The growth in live sports streaming underscores the importance of dynamic ad insertion (DAI) to maximize monetization. Platforms are investing very heavily in content, recognizing its ability to attract dedicated audiences.

Prime Video’s exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football in the U.S. and English Premier League (EPL) games in the UK, alongside Netflix's NFL content, highlight this shift toward event-driven, addressable advertising. Streaming allows these platforms to cater to vast audiences while creating personalized ad opportunities—a feat made possible by DAI.

DAI, long established across the industry, is critical in powering this required revenue growth, seamlessly integrating tailored ads while maintaining the high-quality experience sports fans, in particular, expect (so long as DAI is correctly implemented). Now there are further advances happening in DAI from an ad-stitching standpoint.

Up to now, there have been two methods to deliver ads into video streams:

Client-side ad insertion (CSAI)
An early market approach that involves the client device pausing playback to fetch ads from servers. While it allows detailed tracking, CSAI is vulnerable to ad blockers and often results in inconsistent playback quality. These limitations restrict its ability to insert ads into live streams, so CSAI is only practical for AVOD.

Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI)
Shifts ad insertion to the server, stitching ads directly into the video stream for a smooth, broadcast-like experience and has proven very successful. This addresses many of CSAI’s issues, but has to efficiently scale during live events with potentially very large audiences and can place constraints on some of the UX features relating to DVR use cases.

There’s growing talk about Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI), a new method for ad stitching which combines the strengths of both approaches. A big difference, however, is that SGAI is being developed in accordance with the latest HLS and MPEG-DASH standards, which sees the industry pulling together around ad insertion best practice to a level that has not been evident before.

While SGAI may not be the paradigm shift that SSAI was to CSAI, it does promise a range of benefits compared to what has gone before. In SGAI, the server and client share the ad insertion process, which reduces server load while maintaining the seamless playback experience of SSAI.

For live sports and events, SGAI enables scalable ad delivery, even during high-demand moments, by eliminating the need for servers to manipulate the primary content for each viewer. While server-side compute resources are needed to interact with the ad server, a well-designed SGAI system doesn’t have to manipulate the primary content manifest. For live streams with a long DVR window, SGAI has the potential to realize considerable savings.

Additionally, its compatibility with low-latency streaming makes SGAI ideal for real-time events. This is down to the separation of the primary content from advertising content (the motivation behind the HLS SGAI extensions, known as interstitials, was to make low-latency HLS more compatible with DAI).

With long DVR/live start-over and VOD, SGAI’s ability for breaks to be resolved dynamically is also important. For VOD, this has the potential to reduce start-up time as decisions about all breaks other than a pre-roll placement can be deferred. It allows the ad payload to reflect the user’s behavior within the stream, rather than needing ads to be loaded at the start of the viewing session, which is currently the case with SSAI.

For long DVR windows in live and start over, historic breaks within the timeline can be resolved dynamically — as determined by the user scrubbing around the timeline. Due to immutability rules within HLS and MPEG-DASH prior to their SGAI extensions, this has previously not been possible with pure SSAI.

A benefit of SGAI as a standardized approach — a process in which Yospace is playing a key role — is that it will ensure broader compatibility and adoption across devices and platforms, setting the stage for SGAI to become the industry norm.

Transition Period
SGAI has garnered a lot of interest and understandably so, but there are caveats. While it does provide significant optimizations to the fundamentals of ad stitching, in deployment terms SGAI-capable players and devices are in the minority at the moment. We will enter a transition period, as the players within the usual devices of interest to broadcasters implement the SGAI extensions. And it always has to be kept in mind that ad stitching is only one part, albeit a fundamental part, of a cutting-edge dynamic ad insertion ecosystem.

Consider the added load on adtech that an ultra-low-latency SGAI stream will bring. “Knife-edge” ad requests at scale will cause tremendous bursts of ad requests to the adtech system. In unpredictable live sports situations, the adtech system can end up being flooded with ad calls and overwhelm the SSP and any downstream DSPs. In such an overload situation, far more VAST ad requests to the SSP may end up timing out than expected, resulting in low fill rates during peak audiences. A prefetch system alongside ad stitching is crucial to spread out requests and deliver the highest possible fill-rates.

