A Stitch in Time: How Stream Stitching Beats the Ad Blockers
通过视频广告赚钱的优质内容所有者面临着巨大的财务限制:广告拦截软件的有效性.
“广告拦截软件及其对视频策略的影响是我们今天在五分之四的会议上听到的一个话题,” 马特史密斯 (右)，首席布道者 Anvato. “简而言之, 广播公司, 出版商, 由于这项技术，程序员们发现多达三分之一的视频观看量受到了影响.”
我们是怎么走到这一步的, and what can an industry built on pre-roll, 间质, and post-roll advertising do to combat this massive decline in ad playback?
这个问题的答案, 据一些人说, 是否将广告和主要内容“拼接”成一个流的概念. 这个过程有几个名称，但最常见的是服务器端广告插入(SSAI)。.
SSAI允许播放列表, 也称为清单文件, to be delivered to an end user’s device, 但是有一个转折. 而不是清单调用多个位置-一个用于主要内容, 一个或多个用于AD服务的服务-清单仅从单个位置请求内容. 在理论上, 这使得广告拦截技术很难区分主要内容和广告内容.
There are a few approaches to SSAI, 其中一些只操纵manifest，而另一些则真正将AD直接缝合到直播或点播比特流中, 但是为了简单起见, this article won’t differentiate between the two. Instead we will generically call the whole process stream stitching.
据史密斯说, “more than $21 billion in ad payload (display and video, to be clear) is being lost in 2015 as a result” of ad blocking. 我们是怎么走到这一步的?
我们又回到了原点
在早期, before ad serving technologies were required, the ads were “baked in” to the stream. 对于现场活动, 广告可以通过数字磁盘记录器(DDR)播放到主控或视频混音器中。, 而一个注定要在点播内容中播放的广告将被编码为点播内容的一部分.
These kinds of baked-in ads were referred to as static ads, and often were only available for pre-roll delivery. One of the promises of online video delivery, 虽然, 是为任何观众定制内容的能力——印度的观众可能会看到孟买糖果店的广告, 而蒙大拿州的农民可能会看到当地约翰迪尔经销商的广告，这意味着静态广告解决方案是缺乏的.
解决这个问题的一种方法是为相同的点播内容创建数百个版本, with each version playing in a particular locale. 在全球范围内, 虽然, 那充其量也就是笨拙, and the level of granularity for ad targeting would still be lacking.
另一方面, 大多数流媒体公司都不具备提供数千个播放列表的复杂方式, 每个播放列表都包含相同的点播主要内容，并根据人口统计或地理信息提供不同的广告.
Companies serving up dynamic banner ads, 虽然, already had the technology to granularly target content to browsers. 其中一些公司将视频广告视为一个巨大的机会，并开始向优质视频内容所有者提供服务.
因为网页浏览器中的HTML呈现方式与图像和横幅广告大致相同, 使用内联内容传递，将“调用”或请求编码到HTML页面中的特定URL, 这些静态图像广告服务有一个致命的弱点:任何了解HTML代码工作方式的人都可以简单地编写一个程序来阻止对特定url的特定调用.
他们是否曾经. The open-source community created ad blocking software apps, and the crowdsourcing community has continued to improve those over the years. 事实证明，这些广告拦截器对横幅广告和最近的视频广告都非常有效.
Ad serving companies tried to write generic code, 然后哪一个被AD服务器解释为对特定类型AD的请求, but the ad blocking community would find these code strings and block the request.
Then ad serving companies tried obfuscating the ad request, 一开始使用的URL或IP地址不在已知广告服务公司的URL或IP地址的标准列表中. Those were also blocked effectively. Obfuscation went a step further, with ad requests using multiple redirects before hitting the actual ad server. 甚至这些选择都被开源广告拦截社区有效地阻挠了.
视频广告服务的部分问题在于对无缝终端用户体验的需求. No one wants to wait for an ad to load, 所以大多数客户端广告插入(CSAI)都需要双重播放器:一个播放广告，另一个播放主要内容.
The dual-player approach had a number of technical challenges, but did allow some ads to be prepopulated to the local user’s computer. 但这也为广告拦截社区提供了一个机会来识别缓存并完全消除广告.
CSAI继续取得进展, 包括Adobe的一些聪明的解决方案，这些解决方案被用作其Primetime Player服务的一部分, 然而，似乎有一个更好的解决方案——一个与最初的广告植入流的概念惊人相似的解决方案. Essentially it brings us full circle, 但是有一个转折.
超越双重玩家
这种解决方案，至少就目前而言，是SSAI，即前面描述的广告拼接技术.
Brigthcove 几年前收购了一家原始的流拼接技术公司独角兽媒体. Unicorn had labeled its product Once, 因为它能够从单一来源向数百台安卓和iOS设备传输流媒体. Brightcove now offers a derivative solution called Lift.
Brightcove’s server- side 广告插入 SSAI solution, Lift(以前叫Once), 如图所示), delivers streams to the hundreds of Android and iOS devices from a single source.
迈克格林, vice president of marketing and business development at Brightcove, cites a specific example from Vox Media, 一个布莱斯科夫的顾客, to explain the benefits of Lift and SSAI in general, 而不是CSAI.
“通过执行Brightcove Lift，通过服务器端广告插入将广告直接嵌入视频内容, Vox Media消除了客户端广告调用的一些变量和障碍，这些变量和障碍通常会影响数字出版商的表现,格林说.
According to Green, Vox faced CSAI challenges prior to implementing Lift. One challenge involved a less-than-seamless end-user experience for mobile devices. “尝试在Android移动网络上使用HLS进行客户端广告呼叫非常糟糕，以至于Vox实际上决定完全删除该平台的广告,格林说. “电梯, Vox was able to restore monetization on Android and more broadly, 在移动网络上, the company significantly improved playback consistency and quality, and shortened the time to first frame between ads and video content.”
Anvato的史密斯说，他想不出他的客户更喜欢CSAI而不是SSAI的情况.
“CSAI在它的时代很好, but introduced characteristics that needed to be improved upon,史密斯说, “including introduction of latency, mismatched quality between program and ad payload, 和其他人.”
史密斯说，针对CSAI的广告拦截技术可能会产生其他意想不到的后果.
“客户端广告拦截器将视频播放器发出的许多请求视为广告呼叫,史密斯说. “Think of it in military terms as friendly fire. The initial request for playback may be viewed in this way by the ad blockers, in the way that they see subsequent calls for video payload in a CSAI model. 结果是, program content is sometimes not able to reach the viewer, and the ad payload almost certainly isn’t.”
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