Paying to Watch Ads with HBO Max
I recently signed up for the HBO Max AVOD subscription for $9.99 per month to see what the advertising user experience is like. HBO Max built most of the technology from the ground up (including the packager), 和 I was very curious to see how things would perform. To be honest, I was disappointed.
失望, 因为我试图对来自供应商或媒体公司的信息持批评态度, but I had to agree with the pitch from HBO. I couldn't easily spot the ad breaks, they weren't where I expected, 和 the ad load is pretty light compared to other services.
“自从我们发布以来，我们得到的反馈是，很多人说他们并没有真正注意到广告,尤安·麦克劳德说, VP of customer experience engineering for HBO Max. “我们正在尽可能不打断播放体验，让广告看起来像是体验的一部分."
Here's an edited version of my conversation with McLeod, in which we discussed the packager, time-to-first-frame for SVOD, 和 optimizing all of the components from ingest, 编码, 包装, 和缝合.
How does HBO Max use server-side ad insertion (SSAI)?
当一个内容片段被请求时，我们动态地生成一个包含广告的新清单. We make a call to the ad server, which places advertising based on the available breaks that we've provided.
The stitching 和 the response from the ad server become critical. 我们希望在分辨率、比特率和零致命错误方面为观众提供最高的质量. 为了获得更高质量的体验，我们可能会在第一帧的时间上做出一些牺牲.
What sort of personalization or contextual targeting do you offer?
It's based on different categories of customers, 和 I can't go into much on what each category might be. 根据您的人口统计数据，我们将插入与您相关的广告. (这也可以)基于你的收视情况以及你过去看过多少内容.
We also have rules around kids' profiles. 我们总是在所有广告前放一个广告缓冲器，让孩子或未成年人清楚地知道这是一个广告插播.
Do the ads play at the same bitrates as the content?
有时确实如此, 和 sometimes they don't, 所以我们必须重新编码和包装广告中断，因为如果广告中断的帧率与节目内容之间有一点点差异, 这会引发问题.
Was this a greenfield project?
The majority of it was built in-house within WarnerMedia 和 HBO Max. 原因是，从工程的角度来看，视频传输是我们工作的核心. 我们拥有尽可能多的东西，因此，如果我们面临任何客户反馈或挑战，我们可以迅速适应.
How long did AVOD development take?
就在一年前，我们推出了HBO Max，今年，我们推出了AVOD. 广告, 你必须宣布一个日期，以便代理商和广告商可以提前购买或预算. [AVOD] was delivered in the space of 4 months. 最具挑战性的部分是将广告投放到我们支持的所有平台和设备上. 它们都有自己的复杂性、技术挑战、格式限制等.
那么测量呢??
We have our own real-time analytics measuring buffer rate, rebuffering, time-to-first-frame, any interruptions in the video, 还有回放问题吗?.
We've got such a large customer base for SVOD, 我们可以很快看到，与SVOD相比，AVOD在服务方面是否有任何退化. 我们还没有看到, 顺便说一下, but we would notice that immediately, 因为我们会比较一个没有广告的清单和一个有广告的清单.
What are you looking for in that measurement?
By looking at the user interaction, 我们应该能够优化，以便我们知道什么是有价值的和相关的客户. 我希望广告生态系统能够更深入地了解人们真正想看到的东西. [That 信息] is not going to be sold; it's for us to actually have a better underst和ing of our customers.
What about quality assurance (QA)?
We use the same tools to QA ad-supported 和 non-ad-supported content. We built some of our own tools, 但实际上很多都是在实际设备上进行手动QA，因为这是用人的眼睛和耳朵进行QA的最佳方式.
How do you determine ad-break placement?
我们的工作是让世界上最好的创作者为我们创造的内容闪耀光芒. 在某个地方插播广告是没有意义的，因为它真的与故事的叙述格格不入. 我们确实遇到过插播广告可能不在最佳位置的情况, 所以你必须回来重新调整资产，将广告中断移动到更少中断的地方.
Do you use SCTE markers or something else?
我们可以把广告插播或广告标记放在任何我们想要的地方，并动态选择使用哪一个. 我们根据许多与广播电视不同的标准优化了广告条件.
Another reason we've gone back 和 reconditioned the content is because, let's say you pause your video playback, 两天后, you go to that piece of content. If there's an ad break like a minute later, 我们将跳过广告中断，这样您就不会在开始播放时受到中断.
我们可以根据浏览量动态选择使用哪些广告插播，哪些不使用, 当你停下来的时候, or as a reward if you've binged 10 episodes of a certain show. 我们有很多东西可以利用，因为我们去修复了所有东西.
We wrapped up the interview, 和 I went to work looking for commercials. For the most part, the ad experience was exactly as described. 它不是侵入性的, 一切正常(尽管在网页版本中有一个奇怪的小问题，广告总是开始两次), but when I went to an app, the problem disappeared), 和, 偶尔, the ads were so short that I really didn't mind the brief break. Plus, I got to stream content I really enjoyed, saving a few dollars doing so. My spouse, however, got frustrated 和 said that he was seeing too many ads. But he's also the second person on the HBO Max account, 和 therefore was seeing different ads than I was. 例如，他在一个节目前有1分钟的预告片，而我的内容上有15秒的广告. 特性或bug?
While there's a lot of innovation going on behind the scenes, the viewer is still paying for ads, 和 this may end up being too much to ask, 不管有多少技术解决方案能够让游戏体验变得更棒. It's a fine line, 和 time will tell if this is the right approach.
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