Server-side ad insertion (SSAI) allows you to serve ads that are dynamically inserted into video content at the server level before content is delivered to the viewer's device. This is in contrast to client-side ad insertion (CSAI), where the viewer's device inserts ads during playback. Ad insertion on the server side is typically in real-time or near real-time. SSAI offers several advantages over CSAI, such as:
- Server-level ad insertion makes advertisements less susceptible to ad blockers used by viewers, resulting in higher delivery rates.
- SSAI allows for more precise ad targeting based on real-time viewer data, leading to higher ad relevance and engagement.
- Ads are seamlessly integrated into the video stream. Therefore, viewers experience smooth playback without buffering or quality degradation during ad transitions.
This page explains how to configure the Wowza Flowplayer Apple SDK to work with Google's Interactive Media Ads Dynamic Ad Insertion (IMA DAI) SDK.
For Google's IMA DAI integration to work with the Wowza Flowplayer Apple SDK for iOS or tvOS, you need the following:
- Access to a Google Ad Manager 360 Advanced account and a contract with Google to enable DAI.
- To use IMA DAI pod serving, you must also be working with a pod-serving partner.
- Make sure to download Google IMA SDK iOS 3.20.0 (exact version) and Google IMA SDK tvOS 4.11.1 (exact version) depending on your project. You need this dependency to integrate multimedia ads into the player and your application.
- Review Google's IMA DAI SDK for iOS and IMA DAI SDK for tvOS reference documentation.
- If you're configuring ads with Wowza Video platform media, ensure you have access to Wowza Video to complete the advertising configuration. You must also generate a player token in Wowza Video and set up the player to use this token.
DAI Pod Serving is a beta intended for Ad Manager publishers and video technology partners who either have an in-house manifest manipulation service or are currently using third-party manifest manipulation that's already integrated with DAI.
If you're using the MediaOVP media type to load your video, you can configure DAI media and advertisements in Wowza Video. This section describes how to set up DAI ads to load with your video content from Wowza Video, then use those configurations with the Apple SDK. At this time, we only support Google's VOD full service solution in Wowza Video.
After the previous steps, you can use the mediaId and playerId values to load the Wowza Video media. These example values are placeholders and must be replaced with your own:
let platformMedia = MediaOVP(mediaId: "[your-media-id]", playerId: "[player-configuration-id]")
let player.load(ovp: platformMedia)Pod-serving scenarios require the DAIStreamPodData structure to fetch the content URL and associated subtitles when you're working with a manifest manipulator or third-party partner. This struct takes the required properties in the following table.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
streamURLString | Holds the URL of the video stream as provided by a manifest manipulator or third-party partner using pod serving. For DAI live pod serving, a stream_id query parameter is appended to the URL. If the streamURL for a DAI live pod request already contains a stream_id parameter, it's overwritten by the stream ID received from the DAI SDK. |
subtitlesArray | Holds an optional array of dictionaries, with each dictionary representing a set of subtitles for a specific language. If present, the subtitles are loaded with the stream. |
When working with DAI stream content, you can use the delegate method or the NotificationCenter class to consume player-emitted events. See the FlowplayerDAIDelegate or the DAI stream notifications sections for information about capturing DAI stream events, such as stream errors, stream state changes, and stream ad playback progress.
If an error is related to a DAI-stream, it returns the AdError object. For error descriptions, see the AdError custom error type.
When using the Wowza Flowplayer Apple SDK, you can take advantage of the supported DAI features described in this section. These DAI features can be implemented when adding the player to your iOS or tvOS applications.
In the Google IMA DAI SDK, bookmarking refers to the capability of saving a user's viewing session progress. This feature can only be used with VOD full-service and pod-serving DAI content, where users pause or stop watching and then resume later at their last watched position.
Bookmarking can be especially important in scenarios where content includes dynamically-inserted advertisements. If a user stops watching in the middle of an ad break, bookmarking ensures they can resume playback without having to re-watch previously seen ads. Overall, bookmarking provides a seamless experience and continuity in video playback so users can pick up where they left off.
The following example loads a DAI VOD full service stream and sets the bookmark value to 20 seconds. Therefore, if a 10 second pre-roll ad was part of the DAI stream, the player would account for the ad time and start the DAI stream at 30 seconds.
// Ensure you have a valid backup stream URL or set it to nil if not available
let backupStreamURL: URL? = URL(string: "https://example.com/backup")
// Create DAIStreamVOD object and define parameters
let stream = DAIStreamVOD(
contentSourceID: "[your-content-source-id]",
videoID: "[your-video-id]",
// Skip to 20 seconds in the DAI stream and also account for any ad time
bookmark: 20,
backupStream: backupStreamURL
)
// Create MediaDAI object
let media = MediaDAI(stream: stream)
// Load the media into the player
let player.load(dai: media)For more, see Google's IMA DAI SDK for iOS bookmarks or IMA DAI SDK for tvOS bookmarks topics.
The snapback feature is automatically integrated into the Wowza Flowplayer Apple SDK when you play a DAI VOD full-service or pod-serving stream. It doesn't apply to DAI live-stream content. There's no additional configuration to use it.
With the snapback feature, you can make sure that if dynamic ad insertion is enabled for the stream, viewers cannot seek past your mid-roll ads. For example, when a user seeks past an ad break, you can take them back to the start of that ad break. You can then return them to their seek location after the ad break is finished. Overall, the snapback feature ensures that any ads that were scheduled to play are appropriately handled.
For more, see Google's IMA DAI SDK for iOS snapback or IMA DAI SDK for tvOS snapback topics.