As SGAI treads its way to becoming the primary method for performing ad stitching over the coming years, it’s important to remember that ad stitching is just one of several responsibilities of a full dynamic ad insertion solution. DAI must collaborate effectively with adtech to elevate the core capabilities of SSAI or SGAI. Improving adtech interactions and scaling capabilities is the best way to improve DAI performance right now. It will also enhance the performance of SGAI as we transition from CSAI / SSAI to a hybrid world and eventually perhaps, a pure SGAI world.

STAINES-UPON-THAMES, U.K.—Yospace will feature its ability to scale its dynamic ad insertion solution for major global events at IBC 2024, Sept. 13-16, at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center.

The company will present insights gleaned from major sporting events this summer, which demonstrated the sheer scale of addressable advertising in the streaming age. Its technology powered the delivery of nearly 6 billion advertisements across four continents during Euro 2024 and 4 billion during the 19 days of the Olympic Games, the company said.

All ads were one-to-one addressable and benefitted from real-time, transparent measurement. These events point towards the type of scale that will become commonplace as the industry moves forward, it said.

Among the company’s highlights for IBC 2024 are:

• IAB Tech Lab certified measurement: Yospace’s dynamic ad insertion is enhanced by its IAB Tech Lab-certified Open Measurement SDK, which delivers better advertising value by opening up more sources for buying ads.
• Server-guided ad insertion (SGAI): Through demonstrations of server-side ad insertion (SSAI) alongside server-guided ad insertion (SGAI), IBC delegates will see the consistency of high-quality viewer experiences delivered by both methods for live streaming, AVOD and FAST channels.
• Live orchestration for pop-up channels: Yospace’s Live Orchestration demonstration with Capella Systems provides real-time curation of ad opportunities, ensuring that rightsholders tap into the benefits of Yospace’s technology, including for temporary channels. Capella’s tooling is seamlessly integrated with Yospace’s core platform and users can also elect to run Live Orchestration through Akamai’s Cloud Computing services for added efficiency and reliability.

To book a meeting with Yospace at IBC 2024 visit the company’s website.

See Yospace at IBC 2024 Stand 5.C77.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.—Bitcentral has integrated Google DAI into its ViewNexa linear streaming service in a move that will offer users more ways to monetize linear and live streaming content.

The integration brings ViewNexa users greater access to Google’s ad features, which are specific to the search engine’s IMA DAI software development kit (SDK), Bitcentral said.

The integration opens new ways to generate revenue for ViewNexa users exploring hybrid subscription/ad or free ad-based viewing business models, it said.

Google DAI is a server-side dynamic ad insertion technology that enables seamless personalized ad experiences at scale. It manages ad pod building, creative conditioning and manifest manipulation.

It also stitches video content and ads into a single stream, removing the ad request and response process from the client-side SDK.

Producing a TV-like experience without latency or buffering between content and ads, Google DAI is built directly into Google Ad Manager, which helps ViewNexa users take advantage of advanced monetization software and machine learning to maximize revenue across devices for live and linear, the company said.

“Monetization is such an important factor for our customers, and ViewNexa is built with these needs in mind. Every streaming service and every audience has its own nuances, so flexibility is essential,” said Greg Morrow, general manager of the streaming at Bitcentral.

“Whether that’s subscriptions, advertising, in-app purchases, rewards-based viewing, with ViewNexa customers can deliver the best monetization strategy that works for them. And now we offer access to the most prominent advertising marketplace available via Google DAI. ViewNexa is removing the headaches of advertising, giving customers the tools to maximize revenue opportunities that would otherwise be beyond their reach.” 

More information is available on the company’s website.

NEW YORK—The cross-media local advertising company Viamedia has launched its new Parity ADS Platform. 

Parity ADS is designed to be a transitional platform for buyers and sellers migrating to a full dynamic advertising market. It allows MVPDs to maximize live streams for IP-delivered distribution by simultaneously inserting regionally targeted ads on linear streams to match the local ads running on traditional cable TV systems, the company reported. 

