Media Distillery launches new ad break solution

AI video technology specialist Media Distillery has launched Ad Break Distillery, a new product that it says identifies the exact start and stop times of ad breaks in broadcast video, enabling video operators, to improve monetisation and user engagement. 

Media Distillery said that the main technical cause preventing a good UX for linear TV ads in replay lies in the general lack of time markers. This hinders service providers’ and broadcasters’ ability to generate additional revenue from ads and limits their ability to personalise and enhance the viewing experience.

Roland Sars

According to the company, Ad Break Distillery automatically detects the beginning and end of ad breaks in live broadcast video and delivers time markers as actionable metadata.

This, it says, enables operators more easily to replace existing linear ad breaks with dynamically inserted and personalised ads for catch-up and replay, apply trick-play restrictions during ad breaks, repurpose broadcast content with relevant ads for FAST and AVOD and improve catch-up and replay viewing experiences to be in line with an OTT UX with shorter and personalised ads. It cana also be used to develop an ad-skipping premium subscription offering.

Ad Break Distillery builds on the same core technology as EPG Correction Distillery, Media Distillery’s product that detects a programme’s true start and stop times, so that viewers have a VOD-like experience for catch-up and replay.

Ad Break Distillery generates ad break markers that can be integrated directly into the video platform or delivered via integration with a video service’s existing EPG metadata provider, the company said.
“With the ad break markers we provide, video service providers are now enabled to do dynamic ad replacement, enforce trick play restrictions during ad breaks only, and deliver novel viewing experiences,” said Roland Sars, CEO of Media Distillery.