Technology terror: How ad-blocking technology steals ad dollars and video views

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Freddy Krueger. Jason Voorhees. Michael Myers. Ad Blocking Technology. If you’ve watched a horror movie in the past 20 years, you’ve no doubt heard of those first three gruesome monsters. The last term may not be as familiar to you, but it is becoming a boogeyman of sorts for streaming video -- both for those who create and provide it as well as those who consume it.

Ad-blocking software and technology has become a very serious concern for programers, video creators, and publishers in 2015. Before the year is over, an estimated $3 billion dollars in video ad payload will be lost by publishers because of ad-blocking technology. Some premium video authors estimate that as much as one third of their video content isn’t reaching their streaming audiences at all. It may not be an epidemic yet, but there clearly is a trend, as ad-supported video businesses are being challenged as consumers install ad blockers at an increasing rate, especially on their mobile devices where they engage with video the most.

The fatal flaw with most video ad delivery today is that it is still reliant on client side content and ad requests which originate with the player itself. This approach, called Client Side Ad Insertion (CSAI), puts not only the video programming itself, but also the valuable ad payload at risk of playback failure because ad blockers see these outbound requests and block them as they are designed to do. 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. As a result, program content is sometimes not able to reach the viewer, and the ad payload almost certainly isn’t.  A recent study claims that more than $21 billion in total ad payload (display and video, to be clear) is being lost in 2015.  For video, leveraging an SSAI approach to monetization defeats the boogeyman and keeps those dollars in the pocket of the publishers.

To be clear, CSAI was good in its day, but introduced characteristics that needed to be improved upon -- introduction of latency, mismatched quality between program and ad payload and others. But as massive media brands and publishers of all size grow, they need these solutions to scale without limitations. If a show or an event drives massive OTT audiences, these programmers and publishers need the scale and elasticity of the cloud to be able to deliver highly targeted (per user) ad payload at scale.

Beating the Boogeyman

As with many problems that have come before it, this technological wrinkle may have solved one problem (pop up and disruptive display ads), but quickly introduced another by proxy. The solution? A newer, more advanced approach that  has been in place for some time is server side, broadcast style dynamic ad insertion (DAI) and stream stitching.

This approach circumvents and defeats ad blockers on devices and desktops, because both the content and the advertising elements are dynamically created and delivered from the cloud.  This approach also improves on some of the legacy limitations of client side ad delivery as well, where latency and mismatched video quality (from program content to ad payload and back to program) were two key flaws in that delivery scheme. Further, stream stitching enables the publisher to replace content as needed when business rules dictate.

For example, if a live sports stream isn't available in a particular geography or a particular show of episodic television can be broadcast but not streamed, stream stitching enables immediate content replacement on the fly.  Finally, server side architecture enables publishers and programmers to scale their audience without limits.  As demand for content on any screen, any device, anywhere grows exponentially, cloud infrastructure and server side technological approaches win the day.

Building the Better Mousetrap -- and Ad Delivery Workflow

The benefits and efficiency of server side content and ad replacement is multi-faceted.  For example, this approach doesn't delineate between live versus on-demand content, and the same approach can be used to deliver ads for both scenarios.

Another key benefit is no impact to the revenue stream in place, as a move to the cloud doesn't impact ad operations with the publisher. They still utilize the same workflow and ad platforms, using standardized VAST compatible ad servers (generally from FreeWheel and DoubleClick) to create campaigns and monitor performance, but with the new benefit in per-user targeting to optimize revenue and maximize fill rates.

Lastly, a unified cloud based architecture enables publishers and programmers to reach all screens with a greatly simplified delivery mechanism that creates content and ads that reach all screens in one fell swoop.  Whether the audience target is iOS or Android, Roku or Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Airplay, or Chromecast -- one size fits all with this approach.

While SSAI is scaring the tall, dark villain of ad blocking away -- there are, and should be, best practices to consider with this approach.  As streaming audiences continue to grow, we must account for those viewers and the scale of the solutions needed to reach them. Specifically, an effective SSAI strategy must consider that the absolute best practice is to pre-seed the ad payload prior to the first request for an ad.

This simply means provisioning the ad ahead of time and conditioning it for playback across all screens.  In case this isn’t feasible, for whatever reason, the publisher can have a backup set of house ads or promos that can play for the first 2-3 users who make an ad call for an ad unit that ‘isn’t aboard’ yet.

In architectural terms, this is referred to as a cache miss.  In this case, we deliver those first few users a house ad or promo while preparing the proper ad and feed that ad to the cache so that every subsequent user is able to see the appropriate ad. Look for this pre-seeding step to become standard operating procedure as we build the future of OTT and streaming ad delivery.

So though ad blockers have recently emerged to some publishers as a storm front of dark clouds, leaving them scrambling to find proverbial shelter -- they aren't faced with a case of whack-a-mole, as it is sometimes the case with technology. In this case, smart solutions exist to help dispense with the dark clouds and build a bridge to strategic programming and monetization success.

The benefits for both the viewer and for those offering content - where rich, relevant ad experiences that can be tailored to the individual tomorrow are well worth the effort we’re planning in taking down the aforementioned monsters today.

Photo Credit:  Grigory Galkin/Shutterstock

Matt SmithMatt Smoth is chief evangelist for Anvato.

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