"Our new Parity ADS Platform is one of the industry's first transitional approaches and introduces the immediate next step to achieving fully dynamic advertising," said David Solomon, president and CEO at Viamedia. "This presents an enormous opportunity for our MVPD partners around the country to essentially turn their linear inventory into connected TV (CTV) inventory, all while better serving their local communities, businesses and advertisers."

Solomon added that “the industry is beginning to catch on to the benefits of a parity approach. As subscribers are transitioned to streaming, there's often not enough impressions to sell independently. By replicating the same ad on two platforms, MVPDs are able to optimize linear and CTV feeds for advertisers, maximizing inventory and ad sales during the migration.  This system is specifically developed to drive greater demand and value for existing advertising inventory.”

Viamedia’s Parity ADS Platform enables MVPDs to regionalize streaming distribution by inserting regionally targeted ads on linear streams which mirror the ads running on traditional SD and HD channels. The platform provides a CTV capability for MVPDs that have already deployed a dynamic platform or are migrating into a dynamic advertising model by serving identical ads across multiple platforms. 

This enables ad sales for an entire subscriber base while protecting existing revenue streams.

The platform is also designed to help accelerate time-to-market and to reduce technological risks associated with transitioning linear into digital streams.

The new Parity ADS Platform complements Viamedia’s expanding portfolio of advanced advertising solutions, which includes QTT, the company’s patented, cloud-based solution that bridges digital demand and linear TV advertising inventory. The first-of-its-kind solution can request and receive ads from programmatic digital ad exchanges to enable programmatic ad insertion in real time or near real time pending Publisher’s preference on linear cable, National Network or Broadcast television utilizing existing TV infrastructure, the company said. 

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.—Bitcentral’s FUEL online video platform is being used by Cowles Broadcasting for Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) on the NewsOn service. This is meant to expand Cowles distribution of local news content and to create monetization opportunities for stations with necessary ad cue points.

FUEL offers automation, encoding and distribution solutions, and has recently added support for server-side ad trigger technology. With ad triggers, applications or distribution platforms can include advertising cue points (SCTE-35), allowing ads to be inserted downstream by a third-party DAI vendor.

Cowles uses FUEL’s Linear on Demand (LOD) and Non-Stop Live (NSL) streaming solutions to create dynamic linear channels from a combination of VOD assets and live newscasts. FUEL automatically replaces Cowles’ on-air ads with digital ones.

“We’re delighted to be adding Cowles Broadcasting to our growing roster of local news providers,” said Ron Stitt, VP and General Manager at NewsON. “The ability to open up advertising opportunities is a critical factor in online distribution agreements today, and FUEL is providing the basis for new ad revenues no matter what device the viewer is using.”

Cowles Broadcasting channels are now available on NewsOn, the free, ad-funded streaming service available on connected TV platforms.

SAN DIEGO—Video watermarking is now a capability of Verance’s Aspect platform, the company announced. Based on the commercial implementation of the ATSC video watermarking specification, the Aspect platform now supports both audio and video watermarks for multiple standards and works in the ATSC 1.0 broadcast environment.

Verance says that the audio and video watermarking technology of Aspect enables users to activate Dynamic Ad Insertion across all devices and distribution paths; it has 100% positive identification of live and time-shifted content, able to distinguish between DVR playback and VOD; frame-accurate timing; tuned to be invisible to the viewer; and interoperable with existing and future DAI services, including ATSC, HbbTV/DVB-Targeted advertising and Project OAR.

Both the audio and video watermarks allow information required for DAI activation in a TV set to pass through distribution environments with ease, including over HDMI links and through existing distribution equipment and set-top boxes.

Aspect also allows for the video watermark to complement the audio watermark even when special features for DVR and VOD are deployed. For instance, Verance says that in instances of fast-forwarding or rewinding when the audio is muted, the video watermark allows TVs to capture station identifier and time code information and insert a replacement ad with frame-level accuracy.

Verance will showcase its video and audio watermarking technology at CES 2020, which takes place in Las Vegas, Jan. 7-10.

