As an advertising professional, you’re interested in more details about how the INVIDI system works and how it might help you in your efforts as an advertiser or a service provider.

An INVIDI application existing inside of the set-top box (STB) that defines and delivers the ad play requests to the STB based on:

• Household characteristics assigned to the STB
• Orderline information (Ad Delivery Requests, ADRs)
• Overall ad importance

The ADE creates either the path from the viewlist (IC) or a playlist from the break descriptor (DVR).

For DVR-based ad delivery in Aggregation, the ADE further defines which ads are stored based on BDMS ad importance (CPM/value, order priority, order type priority, and client priority).

A server or group of servers that stores and plays ad files for insertion into breaks. Note that this server just plays the ad; it does not actually perform the insertion. The insertion is performed by the ad splicer.

A video/audio stream consisting of black video and silent audio, into which the ad splicer inserts addressable ads. These streams are hidden so that viewers cannot manually tune to them; only the STB firmware can tune to them when instructed to do so by the ADE.

An ad that can be directed to a particular audience with specified demographic characteristics.

Technology that lets you show different ads to different audience segments watching the same TV program on IPTV and set top boxes. Those segments can be defined by behavioral, demographic, and geographic factors from 1st, 2nd, or 3rd party data sets.

Facilitates smooth transitions between the networks and addressable ads by time-compressing the original ad and inserting black frames at the head and tail of the ad to replace frames removed by the time-compression process, as well as to provide MPEG I-frames to allow MPEG decoders to more quickly begin playing the ad content.

There are three components of the ADP.

• ADP – the thing that actually modifies the asset file. Made by the third party SRI. (And in the past, Manzanita)
• ADP Service – takes asset files and a config file and makes calls to the ADP. This is the interface our customers use.
• ADP Queuing Service – A way of distributing asset file processing across several ADP Services.

INVIDI’s patented addressable advertising system  that provides content providers, such as cable operators, satellite providers, and telephone companies, the ability to deliver targeted advertising to the right audience at the right time. The INVIDI Advatar® system does this by providing tools to target the viewing audience by any number of characteristics. The INVIDI Advatar® system also provides the ability to optimize a content provider’s existing inventory, this supports a higher monetary return than with traditional advertising.

Aggregation is an addressable ad-delivery mode that is not schedule-based. Instead, the delivery device (STB, smart TV, OTT device, et. al) detects an Aggregation avail and selects the most relevant ad for the current audience.

This method provides advertisers with the ability to reach their target audience when and where they’re watching. Advertisers only pay for the audience they intend to reach. Content providers can combine audiences across multiple television networks to optimize ad inventory and enable unsold and underperforming inventory to be monetized.

In this model, the best Aggregation ad eligible is selected in real time, to play just-in-time, during the break position. That is can be an advantage of AGG ads over MASO, SASO or ZTA insertion types in which ad decisions are established ahead of time.

A period of time in a break that has an assigned owner and sales model type.

Allocations provide a way to specify different owners and sales models for portions of the inventory.

• For Aggregation allocations, only orderlines with a matching owner are eligible to be played.
• For SASO allocations, third party scheduling systems such as traffic and billing systems, drive the schedules for playing SASO orders. The buyer of that allocation schedules an Order that specifies the individual addressable ad choices, as well as the underlying default ad that is run on the network stream. When there is no appropriate SASO orderline for a device it will switch back to the network and show the default SASO ad.
• For ZTA and MASO allocations, when there is no appropriate ad for a device to select, it will fall back to Aggregation (or Filler) when possible. In these cases, only orderlines with an owner that matches the inventory are eligible to be played.
• LINEAR – A placeholder for breaks that are not filled by addressable advertising. If a break is not addressable, it must be marked as network in order to keep cue processing aligned.
• OPEN – The meaning of open is that the type will be determined later during scheduling.

The actual media file associated with a creative, that is played during a spot.

Description of the audience demographics for which an asset is most appropriate.

A period of time in a video stream that is made available for inserting a commercial event into a program.

• For linear video, each avail is preceded by a cue that indicates the start of the avail
• For Video On Demand (VOD), the location of the avails is received in the metadata with the program content and generally known in advance.

A period of time in a video stream that contains ads and may be available for addressable ad insertion. The term break is context dependent.

A program break, or commercial break, is the full amount of time between when the program content stops and when it restarts. The term embedded break refers to the portion of the program break that is made available to the distributor for ad insertion.

• A predefined period of time during which one or more breaks are scheduled to occur.
• A break window start and end time generally coincide with the program that is airing.
• Breaks are numbered by their positions in the break window
• In legacy systems, the break window provides a bounded period during which the cue counting of distributor splice insert cues occurs. As cues arrive, the system counts off the cues and triggers the next break in the window. The cue count resets when the window ends.
• In INVIDI Edge® and Advatar-deployed systems, the content provider inventory is currently received from a source other than the content distributor inventory and is stored separately. A given break window will be either a distributor break window or a provider break window and will not contain both distributor and provider avails. Currently, provider break windows and distributor break windows on a network are not required to align and can therefore overlap in time.

Advertiser or other party that is responsible for an order. All orders must specify a client, with the exception of ZTA orders, which are generated automatically by the Schedule Importer job.

