IBC2019: The conversations that drive innovation in SSAI

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By David Springall, Founder & CTO, Yospace


I never cease to be amazed at how quickly the world of ad-tech evolves and this is especially apparent if I look back over Yospace’s experience at the last few NAB and IBC Shows.

What was striking at NAB this year was just how few meetings needed the use of a demo.  This is contrasts greatly to a couple of years ago and I put this down to the fact that server-side ad insertion has become a well understood technology.  In its basic form, anyway.

It is a testament to the maturity of our technology and the industry’s understanding of it that nobody questions what it is and whether it works anymore.  A fast-growing customer list has helped with this, but it’s also in the stability demonstrated by such a large proportion of our customers working with us over the long term.

Much more common than a demo is the use of a pen and pad to draw out customer-specific workflow diagrams, and it’s in these types of conversations that things get really interesting.

Like many modern tech providers, Yospace’s product map is largely defined by our customers’ current and future challenges.  The technology and the teams that develop it are agile enough to work in this way and we always have an innovative project on the go that pushes the boundaries of what SSAI can deliver as a result.

Our project with Medialaan to reduce ad load in a live stream (an IBC Innovation Award winner last year – read the case study here) came out of exactly this type of scenario.

We’ve also been able to lead the way in developing a prefetch system that delivers programmatic to large event audiences, a process that can become incredibly complex as you scale to millions of simultaneous viewers who all go to ad breaks at the same time.

We developed our prefetch technology to address this use-case in response to the requirements of a leading sports broadcaster.  I’m very pleased that today Yospace’s robustness in this area is recognised by so many (you can read more on prefetch in our Go Live white paper).

Achieving scale was the biggest topic we’re being asked about at the moment and I expect lots of related discussions at IBC.  Others that are cropping up a lot include:

  • Support for MPEG-DASH and CMAF (we have a number of customers using these methods now)
  • Total Video, or the idea of using consistent advertising methods and measurement tools across all content (live and VoD)
  • Maximising the revenue opportunity from programmatic demand by optimising for price and maintaining creative separation
  • Data security and the ability of SSAI to provide a middleware layer between the client and the ad server – especially important with GDPR in mind

These are areas that I anticipate will be high on people’s agendas at the IBC Show.  We’ll have a stand in Hall 14 and it will be great to catch up.

See you in September.

Click here to book a meeting at IBC.

 

New research finds significant untapped revenue potential in live IP-delivered television

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Staines-upon-Thames, UK – 07 September 2017
Yospace, the industry leader in dynamic ad insertion (DAI) technology, has sponsored a research programme that has found live programming still holds significant value among both consumers and broadcasters, and that the untapped advertising potential of live IP-delivered television must be realised in the near future in order to counter the threat posed by major internet media companies.

The findings come from a research paper conducted by international research consultancy MTM, looking specifically at the growth of live IP-delivered television in Europe and the advanced advertising opportunities that are being created as a result.

The paper found that live event programming — such as major sports events and reality television — plays a major role in the popularity of live IP-delivered television, accounting for approximately 70% of simulcast viewing on broadcasters’ OTT video services in the UK. On a wider scale, live and linear TV accounts for 60% of total video viewing in the UK market.

Tim Sewell, CEO, Yospace, says: “We are living in what many TV executives are calling the ‘golden age of TV’, and this research proves that there is robust demand for a strong supply of high-quality TV content. Although this content is now being delivered in numerous ways, broadcasters still see the incredible power that live, linear TV still has in attracting concurrent audiences at scale as unique.”

The research paper also predicts that major internet media companies such as Amazon, Facebook and Google will dramatically scale up their investments in live TV as they attempt to extend their offerings. In particular, the acquisition of rights to premium live events among these companies is expected to increase significantly.

However, despite the threat of increased competition, most TV executives interviewed as part of the research programme continue to be optimistic about the commercial prospects for linear and live IP-delivered TV. This is providing that broadcasters and pay TV platforms can develop advanced TV advertising capabilities, such as DAI, that leverage first-party data in order to grow their businesses and defend against online competition.

“In order to stave off the competition, broadcasters need to ‘supercharge’ their live IP simulcast advertising with the next generation of advertising technology. Certain broadcasters have already invested heavily in data-driven targeting and DAI technology, and others will probably look to follow suit in order to protect the revenues afforded by live, linear television as it moves to a digital environment.”

The research programme included a round-table seminar of 20 of Europe’s leading TV executives and a series of one-on-one interviews. The full findings can be downloaded from the Yospace website:
http://www.yospace.com/future-of-live-and-linear-video

Yospace will be exhibiting at IBC on stand 14.C18, and members of the team will be available to discuss the report findings further.

