Ad insertion

ExoPlayer can be used for both client-side and server-side ad insertion.

Client-side ad insertion

In client-side ad insertion, the player switches between loading media from different URLs as it transitions between playing content and ads. Information about ads is loaded separately from the media, such as from an XML VAST or VMAP ad tag. This can include ad cue positions relative to the start of the content, the actual ad media URIs and metadata such as whether a given ad is skippable.

When using ExoPlayer's AdsMediaSource for client-side ad insertion, the player has information about the ads to be played. This has several benefits:

• The player can expose metadata and functionality relating to ads using its API.
• ExoPlayer UI components can show markers for ad positions automatically, and change their behavior depending on whether ad is playing.
• Internally, the player can keep a consistent buffer across transitions between ads and content.

In this setup, the player takes care of switching between ads and content, which means that apps don't need to take care of controlling multiple separate background/foreground players for ads and content.

When preparing content videos and ad tags for use with client-side ad insertion, ads should ideally be positioned at synchronization samples (keyframes) in the content video so that the player can resume content playback seamlessly.

Declarative ad support

An ad tag URI can be specified when building a MediaItem:

val mediaItem =
  MediaItem.Builder()
    .setUri(videoUri)
    .setAdsConfiguration(MediaItem.AdsConfiguration.Builder(adTagUri).build())
    .build()

MediaItem mediaItem =
    new MediaItem.Builder()
        .setUri(videoUri)
        .setAdsConfiguration(
            new MediaItem.AdsConfiguration.Builder(adTagUri).build())
        .build();

To enable player support for media items that specify ad tags, it's necessary to build and inject a DefaultMediaSourceFactory configured with an AdsLoader.Provider and an AdViewProvider when creating the player:

val mediaSourceFactory: MediaSource.Factory =
  DefaultMediaSourceFactory(context).setLocalAdInsertionComponents(adsLoaderProvider, playerView)
val player = ExoPlayer.Builder(context).setMediaSourceFactory(mediaSourceFactory).build()

MediaSource.Factory mediaSourceFactory =
    new DefaultMediaSourceFactory(context)
        .setLocalAdInsertionComponents(adsLoaderProvider, /* adViewProvider= */ playerView);
ExoPlayer player =
    new ExoPlayer.Builder(context).setMediaSourceFactory(mediaSourceFactory).build();

Internally, DefaultMediaSourceFactory will wrap the content media source in an AdsMediaSource. The AdsMediaSource will obtain an AdsLoader from the AdsLoader.Provider and use it to insert ads as defined by the media item's ad tag.

ExoPlayer's PlayerView implements AdViewProvider. The ExoPlayer IMA library provides an easy to use AdsLoader, as described below.

Playlists with ads

When playing a playlist with multiple media items, the default behavior is to request the ad tag and store ad playback state once for each media ID, content URI, and ad tag URI combination. This means that users will see ads for every media item with ads that has a distinct media ID or content URI, even if the ad tag URIs match. If a media item is repeated, the user will see the corresponding ads only once (the ad playback state stores whether ads have been played, so they are skipped after their first occurrence).

It's possible to customize this behavior by passing an opaque ads identifier with which ad playback state for a given media item is linked, based on object equality. Here is an example where ad playback state is linked to the ad tag URI only, rather than the combination of the media ID and ad tag URI, by passing the ad tag URI as the ads identifier. The effect is that ads will load only once and the user will not see ads on the second item when playing the playlist from start to finish.

// Build the media items, passing the same ads identifier for both items,
// which means they share ad playback state so ads play only once.
val firstItem =
  MediaItem.Builder()
    .setUri(firstVideoUri)
    .setAdsConfiguration(MediaItem.AdsConfiguration.Builder(adTagUri).setAdsId(adTagUri).build())
    .build()
val secondItem =
  MediaItem.Builder()
    .setUri(secondVideoUri)
    .setAdsConfiguration(MediaItem.AdsConfiguration.Builder(adTagUri).setAdsId(adTagUri).build())
    .build()
player.addMediaItem(firstItem)
player.addMediaItem(secondItem)

// Build the media items, passing the same ads identifier for both items,
// which means they share ad playback state so ads play only once.
MediaItem firstItem =
    new MediaItem.Builder()
        .setUri(firstVideoUri)
        .setAdsConfiguration(
            new MediaItem.AdsConfiguration.Builder(adTagUri).setAdsId(adTagUri).build())
        .build();
MediaItem secondItem =
    new MediaItem.Builder()
        .setUri(secondVideoUri)
        .setAdsConfiguration(
            new MediaItem.AdsConfiguration.Builder(adTagUri).setAdsId(adTagUri).build())
        .build();
player.addMediaItem(firstItem);
player.addMediaItem(secondItem);

ExoPlayer IMA library

The ExoPlayer IMA library provides ImaAdsLoader, making it easy to integrate client-side ad insertion into your app. It wraps the functionality of the client-side IMA SDK to support insertion of VAST/VMAP ads. For instructions on how to use the library, including how to handle backgrounding and resuming playback, please see the README.

