In Broadcast - September 2013 - 63

ISSUE 23 - SEPTEMBER 2013 | WWW.INBROADCAST.COM

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

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InFILE

Targeted Ads For Multiscreen A Reality
The ability to insert targeted advertising is the Holy Grail of the multiscreen video industry...

By Duncan Potter
CMO, SeaWell Networks

nfortunately, most of the effort
on this noble quest is focused
on what ad to deliver, instead of how
to actually deliver it. The latter is
more important than ever, especially
when the ability to deliver an ad
targeted to a speciﬁc individual
within a speciﬁc context, along with
the real-time consumption statistics,
makes most advertisers salivate.
A lot has been said about the
potential value of user- and contextspecific targeting. The precise
number will likely be debated long
after successful programs are put in
place. However, there is little doubt
that advertisers will pay signiﬁcantly
more to know who was watching,
where, on what device and what
content was playing at the time.
As of yet, the advertising industry
is highly dubious of operators’ ability
to deliver on this promise. However,
targeted advertising is getting ever
closer to becoming a reality with
highly sophisticated ad decision
systems, demonstrated by many
leading providers. While these
systems are extremely important,
the one area that the industry has
overlooked is an operator’s ability
to insert the right ad or alternate
content into the right stream at
the right time - and report on
what happened.

Targeting, Yes. But How?
Multiscreen implementations use
adaptive bit rate (ABR) protocols
such as Apple HLS, Microsoft
Smooth Streaming (SS), Adobe HDS
and MPEG-DASH to deliver video

to a wide range of devices across
an even wider range of network
topologies. The different video
formats deliver two main elements:
the fragments (the actual “chunks”
of content) and the manifest.
Sometimes referred to as “the
playlist”, the manifest instructs the
player to retrieve the next fragment
by providing information about the
next playable video fragments
available and their location.
In theory, one would only need
to change the manifest to have
total control over what content is
viewed. However, this is not as
simple as it appears. There have
been a few attempts to achieve this
goal, including:
• Conditioning - This process refers
to the actual placement of the
ESAM or other markers within the
manifest. This takes place early in
the video delivery workﬂow, and
is primarily done by the encoder;
• Manifest Building - The required
manifests are created upfront
(post encoding), based on the
parameters of where and/or to
whom they will be delivered.
This type of manifest creation is
useful in situations where there
are a limited number of manifest
variants, but is extremely limited
in flexibility. Recently, a third
approach has begun to garner
more attention, as it promises
signiﬁcant beneﬁts in terms of
overall ABR delivery control;
• Dynamic Manifest Manipulation
(DMM) - DMM creates custom
manifests per content, device or

Users now consume video individually

session, in real-time, in response
to a device request. This is done
much later in the video delivery
workﬂow to enable highly-scalable,
targeted ad or alternate content
insertion. DMM uniquely creates
a virtual session with the end-user
device, enabling a long list of realtime control features. Through
DMM, generic manifests provided
from the encoder/packager and
retrieved from an origin can be
personalised using a number
of factors: user demographics,
subscribed services, service
tiers, access network, devices,
etc. One of DMM’s key beneﬁts
is support for both live and ondemand content.
The Catch
In addition to manipulating the
manifest in real-time, the lack of
standardisation amongst protocols,
devices and players makes
targeted ad insertion even more
challenging. For instance, DMM is
most suited for protocols based
on the ISO/IEC 13818-1 (MPEG2 TS) specification that allows
discontinuities in the timeline,
such as Apple HLS. However, ISOBMFF protocols, such as Smooth

Streaming and MPEG-DASH, do
not allow discontinuities, having
operators face yet another issue.
To address this obstacle, operators
must ensure that their prospective
DMM vendors effectively support
the required formats and have
the necessary scalability when
developing an ad insertion solution.
Shaping The Future Of TV
The demand for truly targeted ad
insertion is clear. However, with
the innovation of real-time delivery
control, there is more than a Holy
Grail in this quest. The ability to
present alternate content on an
individual basis has the potential
to change TV as we know it. The
existing model of channel-based
TV becomes obsolete, replaced
by an entirely new, real-time
content model.
When operators and content
producers realise the true potential,
they will move to redefine their
relationships with each other.
The real Holy Grail is consumers
watching whatever they want,
wherever they are, and begin to
enjoy (or at least accept as pertinent)
the advertisements that have been
tailor-made for them.

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In Broadcast - September 2013

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