By Loewe Tan
Dynamic ad insertion (DAI) continues to be widely adopted in the broadcast and media industry, as it is able to serve video ads alongside linear programmes and video-on-demand content.
However, one of the main speedbump companies face is the technical barrier of adopting the new ad video technology. With the rise of hyper-personalised content, will DAI continue to help businesses scale up their video content revenue to new heights?
Netflix fuelled the cord-cutting movement with its provision of ad-free premium content when it started streaming in 2010. Regardless of freemium or premium content, advertisement has prevailed as the winner, as Netflix has announced plans to introduce lower-priced ad-supported content by the end of 2022.
This will inevitably increase the adoption of streaming ad video technology.
More broadcasters and media operators are examining the merits of DAI, as it combines storytelling capabilities of traditional broadcast with tailored messaging techniques and programmatic targeting.
This will increase the return-on-investment in advertising, and most importantly, reduces the churn rates of video content on over-the-top (OTT), video-on-demand (VoD) and IPTV.
DAI is also able to process user data and target ads according to user behaviour on the platform.
Leveraging the video ad stack in ad-supported streaming
In April 2022, Roku, a manufacturer of digital media player for streaming, trialled dynamic linear ad insertion (DLA) after its high-profile acquisition of Nielsen’s advanced advertising unit. This allows different viewers to see ads based on their likings, while watching the same programme.
After the pilot launch, Roku also renewed its streaming distribution partnership with Amazon Prime Video and IMDb, demonstrating the mainstream adoption of DAI.
Ad-stitching, with DAI, allows ads to bypass ad blockers to reach the intended audience. Server-side dynamic ad insertion inserts and stitches ads into a single stream of video, allowing the single stitched video to fool the ad-blocker.
Alain Pellen, Senior Manager, OTT &IPTV Solutions, Harmonic, warned as far back as in December 2020 in a blog post that ad-stitching could easily bypass ad blockers. He noted, “A manifest manipulator creates the spliced streams for each playback client. It then makes ad-decision requests, retrieves ads, and inserts them seamlessly in the stream, while streaming. The ads are part of the video stream and proxied from the same server and CDN.”
To deploy DAI, Harmonic suggests that a company should look for a complete DAI solution for live and file-based content from playout through to packaging and origin. The solution should interface with ad decision servers to provide a targeted manifest based on user location, device, or more complex criteria.
It should also support blackout management that can accurately ingest substitute content and slates, while providing an updated manifest to ensure legal commitments are fulfilled.
DAI also allows companies to insert ads on any HTTP live streaming (HLS) or Desktop & Mobile Architecture for System Hardware (DASH) compliant device.
According to Ahmed Swidan, Director of Personalised TV, Ateme, an Asian operator company can be losing up to US$5.8 million in revenue per year by opting out of DAI, assuming there’s a total of 50,000 subscribers and each Asian subscriber can generate $0.32 daily revenue with Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI).
Providing the capabilities to monetise the ad inventory on multi-screens, DAI allows media agencies to maximise ad windows and revenue.
With an uptick in live streaming as more sports events resume globally, Google has already added new features to its Google Ad Manager’s DAI to help programmers, distributors, and sports leagues power their live events with seamless, broadcast-quality ads across screens.
Delivering high-quality ad experiences with DAI Prefetch
Google Ad Manager’s DAI, which was the first server-side ad insertion (SSAI) solution to be accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC) for its client-initiated impression measurement of video ads on live and on-demand content, has launched DAI Prefetch for live events.
Peentoo Patel, Director, Product Management, Google Ad Manager, explained, “This feature uses a two-staged approach, first allowing partners to prefetch a portion of their next ad break, say the first ad for each viewer, at the end of the prior ad break.
“Then, when the ad break begins, Ad Manager serves the first ad that was prefetched and in parallel fetches the subsequent ads based on information such as ad break duration or custom parameters related to events in a game like a goal or touchdown.”
He added, “DAI Prefetch distributes ad requests more evenly and accommodates longer ad decisioning times, which helps solve surges in traffic during live events.
“This enables partners to deliver a high-quality ad experience to millions of concurrent viewers while maximising fill rates and revenue, and increases the ability for the broader ads ecosystem to handle the scale of large live events.”
Indeed, at the peak of the pandemic, live sports streaming went on full swing and Google DAI delivered target ads to more than one million viewers concurrently during multiple events.
DAI will continue to command the attention of broadcasters and media operators, as it is able to increase the ad revenue on multi-screens, whilst reducing churn rate. The ROI on DAI is also higher as compared to other programmatic ad insertion technology, due to its target ad messages.
With highly personalised content taking the centre stage in the coming years, DAI can prove to be a useful tool to catapult the viewing ad experience to the next level … and boost the bottom line of broadcasters embracing DAI.