At first glance, the rise of ad-supported streaming video could feel like a return to familiar TV models. Traditional broadcast television was always supported by advertisements. Netflix’s bold emergence in 2007 seemed to signal that the internet would be different. For OTT television viewers, a monthly subscription meant premium content with no advertisements.
The media landscape today looks different than it did then. In 2023, Netflix, along with top streamers Hulu, Max, and Disney+, began offering a cheaper subscription tier for viewers who didn’t mind watching a few ads, a model that Peacock launched with years ago.
At the same time, ad-supported services like Freevee and Tubi began rising in popularity and critical reception, while free advertising-based streaming television (FAST) channels caught on by adopting a cable-like set schedule. Today, as sports streaming breaks new viewership records and social media video apps like TikTok continue to define culture, it’s clear that internet video means watching ads.
Behind the scenes, video service providers know that streaming ads are an entirely different process than they were on cable, with personalized ads being selected and triggered in the moment. It’s a new technical challenge to navigate. As the popularity of ad-supported streaming video rises, so do the expectations of audiences for a perfect viewing experience. When ad insertion can directly lead to streaming issues, that’s easier said than done.
How Ads Are Inserted into Streaming Video
Streaming ads are generally “dynamically inserted” into the content they’re accompanying, instead of being packaged together in advance like on cable TV. The ads come from a different origin server than the rest of the content, which is pulled from its source to a video player that inserts the ads in real time.
The most common way to achieve dynamic ad insertion (DAI) involves using SCTE-35 ad cues. These cues are added at appropriate spots in the content. When the video player reaches a cue, it triggers an “ad pod,” or a group of ads playing in a row. The cue contains information on how long the pod will last and how many ads should fill it.
With that information, the video player pulls the required ads to fill the pod all from different sources, often personalized to the preferences or general location of the viewer. DAI is complex, and the level of required technological interaction leads to errors more often than it ideally should.
The Errors Involved with DAI
Streaming ad issues happen frequently. Anyone who has watched ad-supported video is familiar with them. Common errors include ads starting early, late, or not playing in full before they are cut off; significant buffering before or during the ads; a single ad being repeated multiple times in an ad pod; and ads playing with an entirely different audio or picture quality than the content itself.
The most severe ad issues involve slates, which commonly appear on FAST channels. Since FAST runs on a set schedule with frequent ad breaks, slates often fill the regularly scheduled intervals. Slates can include countdown timers to the content continuing, or a static image promising a return to the programming.
With DAI, these slates can appear entirely blank — convincing the viewer that the slate has crashed — or, even worse, crash the stream immediately. Witbe’s independent research has observed that up to 30% of all FAST viewing sessions are affected by an ad insertion error.
The Path Forward for Video Service Providers
The impact that ad insertion errors have on streaming video is significant. So, how can they be fixed? The answer is important to video service providers, who depend on revenue from third-party advertisers.
If viewers are unable to watch the ads due to streaming errors, providers are unable to sell those ad impressions (i.e., views) — and often, those viewers don’t return in the future. On the other hand, if advertisers experience their ads not being properly aired, they can withhold payment or quit working with a provider.
Of course, there is no single mistake that leads to ad insertion issues. The errors that reach viewers could have been introduced at several different stops in the video delivery pathway. However, there is a single way to discover the issues affecting viewers at home: ad monitoring.
How to Monitor Streaming Ad Performance
It’s a common mantra in internet delivery: verification is key. Streaming performance cannot be improved until it is reliably verified. The same is true for ad performance. Since the ads are dynamically inserted, the errors they cause are often dynamic too: they might not appear the same way across different types of devices.
Accordingly, service providers interested in ad monitoring should do it on the same real devices and networks that their viewers use. Witbe has observed several ad errors that are only visible through real device monitoring, including ones caused by the interaction with other services on the same device.
Scaling up testing across all the combinations of device models and operating systems their service runs on can only be achieved through automation. Automated testing can evaluate ad performance by specific criteria, including the duration of the ads played; the video and audio quality of the ads; the total amount of buffering involved; the appearance of any slates, particularly blank ones or black screens; and any time the stream crashes, among others.
Once providers have this data, they can use it to resolve the errors themselves, as well as share successful results and video recordings with advertisers when necessary.
The Benefits of Real Device Ad Monitoring
Dynamically inserted ads are essential for providers, but they currently pose a direct threat to the mission of delivering superior streaming quality. The only way to truly verify and resolve ad errors is by monitoring them on real devices and networks.
When reliable ad monitoring leads to consistently delivering a strong ad-supported video performance, providers build positive brand awareness and increase their ability to secure ad revenue. When dealing with DAI, real device monitoring is a must.
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