Internet Radio Monetization
Abacast Technology

Ad Insertion System Overview

The Abacast Insertion System™ (AIS) allows broadcasters to easily and automatically switch their online stream from over-the-air (terrestrial) content to online only content.  Revenue to the broadcaster is increased by the serving of online-only ads to online audiences, by the additional inventory from the online stream, and through client side personalization.  Switching can be completely automated by triggers that are sent from all standard play-out systems.
Ad Injection System

Abacast's patent pending Ad Insertion System allows stations to easily and automatically replace terrestrial content (typically ads or PSAs) with online-specific ads or other content to realize additional revenue from online initiatives.  AIS is a lightweight software program that runs on the encoder server.  It automatically interprets triggers in the terrestrial content indicating a commercial or other replaceable content is coming up and injects online-specific ads or content into the online stream. 

AIS has a graphically rich and flexible management interface and allows simple or sophisticated ad sourcing and scheduling.

Different Than Other Ad-Insertion Technologies
Abacast's Ad insertion System™ (AIS) is different than any other technology in the market place. 

Intelligent buffering system - AIS™ has a patent pending buffering feature that allows the new online content (online ads or online-specific content) to be of a longer duration than the time gap being filled.  If the new injected content is longer than the terrestrial station break, AIS™ buffers the terrestrial content on the encoder machine and then.  When the new injected content is finished, the buffer then dumps the terrestrial content to the stream, perfectly preserving its sound quality and digital triggers.  The benefits are:

  • a seamless experience for the end user
  • preservation of sound quality, with no skips or breaks
  • unprecedented flexibility and control over streaming content
  • longer listener sessions, translating into more ad revenue
Synchronized banner or tile ads–AIS™ features AdSync™ for synchornizing banner or tile advertisments with the injected ads or content.  This feature enables direct call to action campaigns (“click the banner on your screen now to visit the web site to take advantage of this offer”).  The benefits are:
  • direct call to action campaigns
  • additional revenue to the broadcaster via higher CPMs and by enabling e-commerce transactions
 Rich management interface – the Ad insertion System™ interface makes it easier to schedule and monitor all of the online content that can be injected. The new management system also allows the injected content for numerous stations with encoders in many different locations to be completely or partially controlled by a central interface making sharing inventory between local and "network wide" ad campaigns easy. Injected ads can also be pulled from external locations making reselling of ad inventory straight forward.
Dynamic Audio-Leveling – the AIS™’ Dynamic Leveling Technology (DLT) intelligently normalizes the audio levels of the injected content (ads, public announcements, fill content, etc.) to the levels of the terrestrial stream, creating consistent audio.  DLT computes the levels of the inbound stream acting as a compressor, an expander and an AGC (automatic gain control) all rolled into one. Minimum levels are also set, so that if the terrestrial stream volume goes below a certain value, the AGC system will keep injected content at that min level. It also sets a visual warning point for making sure inbound levels are above the minimum level. To polish it all off, there is a compressor/limiter at the end of each chain that will keep volumes below a certain db level.
Features
  • Inserts content (ads, music, psa, station ID, etc.) into stream to replace content in source
  • Allows for inserted content to be of a different duration than content being replaced
  • Complete scheduling system for controlling frequency and timing of injected content, dayparts, etc.
  • Impression Count: Integrates Real-time statistics to determine the audience size at the time the ad plays.
  • Multiple levels of scheduling and inventory control, allowing for local and network wide ad campaigns working together
  • Injected content can be pulled from local hard drives and/or remote sources and dynamic playlists.
  • Full affidavit reporting with optional Impression Count
  • Trigger types
    RS 232 – Works with most major play-out systems
    Close or Pulse Closure
    Sub-audible Audio Tones
    TCP/IP
  • Works with any encoder/format
  • Works with multiple encoders at the same time
  • Works for replacing terrestrial ads with Internet only ads, music or alternate content of varying durations
  • Works for replacing syndicated content that can not be streamed over the Internet
  • AdSync™ for synchronizing visual banner or tile advertisements with the injected audio or video ads