Marketing your wares or services in the modern world is changing. Traditional advertising methods are faltering. But you still need to break through the clutter and get your product in front of viewers, increase recall, and convert them into paying customers. 

In today’s challenging environment, ad blockers and overly disruptive advertising methods make things difficult. Content is difficult to target and make seamless. Enter Server-Side Ad Insertion or SSAI. 

Providing seamless ads that do not fall prey to ad blockers means your content is being seen by more people. The individualized targeting capabilities of SSAI are revolutionary. And you should get acquainted with all its benefits. 

Keep reading to learn everything you should know to build valuable content through SSAI. 

Simply put, SSAI is a means of dynamically inserting ads into video content. The content should already be high-quality and long-form. Whether you are a media distributor or a content owner, SSAI makes ad insertion better. 

The type of content SSAI is useful for is Over The Top (OTT) video services. This can be linear, live, or on-demand video content. 

SSAI provides a buffer-less manner of advertising. Transitioning from content to ad is seamless, providing a more comfortable user experience.

SSAI vendors are mediators. They work between the Online Video Player (OVP) and the ad server. By facilitating the communication between these two entities, the ads are appropriately placed within the video content.

These ads can be easily switched out to target each individual watching the content. This means your campaign can be optimized for maximum results.  

To get more technical, SSAI has a Manifest Manipulator (MM) component that splices streams for clients. This MM essentially makes all the decisions. It decides which ad to serve the client, retrieves the ad, and then stitches said ad into the video content at the last moment, in a frame-accurate manner. 

Dynamic Ad Insertion, or DAI, is just another name for SSAI. Both terms are often used interchangeably.

In fact, SSAI and DAI are referred to in many different ways. Ad stitching, dynamic insertion, server-side video ad technology - they are all the same thing. 

It is essential to highlight the "dynamic" part of DAI and the "Server-side" of SSAI. Together, these two terms create a more holistic understanding of the advertising process.

The dynamic concept means DAI accounts for constant change and is ready to adapt to the viewer. By preparing for the always-changing world, DAI provides more longevity in the advertising sphere. 

The Server-Side idea brings in a third party to the advertising world. It means SSAI is taking care of the legwork of getting an ad transcoded and stitched into the content being viewed by the end-user.

With this in mind, it's time to learn about the key benefits that SSAI - and by extension DAI - can provide. 

It is clear that DAI does a great deal for those looking to advertise content. From getting a greater ad value to being less disruptive, it's clearly more valuable for both consumers and advertisers. 

Now, let's look at the specifics of how DAI and SSAI can benefit you. 

Because SSAI is actually stitching together the ad and the video, ad blocking can be prevented. This gives SSAI a considerable advantage over many other forms of video advertising. 

To be more detailed, it is potentially impossible to block SSAI ads - for now, at least. Because the transitions between ads and content are so smooth, ad blockers cannot "see" the difference between the ad and the primary video because they look like one continuous stream. 

When potential customers are genuinely viewing your ads, you are far more likely to see results. Valuable ads create valuable revenue streams. 

The ads are more valuable for several reasons. One, as previously mentioned, you know they will actually be seen by customers. SSAI makes ad blocking more difficult. As a result, this can lead to better ad impressions.

Secondly, individual targeting and hyper-local ads can be utilized. Even with content broadcast on a national scale, ads can be targeted to a zip code. 

Lastly, available inventory can be sold programmatically.  This streamlines buyer access to ad inventory. 

Ads on broadcast television are historically bought based on a wide possible audience. With DAI, even the streaming simulcast can deliver to a niche or targeted audience - just as with online ads. With SSAI, it's all about customization and personalization. As mentioned, ads can be designed to target specific consumer types in specific locations. Additionally, SSAI can work on a variety of devices and all different endpoints. 

In many ways, it's the future of personalizing the TV sphere in particular. For years, it has been a struggle to accurately, and narrowly, target ads to those who watch TV.

Sure, it might have been possible to target a location in the past. But, it was much more difficult to target an individual specifically for your product. 

Now, it's clear that SSAI is the future of OTT. 

SSAI is less disruptive than most other forms of online advertising. This is because it works similarly to broadcast TV advertising. In particular, with SSAI there is no buffering. 

This is possible because the SSAI vendor converts the stream to an Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) format. Through this transcoding process, the ABR can tell what the consumer’s real-time bandwidth is. With this information, the stream can be altered to provide the best outcome. 

You can learn more about ABR from Zype Solutions. 

