Next Generation Advertising

Workflows and Server-Side

Ad Insertion with VAST 4.0

Stefan Lederer, CEO - Bitmovin

Server-side and

client-side

advanced

advertisement

Agenda

● State of the Industry

○ Bitmovin Developer Survey

○ How ads are sold

○ Ad Standards

● SSAI vs CSAI

○ Compatibility, Features, Value

○ Triggering

○ Challenges

● Further Resources

● Q&A

2017 Video

Developer Report

● 380 Submissions

● 50 Countries

● 75% in technical

roles

2017 Video Developer Report

What type of ad

standard tech are

you using today?

How Ads are Sold ● Direct-Sold○ Conventional Ad deals

○ May be insufficient to fill available inventory

● Programmatic○ Buyers & Sellers programmatically connected

○ Unknown Content Sources

■ Video Quality Issues

■ Content Issues

● Holistic○ Both Direct-Sold and Programmatic

○ Optimizes for maximum value

The Advertising

Industry

● Interactive vs Noninteractive

● Broadcasters vs Publishers○ Companion

○ C3 & C7

● OTT vs Web○ Tracking viewability

○ Above the fold on web, but no fold in OTT

● Ad Decisioning○ Geolocation

○ DMP

○ Campaign Targets

○ Category matching

○ ...

One of the main

intersections between

technology and business

The Advertising

Industry One of the Main Intersections between

Technology and Business

● Interactive vs Noninteractive

● Broadcasters vs Publishers

○ Companion

● OTT vs Web

○ Tracking viewability

○ Above the fold on web, but no fold in OTT

Ad Standards

● Video Ad Serving Template (VAST)

● Video Player-Ad Interface Definition (VPAID)

Interactive and

Noninteractive

VPAID

● Video Player-Ad Interface Definition

(VPAID)○ 1.0 - Flash

○ 2.0 - JavaScript

● Intended for engaging, interactive

content

● Primarily used for:○ Tracking

○ Analytics

○ Verification

○ Conditional Ads

VASTVideo Ad Serving Template (VAST)

● XML format

● 3.0 - In-Market Standard

● 4.0 - Released January 2016

VAST 3.0VAST 3.0

● In-market standard

● Designed mainly for publishers, did not take into

account OTT

● Typically a progressive MP4

● Limited viewability data

● Added vs 2.0: Linear Ads, NonLinear Ads,

Skippable Linear Ads, Linear Ads with

Companions, and Ad Pods (sequenced group of

ads), VAST Wrapper

Released July 2012

VAST 4.0

VAST 4.0 ● Includes Ready-to-serve multiple qualities

● Includes Mezzanine File

● Separates Interactivity

● Designated space for Viewability

● Additional Metadata

○ Ad Categories

○ Conditional Ad Attribute

○ Universal ID

○ Performance Improvements

Released January 2016

CSAI Workflow

CSAI Architecture

What are Client-

Side Advantages?

● Easier ad targeting

● More analytics

● Conditional ads

● Interactive ads

What are Client-

Side Drawbacks?

● Easy to block

● Negative user experiences

● Inconsistent environments

Non-SSAI Anti-

AdBlocking

Domain Obfuscation:● Most AdBlockers use shared blacklists of

addresses for ads

● Domain Obfuscation regularly changes the

domains that proxy the ad call to new, every

changing domains not on the list

● Can slow ad loads

● Requires constant updating

● Not always effective

https://myFamousAdServer.com/myAd

https://fooBar.com/notAnAdButReallyAnAd

SSAI Workflow

SSAI Architecture

What are Server-

Side Advantages?

● Bypasses many ad blockers

● Better viewing experience (like linear TV)

● Better device compatibility

What are Server-

Side Drawbacks?

● Hard to scale

● Hard to target

● Hard to track

● Many different standards and methods

In-Band

Ad Triggering

● SCTE-35

○ Digital Program Insertion Cueing Message for Cable

Standard by the Society of Cable Telecommunications

Engineers

○ Inline insertion of cue tones in MPEG-TS streams

○ Used for inserting e.g., ads or local TV programs

● DASH Inband Event Stream

○ Signalled via the presence of the InbandEventStream

attribute (ISO/IEC 23009-1:2014 | 5.10.3.2)

○ Event streams multiplexed with Representations

→ EMSG box (Event Message Box) if encapsulated in

ISO BMFF

● HLS ‘Inband Events’

○ ID3 tags

○ Metadata stream is added to the MPEG Transport

Stream in the same way as audio and video

○ ID3 metadata is self-describing and needs no

configuration information

Out-of-Band

Ad Triggering

● DASH MPD Events

○ Events signalled in the MPD via the EventStream

element (ISO/IEC 23009-1:2014 | 5.10.2.1)

● HLS Playlist Events

○ Extension of m3u8 playlist: EXT-X-CUE-IN, EXT-X-

CUE-OUT, EXT-X-CUE-OUT-CONT, EXT-X-SCTE-35

(experimental tags)

○ Used to carry SCTE-35 data e.g., for ad signalling

Ad Triggering

● Media Content

● Ad Content

○ XLink

○ Default

● Media Content

DASH IF Interoperability

Points Advertising

Architecture

Examples

Server-Side Ad Insertion

Demo

Examples

Client-Side Ad Insertion

Examples

Client-Side Ad Insertion

Demo

Q&A

Additional

Ressources

● IAB

○ VAST 3.0

■ https://www.iab.com/guidelines/digital-

video-ad-serving-template-vast-3-0/

○ VAST 4.0

■ https://www.iab.com/guidelines/digital-

video-ad-serving-template-vast-4-0/

○ VPAID 2.0

■ https://www.iab.com/guidelines/digital-

video-player-ad-interface-definition-

vpaid-2-0/

● DASH IF IOP

○ http://dashif.org/wp-

content/uploads/2015/12/DASH-IF-IOP-

v3.2.pdf

○ Sections:

■ 5.3: Server-based Architecture

■ 5.4: App-based Architecture

■ 5.5: Extensions for ad insertion

■ 5.6: Interoperability Aspects