Irdeto – a leading digital platform content protection and cybersecurity company – has launched its server side ad insertion (SSAI) technology. Creating an individualised media stream for segments of viewers, the SSAI serves targeted and personalised ads at scale for live-streamed OTT content. The company says the solution will allow streaming services to maximise addressable ad inventory for live events/linear channels, while providing a seamless “TV-like experience” across connected platforms.
Iredeto says the technology is “vendor agnostic” and can be incorporated into a pre-established advertising ecosystem with vendors of the customer’s choice, or delivered as a full end-to-end solution. Within the SSAI there is also a tracking manager that monitors aspects of ads stitched into a stream (such as impressions, errors and quartile completion) and helps identify any issues within the system. The first, unnamed customer for the new technology is fully operational.
The SSAI detects SCTE35 markers in a broadcast feed – inserted by the stream creator – to know when an ad break is coming and its duration. It then requests ads from the ad server which are selected based on the individual viewer’s profile, including information on past viewing history, demographics, and geographical location. Once the ads are chosen, Irdeto SSAI manipulates the manifests of the stream (the set of instructions for how the video player locates and plays video files) to playout the audio and video segments from the selected ads, stitching ads directly into the same stream as the content. The technology then returns the stream to its original manifests after the ad break has finished, until the next ad break is indicated by SCTE35 markers.
The company argues that this approach to ad insertion eliminates the latency and buffering associated with other ad insertion technologies. Irdeto also says that the impact of ad blocking is minimised as a result of ads being stitched directly into the stream, and the SSAI will prevent timeouts and black screen during ad playback caused by device fragmentation.
Shane McCarthy, COO of Video Entertainment at Irdeto, says: “For decades advertising has been the backbone of live television. As the consumer viewing behaviours rapidly shift towards streaming video platforms, it is only natural for us to seek new innovative solutions to empower our customers. With this new solution we empower streaming platforms to explore new revenue streams by maximising the value of their premium OTT ad inventory.”