This works for end users who might have a low internet connection and those with state-of-the-art solid bandwidth. SSAI is also less disruptive, as it provides a superior viewing experience to ads that are not well-targeted. But we'll go into that in a later section. 

When it comes to getting your data, it's easy. All reporting can easily capture ad view metrics.

From the content producer’s side, they can access statistics showing how users interact with the ads. From the advertiser's side, they can analyze how their content is being targeted and engaged with. 

By having improved targeted ads, the consumer and advertiser benefit. 

According to a Consumer OTT Report by OpenX:

66% of users learned about a new product from an OTT ad

40% of users seen an OTT ad, then went online to learn more

For the consumer, if content is personalized to them they are more likely to be engaged. On the advertiser side, they can avoid the display of generic ads that don’t appeal to a target audience.

Right in the very name, DAI, you find the word "dynamic." Being dynamic in today's world is vital. It is necessary to adapt to the constant changes advertising is facing. 

Advertisers have wanted something like DAI for decades to better engage with their consumers. This form of advertising brings innovation.

With innovation, SSAI is overcoming many of the challenges advertisers have faced in recent years. In particular, SSAI is adapting for the rising newcomer on the block, live streaming.

Living streaming is continuing its rise towards dominating the video consumption market. With this in mind, it's a sure bet that advertisers want to make sure they are getting the products in front of the live streaming audience.

What makes DAI so revolutionary is that it can even be used in live streaming content. On the fly, the SSAI vendor can determine what ads will suit each viewer. 

DAI is quickly becoming the standard in streaming - the future is already here. It is clear from all of the benefits of DAI that, when it comes to live streaming content, it's the clear winner. 

When you are live streaming, it's also a good idea to consider Multi-Content Delivery Network (CDN) strategies. To learn more about Multi-CDN's and their benefits for live streaming, check out our post.

With this post, you should know everything you need to decide whether SSAI is the best form of advertising for you. If you are:

Looking to market your streaming service as a place for advertisers

An advertiser looking for the best way to show your products

Then, SSAI is definitely an option for you. 

Zype's SSAI solution includes built-in integration with major ad servers like SpotX and FreeWheel and supports a full range of ad macros to optimize ad fills. You can learn more about Zype's advertising capabilities here.

SSAI/DAI: Basics and Benefits (+ Live Streaming DAI)

Learn everything about server-side ad insertion, or SSAI, and dynamic ad insertion, or DAI, and how they work together to build valuable content.

When it comes to choosing the right monetization model for your video business, there isn’t always a clear cut answer. In fact, you probably won’t maximize your potential revenue if you only use one of the primary video monetization models we covered in part one of this series —Advertising (AVOD), Subscriptions (SVOD), and Transactions (TVOD).

That’s why many successful video businesses are turning to a hybrid model. This way, they can maximize revenue with a combination of two or more monetization models.

There are challenges with all of the primary models that make it difficult for content owners to rely on a single monetization model and make a sustainable amount of money. Advertising (AVOD) is only successful with a large audience that generates enough views to be profitable. There will always be viewers that unsubscribe with SVOD and it takes significant marketing efforts to continually add more subscribers. Finally, there is no guarantee of future revenue with the one-time transactions of TVOD.

With a hybrid model, these challenges are diluted with additional avenues for making money. The combinations of monetization models are endless and require some trial and error to find out what works best for your business. Here are a few examples:

If you primarily have a subscription video business, you can add TVOD to the mix and offer the option to rent or own content of your choosing. This way, viewers can get a taste for your content before committing to a subscription.

Consider adding AVOD into the mix as well, and have limited advertising on top of your subscription content. This enables you to monetize while letting viewers preview some of your content for free.

Maybe you primarily have subscription video business and use TVOD to make money on your live streams. There is no reason why you can’t have advertising or even brand sponsorships incorporated into your transactional live streams.

Think outside the box and consider all your options to make additional revenue. For example, brand sponsorships are a popular form of advertising for many podcasts and can easily be incorporated into your live stream. If your content is educational, why not take a note from PBS’ book and ask for donations—apps like Patreon can help you out with this . If you don’t have merchandise for you fans to purchase, it’s an easy way to make more money that your fans will surely appreciate.

In order for a video business to be successful, it’s important to have your content available on all the platforms and apps your fans use. If you only stream your content on YouTube using advertising to make money, you are missing out on revenue. It’s wise to avoid relying on a single distribution channel, just like it’s wise to use multiple monetization models. Have incentives for your audience to consume your content across all your channels including your website, your OTT platforms and YouTube.

