Ads

• Prior to Initial Playback: Use pre-roll ads to play ads before the viewer joins the live stream.
• During Playback: Use mid-roll ads to play ads within a live stream. A player requests ads whenever an upcoming ad break is detected, and our service stitches them into the live stream.
• After Playback: Use post-roll ads to play ads after a live event.

How Does It Work? #

• Live Streams: Our service requests ads whenever it detects an upcoming ad break.
• VOD: Our service requests ads for all ad breaks upon initiating playback.

Third-Party Ad Servers #

• Google Ad Manager
• Freewheel

Setup Overview #

1. Create an ad configuration for the desired third-party ad server.
   • How?
     • Navigate to the Ad Server page.
     • Click + Ad Config.
     • In the Ad Config Name option, type the desired name for the ad configuration.
     • From the Select Ad Server option, select the desired third-party ad server.
     • Click Add.
     • Fill out all required parameters (e.g., serverURL).
     • Click Save.
2. Set up a slicer to add the desired ad breaks to your live content, VOD, or both.
3. Set up a third-party ad server to include ad-specific metadata as query string parameters of the playback URL.
4. Set up your media player to add pre-roll, mid-roll, and/or post-roll ads to your media via query string parameters in the playback URL.
5. Optional: Set up your media player to define how ad breaks will be handled via query string parameters in the playback URL.
6. Optional: Set up your media player to send verification data to an ad verification system via Open Measurement Interface Definition (OMID).
7. Apply a digital signature after the third-party ad server has added the desired query string parameters to the playback URL.

Ad-Specific Metadata #

Ad Breaks #

Default Behavior #

• Ad Overfill: If the ad decision server returns too many ads, ads will be inserted until the end of the adjusted ad break duration. This may introduce significant playback drift.
• Ad Fill: If the ad decision server returns an appropriate number of ads for the requested ad break duration and the last ad extends beyond the requested ad break duration, the stream will switch over to content after the last ad.
• Ad Underfill: If the last ad ends before the end of the requested ad break duration, a slate will be played until the end of the requested ad break duration.

• Ad break overages contribute to playback drift.
• Playback drift affects ad insertion.

• The ad.flex parameter has not been defined and therefore it will be set to a default value of 4 seconds. This default configuration allows ads to be inserted up to 4 seconds after the end of the requested ad break duration.
• There are many factors (e.g., encoding, delivery, playback, etc.) that contribute to latency and playback drift. For the sake of simplicity, this scenario only takes into account ad break overages when calculating playback drift.
• The ad decision server responds with an appropriate number of ads for each ad break and therefore is not overfilling or underfilling ad breaks.

Chop and Drop Ads #

• ad.breakend: Use this parameter to prevent ads from exceeding an ad break’s duration by either:
  • Chopping Ads: Upon reaching the end of the ad break, the current ad will be chopped, all remaining ads will be dropped, and the stream will switch over to content at the end of an ad break.
    • An ad may extend slightly beyond an ad break.
    • Learn more.
  • Dropping Ads: Ads that do not fit within an ad break will not be played and ad slate will be played until the end of the ad break.
    • Slate may extend slightly beyond an ad break.
    • Learn more.
• ad.flex: Use this parameter to define the number of seconds that an ad can extend beyond an ad break before being chopped or dropped.

1https://content.uplynk.com/ext/1/myasset.m3u8?tc=1&exp=1358341863&rn=4114845747&ct=a&eid=mtg_003&oid=a735c65ea4041685bc74c0a375326cc5&ad=VideoSSP&keywords=marketing&ad.breakend=drop&ad.flex=5

Calculate Ad Break Duration #

Dropping Example #

• How ad break duration is adjusted upon enabling ad dropping.
• The conditions under which ads are dropped.

