SCTE-130 vs. IAB VAST (Part I)

In the previous blog, I gave a brief introduction to SCTE-130 and IAB VAST. In this blog and next, I will expand on the major differences between SCTE-130 and IAB VAST. In the fourth and final installment, I will discuss the upcoming convergence of advertising decision making between the online and cable deployment and how it presents an interesting business opportunity to bridge the gap between SCTE-130 and IAB VAST.

I will discuss the key different between two standards in the following areas,

• Type and Interactivity with Ads
• Complexity
• Protocol Format
• When to Play Ads
• Deployment, Serving Ads, and Tracking Playback events
• Targeting and Addressability
• Report gathering to improve addressability
• Measurement and Operational Efficiency Best Practices

In this blog, I will discuss the first three areas.

Type and Interactivity with Ads

SCTE-130 standard is video centric and relies on EBIF standard to provide interactivity with ads through setup box.

IAB VAST standard supports video, interactive ads, banners, and overlays. IAB defines video player’s interactivity with ads through IAB VPAID standard.

Complexity

IAB VAST

The IAB VAST standard defines the correspondence between a video player and Ad servers. Here are the components in an IAB VAST deployment,

·         Millions of online video players

·         Ad servers

·         CDN that hosts videos, images, Flash files, Silverlight files

·         Media servers or Apache servers

SCTE-130

On the other hand, SCTE-130 standard consists of the following core components,

·         Ad Management Service (ADM)

·         Ad Decision Service (ADS)

·         Placement Opportunity Information System (POIS)

·         Content Information System (CIS)

·         Subscriber Information System (SIS)

Each core components can be developed and deployed independently, and most times they are from different vendors.

To add to the complexity, these core components need to communicate with the following external systems to carry out the Ad insertion,

Systems	Description	SCTE-130 Core Components
Session Manager	Session Manager is responsible for setting up video sessions on behalf of the setup box	ADM
Video Server	Video Server streams/broadcast videos to setup box	ADM
Splicer	A piece of equipment that can perform frame-accurate ad splicing into network broadcast streams	ADM

All these systems must work together to carry an ad insertion event and this is the challenge SCTE-130 attempts to address. This is why SCTE-130 is such a complicated and overarching standard.

Protocol Format

Both SCTE-130 and IAB VAST use XML based protocol. However, IAB VAST does not define a standard request message, only suggested Ad tags that describes duration, player format, height, width, bandwidth, and supported downloading method. SCTE-130, on the other hand, uses XML as both request and response messages.

When to Play Ads

SCTE-130

In cable deployment environment for VOD content, the session manager will request the entire playlist with Ads filled in from ADM during the session setup time. A SCTE-130 playlist response looks like the following, assuming VOD content has no embedded Ads in it,

1. Play pre-roll Ad video1 (30 seconds)
2. Play pre-roll Ad video2 (30 seconds)
3. Play VOD content 0-30 minutes
4. Play mid-roll Ad video3 (30 seconds)
5. Play mid-roll Ad video4 (30 seconds)
6.  Play VOD content 30-60 minutes (end of the content)
7.  Play post-roll Ad video5 (30 seconds)
8. Play post-roll Ad video6 (30 seconds)

Clearly SCTE-130 response contains information on when to play ads. When the session manager receives the playlist, the session manager will hand over the playlist to the video server, which will stream the content and ads to the subscriber.

IAB VAST

IAB VAST standard does not contain information on when to play ads so it is up to the player or a different standard (MAST) to decide when to play the returned ads. Typically the VAST response is played right away by the player. In contrast to cable deployment scenario, where the entire playlist is constructed at the beginning of the playback, the online video player must be aware of each ad break in the VOD or linear content and makes IAB VAST request and plays VAST response at the appropriate ad break time.