Monetize a live stream

Server-side ad insertion (SSAI) facilitates seamless transitions between video content and advertising breaks, eliminating buffering or delays. By enabling this feature on your Broadcast Live streams, you provide viewers with a smooth viewing experience and capitalize on monetization opportunities for your live broadcasts.

Prerequisites

Item	Notes
Stream SCTE-35 markers	SCTE-35 messages within the media stream to signal ad breaks (`splice_insert`) and their respective durations (`time_signal`) in a binary format JWP monitors and parses these SCTE-35 messages to determine the precise moments to deliver midroll ads to viewers during the live stream. Preroll ads do not depend upon these messages. JWP supports MediaTailor ad markers. For more information, see MediaTailor’s HLS or DASH documentation.
Property-level enablement	Toggle turning on the feature for an entitled property Follow these steps to enable SSAI: On the Properties page, select a property. The property settings appear. Under Content & ads enhancements, click Media & ads. Under Server-Side Ad Integration, toggle Enable SSAI to ON.
Ad config	Config defining when to show ads within content and where ads are sourced At least one ad config must be set up within the property. NOTE: For live streams, the ad config only determines the ad tag URL from which ads are fetched. The default time between ads does not apply.

Configure SSAI for a Broadcast Live stream

Preview media with server-side ads (SSAI) toggle

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If you are a developer, you can configure SSAI for live using the Delivery API.

To set up SSAI for Broadcast Live, you must retrieve the live stream’s SSAI-enabled manifest URL, which includes information on the ad config, and embed the URL in your player. This manifest allows you to stitch server-side ads triggered by SCTE-35 markers in the stream.

Follow these steps to configure SSAI for a Broadcast Live stream:

From your Media library, select a stream. The stream details page appears.
Under the preview window, click the Preview media with server-side ads (SSAI) toggle to ON. The SSAI settings appear.
From the dropdown menu, select an Ad config.
Under Manifest URL, choose a streaming protocol.
Copy the Manifest URL.
Embed the live stream in your player.
Add the Manifest URL from step 5 to your player, platform, or application.

You can now embed and start broadcasting content through the stream.

FAQs

Why are midroll ads not playing in my Broadcast Live stream?

Verify that you have created a stream that uses the Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) protocol.

RTMP streams do not support SSAI midroll ads.

Can I show preroll ads in my live stream?

Yes, you can run preroll ads for your live stream. However, preroll requires client-side (CSAI) rather than server-side ad insertion:

SSAI will run preroll ads at the beginning of your stream, causing viewers to miss content.
CSAI will insert the preroll ads before your stream begins, allowing viewers to catch the beginning of the stream content.