Hybrid monetization is how most large entertainment brands make the most of their content including Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV. However you don’t have the numbers of these three brands- hybrid models are just as applicable for smaller entertainment brands with more niche content.

For example, StarTalk Radio offers science-based content and they use a hybrid model to make money. They leverage all the models— AVOD, SVOD, TVOD and donation on a variety of different channels including their website, YouTube, iTunes and more. Not only are they making money on their content, they also sell branded merchandise for fans.

The hybrid model is one of the most effective ways for video businesses to maximize their revenue. Start thinking creatively about additional ways to monetize your content to help your video business grow!

Hybrid - How to Choose the Monetization Model That’s Right for Your Business: Part 2 [2021 Update]

Hybrid - How to Choose the Monetization Model That’s Right for Your Business: Part 2

In order to decide which video monetization model will be best for you, you must have a very strong understanding of your audience and your content library.

So let's dive into the three primary video monetization models and review a few examples of content and audience profiles matched with their best-fit monetization model.

** Note that “VOD” stands for “Video on Demand”, which essentially means viewers are able to choose what, where, and when to watch.

Subscription-based VOD, or SVOD, is a subscription agreement between you as the video provider and the viewer who subscribes to watch your content without viewing or access limits. Think Netflix. Subscribers make a monthly payment in order to have access to all of your content, and this monthly payment automatically renews unless otherwise cancelled.

This type of monetization model provides a recurring revenue stream but the focus needs to be not only on subscriber acquisition but also retention. Businesses that choose to pursue the SVOD model have to regularly update their content at specific intervals to justify a continued subscription from their audience in order to retain their subscribers.

A great way of understanding if subscription based monetization is right for you is forecasting your revenue. We've developed a powerful SVOD Revenue Forecast Spreadsheet based on new subscribers, monthly churn, costs and other important variables. Just copy the spreadsheet, and plug in your own numbers.

Download the SVOD Revenue Forecast Spreadsheet to understand how much money you can make with a subscription based video business.

Transactional VOD, or TVOD, involves a free sign up for the service but with an a la carte payment, such as purchase or rental, to watch specific content. This is similar to services that have a collection of movies, series, or sports offerings, like Apple iTunes or pay-per-view events.

This type of monetization model offers content at various prices with the goal of keeping users as repeat purchasers on their platform. Whereas SVOD is like an all-you-can-eat buffet, TVOD is more like a traditional restaurant. The TVOD pricing strategy is contingent upon the content you are offering and the amount your viewer are willing to pay.

While TVOD businesses may earn a higher revenue per view, they don’t have the same retention and revenue security built into their service as an SVOD service

Advertising-based VOD, or AVOD, provides free to watch content for viewers that is monetized through video advertising. Instead of having your viewers pay, it’s now the advertisers or ad networks who pay, typically on a per-thousand basis.

AVOD can be a popular form of monetization because it is easy to get up and running but requires audience scale to generate significant revenues.

While the other monetization models involve a retention-based sales component, AVOD requires getting as many eyes as possible. Instead of retaining paying subscribers, AVOD retention involves volume with the goal of having a consistent stream of people watching your videos (and thereby seeing the advertisements). When it comes to premium content, the AVOD model isn’t as easily justified unless that premium content is being viewed by millions.

 Which Monetization Model Is Right for Your Business? 

If executed correctly, any of these monetization models could yield significant revenue for your business. Each business model comes with its own type of maintenance or curation requirements, as well as its own strategy for growth. There are even hybrid models where customers can watch videos with advertisements for free and then upgrade to a paid subscription for full catalog access. Read more about Hybrid models in part 2 of this series.

Here is an outline of content and audience profiles that align best with specific monetization models to help you decide which might be a good fit for your video business:

Vertical networks that have focused content and either create or publish videos on a frequent basis are excellent candidates to use an SVOD model. The format is usually longer format content; greater than 20 minutes and usually closer to an hour or more in length. Live streaming on a frequent schedule with archive VOD library also lends itself to providing access to subscribers.

Content libraries where publishing is less often or static and where the content is longer, premium content can look to leverage a TVOD model. This can either be PPV (purchase) or be providing access to videos by a time limited rental. The content focus can be either focused or broad and consist of multiple genres. TVOD can be used for libraries which are smaller but still consists of longer format premium content.

Learn more about the Hybrid model and effectively maximizing revenue in Part 2 of this series.

