Configure SSAI for live content

JWP allows you to configure server-side ad insertion (SSAI) for your Broadcast Live content. By integrating SSAI, ads are seamlessly stitched into the live stream, delivering higher impressions and an improved viewer experience.

Additionally, you can use SSAI session data to enhance and control the viewer experience.

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, click the name of a property. The property settings appear. Under Content & ads enhancements, click Media & ads. The Media & ads tab opens. Under Server-Side Ad Integration, toggle Enable SSAI to ON.
Ad config	Configuration 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.
Live content	Broadcast Live stream that is hosted on the JW Platform and prepared to stream Learn how to set up a Broadcoast Live stream through the dashboard or Management API.

Configure SSAI for Broadcast Live

To set up SSAI for Broadcast Live, you must retrieve the SSAI manifest URL and embed it in your player.

Follow these steps to configure server-side ads for Broadcast Live:

Fetch the SSAI manifest URL.

Each live stream has two manifest URLs, one with SSAI enabled and one without ads. The SSAI-enabled manifest URL should follow the format below.
```
https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/sites/{site-id}/media/{stream-id}/ssai.{manifest_extension}?ad_config_id={config-id}
```

Embed the SSAI manifest in your player.

Set the file value to your SSAI manifest during player setup.

📘
SSAI and Broadcast Live are compatible with the JWP player or any standard third-party player.

<div id="live-player"></div>
<script>
  const playerInstance = jwplayer("live-player").setup({
    file: "https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/sites/{site-id}/media/{stream-id}/ssai.m3u8?ad_config_id={config-id}",
    autostart: true
  });
</script>

After embedding the manifest, your Broadcast Live stream will show server-side ads. You can now choose to fetch session data to enhance your advertising.

Retrieve SSAI session data

You can enhance your SSAI-enabled live stream by configuring the player to read SSAI session data. JWP’s session data endpoint returns information on ad breaks, helping you tailor the advertising experience to your viewers.

📘
An SSAI-enabled Broadcast Live stream will play server-side ads even without using session data. Session data only contributes to the advertising experience, playback logic, and UI controls.

Follow these steps to retrieve SSAI session data:

In your player configuration, add an event listener for sessiondata.

At runtime, the player parses the manifest for #EXT-X-SESSION-DATA and emits a sessiondata event when it detects the jwpc-ssai-session-endpoint.
```
player.addEventListener('sesiondata', (data) => {
  if (data.id === 'com.jwpc.ssai-session-endpoint') {
    logMessage(`session info URL: ${data.uri}`);
    fetchInfoJson(data.uri);
  }
});
```
When sessiondata fires during playback, fetch the session data. The endpoint will return a JSON representation of the ad breaks in the session.

With the session data JSON, you can configure the player’s handling logic to address different advertising situations, such as the following:

Skipping unused filler time
Preloading ad info before a break
Managing break countdowns precisely