Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI) and the Future of Streaming AdTech at Streaming Media Connect
On Wednesday, May 21, at Streaming Media Connect, Nadine Krefetz, Consultant, Reality Software, moderated the panel “Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI) and the Future of Streaming AdTech,” which explored how Server-guided ad insertion (SGAI) is now being used, how effectively it is being implemented, and how likely it is to move into the ad-supported streaming mainstream.
The panelists were Sourya Roy, Senior Product Manager, Google, Jarred Wilichinsky, SVP Global Digital Ad Operations, Paramount, Katie Stroud, Senior Product Manager, Ad Experiences, IAB Tech Lab, and David Hassoun, Streaming Media Consultant, Muxed Consulting - ex-Dolby, RealEyes.
Key points discussed included the following:
- How SGAI offers a hybrid approach that combines the seamless experience of SSAI with the flexibility and ease of client-side ad insertion
- The technical requirements, cost implications, and potential for SGAI to enhance viewer experience by reducing latency and introducing cost-saving benefits
- The importance of standardization in ad formats to facilitate easier implementation and trading at scale
- The application of SGAI in FAST channels and its potential to improve ad monetization strategies
Krefetz asked the group to broadly define what SGAI is and what its unique benefits are.
The SGAI hybrid approach
Sourya Roy emphasized how SGAI provides a hybrid strategy that blends the adaptability and simplicity of client-side ad insertion with the smooth experience of SSAI. With the server directing the procedure, SGAI enables the client video player to control ad insertion. “What [SGAI] does is it takes the best parts of SSAI and the best parts of client-side ad insertion (CSAI), and it decouples the playback of the content with the ad stream,” he said. “The player is playing a content manifest, and separately, the player can play an ad manifest that does not need to be stitched directly into the content manifest.”
Hassoun noted that this hybrid approach is especially beneficial for live events. “Now you can have a hybrid approach where you can maintain your content separately. We don't have to rewrite the content for everybody, and we can have our ads delivered to them. We can maintain the great personalization we want and create better experiences because we're not just limited to one stream that has to go in there and fit in that exact system,” he said.
Stroud also highlighted the new varieties of ads that can be implemented with SGAI, such as squeezebacks, overlays, and L-bars, which she said cannot be easily stitched into streaming content.
How SGAI reduces latency and ultimately introduces cost-saving benefits
The panelists discussed the technical requirements, cost implications, and potential for SGAI to enhance viewer experience by reducing latency and enabling smoother transitions between content and ads.
Hassoun said, “As we keep on pushing more towards low latency, having a system that doesn't have to do the full manifest rewrites and so forth is one less processing step that we can take to help us maintain control of the latency aspect of our streams while still offering ads.”
He also touched on the cost-saving benefits of SGAI in the long run. “Whenever you transition to a new technology, it's difficult. It takes time, it's effort. Effort is money, but there are also benefits. I believe in SGAI from a cost savings perspective, and different routes, especially you can look to take within there, once you do that transition. So ultimately, by doing that in the SGAI run when we want a low-cost operation overhead, it can benefit the long-term return for those types of solutions because this can work with much less compute.
Stroud discussed the benefits of SGAI for improving transitions between content and ads. “If the player is managing that ad experience, you get your ad breaks and your ads, but since it's in the player's hands to make that a smooth transition, that becomes easier,” she said.
The importance of standardization in ad formats to facilitate easier implementation and trading at scale
Sourya Roy discussed the issues of standardization in ad formats and devices to facilitate easier implementation and trading at scale.
“The key thing is this is a very new tech,” he said. “It all started with Disney and Hulu launching on their platform. Then Apple standardized with HLS interstitials. [I think] we can expect much of the custom work to be no longer required. Yes, with many devices, some custom or integration work is needed because the players don't yet support these new ways of doing ads. But as we get more and more standards, I expect this implementation will be much simpler and easier.”
Hassoun talked about how the Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SVTA) has been trying to implement standardization. “SVTA has been working on trying to help create some more standards around the data and how that's formatted and sent to be able to take care of all the requirements around that,” he said. “Because there are things like tracking that are incredibly important, and there hasn't been a whole lot of structure around that. SVTA just approved the version two specification for ad signaling that covers how to pass along this more advanced metadata across the board. It went through voting and got the board's approval this week. And then our next step is we're hopefully going to be working with IAB and others within the industry on version three, which is to cover things like the non-linear ads and how we can better do that and have a standardized way for that so that this eases that work and that when players don't support that you don't have to do a custom implementation on top of that, that players can theoretically do that at their core level and create a better, easier, more simplified implementation experience.”
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