Videology partner with Yospace to deliver end-to-end addressable TV advertising solution

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London – 5th September 2017
Videology, a leading software provider for converged TV and video adverting, has announced today a technology partnership with Yospace, a leading provider of Dynamic Ad Insertion solutions to broadcasters. The two companies will collaborate to offer a full end-to-end addressable advertising solution across multiple platforms and devices.

Yospace’s world-leading server-side Dynamic Ad Insertion technology for live simulcast boasts a global customer list that includes DIRECTV, ITV, Channel 4 and BT Sport. When combined with Videology’s advanced forecasting and decisioning capabilities, broadcasters can control the ads that are seen by each viewer at both an individual and household level based on not only campaign targeting, but also taking into account TV compliance rules while also maximizing yield in real time.

“We are delighted to be adding Yospace to our growing list of major technology partners around the globe. By partnering with Yospace, Videology’s clients can seamlessly leverage Yospace’s market leading platform, ultimately driving better outcomes for TV advertisers and broadcasters alike” says John Tigg, SVP Enterprise Solution at Videology.

“Fully addressable adverting sits at the forefront of broadcaster thinking now, while server-side Dynamic Ad Insertion, particularly for live simulcast, is a critical element for it. Videology have built a strong reputation both in advanced inventory optimisation and forecasting as well as a robust programmatic infrastructure. We’re delighted to welcome them as a partner.” Says Tim Sewell, CEO at Yospace.

Videology and Yospace will be presenting a demonstration of their combined platforms on Yospace’s stand at IBC. Find them at 14.C18 in the Content Everywhere Hall.

Bitmovin Partners with Yospace

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With Yospace partnership, Bitmovin can now stitch ads directly into streaming video content, creating a broadcast-like transition between ads and content.

SAN FRANCISCO — 2nd August 2017
Bitmovin, the provider of streaming video infrastructure technologies, today announced it has partnered with Yospace, the leading provider of server-side dynamic ad insertion, to provide digital publishers using the Bitmovin Adaptive Streaming Player with the ability to seamlessly stitch ads into video content creating a broadcast-like transition that helps bypasses ad blockers on user devices.

Ad blockers are particularly prominent in the US and throughout Europe, especially among the coveted male 18-34 demographic, so any publisher or broadcaster trying to monetize those audiences could easily be prevented from reaching a major portion of them. With server-side ad insertion (SSAI), they do not have to worry about ad blockers since the content is stitched directly into the stream. Yospace customers have seen view-through rates regularly surpass 96% as a result.

“With the rise in popularity of ad blockers, publishers have to figure out innovative ways to monetize their content,” said Stefan Lederer, CEO of Bitmovin. “Server-side ad insertion eliminates the concern for ad blocking and gives any digital video publisher the best tool available for maximizing revenue, while delivering a killer streaming experience free from buffering or interruptions”

With this partnership, Bitmovin enables targeted live stream and on-demand SSAI using Yospace Dynamic Ad Insertion in combination with its Adaptive Streaming Player.

“Our partnership with Bitmovin is good news for broadcasters looking to take their OTT offering to the next level. Broadcasters are able to work with cutting edge video workflow technology that is integrated with a proven monetization solution,” said David Springall, CTO of Yospace.

Bitmovin and Yospace will demo this new technology at IBC 2017, September 15-19 in Amsterdam. Come by the Bitmovin booth in Hall 14, Booth E17.

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About Bitmovin

Bitmovin was founded in 2013 by the co-creators of the MPEG-DASH video streaming standard, used by industry leaders like Netflix and YouTube and currently accounts for 50% of US peak internet traffic. The company is laying the groundwork for a cross-platform future dominated by video content. Bitmovin, Inc. is based in Palo Alto, CA, and Klagenfurt, Austria and is privately owned. Investors include Atomico, YCombinator (YC S15), Dawn Capital, SpeedInvest, Constantia New Business and a number of angel investors, including the former VP Engineering of Netflix, the former CTO of Cisco and the founder of Unity. For more information, visit www.bitmovin.com

About Yospace
Yospace is the foremost provider of Dynamic Ad Insertion technology in the world today. Its server-side solution allows live streams and on demand content to be monetised in a way that is true to the user experience of broadcast television, while allowing advertising to be curated to the interests of the individual viewer.

Yospace services major broadcasters and network operators across the globe, including DIRECTV in the US; Sky Media, ITV, BT Sport, Channel 4 and STV in the UK; BFMTV in France; Canal 13 in Chile; TV4 in Sweden; Seven West Media, Seve West Media, The Nine Network and Network Ten in Australia.

