Vox Media is known for being a technically sophisticated media company.  Brightcove has been privileged to provide video solutions for Vox’s premium branded properties for a number of years and it was great to see the Vox team also leverage our technology to develop beautiful and high performing custom ad units for their Concert marketplace.

We got to catch up with the Vox team at their lower Manhattan offices and hear how they’ve approached video ad product development and how the performance for their advertisers has driven significant repeat business.

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Google is planning an update to Chrome, approximately in mid-April, that will restrict autoplay. This post addresses what this change means for the Brightcove Player and our IMA plugin and what we’re hearing from customers about the approaches they plan to take when the update comes.

Chrome’s April Update and Brightcove’s Player + IMA Plugin

Chrome’s change will follow the behavior of Apple’s Safari browsers, a behavior Apple first introduced on Mobile Safari and then released on the desktop last year. Starting with Chrome 66, some sites that use autoplay videos will only play if the video is muted, subject to Google’s media engagement index, or MEI. (See Google’s announcement .)

While some publishers will choose to stop using autoplay in some or all cases (as discussed below), we have made changes to the Brightcove Player that, as a default, minimize disruption to existing behavior.

We will be releasing a player update at the end of March 2018 that will allow you to continue to use autoplay with pre-rolls, automatically passing along the muted restriction to the ad call and muting the player when appropriate via our IMA plugin. We have also updated the core player to present a normal click-to-play behavior in cases where autoplay fails due to the restriction.

Following the release of this change, which you can watch for on our web player developer forum , most players will automatically be updated. So, unless you opted-out of automatic updates, you don’t need to do anything. For those who have chosen manual update mode, you will need to re-publish your player using the publish button in Video Cloud Studio or via the Player Management API.

Our change will work if the player is set to autoplay using the Studio or player configuration, but it may not work reliably if you have enabled autoplay by adding the autoplay attribute to the HTML video element in the web page. If you are using this attribute, the player will present as click-to-play when autoplay is restricted. If you want to take advantage of our updated autoplay behavior you must change this to use the autoplay player configuration option, available in Video Cloud Studio, instead. (See documentation here for setting via API.)

If you prefer to implement your own way to handle autoplay, you can simply disable autoplay on our player and call the play function following your own decision logic, setting it to mute, or presenting custom UI as you wish. See this link on how to detect autoplay failure yourself .

For customers using the Brightcove Player who take no action, when the player is unable to autoplay due to browser restriction, it will behave as a click-to-play player, although, if the player is between or equal to versions 6.14.0 and 6.17.4 it will not show the play button even though clicking the poster image will cause it to play. This behavior may result in lower than expected ad revenue for some sites where a significant number of ad plays resulted from autoplay or in cases where users are confused by the lack of a play button.

The Market Response

We were interested in learning what approaches Brightcove customers and ad ops/product leaders were likely to take to autoplay when the Chrome update went into effect. There were three frequent responses. One camp plans to go autoplay, automute on desktop and mobile web. The same number of responses favored going all click to play on both platforms. A third, smaller group was going to configure their setups to autoplay with sound, if possible, and then fall back to autoplay, automute if not — that functionality is available via the product update discussed above.

There seems to be an interest in trying multiple approaches and some experimentation once the update comes to see what yields the best results in terms of both user engagement and advertiser satisfaction. An example of a comment in this vein was a stated plan where “on desktop one of our videos will autoplay muted only when in view and another is not autoplay. On mobile neither autoplay.”

We hope this update and the new features and documentation are helpful, and for customers, please share any feedback or questions with your Brightcove account team.

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Low video ad fill rate is an issue that continues to challenge publishers’ efforts to maximize revenue for their video content. There are a wide variety of reasons for sub-optimal fill rate, such as latency, lack of demand, bandwidth limitations, reliance on VPAID, platform restrictions, and creative errors.

In a recent webinar , I provided tips and best practices for increasing fill rates based on my experience working directly with our publisher customers to remedy their ad problems.

Experiment With the Timeout Setting

The most common ad errors are caused by timeouts – these happen when the ad processes do not execute in the time provided by the IMA plugin and are therefore interrupted with an error. Changing your timeout setting can be a fairly simple fix that can deliver strong results. Play around to find a timeout value that works best for your site. I’ve found that usually around 7-8 seconds, depending on the complexity of the setup, is a good starting point to reducing common timeout errors.

Keep in mind, other elements on the page increase the time the browser takes to start and complete the process. So the more rich media on the page, the longer it will take. Additionally, complex ad logic requires a higher timeout but user experience demands a shorter one. This may present a dilemma to publishers, but it is important to keep in mind that user experience still suffers when ads fail due to short timeouts.

