This section applies to SSAI (server-side ad insertion) in the live streaming services only.
Ads are delimited in the stream by the cue points previously defined in this document. However, some semantics might not be clear from that simple definition, so we will explain those semantics a bit further here.
The reliability of the cue points (e.g., presence, contents, and timing of the cue points) described below are ultimately determined by the quality of the information received from the station’s RAS. For example, some RAS only mark the beginning and end of each break period, and not individual ads. Players should be tolerant of this situation, or be developed accounting for a station’s peculiarity. Stations performing server-side replacement will tend to follow these rules more strictly.
Ad/Break Start
Individual ads, and entire break periods (i.e., a series of contiguous ads), are triggered by the same cue point. When the player receives such a cue point, it should consider the stream as “in break,” and adjust its behavior accordingly (e.g., display/un-hide banners, clear the artist/title information, etc.).
The behavior is identical for all cue point formats, but the cue point names and attributes will vary by format:
STWCue | AndoXML | ShoutCast V2 |
|---|---|---|
AND
|
AND
|
AND
|
Contiguous ads will all be marked individually by one of these cue points. The player is considered “in break” until it receives one of the “Break End” cue points described below.
Break End
Break periods ends are marked either explicitly, by an “end break” marker, or implicitly, by reception of a cue point that is not specifically identified as an ad. Again, the behavior is identical for all cue point formats, but the cue point names and attributes will vary by format:
STWCue | AndoXML | ShoutCast V2 |
|---|---|---|
OR
|
OR
|
OR
OR
|
When the player receives one of these cue points, it should consider the stream as “out of break,” and take the necessary actions (e.g., clear/hide banners, restore track title/artist/cover art, release unnecessary resources, etc.).
Break-end Grace Period and Reset
With Triton Digital's new TAP advertising platform, industry separation and frequency capping for live streams is handled differently than it was previously. One of the differences is how the system determines when the stream is in a break, and when that break is over.
In some cases the pattern of cue points sent by your RAS might cause the ad server to think a break has finished when in fact it has not, result in the same (or similar) ads playing in close succession. Also, very brief content segments between breaks can cause the separation and capping system to return the same or similar ads as were played just before the brief content segment.
The Break-end grace period is the time that must elapse after the endbreak cue point before the break is considered to be truly ended. If another ad cue point arrives before the grace period has elapsed, the system assumes the same break is still active. The Default Break-end grace period (which applies to all of your stations) is one second* which in most cases is sufficient. However, if you hear the same or similar ads playing during a break, or after a brief content segment between breaks, then it indicates that the system thinks the break is over before it actually is. If so, you can usually fix the problem by overriding the station's Break-end Grace Period with a longer period.
* While the Default Break-end Grace Period is set at one second, you can request a custom Default Break-end Grace Period setting (such as "30 seconds"). See below.
Custom Default Break-end Grace Period
You can request a custom Default Break-end Grace Period setting (such as "30 seconds") by contacting Customer Support and asking for a global change to the default Break-end grace period. Be aware that this changes the default for all of your stations. However, you can still go to the Station Configuration in the Triton Console and override that custom default setting on a station-by-station basis. Therefore:
To create a custom Default Break-end Grace Period for all stations: Contact Customer Support.
To override the Default Break-end Grace Period for a specific station: use the station configuration section of the Triton Console.
For information on overriding the Default Break-end Grace Period, see the Triton Digital Streaming Console User Guide topic, Edit Station Configuration.
Break-end Grace Period Example Scenarios