Yospace announced as a CSI Awards finalist

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Staines-upon-Thames, UK – 1st August 2017
Yospace is shortlisted for the ‘Best TV everywhere or multi-screen video’ category in this years’ coveted CSI Awards.

Yospace is the world’s leading provider of Dynamic Ad Insertion technology, and CSI has recognised its importance in delivering ad insertion in live streams, for the first time, against a full sporting season that covered over 700 major sporting events including Premier League, The Emirates FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Aviva Premiership Rugby, European Professional Club Rugby Champions and Challenge Cup.

Paul Davies, Marketing & Communications, Yospace: “We’re delighted to be shortlisted in the ‘Best TV everywhere or multi-screen video’ category of the CSI Awards. You can see from the standard of the competition that the awards are very highly thought of in the industry. Being shortlisted is a measure of what an impact Yospace, and dynamic ad insertion as a whole, has had on the broadcast industry over the last twelve months.”

The CSI Awards, which are celebrating their 15th year, recognise excellence in the broadcast, video, OTT and IoT sectors and are organised by CSI Magazine (Cable and Satellite International Magazine). The winners will be determined by an independent judging panel and will be announced on Friday 15 September 2017 at IBC in Amsterdam. The full list of finalists and further details about attending the awards ceremony are available at www.csimagazine.com/awards

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About the CSI Awards

Established in 2003 the CSI Awards are among the most prestigious and competitive technology awards in the industry, designed to recognise and reward innovation and excellence in the cable, satellite, broadcast, IPTV, telco, broadband/OTT video, mobile TV and associated sectors.

About Yospace

Yospace is the foremost provider of Dynamic Ad Insertion technology in the world today. Its server-side solution allows live streams and on demand content to be monetised in a way that is true to the user experience of broadcast television, while allowing advertising to be curated to the interests of the individual viewer.

Yospace services major broadcasters and network operators across the globe, including DIRECTV in the US; Sky Media, ITV, BT Sport, Channel 4 and STV in the UK; BFMTV in France; Canal 13 in Chile; TV4 in Sweden; Seven West Media, The Nine Network and Network Ten in Australia.

www.yospace.com

Yospace delivers big audiences for dynamic advertisement replacement

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Reliability at scale transforms OTT into a true broadcast experience.

Staines-upon-Thames, 20 July 2015 – Yospace, the leading name in dynamic advertisement replacement, is using its presence at IBC2015 to demonstrate tailored advertising, catered for the individual, in live streams.  It will use real-world examples in recent events such as the XXII Olympic Winter Games, 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2015 Copa América to demonstrate its success.

Yospace’s solution conducts the advertisement replacement server-side.  To the consumer the stream is uninterrupted, but it contains advertising tailored to the group or to the individual. By making the replacements seamless and transparent the consumer perceives a broadcast quality service, but with advertising of such relevance that they stay with the stream.

Deployments of the technology with broadcasters have shown view-through rates for dynamic advertising replacement of up to 98.7%. With the ability to incorporate interactive functions in the online advertising, such as clickable overlays, engagement is driven even further.

“What we want to emphasise with our visitors at IBC2015 is that this is not something of the future but driving significant increases in ad revenues for our customer base today” said Tim Sewell, CEO, Yospace. “Our technology is driving huge advertising views for online channels, and scales to meet the demand of very large concurrent audiences associated with must-see events.

“Our technology is robust, scalable and proven in the most demanding live environments,” he added. “Broadcasters and online content providers can maximise their revenues through tailored, dynamic ad insertion, making more services financially viable and building better audience relations.”

Yospace’s server-side insertion technology is equally well suited to post-live and on demand services. It interfaces with campaign management tools each time a programme is subsequently viewed to tailor advertisements to the region, the group and/or the individual if required.

Octoshape and Yospace Pair Up To Monetize Multiscreen OTT IPTV

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Dynamic, seamless and consistent video quality ad replacement for efficient linear multiscreen OTT IPTV.

September 10th 2014, International Broadcasters Convention:Octoshape, an industry leader in cloud-based, over-the-top (OTT) stream acceleration and contribution technologies for broadcasters, enterprises and carriers, and veteran innovator of the mobile and multimedia monetization industry Yospace announced today a partnership to provide TV quality seamless per-user ad insertion solutions which will drive premium monetization opportunities for broadcasters.

