With Dynamic Ad Insertion, the stream is manipulated to insert new digital advertisements or replace existing ones.

Ads that are served are typically personalized to the user (and more so than the original ads). Several levels of personalization can be enabled, either based on the user location (ad regionalization) or based on the user profile (targeted advertising).

A typical ecosystem to implement Dynamic Ad Insertion is as follows:

The various use cases supported by broadpeak.io are as follows:

For VOD streams

AVOD

Advertising-based Video On Demand, often known as AVOD, is a VOD business model that monetizes a catalog of VOD assets by displaying ads within the playback streams.

AVOD services are typically available for free and can be included in "Freemium" services, which allow viewers to watch streams without ads in exchange for a monthly fee (AVOD-SVOD hybrid).

There are multiple possible placements for the digital ads:

• Pre-roll: ads are shown before the start of the VOD asset.
• Mid-roll: ads are inserted in the middle of the stream, temporarily interrupting the VOD asset. Such an ad is usually placed during a natural break or a topic change in the program.
• Post-roll: ads are shown at the end of the VOD asset.

This can be used for typical Video-On-Demand assets but also for programs which have been recorded from Linear Channels (NPVR, Catch up TV).

For Live streams

Live Pre-roll

With this feature, ads are displayed at the beginning of a playback session, before the main content begins.

Pre-roll ads are a very effective form or monetization: running an ad before the main stream usually implies that the audience is still engaged, interested, and willing to endure a short ad break before getting to their desired content.

One of the main benefits of pre-roll advertising is that even if the viewer skips the ad, they have already been exposed to the brand, product, or service of the advertisers.

Live Ad Replacement

With this feature, original ads within a live stream with ads are replaced with more valuable and/or targeted digital ads.

Break-level

In the simplest and most common scenario, the entire original ad break - detected from markers in the stream - is replaced with new ads, acquired by calling an ad server. We call this break-level ad replacement.

Spot-aware replacement

In more advanced situations, only part of the original ad break is replaced. By using markers in the live stream that indicate the exact placement or every original ad (or "spot") within the ad break, spot-aware strategies can be used that only replace specific ads or sets of ads. This strategy is used for more advanced monetization and a better user experience.

DVR monetization

Either way, by default, only ad breaks that are at or after the live edge at the time that the streaming session starts will be replaced. You may however choose to configure broadpeak.io to also perform replacement in the whole or part of the DVR Window.

Combined Live Pre-roll and Ad Replacement

For Live streams a third use case is possible: combining pre-roll ad insertion, at the very beginning of the stream, and ad replacement for future ad breaks that may happen in the stream. This option maximises the monetization of your live stream.

Note however that when pre-roll is activated, no monetization of the DVR Window is possible, as the DVR window is essentially removed at the start of the session.