STV Player, the online TV service for STV, the broadcaster and digital media brand that covers Scotland (and whose schedule is populated with ITV content like ‘Broadchurch’, ‘Coronation Street’ and ‘Britain’s Got Talent’) is claiming to be the first broadcaster anywhere to provide fully targetable Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) in live streaming on Amazon Fire TV. STV Player with DAI-enabled live streaming is available across all Fire TV devices including the new Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote, which was launched by Amazon in February. Amazon Fire TV was STV Player’s fastest growing distribution channel in 2016.
The ad insertion capabilities are powered by Yospace, whose server-side DAI platform allows advertising to be replaced seamlessly. “By inserting ads on the server side, the process of delivering fully addressable advertising across multiple platforms and devices is significantly simplified, and this has allowed STV to implement a true multi-platform advertising strategy,” the vendor comments.
Rémi Brunier, STV Player product owner, says: “STV was first in the UK to launch DAI live on web, iOS and Android in 2014 and we are first to provide DAI on Amazon Fire TV, offering further value for advertisers with fully targeted commercials in live streaming. STV was a launch partner of the Amazon Fire TV in 2014 and this further strengthens our partnership.”
Tim Sewell, CEO of Yospace, adds: “STV has been leading the way in live streaming for a number of years and now it is leading the way in implementing a full cross-platform strategy. The launch of DAI for Fire TV demonstrates that STV continues to operate at the cutting edge of commercial television.”
Yospace has become a market leader for dynamic ad insertion into live online television, helped by a robust platform that delivers a broadcast-standard user experience. BT Sport is among the other UK media companies using the solution: the broadcaster has created a vast amount of new inventory for its streamed live sports coverage, having deployed DAI last autumn in time for the 2016 Premier League football season.
Yospace has previously pointed out that server-side ad replacement has become a crucial tool for broadcasters who want to monetise their online content. “Without it, as in the case of live sports, viewers can be watching for a number of hours without seeing any ads that are sold for online.”
Yospace announced support for MPEG-DASH with its DAI solution last summer, complementing the original HLS offering. The company also announced a partnership last August with THEOplayer to enable its server-side ad replacement across live channels in HTML5 (working in HLS and MPEG-DASH). THEOplayer integrates seamlessly with streams secured by Widevine, PlayReady or FairPlay DRM systems. “We now make it possible for content owners to optimally monetise their content across all platforms and devices in HTML5, while offering a world class viewer experience,” Yospace explained at the time.
Yospace was in Barcelona a few weeks ago for Mobile World Congress, where it has a long-standing partnership with GSMA to help deliver Mobile World Live TV on web and mobile. Two Mobile World Live TV channels were streamed live: a 24/7 studio channel featuring interviews with global industry leaders, discussion panels and news, and a keynote channel that broadcast all the keynote sessions from the conference programme.
Yospace’s encoders prepared the live feeds for delivery across iOS, Android and web browsers and the company’s live-to-VOD service captured programmes, including keynotes, as they were broadcast and automatically made them available for catch-up within minutes of them ending. Pre-roll promotions could be applied to the new VOD assets using server-side stitching.
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