InBroadcast - June 2023 - 48

48
www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 13 - Issue 6 | June 2023
InMedia
Ad insertion gets more dynamic
with automation, AI and SSAI
With both OTT and linear television services adopting more automated and personalised
advertising techniques, the divisions between the two areas are becoming less defined.
As contributing editor Kevin Hilton discovers, dynamic ad insertion is levelling the playing
field, especially when it comes to the growing sector of FAST channels...
T
he world of broadcast television
technology
is
littered
with
initials and acronyms for the various
systems, techniques and devices
that have appeared over its relatively
short
history. These have usually
been spread out over different areas,
so it is somewhat
disconcerting
to come across a whole slew of
initialisms concentrated in a single
discipline. DAI, standing for dynamic
ad insertion, is an umbrella term
that now encompasses many other
abbreviations, including SSAI (serverside
ad insertion), CSAI (client-side
ad insertion) and FAST (free adsupported
streaming TV).
In many respects this illustrates
the importance and breadth of DAI
in today's
technologically
'broadcast' market, with
devices. DAI
providing
basis
diverse
its wide
array of distribution platforms and
receiving
first
to prominence in digital
the
for
came
media,
targeted
advertising on Facebook, Google
and other online sites. In the last
few years it has, as Mathias Guille,
Vice President for Cloud Platform at
Broadpeak, observes, expanded into
both OTT streaming and linear TV,
although each has its own specific
requirements.
" While there is
convergence,
some differences still exist, " Guille
explains. " Linear TV generally reaches
a more extensive, broader audience
with less targeting flexibility, while
OTT provides
for
personalised ad insertion.
granular user data
In
this way, linear TV is typically oneto-many
while OTT is one-to-one.
Mathias Guille,
Broadpeak
Harmonic technology being used to insert
advertising into sports coverage
Historically, linear TV has dealt with
ads by delivering regional versions
of the national channel, replacing
a subpart of the ads with regional
commercials. OTT has DAI built-in
with the HTTP capacity to deliver one
stream per user, making targeted
advertising easier to integrate. "
This
distinction is beginning to
change, however, due to increasing
use of
addressable
TV
(also
known as segmented TV) for linear
broadcasting. " Because of this
we're moving toward a more unified
approach, " Guille comments. " It's
about optimising ad delivery across
all platforms to provide a consistent,
seamless viewer experience for both
linear and OTT. Both are using the
SSAI concept and leverage manifest
manipulation (or video stitching). You
can then unify the campaigns across
both platforms. However, factors
like local
standards, and
regulation, measurement
technological
infrastructure can still differ. "
Tony Jones, Principal Technologist
with MediaKind, also sees what
he describes as a " general trend "
towards
server-side working over
the over the last year, particularly
as operations grow in scale. " When
operators start out it's quite tempting
to use the client-side way of working
because it's relatively simple to set
up, " he says. " There are fewer parties
involved and it's an easy way to get
going. But as the number of viewers
increases and the
value of that
advertising slot become greater, you
have to think about more robustness
and reliability in the system. "
Jones explains that SSAI has " a
benefits " , including
number of
not having the uncertainty of what
a manifest
is going to look like.
" You can verify what you're going
to put in the advertising breaks
is actually
there and that
they're
going to work correctly, " he says.
" It's a more industrial and robust
system. There are disadvantages,
Tony Jones,
MediaKind
Broadpeak SSAI analytics monitoring system

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