LAS VEGAS—Globecast, a worldwide provider of content acquisition, management and distribution services, is partnering with SnifferCat to introduce Server Side Dynamic Ad Insertion (SSDAI) technology at the 2019 NAB Show, April 8-11 in Las Vegas. Primarily targeting premium OTT markets, SSDAI dynamically detects and substitutes broadcast ads with more personalized or targeted ads.

Using SnifferCat’s patented cloud-based technology, Globecast’s expanded offering allows media owners and their service providers the ability to automate and simplify their OTT migration by employing sophisticated automated cue point detection, ad insertion, channel scheduling and advanced data analytics.

The technology was designed to simplify and address market changes from consumer’s ever-evolving viewing habits. With no CAPEX infrastructure investments and virtually no learning curve for users, SSDAI is creating new revenue streams for content owners.

The company will also showcase its Globecast Business Continuity services, comprised of disaster recovery, cyber threat protection and content protection. Globecast will also highlight the latest advances in its telco services at NAB 2019. To help channels gain coverage with the world’s leading pay-TV and telco platforms, Globecast aggregates and distributes international TV channels and multicultural TV offers to platforms worldwide.

More than 150 TV channels are currently acquired, processed and delivered for broadcast, forming an important part of the line-up of pay-TV platforms worldwide, including tier one telco and cable operators.

Globecast will be in Booth SU9910 in South Upper Hall of the LVCC.

To register for the NAB Show, visit www.nabshow.com. 

The amount of video accessed online, particularly by mobile devices, is expanding exponentially. As a result, there is a need to maximize the monetization opportunities by delivering ads across multiple devices and platforms with a uniformity of presentation and minimum of overhead, regardless of the platform type or content type.

Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI, or dynamic ad insertion) has emerged as a technology solution that can deliver a consistent experience akin to TV at the same time as opening up addressable advertising opportunities. This consistency is a by-product of the “ad copy normalization” that is built into SSAI. “Ad copy normalization” is a process through which ad content is encoded with the same bitrates, frame rates and audio levels as those of the original content, therefore ensuring a smooth transition between primary and stitched content and vice versa (with the same CDN being loaded for both content and ads).

CLIENT-SIDE AD INSERTION

SSAI technology is already being used with increasing success by broadcasters to deliver a seamless, engaging Live experience. However, the principal means of monetization for catch-up remains Client-Side Ad Insertion (CSAI), where, at the start of every ad break, the primary player has to be stopped and the ad player put on top, with the primary player having to be resumed at the end of the break. For a broadcaster with both Live and VoD, it makes sense for a single advertising workflow to be applied across all content.

It is, of course, possible for broadcasters to deliver a near-seamless experience using the CSAI model, by preloading the ad player and buffer in the background and swapping the players over at the exact moments when an ad break starts and resumes. However, there is always the risk of playback issues caused by inconsistent encoding of the ad copy. In addition, considerable effort is required in terms of implementation, with code having to be continuously duplicated from one device type to another, and from one environment to another, with the inevitable testing and maintenance overhead to achieve this result consistently across devices.

Many of those broadcasters of VoD streams who have a working CSAI solution in place are finding it increasingly hard to maintain, so there is a growing interest in the SSAI approach. This is partly driven by positive experiences of SSAI for Live, where CSAI is not an option owing to the strict requirements around ad break timings. There are a number of reasons why SSAI should appeal to broadcasters over CSAI:

• Implementation: The code is decoupled from the ad server, with the work on stitching and interfacing to the ad server being performed by the backend SSAI platform, providing overall flexibility in that the inventory and decisioning engine is abstracted from the actual delivery. SDKs have also been developed, which means that there is effectively a middleware layer, with the SDKs talking to the backend, and the backend talking to the ad server, making it possible to swap out the ad server without changes to the SDKs.
• Control: There can be a single point for all ad insertion calls across Live and VoD, a single interface providing access to a single set of Broadcast Streams, Promotions and VoD assets, and a single API providing real-time analytics.
• Interactivity: The aforementioned SDKs can support the use of clickable linear content and dynamic overlays, and also allow broadcasters to customise the instances when skipping, seeking and pausing are allowed.
• Ad blockers: The stitching used by SSAI mean that ad blockers are unable to decipher where the call to the server is being made, and so cannot differentiate between an ad and the content itself, making SSAI highly resistant to ad blocking.

