Aiming to streamline on-demand ad insertion, MSO-backed advanced ad J.V. Canoe has certified This Technology’s metadata asset management platform.
The integration of the vendor’s cloud-based “MetaMore” product will help programmers bridge metadata format gaps when working with Canoe’s VOD dynamic ad insertion platform, the companies said, noting that the aim is to streamline metadata authoring and, more generally, enable the more efficient delivery of dynamic VOD advertising.
The stamp means This Technology’s product is validated to serve programmer metadata asset management needs as the industry moves toward supporting the 3.0 version of the CableLabs Metadata spec for video content metadata sharing. MetaMore is designed to help programmers create or modify guide, billing and distribution metadata, including the scheduling of licensing windows, and to create metadata that can be ported to multiple platforms, including traditional set-top VOD, OTT video and authenticated TV Everywhere apps.
MetaMore offers Web-based content metadata editing tools to simplify communication of metadata information in an environment where multiple format types are in play and speed is imperative. Programmers can easily create or modify guide, billing and distribution metadata, including the scheduling of license window and specification of distribution points. It also allows for one-time creation of metadata that can be easily distributed to multiple platforms, including VOD, broadband television and TV Everywhere. MetaMore is platform agnostic and standards compliant, with capabilities that include the Content Information Service (SCTE-130-4/CIS), CableLabs VOD 1.1 and 3.0, and the Broadcast Exchange Format (SMTE-2021/BXF).
That integration work comes out of Canoe’s Integration Certification Program, which identifies industry solutions that have not been integrated and tested to work with Canoe using CableLabs Metadata 1.1, 3.0, SCTE and IAB VAST, but have also been deployed in one or more live production environments for a stretch of time.
In December, Canoe announced that it had added ABC, ABC Family and Sportskool to its stable of VOD ad insertion partners. Those deals complemented earlier deals with other programmers, including NBC Universal, Fox, FX and several channels from the Scripps Networks stable: Food Network, Cooking Channel, and DIY Network. Those deals enable Canoe to provide those programmers with a platform to splice ads dynamically into video-on-demand streams delivered to a set-top box.
As of last December, Canoe's platform was in front of about 29.5 million U.S. homes, covering designated market areas (DMAs) such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston. Those are largely coming way of deployments with Comcast and Time Warner Cable, but the hope is to expand the roll out of Canoe's DAI platform to Cox Communications and Bright House systems later this year.
“In deployments with Canoe, This Technology’s MetaMore has a proven track record of making it faster and easier for programmers to deliver specific metadata information that supports dynamic ad insertion on VOD platforms, such as in the time code tags process,” said Joel Hassell, chief executive officer of Canoe, in a statement “To date, MetaMore is the first metadata asset management system that we have certified based on its ability to meet the needs of programmers at scale, conformance to CableLabs specifications and successful interoperability testing.”
“We look forward to our ongoing work with Canoe and the programmer community as we continue to ramp up deployments of MetaMore and our other leading solutions for dynamic ad insertion and alternate content,” added This Technology CEO Jeffrey Sherwin.