Utilizing the Octoshape patented stream acceleration technologies, the quality of in-stream OTT video ad-insertion experiences are dramatically increased. Historically, when dynamically inserting advertising into a linear broadcast stream from random providers, the video quality of the ad does not match the video quality of the stream, either due to encoding, or the throughput challenges of non-accelerated or HTTP delivery technologies. Integrating with industry leading ad decision engines, Yospace dynamically pre-processes the original ad content to match the encoding profiles and quality of the original broadcast stream. The combined solution then results in sustained TV quality experiences, that seamlessly transitions from broadcast content to seamless per-user advertising without a shift in quality.

“Quality video experiences are a cornerstone to successful content distribution and monetization across the Internet” said Michael Koehn Milland, CEO of Octoshape. “We are excited to work with Yospace as their product value proposition is in direct alignment with ours: developing cutting edge technology to help our customers build successful content distribution businesses over the Internet.”

Tim Sewell, CEO of Yospace, said: “Monetizing content is about consumer engagement, and video quality has a direct correlation to revenue for our customers. The combined Octoshape and Yospace solution drives that consumer engagement to a new level”

The combined solution is currently being deployed with leading direct entertainment satellite broadcasters and will be ready for large scale deployment with other OTT IPTV broadcasters customers in late 2014.

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For more information or to schedule a demo during IBC, please email sales@octoshape.com.


About Octoshape

Octoshape is a revolutionary cloud OTT IPTV service provider that focuses on delivering broadcast, enterprise and carrier solutions. Octoshape’s cloud technologies are adopted worldwide to enable the evolution of broadcast TV to broadband TV.  The patented stream acceleration platform combined with the suite of multicast technologies offer unparalleled stream quality, true global reach and multicast-equivalent network efficiency to deliver a consistent and cost effective TV viewing experience for broadband multi-screen, point to (multi) point contribution and enterprise delivery.  Visit us at www.octoshape.com for more information and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

For Octoshape
Scott.Brown@octoshape.com
+1.770.578.1686


About Yospace

Yospace is a content distribution innovator delivering unique capabilities in multi-screen streaming, allowing broadcasters and publishers to efficiently monetize video to a wide range of connected devices.

The company’s cloud-based video delivery platform yospaceCDS offers seamless and frame accurate server-side ad replacement in both on-demand and live streams, supporting VAST and SCTE-130 compliant ad decision systems, industry standard digital rights management for both HLS and Smooth Streaming protocols.

To complement its distribution system, Yospace also offer a range of broadcast head-end solutions to enable the necessary stream conditioning and ad avail detection required for dynamic ad insertion in live streaming, including automation system integration, Placement Opportunity Information Service (POIS), scheduling integration and blackout management.

Yospace at IBC – this time it’s personal

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London, UK, 9 July 2012: Yospace, the content distribution innovator, is using IBC to focus on its unique system to tailor individual content without disturbing the stream. Its technology – which has been shortlisted for an IBC 2012 Innovation Award – replaces content and advertising in real time at the headend, meaning that it is delivered as a single stream without buffering, freezes or lost video. The power of the system is that every single stream can be personalised for a specific viewer.

The unique Yospace approach is based on two key technologies. First, it interfaces closely with the broadcaster’s own playout automation system so it can switch to alternate content with frame accuracy. That means the viewer is never aware that there has even been a substitution.

Second, because the content replacement and streaming distribution are offered as a cloud service, the system can scale to any number of simultaneous viewers and complexity of content replacement. Given sufficient granularity in the subscriber management system, a unique and tailored commercial break can be tailored for each individual viewer. Taken together, the Yospace innovations mean that broadcasters can now support the delivery of linear programming to alternative platforms with a powerful commercial proposition.

“Everyone agrees that multi-screening and delivery to mobiles, tablets and computers is one of the top issues to be debated at IBC this year,” said Tim Sewell, CEO of Yospace.

“Our unique technology is already exciting the broadcasters who are trialling it, and the whole team is looking forward to discussing detailed implementations with broadcasters from around the world at IBC this September.”

Find Yospace on stand 14.342, close to the Connected World in the new hall 14, at IBC 2012, Amsterdam 7 to 11 September.

IBC awards recognise Yospace and Snell innovation

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London, UK – 13th June 2012: Yospace, a content distribution innovator which has developed from its mobile origins to create new streaming solutions for non-linear, linear and live delivery, was a first-time exhibitor at IBC2011. Its content replacement technology was seen by leading UK broadcaster ITV, who decided to enter into a proof of concept trial working with its Snell Morpheus automation system – and now that project has made it to the shortlist for the IBC2012 Innovation Awards.

