Custom development
In early 2022, we were approached by our biggest customer SledovaniTV with a request for a custom development for their ModernTV platform. The largest Czech broadcaster Prima TV changed policy according to which they will grant broadcasting rights only if the TV service provider will implement a new feature to limit or ban users’ ability to skip advertisements within catch up as well as timeshift.
Why so? With the growth of the IPTV/OTT and the possibility to pause, skip or rewind, it is harder and harder for broadcasters to serve advertisements to viewers as they have the ability to simply just ignore them. On the other side of the chain, there is an advertiser paying money for ads to be seen. When the ads are ignored, broadcasters lose money from the advertisers and as most of the TV stations are advertising-driven, there’s a potential problem here.
ModernTV received a well described assignment on what functionality needs to be implemented and how the system should work. There were two key elements the solution needed to have implemented:
- In the live stream, it will not possible to skip the ads even when using the catch-up.
- When watching timeshifted stream, the original ads will be removed from it and new ads suggested by the broadcaster’s ad server, according to the user’s metadata, will be inges.
- Possibility to buy a package which enables user to skip the ads.
One of the primary challenges was to design the specific functionality for all the various platforms that are supported by ModernTV solution, and harmonize this new feature with the UX and UI systems for each supported device type – smart TVs, STBs, mobiles, web. ModernTV, together with SledovaniTV, have brainstormed these new designs and our aim was to stay minimalistic and ensure a smooth end-user experience. Together with the designs, we also integrated the DAI (Dynamic Ad Insertion) feature with the broadcaster’s own ad server which will be replacing ads into the timeshifted streams based on each end-user’s metadata. However, the biggest challenge was a tight delivery date for the project which we have successfully met, while our competitors such as Vodafone, T-Mobile or O2, failed to develop these features for all their devices and platforms within this deadline.
After 3 months of development, dozens of tests, ModernTV delivered the final product to the customer and as of right now, SledovaniTV is the only IPTV platform in the country that is homologated by Prima.
Ad blocks in the player are highlighted in yellow. This way you will see well in advance when the advertisements start.
Reverse play will continue to work as usual. You can fast forward and rewind.
When the ads start, you can’t skip or rewind. However, you can still view the local EPG, switch to another channel or go back to the menu.
In case of replaying a past TV event (so-called timeshift – eg. a movie from last night), the advertisement will be shortened to 3 minutes.
When the time you see on the screen has elapsed, a Skip Ad button will appear.
When the time you see on the screen has elapsed, a Skip Ad button will appear.
On a mobile device and the website platform, the ad will be inserted (similarly to YouTube) for the duration of 3 minutes.
You have 60 seconds of free rewind when the playback is turned on. You’ll be using this most often when you’re continuing watching a show you haven’t finished previously – in which case you can move around to any point in the playback and skip all the commercials from the beginning of the show.
The marked beginning of the show in the player is another new feature. After switching to Prima channel, the ads and trailers will be automatically skipped and thus you can immediately start watching the show you have chosen.
With the “No Ads” package for 69 CZK, you can get rid of the ads completely. With the package you’ll be able to skip the ads instantly.
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