The demo application uses the IMA library, and includes several sample VAST/VMAP ad tags in the sample list.

UI considerations

PlayerView hides its transport controls during playback of ads by default, but apps can toggle this behavior by calling setControllerHideDuringAds. The IMA SDK will show additional views on top of the player while an ad is playing (for example, a "more info" link and a skip button, if applicable).

The IMA SDK may report whether ads are obscured by application provided views rendered on top of the player. Apps that need to overlay views that are essential for controlling playback must register them with the IMA SDK so that they can be omitted from viewability calculations. When using PlayerView as the AdViewProvider, it will automatically register its control overlays. Apps that use a custom player UI must register overlay views by returning them from AdViewProvider.getAdOverlayInfos.

For more information about overlay views, see Open Measurement in the IMA SDK.

Companion ads

Some ad tags contain additional companion ads that can be shown in 'slots' in an app UI. These slots can be passed via ImaAdsLoader.Builder.setCompanionAdSlots(slots). For more information, see Adding Companion Ads.

Standalone ads

The IMA SDK is designed for inserting ads into media content, not for playing standalone ads by themselves. Hence playback of standalone ads is not supported by the IMA library. We recommend using the Google Mobile Ads SDK instead for this use case.

Using a third-party ads SDK

If you need to load ads via a third-party ads SDK, it's worth checking whether it already provides an ExoPlayer integration. If not, implementing a custom AdsLoader that wraps the third-party ads SDK is the recommended approach, since it provides the benefits of AdsMediaSource described above. ImaAdsLoader acts as an example implementation.

Alternatively, you can use ExoPlayer's playlist support to build a sequence of ads and content clips:

// A pre-roll ad.
val preRollAd = MediaItem.fromUri(preRollAdUri)
// The start of the content.
val contentStart =
  MediaItem.Builder()
    .setUri(contentUri)
    .setClippingConfiguration(ClippingConfiguration.Builder().setEndPositionMs(120000).build())
    .build()
// A mid-roll ad.
val midRollAd = MediaItem.fromUri(midRollAdUri)
// The rest of the content
val contentEnd =
  MediaItem.Builder()
    .setUri(contentUri)
    .setClippingConfiguration(ClippingConfiguration.Builder().setStartPositionMs(120000).build())
    .build()

// Build the playlist.
player.addMediaItem(preRollAd)
player.addMediaItem(contentStart)
player.addMediaItem(midRollAd)
player.addMediaItem(contentEnd)

// A pre-roll ad.
MediaItem preRollAd = MediaItem.fromUri(preRollAdUri);
// The start of the content.
MediaItem contentStart =
    new MediaItem.Builder()
        .setUri(contentUri)
        .setClippingConfiguration(
            new ClippingConfiguration.Builder().setEndPositionMs(120_000).build())
        .build();
// A mid-roll ad.
MediaItem midRollAd = MediaItem.fromUri(midRollAdUri);
// The rest of the content
MediaItem contentEnd =
    new MediaItem.Builder()
        .setUri(contentUri)
        .setClippingConfiguration(
            new ClippingConfiguration.Builder().setStartPositionMs(120_000).build())
        .build();

// Build the playlist.
player.addMediaItem(preRollAd);
player.addMediaItem(contentStart);
player.addMediaItem(midRollAd);
player.addMediaItem(contentEnd);

Server-side ad insertion

In server-side ad insertion (also called dynamic ad insertion, or DAI), the media stream contains both ads and content. A DASH manifest may point to both content and ad segments, possibly in separate periods. For HLS, see the Apple documentation on incorporating ads into a playlist.

When using server-side ad insertion, the client may need to resolve the media URL dynamically to get the stitched stream, it may need to display ads overlays in the UI or it may need to report events to an ads SDK or ad server.

ExoPlayer's DefaultMediaSourceFactory can delegate all these tasks to a server-side ad insertion MediaSource for URIs using the ssai:// scheme:

val player =
  ExoPlayer.Builder(context)
    .setMediaSourceFactory(
      DefaultMediaSourceFactory(context).setServerSideAdInsertionMediaSourceFactory(ssaiFactory)
    )
    .build()

Player player =
    new ExoPlayer.Builder(context)
        .setMediaSourceFactory(
            new DefaultMediaSourceFactory(context)
                .setServerSideAdInsertionMediaSourceFactory(ssaiFactory))
        .build();

ExoPlayer IMA library

The ExoPlayer IMA library provides ImaServerSideAdInsertionMediaSource, making it easy to integrate with IMA's server-side inserted ad streams in your app. It wraps the functionality of the IMA DAI SDK for Android and fully integrates the provided ad metadata into the player. For example, this allows you to use methods like Player.isPlayingAd(), listen to content-ad transitions and let the player handle ad playback logic like skipping already played ads.

