Yospace CEO: “Streamers will eke max value of ad inventory”
December 13, 2024
Further prediction from Sewell include:
Server-guided ad insertion (SGAI)
“2025 will also see the industry scale new heights in viewer experience. We will also hear more industry conversation about server-guided ad insertion (SGAI), which is part of an industry-wide effort to standardise the ad insertion process and will create added efficiencies for monetising features such as longer DVR windows. As broader player support comes online, I expect SGAI to drive AVoD deployments as media owners take advantage of the faster loading times that SGAI offers, alongside other benefits of server-side ad stitching technology compared to client-side based deployments.”
Scale
“This prediction may seem a little obvious, but it’s more pertinent now than ever. 2025 may not feature the same level of global sporting events and high-profile elections as 2024 did, but nevertheless OTT audiences as a whole will continue to surge. Broadcasters are also entering a phase of preparation for the football world cup and other major events in 2026. Ensuring the best possible viewer experience while maximising monetisation will remain priorities as the tech that underpins them is tested at new levels. Regardless of the stream stitching method (SSAI or SGAI), add-ons such as prefetch will be critical to monetising OTT at scale.”
AI
“The topic of AI was everywhere in 2024 and that will continue in 2025. The impact of AI will be felt first in content production and there will be a lot of conversation about how it will improve advertising, from contextual targeting based on better mapping of content genres, moods, and so on, to generative AI creating more personalised ad creatives. It will also create efficiencies on the adtech side as it has the potential to help process huge amounts of data, especially in programmatic, and make better decisions.”
“A word of caution on AI, though. The quickest way to better monetisation for media owners is to improve the performance of their current adtech set-ups, ensuring they’re getting maximum value from their inventory. They need to maximise fill-rates and do so at scale if they are to thrive in the streaming age,” he concluded.