• The ad.flex parameter has been set to 5 seconds. This configuration allows an ad break to be extended by 5 seconds.
• There are many factors (e.g., encoding, delivery, playback, etc.) that contribute to latency and playback drift. For the sake of simplicity, this scenario only takes into account ad break overages when calculating playback drift.
• Ad slate is a 5-second asset. Slate is sliced into 4-second segments. This means that it consists of the following segments:
  • One 4-second segment
  • One 1-second segment
    A stream may only consist of whole segments. In the case of the above ad slate, the stream cannot cut over to content 6 seconds into ad slate. Rather, the stream will cut over after 9 seconds of ad slate. Alternatively, if ad slate is a 3-second asset, then the stream can cut over to content after 6 seconds of ad slate.

Chopping Example #

• How ad break duration is adjusted upon enabling ad chopping.
• The conditions under which ads are chopped.

• The ad.flex parameter has been set to 5 seconds, allowing an ad break to be extended by 5 seconds.
• Many factors (e.g., encoding, delivery, playback, etc.) contribute to latency and playback drift. This scenario only accounts for ad break overages when calculating playback drift.

Prebid #

• Direct ads: Identifies ads purchased in bulk through a prenegotiated deal. An ad decision server typically prioritizes direct ads over third-party ads (standard).
• Third-party ads (standard): Identifies ads generated by demand partners through real-time bidding (RTB) requested by an ad decision server. If an ad decision server prioritizes direct ads, it will not initiate RTB, preventing bids from advertisers without direct buys from being considered.
• Third-party ads (Prebid): Identifies ads generated by demand partners through real-time bidding (RTB) requested by our Prebid service. These bids are always submitted to the ad decision server.

Setup #

1. Contact your account manager to activate the Prebid feature.
2. Set up a Prebid server.
   View Prebid documentation on how to set up a Prebid server.
3. Set up an adapter within your Prebid server for each desired demand partner.
   View Prebid documentation on how to set up an adapter.
4. Define a Prebid configuration for your Prebid server.
   • Navigate to the Prebid Server page via Settings > Prebid Server.
   • Click + Prebid Config.
   • From the Prebid Config Name option, assign a name to this configuration.
   • Click Create.
   • Optional: From the podconfig.configid option, indicate the ID for the desired custom Prebid configuration.
     • Contact your account manager if you would like to set up a custom Prebid configuration. Once configured, your account manager will provide its ID.
   • From the URL option, type a URL that points to your Prebid server.
   • Optional: Restrict bidding to ads that satisfy predefined criteria.
     • From the pricegranularity.range.max option, define the maximum price for a bid in cents.
     • From the pricegranularity.range.increment option, define how similarly priced bids will be grouped. Define the maximum number of cents by which bids in the same group may differ.
       • Use a larger value to reduce the number of line items that you will need to define within your ad decision server to target bids.
     • From the includebrandcategory.publisher option, indicate the ID assigned to your organization by Google Ad Manager.
       • This option is required when using Google Ad Manager as your ad decision server.
   • Click Save.
5. Add an ad.prbd query string parameter to the playback URL and set it to the name of the Prebid configuration, as defined in step 6.iii, that identifies your Prebid server and provides bidding instructions.

6. Create line items that target bids within your ad decision server.

Ad Verification #

Setup #

1. Identify the type of ad verification data that will be inserted into the manifest file.
2. Extract ad verification data from the manifest file.
3. Send verification data to the ad verification system via OMID.

Ad Verification Data #

HLS #

DASH #

1{
2	"AdVerifications": [{
3			"vendor": "iabtechlab.com-omid",
4			"Verification": [{
5					"browserOptional": "true",
6					"apiFramework": "omid",
7					"JavaScriptResource": "<![CDATA[https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/omsdk...]]>"
8				}, {
9					"VerificationParameters": "<![CDATA[iabtechlab]]>"
10				}
11			]
12		}
13	],
14	"adID": "90000035",
15	"creative": "ed85dfa6e5b74442a2df7d8bfe15bed5",
16	"creativeID": null
17}