Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) is a concept that has been discussed in the cable TV industry for years. The reason is simple--DAI has the potential to create the largest single new revenue opportunity for content owners and cable TV multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) in many years. Although approaches have been proposed, they have either required significant changes to the hardware infrastructure or required too much manual processing and could not scale. That is all about to change.
On its booth (SL3305) at NAB 2015, Telestream® the leading provider of digital media tools and workflow solutions will host the company’s first DAI technology showcase, featuring the newly released Vantage DAI software solution. This showcase will demonstrate an end-to-end file-based workflow encompassing video, audio and metadata transformation that delivers on the promise of increased ad revenue within a fully automated and scalable software system.
The introduction of DAI on a broad scale requires a strategic approach. “Dynamic Ad Insertion for VOD empowers content owners to generate new revenue streams from VOD content. This requires coordination between the content creator, the distribution network, and the agency managing ad campaigns. Our goal is to scale the output volume and maximize profitability for content owners, while ensuring system extensibility within the existing partner ecosystem,” commented Jim Duval, Director of New Products at Telestream.
While DAI has global application potential, unique technology details and business policies of VOD monetization differ by region and delivery network. In North America, for example, cable television infrastructure is well established and wholesale changes to the components take years to implement. Therefore, it is critical that the solution provide different and new content formatting that is compatible with the installed base of networks and set top boxes. Duval believes that one of the most important decisions a content owner or Cable TV MVPD must make is the choice of technology platform and partner in developing its DAI strategy.
Creating a normalized platform for advanced ads requires the right balance of process automation, scalability and human interaction. A system that provides a single connection point between the content providers, ad serving platforms and MVPDs is critical to the success of any DAI strategy. Doing this with a single interface for every service provider makes the solution scalable.
“Throughout North America, we have partnered with major broadcasters and cable TV MVPDs on DAI architectures that enable them to realize the promise of DAI,” explained Jim Duval. “We have collaborated with the pioneers of the cable DAI initiative and have now succeeded in deploying a business focussed solution. In Vantage, we have developed a workflow automation platform that is proven to achieve outstanding results in DAI applications of various size and scale.”
At NAB, Telestream will demonstrate how Vantage takes previously transmitted content and digitally prepares it for the insertion of new commercials and all associated metadata in preparation for re-transmission over a VOD cable network. The system automates the content and metadata formatting and delivery and integrates directly into the DAI ecosystem, so that DAI is achieved in the most efficient and cost-effective way. “We worked out the essential workflow elements some time ago,” explained Duval. “The quantum progression that you will see at NAB this year is how Vantage makes the whole process much more hands-free and cost effective without requiring wholesale infrastructure replacement.”
“NAB 2015 will be a key strategic milestone for Telestream in terms of introducing DAI – we can demonstrate to content owners and cable TV MVPDs a resilient and reliable toolkit which will help them evolve and extend their business models, creating major new revenue streams, which is something fresh and new in our industry in recent times,” stated Paul Turner, VP of enterprise product management at Telestream. “We welcome people to visit our booth and experience it for themselves.”
About Telestream
Telestream provides world-class live and on-demand digital video tools and workflow solutions that allow consumers and businesses to transform video on the desktop and across the enterprise. Many of the world’s most demanding media and entertainment companies as well as a growing number of users in a broad range of business environments, rely on Telestream products to streamline operations, reach broader audiences and generate more revenue from their media. Telestream products span the entire digital media lifecycle, including video capture and ingest; live and on-demand encoding and transcoding; captioning; playout, delivery, and live streaming; as well as automation and orchestration of the entire workflow. Telestream corporate headquarters are located in Nevada City, California. The company is privately held. For more information, visit www.telestream.net.