The IBC Innovation Awards recognise significant partnerships to achieve a real creative, commercial or technical advance. To be a finalist a project has to show collaboration between the user, the principle supplier and other technology partners. Of the vast number of proposals submitted to the IBC judging panel, the ITV Yospace and Snell project is one of just four which made it to the finals in the content delivery category.

The Yospace content replacement system is unique in that it delivers to the consumer seamless content with no freezes or buffering delays caused by the receiving device having to switch between different sources of media. The solution comprises of an encoding element and a streaming element. The encoding element interfaces tightly with Morpheus automation to determine the frame accurate boundaries of replacement programming events using its Second Screen Service. The information can be tailored to the end application, and be structured at an event (programme or commercial) level or at greater resolutions for triggers within a programme if required. The timing information sent from Morpheus also includes a mechanism for the end-to-end system latency to be catered for.

The streaming element switches between the standard broadcast output and the potentially tailored replacement content for each user consuming a stream. Because the Yospace streaming is a cloud service, broadcasters do not need to be concerned with scaling the number of simultaneous users and in the granularity of the content tailoring. It is perfectly possible to deliver different content streams to each individual user if required by the broadcaster.

“This is a really exciting achievement for us,” said David Springall, CTO of Yospace. “We worked closely with ITV to demonstrate that we really could deliver what we said: an online or mobile experience that looks to the user exactly the same as the smooth and seamless transmission they are used to in broadcast television, but at the same time, with content that can be tailored by demographic or by individual. This was a great demonstration of the potential next steps in commercial multi-platform delivery, and we are all delighted that the IBC judges have recognised the importance of this innovation.”

Matthew Hogg, Principal Analyst at ITV said: “We saw Yospace at IBC last year and immediately recognised the potential for this technology to support multi-platform delivery, alongside Snell our existing playout technology provider. Yospace and Snell proved to be great partners to work with – getting the system up and running quickly and effectively. We are delighted to be the first UK broadcaster to have proven the concepts of the underlying technologies in partnership with Yospace and Snell. We are now continuing to explore the potential for developing these as real-life systems.”

While the shortlist of finalists for the IBC2012 Innovation Awards were announced at the beginning of June, the nominees will not know who will take home the trophies until the awards ceremony itself, held on Sunday evening 9 September as part of IBC.

Yospace is exhibiting at IBC on stand no. 14.342.

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About Yospace

Founded in 1999, Yospace is a veteran of the mobile & multimedia industry. It provides a highly innovative platform allowing broadcasters, digital publishers, applications developers and mobile operators to rapidly and affordably deliver and monetise cross platform video services.

With the growing convergence of traditional broadcast with cross platform media consumption, Yospace is now a major player in content distribution. It entered the market in 2005, delivering user-generated content to mobiles, first through the breakthrough SeeMeTV community on the UK network 3. Today it provides streaming services and advertising replacement technology to broadcasters looking to retain audience loyalty and build revenues by making content available on all connected platforms and devices. Yospace provides its solutions in the cloud as software as a service model. This allows it to provide highly scalable solutions giving its clients flexibility without being locked in to heavy costs.

The company was acquired by Emap in 2007, and subsequently Emap was acquired by Bauer Media. Following a management led buy back In March 2009 Yospace now operates as a highly agile independent company.

The company’s customers include Thomson Reuters, Canadian Broadcasting, BBC, Vodafone Group, CBS Interactive, and Hearst Television.

Further information can be found at www.yospace.com

About Snell

Snell is a leading innovator in digital media technology, providing broadcasters and global media companies with a comprehensive range of solutions to create, manage, and streamline the distribution of content for today’s multi-screen world. Specializing in TV Everywhere, Broadcast Infrastructure, and Live Production applications, Snell provides the necessary tools to transition seamlessly and cost-effectively to HDTV, stereoscopic 3D, and 3Gbps operations, while enabling broadcasters to monetize and deliver their media assets across multiple distribution platforms. Headquartered in the U.K., Snell serves more than 2,000 broadcasters, post facilities, and global media companies in more than 100 countries through its worldwide team of sales and support personnel.

More information is available at www.snellgroup.com.

About ITV plc

ITV is the largest commercial television network in the UK. It is the home of popular television from the biggest entertainment events, to original drama, major sport, landmark factual series and independent news. It operates a family of channels including ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 and CITV which are broadcast free-to-air on Freeview, digital satellite (Sky/Freesat) and cable. ITV is also focused on delivering across multiple platforms including itv.com, video on demand on cable television and other ‘closed’ platforms, mobile devices and games consoles. ITV Studios produces and sells programmes and formats in the UK and worldwide, and comprises of ITV’s UK and international production operations, international distribution, home entertainment, publishing, merchandising and licensing.