Set up a live stream for DAI

Streaming format

Ad Manager currently supports DASH and HLS media file streaming formats.

Dynamic Ad Insertion type

How live stream ads will be inserted.

• Linear: Used when video content and ads are stitched together into a unique video manifest per user.
• Segment redirect: Used when the same manifest is used for all users but the ad break segment URLs are redirected to unique ad segments per user.

For a livestream event to be used with the pod serving API, you need to populate several attributes (primarily associated with pod serving) of your event:

• customAssetKey: A custom identifier to be used for this Event. Must be unique across all Events for the network.
• adTags: Primary ad tag URL generated by the Ad Manager trafficking workflow.
• dynamicAdInsertionType: Must be set to POD_SERVING_REDIRECT.
• streamingFormat: Set to HLS or DASH accordingly.
• segmentUrlAuthenticationKeyIds: at least one HMAC key used to sign ad segment requests.
• daiEncodingProfileIds: A list of the DAIEncodingProfile IDs enabled for this event.
• startDateTime: The start date and time of the event.

• endDateTime: The scheduled end date and time of this event. This attribute is required if unlimitedEndDateTime is false and ignored if unlimitedEndDateTime is true.

Start time

The time when Ad Manager can begin to ingest the stream. Click Immediately if your stream is available now.

If your stream is intended for a live event, it's best to start several days before the actual event for testing. At minimum, you should choose a time 15 minutes before the stream becomes available.

End time

If your stream will run 24/7, click Unlimited. Otherwise, if you are streaming an event, choose an end time when there should be zero viewers of the stream. You may want to add a buffer of at least 15 minutes relative to the scheduled end time of the event.

DAI authentication keys

Used to authenticate stream requests  to the DAI SDK API.

Slate

Slates are served when there are gaps in a live stream commercial break that cannot be filled with a dynamically-served ad.

If you don't want to show the network default slate, click Override and choose a slate to run for this live stream only. You are not billed for slates.

Content stream

The URL of the content stream source, for ingestion by Ad Manager.

The content stream URL should point to the master m3u8 of your live HLS stream. It can be the URL of an ongoing content stream (for example, a television channel) or a single stream (for example, a sports match).

(Optional) If you have alternate encoders/packagers that can be used by Ad Manager to ensure ingest of the content stream, click Add backup stream. These backups are processed to provide a DAI live stream with ads.

How often the master playlist should be refreshed.

• Automatic: Automatically refresh the master playlist every few minutes.
• Manual: Ad Manager should display a refresh button that lets you to control when and how often the playlist is refreshed.

This feature may not be turned on for your network. If this is not available, you can contact your account manager for more information.

Playlist type

The type of the playlist associated with this live stream.

• Event: When media segments can only be added to the end of the playlist. This allows viewers to scrub back to the beginning of the playlist. This type should be used for streams with the #EXT-X-PLAYLIST-TYPE:EVENT tag.

  Event playlists will only be served for 14 days after the stream has ended.

  Event playlists are not supported with SSB.

• Live: (Default for all live streams) When there are no restrictions on whether media segments can be removed from the beginning of the playlist. This should be used for streams without the #EXT-X-PLAYLIST-TYPE tag.

Live stream content configurations
^(Optional)

If your external CDN requires authentication, select an existing CDN configuration, or click to create a new configuration.

In the Ad Manager live steam interface, previously selected content configurations can be clicked to open them in a new window.

DVR window
^(Optional)

The duration (in seconds) of content a viewer is able to scrub back to when watching a live stream. This is available with both the "Event" and "Live" playlist types.

The DVR window only applies to streams created with client-side beaconing.

Relative playlist URLs

Activate relative, rather than fixed, playlist URLs (relative to the delivery prefix in your CDN configuration).

Allowed IP access

Activate to allow specific IP addresses to access this content source, regardless of blocked geographic regions.

DASH manifest type

Whether the DASH manifest is provided as a single-period or multi-period manifest. This allows DAI to apply DASH bridge conditioning to convert single-period to multi-period, if needed.

Required if pre-roll ad break settings are enabled. If you do not have one, you can create a default ad tag for DAI.

Ad tag parameters overrides sent when requesting a stream apply to both mid-rolls and pre-rolls.

Master ad tag

Create a default ad tag for DAI and enter it here. You can alternately click Create tag and follow the DAI-specific instruction to create an ad tag.

Ad tag parameters overrides sent when requesting a stream apply to both mid-rolls and pre-rolls.

Empty ad break fill type

The type of video content displayed in an ad break when the VAST response is empty. Partially filled ad breaks always fill the remaining time with slate. However, when an empty VAST response is received, you can choose whether you want to display slate or underlying content.

• Slate: displays video content that you've created as slate to fill the break.
• Underlying content: displays live stream content to fill the break.

Underfill ad break fill type
 ^(Beta) 

The type of video content displayed in an ad break when there aren't enough ads to fill the entire break.

HLS supports slate and underlying content.

DASH supports slate and minimize slate.

• Slate: displays video content that you've created as slate to fill the break.
• Underlying content: displays live stream content to fill the break.
• Minimize slate: displays live stream content to fill the break. When ad content cannot be aligned with underlying content during transition, the gap is bridged with slate to maintain the timeline.

Durationless ad breaks

Activate if the live stream contains cue-out markers without duration, when the ad break duration is unknown in advance.

Default ad break duration

The default ad break duration (in seconds) that should be requested when an ad break cue-out does not specify a duration. This is only available when "Durationless ad breaks" is activated.

If the default duration is shorter than the actual break, Ad Manager fills the remaining time with a slate. If the duration is longer, the ad is cut off.

Prefetch ad breaks

Request an initial and subsequent portion of the ad break.

This is recommended for all live events to more evenly distribute ad requests and prevent throttling errors in both Ad Manager and third-party ad servers. When activated, you'll need to specify an initial ad request duration.

Prefetch prevents SCTE-35 targeting to be used for the "Initial ad request duration" as this duration is decisioned before the CUE-OUT. Learn more about target ad breaks with SCTE-35 signals.

Force close ad breaks
 ^(Beta) 

Whether live stream placement opportunities without #EXT-CUE-IN markers should be force closed.

Drop short ad break segments
 ^(Beta) 

Whether segments shorter than 1 second at the end of an ad pod should be dropped.

Initial ad request duration

The number of seconds allotted for the initial ad request for prefetched ad breaks. This is only available when "Prefetch ad breaks" is activated.

You should set this duration to as long as possible to increase the benefits of prefetching, but not longer than the shortest ad break expected. For example, for a live event with 30s and 60s ad breaks, the initial duration should be set to 30s.

Ad holiday duration
^(Optional)

The duration in seconds from the time the user enters the video stream, for which mid-roll decisions are skipped. This field is only applicable when an ad holiday (dai-ah) is in the stream request.

The ad holiday feature is especially helpful when client-side pre-rolls are used before a live stream. It is activated to avoid showing viewers an ad immediately after they've just watched a pre-roll ad.

Maximum filler duration

Activate to set the maximum number of seconds that can be used to fill this ad pod, either with a slate or underlying content, depending on your settings. If more time needs to be filled, the ad pod will instead be dropped and the underlying content will be served.