SVOD, AVOD, TVOD - How to Choose the Monetization Model That’s Right for Your Business: Part 1 [2021 Update]

SVOD, AVOD, TVOD - How to Choose the Monetization Model That’s Right for Your Business: Part 1

In the U.S. alone, TV advertisements are a $71 billion industry. But for cable TV, that revenue is shrinking.

Americans are increasingly cutting the cord, leaving traditional ad-supported broadcasts and cable to plummet. Whether this is due to the overwhelming sentiment that TV advertisements are not relevant, or to the convenience offered by OTT services, fewer Americans have cable TV in their homes than ever before.

In response, advertising dollars are increasingly shifting away from cable TV and toward digital streaming to meet customers in their preferred settings – but that’s not the only challenge to overcome in regaining revenue.

Americans still consume an average of four hours of TV per day, but they’re now doing it in an environment where each player device can deliver ad personalization (given the user identification methodologies unique to the web). For broadcasters still using hard-coded advertisements in their streams, they run the risk of showcasing dated or irrelevant ads that need to be replaced.

For broadcasters looking to offer advertisers -- and viewers -- personalized ads using dynamic ad insertion best practices, the broadcast standard SCTE 35 signals are a modern solution to this problem. 

Here’s everything you should know about how OTT content distributors can use the cue tones built for analog broadcasting to power ad-supported linear streams across platforms such as Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus, The Roku Channel, IMDb TV, Plex, and Xumo. 

SCTE 35 is a standard created by ANSI and the Society of Cable and Telecommunications Engineers that lays out guidelines for inline cue tone insertion in streams. Also referred to as markers, these signals indicate where content distributors could insert or splice content into a stream.

For example, if a local news station received a stream from a national news broadcaster, the stream might be marked in areas where the station could replace national ads with others that were more relevant to the community.

Cue tones originated as a means to signal commands to equipment, particularly when to start or stop. This was especially useful with cartridge tapes, as the tape would otherwise play in a loop. Originally, cue tones occurred as DTMF tones, or subaudible tones that could not be heard by normal listeners. As broadcasting shifted to digital means via IPTV, cue tones likewise became digital. Now, the markers are read by computers and no actual subaudible tone exists.

Applied to QAMP/IP, Title VI/TVE, and live or time-shifted delivery, SCTE 35 is the core signal standard for advertising, programming, and content distribution control. It was originally designed for ad insertion, but the digital nature of SCTE 35 markers brings greater flexibility to their use.

SCTE 104 and SCTE 35 work together to help with personalized ad placement, but many people are still confused about their relationship and differences.

In short: SCTE 35 cues exist within the MPEG transport stream. In contrast, SCTE 104 messages are sent between systems via TCP/IP.

SCTE 104 markers are inserted by an automation or playout system prior to sending the baseband video feed to the inserter. Once the feed reaches the encoder, those markers get translated into compressed stream markers to be transmitted with the content. The compressed markers are what SCTE 35 defines.

Think of it this way: the markers inserted under SCTE 104 are requests for content insertion. The markers inserted by SCTE 35 are what helps to fulfill those requests.

When an SCTE 35 marker appears in the program, it signals to broadcasters where they may splice other content into the feed. Typically, these spaces are predefined in 15-, 30-, or 45-second chunks  (though they don’t have to be). Broadcasters then decide what to do with that slot. Some options include:

Replacing low priority national ads with more relevant local ads

The diagram below illustrates a SCTE-35 embedded programmed HLS stream.

Besides ad insertion, SCTE 35 lends itself well to program segmentation. In program segmentation, content distributors split up content into different chunks for management purposes. The most common and readily visible example of this is chapters in recorded TV shows or movies.

Once segmented like this, a content distributor can add, change, or remove different parts of the program depending on their needs. For example, legal reasons might require a local station to black out a chapter of a movie. 

A content distributor could make a segment of content unavailable for web delivery. Likewise, another chapter might be replaced with a provider ad or local content that’s more relevant. 

These segments are unnoticed by the end viewer but give stations and content distributors significantly more control over the content they show.

OTT has some natural advantages for ad insertion. Specifically:

Unicasting means that each device connects to the server independently. It’s possible to leverage this to deliver more personalized ads because the device can read the SCTE 35 marker and reach out to the server for an ad.

Sequences of fragments are individually decodable – they don’t require the segment before or after it. That simplifies splicing and increases flexibility with how the ads are inserted.

