PromoSmart: Personalised trails on live BBC channels

Having never had SkyQ I didn't realise there was no dedicated iPlayer app until today.

https://www.skygroup.sky/corporate/media-centre/articles/en-us/bbc-and-sky-agree-new-content-and-technology-partnership

The interesting bit for me though -



Is AdSmart frame accurate then? So it feels like genuinely part of the junction and not 'badly tacked on' and buffering? Maybe it can also offer idents we'd actually like to watch too

Yes ... frame accurate and it closes the GOP ...if you think about it ..it needs to .

Is the changed content delivered by satellite or the internet? Presume Freesat viewers won’t get it?

And could this be used to deliver regional news to English viewers, albeit in SD?

The Sky Adsmart material I believe is downloaded via satellite, much like the updates are for the software in the box, they don't use the internet connection, presumably the logic is not boxes will be connected to the internet but all boxes will be connected to the dish.

It's been running for a good few years on Sky HD and Sky Q boxes on a number of channels. It's seamless - you literally have no idea it's happening when you are watching.

The adverts are already stored on the Sky+HD/Q boxes hard drive (so no buffering) and the broadcast stream is encoded in a manner that allows the h.264 stream to be spliced without any glitches (presumably ensuring GOPs don't get broken) There is DVB standard for triggering local advert insertion (and a way of carrying this in HD-SDI) but I don't know if Sky use that.

Sky distribute a library of commercials to all boxes for local insertion (I think they use DVB-S2 delivery - rather than IP - for the commercials, just using a spare tuner during downtime/overnight)

(The DVB standard is designed for local advert insertion at DVB-T/T2 transmitter sites or DVB-C cable head ends that are fed by satellite. It can also be used for triggering local news insertion I believe)

they're so seamless that I didn't realise I was getting targeted ads until I saw one for recycling in my London borough on a Sky channel.

AFAIK Adsmart only works if you watch in real time OR play back in real time. So if you suspect you've seen an adsmart advert, you can wind it back and you should be able to see what advert was covered up.

https://www.adsmartfromsky.co.uk/faqs/ is quite interesting, particularly the question about recorded content.

Yes - the bit about advertisers being able to supply their own household information is interesting - it presumably means they can target people they know about?

The charging structure is interesting too.

That used to work but AdSmart will always play now even after rewinding. If you're watching live and change channel during an AdSmart ad then immediately change back, you will see the ad that has been replaced.

Wouldn't this save a fair whack for ITV's distribution costs?

The targeting attributes are here: https://www.adsmartfromsky.co.uk/audience/
Interesting that products bought with a Boots card are on there!

I posted in the Channel 4 thread recently that AdSmart is also going to be rolled out to channels which 4Sales sell ads for - so including UKTV, Box Plus and BT Sport.

I remember suggesting this over on Digitalspew when it was first announced but I just got loads of reasons why it wouldn’t work. Glad to see that it potentially could.