The ad replacement process can be complicated and time-consuming. Often, you’re forced to deal with multiple workflows and left wondering how to efficiently generate content revenue for your business to survive. Verizon Digital Media Services’ new Conditional Boundaries feature is here to simplify the entire ad replacement process for you:

• Enjoy more flexibility and granular control to modify your user’s playback experience
• Remove or replace content segments and commercial breaks on a conditional, per-user basis
• No need to encode your content multiple times for each permutation

Our implementation of Conditional Boundaries is based on our groundbreaking server-side ad insertion technology, which uses query string parameters on the content playback URL to deliver the intended functionality to the server. But we’ve taken it beyond our current server-side ad insertion capabilities. After inserting Conditional Boundaries via our Slicer API, customers can show their original content, replace content with ads or skip segments of content entirely. This can be done on the fly, on a per viewer basis.

There are several exciting scenarios for using Conditional Boundaries. Imagine replacing your original ads encoded in the stream with dynamic ads at the end of C3 or C7 windows. You can also replace ads during a live event, such as the halftime show of the big game. By not requiring a fixed naming convention, we’ve made things more flexible for you, however, it does make sense to use a case scenario name, e.g. C3, C7, Halftime, etc. Here’s a deeper look at what Conditional Boundaries can do for you:

• C3 Ad Loads — Deliver the C3 ad load during a live airing and for the VOD version of the content for the duration of the C3 window. Once the C3 window has expired, you can transition to server-side digital ad replacement, all with a single encode.
• Syndication — Deliver live content with digital ad replacement in your own app and deliver the same content with the C3 ad load to a syndication partner, also with a single encode.
• Complex redistribution rights — Sometimes you have the ability to show your full broadcast on some properties, but syndication partners can’t include 100% of the same lineup. Instead of creating two separate feeds and incurring all those costs and complexities, Conditional Boundaries allows you or your syndication partners to black out embargoed content with a single encode.
  From ad replacement, to blackout, to regional content substitution, Conditional Boundaries allows you to achieve multiple distribution strategies with only a single content encode. At this time, Conditional Boundaries is supported via the live Slicer API. Currently, we support boundary behaviors for VOD content originating from a live encode, and in the near future, we will also be supporting boundary insertion for file-based encoding workflows. Stay tuned for that.

Verizon’s end-to-end platform is the industry’s one-stop solution for single-format encoding, worldwide, lightning-fast content delivery and server-side ad insertion technology for seamless, TV-like experiences on every device. The implementation of Conditional Boundaries into our platform is just another way we’re simplifying the traditional broadcast workflow and helping broadcasters like you radically reduce costs and complexities for a myriad of cases.

Thomas Quinn, Senior Product Manager