Ad Break Distillery offers video service providers novel ways to improve and monetize their catch-up and replay services.
Media Distillery, a provider of AI-powered video analysis solutions to optimise the user experience (UX) of video entertainment platforms, has launched a new solution, Ad Break Distillery, which automatically detects the start and end of ad breaks in live broadcast video streams
The solution identifies the exact start and stop times of ad breaks in broadcast video, enabling video platform operators, service providers and broadcasters to enhance monetisation opportunities for on-demand viewing while also improving user engagement.
Ad Break Distillery builds on the same core technology as EPG Correction Distillery, Media Distillery’s product that detects a programme’s true start and stops times, so that viewers have a VOD-like experience for catch-up and replay.
Due to the explosion of OTT and VOD, advertisers are looking for the ability to target and create personalised ad experiences, as well as setting consumers’ expectations regarding ad breaks.
Research undertaken in Switzerland by TV marketing specialist Admeira shows that the length of the ad break influences the recall of ads. Shorter ad breaks generate more attention, with recall decreasing almost linearly as ad break length increases. When the ad break is too long, viewers may even tune out completely.
Furthermore, these linear ad breaks often don’t translate well, and/or are less effective, in the context of catch-up and replay. One reason is that viewers have grown accustomed to the shorter ad break formats typical of today’s popular OTT services.
Ad Break Distillery automatically detects the beginning and end of ad breaks in live broadcast video and delivers time markers as actionable metadata.
With Ad Break Distillery, broadcasters and operators of video entertainment platforms can create new ad inventory; enforce trick-play restrictions; repurpose broadcast content for FAST and AVOD; bring the OTT experience to replay; and ad-skipping subscription model.
Every use case depends on the agreements between content owners and distributors, which may vary in different markets, regions and/or per content type.
Ed Barton, Research Director, Caretta Research, said: “In today’s competitive media landscape, every video platform can benefit from granular metadata to enhance the user experience and the potential for monetization. However, our research shows that creating good metadata can be an expensive and lengthy process, especially for super-aggregators attempting to create a more immersive and visual user experience.”
Barton added: “We’re seeing operators adopting Media Distillery’s technology to ensure catch-up and replay time markers are correct, the right keyframe images are extracted and time markers for ad breaks are accurate, creating ad replacement revenue potential for video distributors and improving the viewing experience for audiences.”
Roland Sars, CEO of Media Distillery, stated: “With the ad break markers we provide, video service providers are now enabled to do dynamic ad replacement, enforce trick play restrictions during ad breaks only, and deliver novel viewing experiences.”
Ad Break Distillery offers flexible integration options. Through AI-powered video analysis, Ad Break Distillery generates ad break markers that can be integrated directly into the video platform or delivered via integration with a video service’s existing EPG metadata provider.