VPAID

VPAID scripts can be a major contributor to latency, especially on mobile. Figuring out the right settings can only improve your fill rate.

VPAID mode, a setting that can be found in the IMA plugin, presents three options to choose from: “Disabled”, “Enabled” and “Insecure”.  The default setting is “Enabled”; however, this setting may not work for all types of programmatic VPAID. It allows VPAID ads to be viewed in safe frame, which means VPAID can’t execute the scripts outside of the frame where it is being rendered.

While we don’t advise defaulting to “Insecure” mode, it can be beneficial if you run a lot of VPAID ads. ‘Insecure’ mode will render VPAID in a “friendly” iFrame, allowing it to interact with the player and page. Some VPAID scripts require this level of access and will fail and/or cause errors without it.

Minimize Latency

Many sites struggle with latency to some extent, and it is one of the primary causes of poor fill rates. Latency is caused by too many concurrent processes and scripts running in the browser at the same time and is most acute on mobile web and in-app. Every part of the ecosystem contributes to latency but some of the biggest offenders are redirects, elements that obstruct the critical rendering path, and overabundance of third-party VPAID scripts. To solve for this, the best things to do are to eliminate unnecessary plugins, remove redundant scripts, and simplify your programmatic setup.

Manage Ad Blockers and Ad Filters

Did you know that ad blocking can account for 10-30% of missing impressions? By managing ad-blockers and filters you can help to recover those impressions. There are tools that can measure their effects on your inventory. We also strongly advocate using server-side ad-insertion (SSAI), to bypass blockers by seamlessly stitching the ad into the video content so the file is delivered as one, so blockers cannot detect the ads. Brightcove can help you with both of these approaches – speak to your Account Manager for more information.

Set Up DFP Fallbacks and Passbacks

Doubleclick for Publishers is the most commonly used ad server for Brightcove customers. DFP provides two additional mechanisms for improving fill rate and making sure less valuable impressions are wasted: passbacks and fallbacks.

Passback serves GPT that delivers a house ad or other remnant ad when 3rd party doesn’t meet the requirement of the publisher. This can make up for a wide variety of 3rd party ad errors.

Fallbacks increase the likelihood of filling an impression when using VAST redirects. DFP returns a slew of ads, which allows it to “fall back” in case of a failed initial attempt.  

At Brightcove, we are laser focused on helping our publisher customers maximize their video ad revenue. For more tips and best practices on improving video ad fill rate, check out the Let’s Talk Ad Fill webinar.

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For decades, Seven West Media (SWM) has been shaping the way millions of Australians view and consume media. And it’s now doing it again, having launched its new OTT streaming service 7plus earlier this year, which is all part of SWM’s vision to become a leading ‘total video’ company.

Recognising that premium content is more highly valued than ever before, and building on the growth of video, SWM is doubling down on its digital video strategy. The media company has been expanding its presence and delivery of video, publishing content beyond digital broadcast channels and across an array of platforms.

SWM is currently creating more content than ever before — and partnering with Brightcove to deliver it to even more screens, big and small.

A New Home For ‘Total Video’

Fully launched out of beta in January, the new product and platform plays host to a content library spanning SWM’s broadcast programming, as well as an extensive range of additional VOD content, including international dramas and Seven originals.

The Brightcove video platform underpins the video experience on 7plus, ensuring a high quality viewing experience for Australians across devices including web, mobile, and the big Connected TV screen. SWM is also leveraging Brightcove’s Server Side Ad Insertion (SSAI) technology to boost audience reach and engagement. With SSAI, SWM can seamlessly integrate content and ads into the video stream to a wide range of devices while ensuring content is kept secure, delivering a premium viewing experience with less buffering or disruptions.

Match Made In Seven

Building on its ‘total video’ ambition, SWM has proven itself a clear leader in sports coverage as it delivers some of the biggest sports events to Australians. Brightcove is proud to have been a long-term partner of SWM, powering video delivery for major sporting events like 7Tennis (Australian Open) and the Melbourne Cup.

This year, Seven is home to the much-anticipated 2018 Commonwealth Games . The company is dedicated to delivering coverage that will capture every key moment of the event and connect with audiences on every screen. Committed to helping SWM expand its presence in sport, Brightcove is underpinning its 7CommGames app, which gives access to broadcast coverage of the Commonwealth Games from the Gold Coast, from every medal event to on-demand highlights and interviews.

SWM’s video innovation is clearly paying off with its monthly active audience set to grow to three million by May 2018. At Brightcove, we look forward to continue to partner with Seven to deliver premium video experiences.