Besides being able to deliver SSAI at scale and to provide all of the existing benefits of configurable user interactivity, SSAI has enormous security benefits, which cannot be totally covered in this article. In brief:

• With SSAI, the aforementioned middleware layer affords control over the systems with which viewers are interacting. By contrast, with CSAI, the viewer’s device is touching the ad server and presenting its IP address (and potentially other information). The first party ad server might, in turn, involve the use of multiple third party servers and expose the same viewers to being tracked by unknown companies, to the possible detriment of a broadcaster's commercial model.

With the correct deployment, there is no logical reason why broadcasters should not consider SSAI when deploying VoD streams. As OTT audiences for Live and VoD continue to thrive, providers are increasingly likely to seek a joined-up SSAI strategy, and by so doing, not only safeguard their current ad revenues, but also enhance them.

Click here for more on server-side ad insertion for live and VoD streams.

David Springall is the founder & CTO at Yospace.

AMSTERDAM--At IBC2018, MediaKind, formerly Ericsson Media Solutions, has launched the MediaKind Personalization Suite, with a new workflow designed to allow service providers and broadcasters to deliver more relevant and personalized advertising. The MediaFirst Personalization Suite is a member of the company’s new Orion family of solutions that forms part of the wider MediaKind Universe portfolio.

The suite is designed to help transition broadcasters and service providers from the traditional one to many approach to the more personalized approach enabled by IP, which also brings along with it, new monetization opportunities.

The MediaKind Personalization Suite includes the newly launched placement and content distribution rights (PRISMA) application, an advertising product that comes pre-integrated with MediaKind’ Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI), encoding & packaging, storage and delivery capabilities. This product gives TV service providers and broadcasters access to real-time broadcast schedule ingest from the playout automation system, and the ability to frame-accurately identify different placement opportunities such as ad breaks and ad spots or any other program boundaries.

Frame accurate signaling allows multiple use cases downstream including blackout, dynamic ad insertion and program substitution. With greater control and accuracy over the delivery of ad content, the ground is prepared for downstream Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI) which in turn removes in particular any latency at the time of switching between original programming and replacing or inserting ad spots to ensure a true TV-like quality of experience for viewers, with reduced customer churn.

The MediaKind Personalization Suite also offers protection of audience data and its value to TV service providers and broadcasters. The application prevents leakage of this data to the Demand side and ensures it reaches its full value, by using a full abstraction layer between the operator’s cost per engagement (CPE) and the Demand side. In partnerships with leading ad tech suppliers, MediaKind is embedding a full trading stack to support both Direct and Programmatic inventory sales methods.

Further information about the MediaKind Personalization Suite, is on the new Orion family solution page.

NEW YORK–Syncbak, a provider of OTT technology to the broadcast industry, will be conducting what it says is the first ever live straight to OTT broadcast using dynamic ad insertion on the local level. The test will take place at 10 p.m. EST, May 16 from Syncbak’s New York Media Center. The live stream, featuring comedian Michael Somerville in front of an audience of executives from broadcast groups, local stations and ad networks, will be available to viewers in all 210 DMAs across the U.S. on Syncbak’s SBTV app or at Syncbak TV.

The “broadcast” is designed to demonstrate Syncbak’s newly launched SBTV platform, which enables local broadcasters to quickly and easily build OTT channels. SBTV also includes an app that delivers these local broadcast OTT streams live or on demand on mobile devices.

Syncbak’s SimpleSync platform—which is now delivering about 600 channels, powering more than 7.5 million hours of live local programming on services such as CBS All Access, Hulu, fuboTV, and hundreds of local station apps and websites—serves as the backbone for SBTV. Syncbak says its OTT platform is currently being deployed by approximately 55 station groups in 196 DMAs, covering 99 percent of the U.S.

Jack Perry, president of Syncbak, says tonight’s test is a “slightly different twist” on the company’s technology. “We have almost 600 stations on our platform doing the live linear straight broadcast,” he said, “but this is where we are using our technology to take content—which is live but isn’t necessarily being broadcast over the air, so it’s going straight to over the top.”

