Glossary: Ads 101

When Considering Ads, there are a myriad of terms to know and keep in mind--some are pertinent solely to VOD content, and some are applicable across all forms of streaming. All categories of ads can be added manually to individual assets in the CMS, or in bulk via CSV.

For a video overview of ads in the CMS in general, see below:

Some important terms:

FOR VOD ASSETS:

PRE-ROLLS: Ads that run before a video asset begins. Via CSV--numerical value of number of instances of this type of ad break, e.g. "1" in value pre_roll_num.

MID-ROLLS: Ads that occur during the video asset playout--e.g. at breaks in action or dialogue within the asset, as with a traditional commercial break. Via manual entry and CSV--each instance wherein an ad break is appropriate is demarcated by timecode HH:MM:SS.ss; in a CSV, these are separated by a vertical pipe, rather than by commas: |.

POST-ROLLS: Ads that run at the completion of a video asset.  Via CSV--numerical value of number of instances of this type of ad break, e.g. "1" in value post_roll_num.

FOR LINEAR PLAYOUT:

MID-ROLLS: Ads that occur during the video asset playout--e.g. at breaks in action or dialogue within the asset, as with a traditional commercial break.  Via manual entry and CSV--each instance wherein an ad break is appropriate is demarcated by timecode HH:MM:SS.ss; in a CSV, these are separated by a vertical pipe, rather than by commas: |.

AD BREAK DURATION (for linear playout): All ad breaks are 2 MINUTES in length. Thus, when calculating total duration of an asset in a linear playout, the raw duration will account for the asset only, and the total will include ad breaks (e.g. a 45 minute asset in an hour slot with 4 ad breaks will yield a total duration of 53 minutes of content for a viewer). Via CSV--this value can be inserted into a linear schedule using the value ad_break.

PRE/MID/POST ROLL NUM: This value indicates the number of instances of a post or pre roll ad break you'd like to insert. Thus, "2" would trigger two ad slots, each of 2 minutes in duration. For peak user experience, we generally recommend leaving this value set to "1." In a CSV, these values can be set to "1" in columns pre_roll_num, mid_roll_num, post_roll_num.

NOTE: All ad breaks will automatically populate with as many ads of suitable duration as available per your AOR. Thus, if you have a 2 minute ad, your entire ad break will consist of that one ad, but if your ad partners provide primarily short-form ads, each ad break might then contain multiple ads.