Ad insertion with SCTE 104/35 works with SVOD, TVOD, and AVOD – it’s not server-dependent because the actual marker insertion happens before the server receives profiles and constructs manifests.

Likewise, OTT feeds are able to carry SCTE 35 markers that they receive from the transcoder. In other words, you’ll still handle SCTE 35 markers on the programmer side. 

When profiles get created, the transcoder will need to create segments that align with these markers. However, once compiled into the manifest, you’ll simply determine whether the playback device requests an ad (client-side insertion), or whether to manipulate the manifest itself to insert the ad (server-side insertion).

And since splicing is so simple, testing your ad insertion for live streams becomes a breeze. Any good live streaming platform available out there will have the ability to read markers, let you insert ads, and test beforehand what the final playback will look like.

It doesn’t take a well-funded research study to tell us what we already know: people hate ads. However, the data can support two very important considerations surrounding viewer behavior:

On-demand viewers are more averse to ads: 56% of on-demand viewers say they tend to mute ads on the TV versus 48% of live TV watchers. 54% of on-demand viewers say they don’t trust ads on TV, while only 48% of the live TV watchers share a similar view.

Despite consumer disdain for ads, Americans still tolerate them: 47% of Americans now subscribe to free ad-supported streaming TV services, or “FASTs.”

On one hand, we have on-demand viewers reporting their anti-ad viewing habits. On the other, we have almost 50% of Americans tolerating ads if it means they get access to free TV. Both of these points can lead us to the same conclusion: the better or more targeted the ads, the more engagement and money broadcasters can make off them.

SCTE 35 can help with that. If you have the power to serve up personalized ads to viewers, then SCTE 35 markers make it easy to identify where in the stream you can put them.

Personalized, On-Demand Content Just Became Realistic

With the rise of OTT streaming, content distributors have a new set of tools for easily delivering on-demand content. And SCTE 35 has found new relevance, promising the means to serve up personalized, on-demand ads to the viewer. Say goodbye to irrelevant or hard-coded ads in your OTT stream. Say hello to a new way to insert content and grow your revenue.

If you want to learn more about Zype's video platform and how our monetization solutions can help you leverage technologies like SCTE 35 to send targetable data back to your ad server for pinpoint ad targeting, click here. 

A Complete Guide to SCTE 35 for OTT Ad Insertion [2021 Edition]

Want to deliver targeted, personalized ads? With SCTE 35 personalized ads are a reality in streaming. Learn how to leverage SCTE 35 in this guide.

This month Zype released several new product updates including improved tvOS templates and enhanced dynamic parameter options.

Level Up Your App with the Updated Zype tvOS Template

Zype Apple TV applications are programmed in Swift, allowing you the most modern features available to tvOS apps. As part of our commitment to ensure our templates meet the highest quality market standards, we’ve updated our template application to be Swift 5 based, the most recent iteration of the Swift programming language. Enjoy a sleek new top menu design as well as better performance and compatibility with the latest XCode versions. Learn more about the update and review our FAQs here.

Deeper Connectivity for Ad Servers through New Ad Macros on Self-Hosted Content

If you have self-hosted content in your library, you may have leveraged Zype’s ability to generate dynamic URL parameters against self-hosted manifest requests to connect your ad server stack. For example, you may have imported an HLS stream from your existing hosting provider or SSAI server, which might require dynamic information about the user in order to optimize ad fill. 

Now we are offering even more dynamic parameter options that can be used as URL replacements for self-hosted manifests. We’ve added support for app_bundle along with app_domain and device_model, to name a few. View the entire list of supported dynamic manifest parameters and their uses here.

Want to check out more of Zype's latest product updates? Read more here.

Level Up Your Apple TV Apps With Zype's Updated Template

Zype's Director of Account Management, Taylor Kirchwehm, hosted a workshop on forecasting ad revenue for multi-platform distribution using Zype's AVOD Model at the virtual OTTX Summit.

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SSAI/DAI: Basics and Benefits (+ Live Streaming DAI)

Hybrid - How to Choose the Monetization Model That’s Right for Your Business: Part 2 [2021 Update]

SVOD, AVOD, TVOD - How to Choose the Monetization Model That’s Right for Your Business: Part 1 [2021 Update]

A Complete Guide to SCTE 35 for OTT Ad Insertion [2021 Edition]

Level Up Your Apple TV Apps With Zype's Updated Template

OTTX Summit: How to Use a Forecast Model for Planning Ad Revenue in the Multi-Platform Age

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