBTV app (web or mobile), linear TV stations, and Syncbak publisher websites and apps. Syncbak will also retain the ability to execute direct deals with linear advertisers.

“This is a massive opportunity for advertisers because when they access Syncbak inventory through SpotX, they will have the ability to reach two different audience segments simultaneously, viewers watching traditional linear TV and those tuning in via OTT,” said Benjamin Abbatiello, vice president, audience and distribution management at SpotX. “Syncbak has really been a pioneer in the OTT space, and we’re excited to help its content owners and creators earn more revenue.”

There is nothing new in the distribution of linear TV over the internet; TV Everywhere (TVE) is pretty much demanded by consumers and is now considered the norm. Traditional broadcasters are forced to keep up with evolving viewer habits by making content available online pretty much immediately and on any device.

But in almost all cases, they are doing so without inserting the necessary signalling which indicates where within a linear stream advertising and other content segments begin and end, and which segments can, must, or must not be replaced with alternate content. Broadcasters already consider providing content Over-The-Top (OTT) a cost of doing business–they know it is part of their future. However, without the right signalling, it is virtually impossible to realize the maximum monetization OTT has to offer broadcasters. Moreover, without the right signalling it is extremely difficult to provide the seamless professional viewing experience broadcasters and viewers expect.

By failing to invest in the technology which can make OTT so lucrative, including signal delivery and correct metadata signalling, broadcasters are not making the most of the opportunities presented by OTT, of which there are many.

THE OTT CHALLENGE

Although OTT should be looked at as an opportunity (as long as the right technology is in place), distributing linear content over the internet is considerably more complex than OTT VOD or TVE distribution. Even the process of reformatting content for OTT is time-consuming, let alone the challenge of correctly adhering to content distribution rights across various devices and regions.

OTT distributors must now programmatically and automatically react at the last second if a piece of content cannot be distributed to viewer X on a cell phone in California because it does not have the right to do so. Without the correct signalling in place to trigger the replacement of this content with something else, the broadcaster could be fined and the OTT distributor may just default to putting up a “slate” to blackout the content. With the current level of competition for viewing time, modern viewers simply won’t wait for this to be resolved and are likely to switch off or watch another video stream.

Linear TV advertising is big business with transactions for the priciest slots coming in at over half a million dollars. Broadcasters are able to cover the astronomical cost of putting a channel on air with the revenue generated from this advertising. But making this content available online could involve costly duplication of workflows and costs, which are not covered by today’s OTT advertising and subscription revenues. The sad fact is, however, that it doesn’t have to be like this for broadcasters, with OTT presenting a number of opportunities to add further value to their existing linear content.

[Read: Syncbak To Conduct 'First Ever' Live OTT Broadcast Using Local Dynamic Ad Insertion]

One of these opportunities is dynamic insertion, or more accurately, replacement of targeted ads. But again, this simply isn’t as easily done in the case of linear TV streamed OTT. For example, it makes no sense for ads broadcast on linear TV to remain with the content for OTT VOD streaming several days later. These ads may be stale and irrelevant by then. More pressingly, the replacement ads must be the exact duration of those needing to be replaced otherwise there will be a discontinuity (a black frame if the ad is too short, or cutting off the beginning of the following content segment if too long, for example). To do this seamlessly and to make OTT as profitable as possible, the broadcaster must be able to deliver the metadata, which signals the frame boundaries and duration of every content segment, to OTT distributors so ads can be replaced dynamically.

DELIVERING THE RIGHT SIGNALS

Broadcasters also have the opportunity to capitalize on the expansion of Nielson Ratings to include the first few days after a linear broadcast, in order to account for on-demand viewing. Linear content streamed OTT effectively has “two bites at the apple,” but only if broadcasters are able to making this content available almost immediately within the C3 window, and cost-effectively too.

Integration with broadcast systems, like media asset management systems, automation playout systems, on-air switchers, etc., provides the most effective way to access timing data associated with content segments. This way, information including timing, asset type and unique IDs can be signalled in-band or delivered out-of-band and applied to the video stream later, with no impact on the main linear broadcast workflow.

If a broadcaster were to extract metadata describing a linear TV channel, including the start and end of each content segment, and deliver these as SCTE 35 messages, it is possible to automate a whole host of value adding applications. This includes Dynamic Ad Insertion/Replacement, the creation of on-demand assets and even interactive TV. As this is done in an automated fashion, it removes much of the cost and labor associated with making linear TV available OTT and solves many associated business challenges.

For example this solves the issue of complex rights management. A policy can be triggered downstream when metadata within a content segment indicates that a particular piece of content must be replaced according to certain parameters as further defined using SCTE 224. For example, if a stream is requested by a viewer in country X or on a particular network, the metadata signalling can indicate that a different stream must be delivered instead.

With the ability to dynamically replace ads on-the-fly, thanks to correctly delivered metadata signals, providing linear content OTT can be a much more valuable process. This is particularly the case if these ads are personalized. In fact, a recent study found that ads within OTT platforms are 67 percent more effective per impression than those on broadcast or cable television. This is because it is much easier to personalize ads according to individual users when delivering content over the internet, as an individual stream is sent to each viewer.

Using additional metadata about users, such as location, viewing history, browsing history etc., it is possible using a distributed playout architecture to deliver much more targeted ads to specific users. Naturally this means the ads themselves are much more valuable and therefore profitable. As long as the timing information and metadata about each segment and ad is delivered, either in-band or out-of-band, to the last video server in the distribution chain, operators can make sure the ads they insert are seamless and accurate.

CONCLUSION

Broadcasters have very little choice when it comes to providing OTT content if they want to remain relevant. This does present many challenges as we have discussed, but none of these are insurmountable with the right technology in place to deliver signalling and metadata information. With these measures in place, linear broadcasters can take advantage of the applications that can make OTT an attractive proposition. Everything from content replacement, rights management, automated asset creation and dynamic ad insertion/replacement are all possible, increasing the value of linear content and opening up new revenue streams. OTT is no longer a cost of doing business, it is a lucrative business.