In order to use this class, you need to set up the ImaServerSideAdInsertionMediaSource.AdsLoader and the ImaServerSideAdInsertionMediaSource.Factory and connect them to the player:

// MediaSource.Factory to load the actual media stream.
val defaultMediaSourceFactory = DefaultMediaSourceFactory(context)
// AdsLoader that can be reused for multiple playbacks.
val adsLoader =
  ImaServerSideAdInsertionMediaSource.AdsLoader.Builder(context, adViewProvider).build()
// MediaSource.Factory to create the ad sources for the current player.
val adsMediaSourceFactory =
  ImaServerSideAdInsertionMediaSource.Factory(adsLoader, defaultMediaSourceFactory)
// Configure DefaultMediaSourceFactory to create both IMA DAI sources and
// regular media sources. If you just play IMA DAI streams, you can also use
// adsMediaSourceFactory directly.
defaultMediaSourceFactory.setServerSideAdInsertionMediaSourceFactory(adsMediaSourceFactory)
// Set the MediaSource.Factory on the Player.
val player = ExoPlayer.Builder(context).setMediaSourceFactory(defaultMediaSourceFactory).build()
// Set the player on the AdsLoader
adsLoader.setPlayer(player)

// MediaSource.Factory to load the actual media stream.
DefaultMediaSourceFactory defaultMediaSourceFactory = new DefaultMediaSourceFactory(context);
// AdsLoader that can be reused for multiple playbacks.
ImaServerSideAdInsertionMediaSource.AdsLoader adsLoader =
    new ImaServerSideAdInsertionMediaSource.AdsLoader.Builder(context, adViewProvider).build();
// MediaSource.Factory to create the ad sources for the current player.
ImaServerSideAdInsertionMediaSource.Factory adsMediaSourceFactory =
    new ImaServerSideAdInsertionMediaSource.Factory(adsLoader, defaultMediaSourceFactory);
// Configure DefaultMediaSourceFactory to create both IMA DAI sources and
// regular media sources. If you just play IMA DAI streams, you can also use
// adsMediaSourceFactory directly.
defaultMediaSourceFactory.setServerSideAdInsertionMediaSourceFactory(adsMediaSourceFactory);
// Set the MediaSource.Factory on the Player.
Player player =
    new ExoPlayer.Builder(context).setMediaSourceFactory(defaultMediaSourceFactory).build();
// Set the player on the AdsLoader
adsLoader.setPlayer(player);

Load your IMA asset key, or content source id and video id, by building an URL with ImaServerSideAdInsertionUriBuilder:

val ssaiUri =
  ImaServerSideAdInsertionUriBuilder()
    .setAssetKey(assetKey)
    .setFormat(C.CONTENT_TYPE_HLS)
    .build()
player.setMediaItem(MediaItem.fromUri(ssaiUri))

Uri ssaiUri =
    new ImaServerSideAdInsertionUriBuilder()
        .setAssetKey(assetKey)
        .setFormat(C.CONTENT_TYPE_HLS)
        .build();
player.setMediaItem(MediaItem.fromUri(ssaiUri));

Finally, release your ads loader once it's no longer used:

adsLoader.release()

adsLoader.release();

UI considerations

The same UI considerations as for client-side ad insertion apply to server-side ad insertion too.

Companion ads

Some ad tags contain additional companion ads that can be shown in 'slots' in an app UI. These slots can be passed via ImaServerSideAdInsertionMediaSource.AdsLoader.Builder.setCompanionAdSlots(slots). For more information see Adding Companion Ads.

Using a third-party ads SDK

If you need to load ads using a third-party ads SDK, it's worth checking whether it already provides an ExoPlayer integration. If not, it's recommended to provide a custom MediaSource that accepts URIs with the ssai:// scheme similar to ImaServerSideAdInsertionMediaSource.

The actual logic of creating the ad structure can be delegated to the general purpose ServerSideAdInsertionMediaSource, which wraps a stream MediaSource and allows the user to set and update the AdPlaybackState representing the ad metadata.

Often, server-side inserted ad streams contain timed events to notify the player about ad metadata. Please see supported formats for information on what timed metadata formats are supported by ExoPlayer. Custom ads SDK MediaSource implementations can listen for timed metadata events from the player using Player.Listener.onMetadata.