Back to all work
Optimized ad insertion performance in live and on-demand streams
Viaplay operates one of the largest streaming services in the Nordics, delivering live sports, films and series across web, mobile and connected TV. Ad-supported tiers required server-side ad insertion (SSAI) to behave reliably under heavy live load.
SSAILive StreamingVODPlayback Analytics
The challenge
Ad breaks were causing playback errors, mistimed transitions and inconsistent completion rates across devices. Diagnosing issues across the manifest, packager, ad decision server and player was difficult at scale.
Our approach
- Audited the SSAI pipeline end-to-end across live and VOD origins, manifest manipulation and player behaviour.
- Aligned manifest timing, ad markers and player buffer strategy to reduce stalls during ad transitions.
- Instrumented playback analytics to attribute errors to specific stages of the ad pipeline.
- Tuned origin and CDN behaviour around ad break boundaries to minimise rebuffering.
Outcomes
- Significant reduction in ad-related playback errors across CTV and mobile.
- Higher ad completion rates and improved viewer experience during live events.
- Clear observability into ad pipeline failures, accelerating future incident response.
Next case study
Liberty Global