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Remember that one Christmas morning, years ago as a child? There you sat in front of the tree, presents open, wrapping and ribbon scattered everywhere. You were more than happy with the gifts you received, delighted with all these wonderful gizmos, gadgets – even the sweater Mom gave you. But there was something missing. There was some special thing you expected to see and unwrap that year. Welcome to NAB 2018, folks.  

NAB is the annual convention where new technology and solutions for the delivery of video (and many other things) are showcased. While there were a few notable developments, it felt like this year’s show was lacking any significant announcements or technologies. In recent years, it has been host to many rollouts you’re probably familiar with. From the advent of the high-definition (HD) television standard through to 3D television and beyond to 4K, NAB has been the place to look for and see these innovations first hand. For OTT, NAB has also served as a premiere stage too. It has been the origin for technologies like adaptive streaming (now known as HLS), MPEG-DASH and cloud DVR, just to name a few. For some reason, NAB 2018 seemed to be in search of that one key trend or an interesting new piece of broadcast technology for attendees to discover. There was plenty to see and take in, but that next big thing seemed to be absent.

Back to what was interesting and what was missing in a moment.   

And the Award Goes To…

This year, NAB was our stage at Brightcove to introduce the world to context aware encoding , or CAE. This technology helps to significantly reduce the costs of storing and delivering video across every screen. CAE takes into account both complexity of the video itself, in addition to the audience where the files will be consumed. It has been working ‘in the wild’ as part of the production workflow for a handful of our customers and they have saved between 30-50% in their costs of video storage and delivery. We were delighted to be recognized at the show with two awards. Streaming Media recognized as one of the Best of NAB , while VideoEdge Magazine also called CAE an NAB Best of Show . Both honors are very rewarding and a testament to the continued spirit of innovation that lives at Brightcove. It is also evidence that we’re making progress along the path our Manifesto for Media has laid out.  

The Road Through Vegas and Beyond

Again, it seems that there were no blockbuster themes at 2018.. I suspect that the influx of new technologies and ideas from the past few years has left some organizations scrambling to implement those innovations. From 4K to 8K, UHD to HDR, AR and VR – perhaps many felt overwhelmed by all the rapid change, whether they broadcast, consume, or provide technology.   

This isn’t to say that there weren’t some great innovations. One I saw was a virtual master control that is entirely cloud based. Think about seeing every live signal – from cameras to live trucks, backpack remote encoders to even smartphones – all organized on one pane of glass, where they can be routed and processed as the operator needs. This is a tremendous leap forward in dense signal management and could be immensely helpful to assist in live signal monitoring (as an example) as our Brightcove Live product matures.   

Another new offering that caught my attention was related to CMAF , the common media application format. This specification will help reduce the amount of file manipulation that happens as part of the encoding/transcoding, muxing/demuxing process common to many video workflows today. CMAF enables one set of files to be prepared and delivered to multiple disparate targets using a variety of codec and digital rights management (DRM). We think this is a great step forward in a direction where we will as an industry innovate and make media delivery to a universe of devices more effective and efficient, using fewer files overall.  Brightcove is a member of the ecosystem organization overseeing the specification and implementation and we continue to work toward finalization and deployment.

Augmented Reality (AR) also had a co-starring role this year at NAB and I saw some very cool applications, specifically from our partners at Accedo. AR continues its march toward mainstream use daily in our lives. It won’t be long before we look back at Pokemon Go like we did with black & white television sets. I really dated myself there.  

Lastly, NAB 2018 hosted some spirited and passionate dialog about the coming codec wars.  From AV1 to H.265 to JVET, the path to future video coding and the compression gains they provide will be one to watch. The key differences in the two specifications involve how well each compresses video and audio, relative to its predecessors as well as how they are licensed.  There is no right or wrong answer in the debate, but varied opinions on both topics I mentioned above. Brightcove is fortunate to have one of the industry’s experts on compression and video coding on staff, and we’ll be following developments and debates closely as we continue to make innovation part of our daily work at Brightcove.  

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We’re back from another great NAB and ready to share the latest updates from our product team! As always, the goal of these videos is to ensure our customers are aware of all the great new features and innovation coming out of our organization contributing to our mission of helping you deliver amazing and profitable video experiences.

Here’s an overview of each of the updates highlighted in the video with links to more information and documentation to help you get started.

• SDK enhancements: tvOS and Android
• Player: 360 in Safari mobile web ; Chrome autoplay
• Improved Video Cloud search functionality
• Facebook’s Rights Manager API integration:  beta
• OTT Flow:  DRM for Chromecast’s new receiver app
• Context Aware Encoding:  “fast publish ” option

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