London, UK – 22nd March 2012: Yospace, the global leader in distributing video content to multiple platforms, is using NAB (booth SU8503) to unveil its revolutionary advertising replacement system. For the first time this allows broadcasters to stream linear channels online and to mobile and portable devices, inserting targeted and individualised advertising seamlessly into the content. Because the content appears exactly like a highly professional broadcast channel audiences accept the advertising, opening up real revenue earning potential.

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“Streaming solutions until now have involved buffering, latency and glitches in presentation resulting in audiences rejecting online advertising, which means broadcasters have no means of monetising the service,” said David Springall, CTO of Yospace. “What we offer is a unique integration between the streaming service and the broadcast automation, so the personalised content flows perfectly, giving the consumer exactly the experience they are used to from television, but on a smartphone, a tablet or online. The consumer does not notice that the ads are being replaced – but advertisers reach precisely the people they want.”The solution is aimed at the most popular streamed content: live television including sport and reality television. Because their commercial break patterns tend to be unpredictable, adding tailored advertising has, until now, meant freeze frames with spinning wheels while additional content is loaded, and the risk of missing critical action because of delays in getting back into the live content.The Yospace solution is in two parts. Appliances are installed at the broadcast centre which accept a high quality video feeds (HD-SDI from the playout server) and an Ethernet link to the automation system for schedules and commercial break cues. This streams content to a Yospace service in the cloud which handles the advertising replacement and streaming, based on the frame accurate scheduling information. The cloud streaming service also handles the metadata wrapping for each delivery service and device type, and utilises a content delivery network technology to stream each output with the greatest efficiency.The result is a system which always retains frame accuracy for a seamless output to every device. It is also infinitely scalable for the broadcaster because it is a cloud service. The commercials to be inserted are under the control of the broadcaster’s own advertising response system, which allows it to use the profile information of registered users, and geo-location information from mobile devices, to determine which content is most appropriate. It also allows the broadcaster to provide an audit trail to advertisers confirming the number of times that their spots were seen by their specified target market.Use of high-speed communications and next generation streaming protocols means that the seamless, broadcast-quality playout service with replacement content is delivered with minimal latency.“This is the first solution which delivers the user experience that broadcasters want to give their audience, the seamless presentation of all content, along with the ability to deliver precisely targeted advertising” said Yospace’s Springall. “For the first time they can build real revenues from their streaming services, turning them into profit centres. This alone makes it really revolutionary, a truly disruptive technology but one which the market has been demanding.”As well as inserting personalised advertising the system is equally well suited to achieve frame-accurate replacement of other live content, for instance because the producer has broadcast but not online rights to some of the event or programming.  The solution works equally well when the converse is true, allowing broadcasters to manually cue advertising breaks in on-line only live events, just as they would in the broadcast environment.  The Yospace content delivery network can also add other metadata into the stream, for example to add advertising around the screen on OTT services.