Perry added that monetization via DAI doesn’t stop with the live performance. “It instantly becomes a DVR-ed asset in the cloud,” he said. “So the minute the show is over, it’s available for on-demand viewing, also using our dynamic ad insertion platform to monetize it.”

SBTV is comprised of three components:

The SimpleSync OTT Platform allows local TV stations to broadcast any content over-the-top to any vMVPD, as well as power their station websites and news apps with the SBTV platform. Any station in the U.S. can elect to be carried on the SBTV app at no cost, thereby instantly creating an always-on channel, through SBTV, with hyperlocal content such as live newscasts, locally-produced programming, syndicated shows, and more.

With the Cloud Syndication Marketplace, content owners can syndicate and license their programming for OTT delivery – live, on-demand or both – through local television stations that participate on SBTV. In addition, stations with original programming can be placed into the marketplace for it to be syndicated in markets where the broadcaster currently does not have a station.

adSync: Syncbak’s DAI technology automatically manages local and national advertising spots based on the location of the viewer. When the originating local station has exclusive rights to the programming, it can sell ads against that inventory, providing the station with an additional revenue stream.

“We’re very excited about the possibilities for our live local programming,” said Julia Campbell, Vice President of Media Systems, Gray Television. “With SBTV this past March, our station KTUU in Anchorage, Alaska was able to carry the Iditarod dogsled race live locally and build an audience nationwide.”

[Read: Gray TV Invests $3 Million In Syncbak]

“SBTV gives our stations the tools we need to deliver our own, unique, hyperlocal OTT channels,” said Brian Brady, CEO of Northwest Broadcasting. “And, since Syncbak is the leader in providing linear feeds to the vMVPDs, I know every one of my stations is ready for subscription OTT as well.”

For the SBTV launch, Syncbak has seeded the Cloud Syndication Marketplace with a dozen shows, each with a handful of seasons. The first show placed into the marketplace, the James Beard Award-winning food series food.Curated, which airs in New York City, was immediately syndicated in every DMA where SBTV has a local affiliate.

“I'm excited about the possibilities this technology presents,” said Liza de Guia, creator and executive producer of food. Curated. “SBTV enables my series to organically expand its reach to places that want more engaging food programming. The potential for my brand is limitless, and connecting with local programming partners just got easier. Plus, if these partners want to attract more local lifestyle advertisers and I want more viewers, SBTV can help make this happen. It's a win-win.”

Syncbak has opened the Cloud Syndication Marketplace to any content owner with live or on-demand programming wishing to syndicate for OTT on a local level.

Perry says Syncbak’s experience in providing local broadcasts over OTT has provided the company, the expertise required to pull off such a test. “We’ve handled some of the biggest events for hundreds of stations, like the Grammys,” he said. “We think the next great frontier in live streaming is in live local niche programming.”

NEW YORK—CBS and Nielsen are working together to deliver Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) in live linear national broadcast television, helping to actualize and progress addressable advertising. The platform will use frame-accurate video recognition technology for precise ad detection and content insertion in live TV powered by Nielsen Gracenote ACR (Automatic Content Recognition).

CBS already delivers addressable advertising to millions of users across CBS Interactive's portfolio of digital properties including OTT brands; CBSN, the 24/7 digital news network, CBS Sports HQ, the 24-hour streaming sports news network; and CBS All Access, CBS' digital subscription video on-demand and live streaming service.

[Read: Broadcasters Eye DAI To Compete With Online]

"CBS has been at the forefront of using Nielsen data and measurement to prove the value of television, and now we are working on taking the next step with Nielsen to go beyond age and gender by bringing targeted dynamic ad insertion to national live TV inventory," said Jo Ann Ross, President and Chief Advertising Revenue Officer, CBS Corporation. "This will create a more relevant ad experience for our viewers and better outcomes for our clients."

Gracenote ACR is integrated into millions of smart TVs from major manufacturers, and uses anonymized information from smart TVs with advanced personalization features. By combing Gracenote’s ACR platform with Nielsen's technology, CBS will be able to offer impressions segmented by behavioral attributes, beyond age and gender, within a live national television program to advertisers, allowing them to reach the appropriate segments of households with the most relevant ad creative.