Ad Insertion

Shaka Packager does not do Ad Insertion directly, but it can precondition content for Dynamic Ad Insertion with Google Ad Manager.

Both DASH and HLS are supported.

Synopsis

$ packager <stream_descriptor> ... \
  --ad_cues <start_time[;start_time]...> \
  [Other options, e.g. DRM options, DASH options, HLS options]

Examples

The examples below use the H264 streams created in Media Encoding.

Three midroll cue markers are inserted at 10 minutes, 30 minutes and 50 minutes respectively.

  • DASH with live profile:

    $ packager \
  'in=h264_baseline_360p_600.mp4,stream=audio,init_segment=audio/init.mp4,segment_template=audio/$Number$.m4s' \
  'in=input_text.vtt,stream=text,init_segment=text/init.mp4,segment_template=text/$Number$.m4s' \
  'in=h264_baseline_360p_600.mp4,stream=video,init_segment=h264_360p/init.mp4,segment_template=h264_360p/$Number$.m4s' \
  'in=h264_main_480p_1000.mp4,stream=video,init_segment=h264_480p/init.mp4,segment_template=h264_480p/$Number$.m4s' \
  'in=h264_main_720p_3000.mp4,stream=video,init_segment=h264_720p/init.mp4,segment_template=h264_720p/$Number$.m4s' \
  'in=h264_high_1080p_6000.mp4,stream=video,init_segment=h264_1080p/init.mp4,segment_template=h264_1080p/$Number$.m4s' \
  --ad_cues 600;1800;3000 \
  --generate_static_live_mpd --mpd_output h264.mpd

  • DASH with on-demand profile:

    $ packager \
  in=h264_baseline_360p_600.mp4,stream=audio,output=audio.mp4 \
  in=input_text.vtt,stream=text,output=output_text.mp4 \
  in=h264_baseline_360p_600.mp4,stream=video,output=h264_360p.mp4 \
  in=h264_main_480p_1000.mp4,stream=video,output=h264_480p.mp4 \
  in=h264_main_720p_3000.mp4,stream=video,output=h264_720p.mp4 \
  in=h264_high_1080p_6000.mp4,stream=video,output=h264_1080p.mp4 \
  --ad_cues 600;1800;3000 \
  --mpd_output h264.mpd

This generates six single-segment media files, one per stream, spanning multiple periods. There may be problems handling this type of DASH contents in some players, although it is recommended by DASH IF IOP. Use the below option if your player does not like it.

  • DASH with on-demand profile but one file per Period:

    $ packager \
  'in=h264_baseline_360p_600.mp4,stream=audio,output=audio_$Number$.mp4' \
  'in=input_text.vtt,stream=text,output=output_text_$Number$.mp4' \
  'in=h264_baseline_360p_600.mp4,stream=video,output=h264_360p_$Number$.mp4' \
  'in=h264_main_480p_1000.mp4,stream=video,output=h264_480p_$Number$.mp4' \
  'in=h264_main_720p_3000.mp4,stream=video,output=h264_720p_$Number$.mp4' \
  'in=h264_high_1080p_6000.mp4,stream=video,output=h264_1080p_$Number$.mp4' \
  --ad_cues 600;1800;3000 \
  --mpd_output h264.mpd

  • HLS using transport streams:

    $ packager \
  'in=h264_baseline_360p_600.mp4,stream=audio,segment_template=audio_$Number$.aac' \
  'in=input_text.vtt,stream=text,segment_template=output_text_$Number$.vtt' \
  'in=h264_baseline_360p_600.mp4,stream=video,segment_template=h264_360p_$Number$.ts' \
  'in=h264_main_480p_1000.mp4,stream=video,segment_template=h264_480p_$Number$.ts' \
  'in=h264_main_720p_3000.mp4,stream=video,segment_template=h264_720p_$Number$.ts' \
  'in=h264_high_1080p_6000.mp4,stream=video,segment_template=h264_1080p_$Number$.ts' \
  --ad_cues 600;1800;3000 \
  --hls_master_playlist_output h264_master.m3u8

Configuration options

Ads options

--ad_cues <start_time[;start_time]…>

List of cuepoint markers separated by semicolon. The start_time represents the start of the cue marker in seconds (double precision) relative to the start of the program. This flag preconditions content for Dynamic Ad Insertion with Google Ad Manager. For DASH, multiple periods will be generated with period boundaries at the next key frame to the designated start times; For HLS, segments will be terminated at the next key frame to the designated start times and ‘#EXT-X-PLACEMENT-OPPORTUNITY’ tag will be inserted after the segment in media playlist.