A cloud-based component of the Advatar product suite that enables addressable ad placement for STBs and IP-addressable devices using internet-based protocols. Intended for use in systems that use STBs that do not contain the ADE, as well as systems that use OTT devices.

A measurement of the cost of an ad campaign per one thousand impressions.

A digital signal that triggers an ad insertion on a network. Each break has one cue message, sent several seconds prior to the break.

Geographic area making up a distinct television market as defined by Nielsen Media Research Company. Used for television audience analysis and for planning and buying media for advertising sales.

Also known as a “market”.

The total number of impressions that you want a particular ad to return over the course of a campaign, from all STBs to which the ad is targeted.

Device or software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive. In an Advatar system this refers to the DVR function of the STB.

Effective Cost per Thousand; a metric for measuring advertising revenue generated across various marketing channels, calculated by dividing total earnings by the total number of impressions in thousands.

Frequency is the average number of times an ad is delivered to a given person over a specific time period.

Properties, both dynamic and static, of the household where an STB running the INVIDI application resides. Static properties are delivered as instructions from the Advatar system (geography properties and household tags). Dynamic properties are updated by the STB application as it determines viewership and probable household classification.

A record that is generated when an addressable ad is played on a device within a targeted demographic. This record provides device-level details of when, where, and how the ad was viewed, and is used to determine the success and reach of a campaign.

Transport streams used for delivering addressable ad content to the STB. Also known as “ad insertion streams”.

A method of delivering ads in the Advatar® system by inserting addressable ads into hidden insertion channels and directing the STBs to switch to one of these hidden channels to play the ads during the break, then switch back to the main channel (network programming) after the break.

Advertising industry term: Space or time available to advertisers to purchase ad placement. This applies to all forms of advertising mediums; television, radio, internet, streaming, print, display, outdoor, and so on.

At INVIDI, inventory is comprised of the avails within a specific section of a programming schedule into which ads can be placed. In essence, it refers to all the opportunities we have available to show an ad for an advertiser.

Allocations are synonymous with inventory. The cable companies (content distributors) typically have about two minutes of ad time per broadcast hour that they can sell to advertisers. That’s their inventory.

A video broadcast environment that provides viewers the opportunity to watch a scheduled TV program on the channel that it is originally presented on, at the time it is broadcast, after it has been paused by the viewer, or when it has been recorded to their DVR and the viewer watches it later.

For example: A viewer is watching a live (linear) broadcast, presses pause, then after a period of time presses play. Their STB/DVR will play the linear content from its buffer. It is still linear, but now is time-shifted.

Limits the number of times that a particular ad can be played on any particular STB per day, per week, or per campaign, as needed. The larger this value, the more times a given viewer could see this ad during the specified time period. Leaving this value at 0 allows the ad to play a virtually unlimited number of times per STB.

Cable, satellite, and telco companies that provide television content services, usually for a subscription fee; pay television.

An underlying ad playing on the network stream that is overlaid with an addressable ad.

A non-traditional means of viewing TV content that enables “time-shifting” (not watching during the scheduled broadcast) using streaming, DVR, video-on-demand, over-the-top (OTT) or mobile TV technology.

Process for subscribers to indicate desire to receive addressable ads.

Media delivered by internet-based protocols without the involvement of a multiple system operator (MSO). It is non-device specific and can include mobile, desktop, CTV, or other devices.

Total number of unique devices that serve an ad over a specific period of time.

CCMS schedule or equivalent generated by a traffic and billing system to describe the approximate timing for ads to be delivered for a particular network. There are unique schedules for each network and for each day.

A device that receives and decodes digital television signals, as well as other data, for display on a subscriber television set.

Single Advertiser Spot Optimization (SASO) addressable ad insertion type, also known as Creative Versioning.

SASO allows advertisers to target different demographics watching a single commercial break. A single advertiser can deliver different messages to different audiences viewing the same network at the same time. The content providers can increase the value of their commercial inventory by monetizing every viewer.

Third-party scheduling systems such as traffic and billing systems, or those provided by Adcuratio, drive schedules for playing SASO orders for playing SASO orders.

A single, schedulable, and verifiable file of non-program material, such as an advertisement, a public service announcement, or a promotional announcement that is inserted into an avail.

Addressable ad delivery mode where alternative addressable ads are delivered at the same time as a default ad that is scheduled through the traffic and billing system. See also Multiple Advertiser Spot Optimization and Single Advertiser Spot Optimization.

Information that an established data company collects indirectly or aggregates from others and then sells to ad buyers.

An interactive TV technology that provides subscribers the ability to view programming in real time or to download programs and view them later.

Area defined by the MVPD in which all of the STBs receive the same content for a given network stream. The Advatar system is then used to manage what type of addressable ad content is delivered to each of these areas.

An addressable advertising model that allows advertisers to target specific geographic zones with relevant localized advertising content. Advertisers only pay for the zone they intend to reach.

In this mode, ads are bought based on a fixed geographic target. The ads that are to play in this break position will be provided in a subsequent SCTE130 placement or CCMS schedule that specifies the intended zone target for each ad.