Nizhny Novgorod, Russia — From April, 9 till April, 13 2016 Tecom Group’s specialists analyzed the presence of SCTE-35 markers in the digital transport streams of 20 Russian federal TV channels of the first and second DVB-T2 multiplexes. The research was initiated by Tecom Group itself and carried out with the help of Qligent Vision system, the product developed by Tecom Group’s partner company.
It is worth mentioning that local ad insertion has been a pressing issue for quite a long time as digital TV has been developing rapidly leading to the audience growth. Regional advertisers are getting more and more interested in cooperation with federal TV channels, which still remain their main source of income. However, local ads are currently inserted in the analog streams only. As a solution to this problem, SCTE-35 standard has been developed. SCTE-35 markers are intended to ensure smooth and frame-accurate automated local ad insertion into the digital transport stream and they also provide supportive information to allow local next gen broadcasting systems performing ad insertions into the transport streams of multiplexes on the federal level . Along with the main signal, an additional packet identifier (PID) formed by specific MPEG coders is delivered. This allows identifying the CUE- IN/OUT splice events with high precision and ensures confidentiality and protection from unauthorized use of air. It also can happen that local broadcasting partners go beyond their scope of ad time at the expense of federal ad scheduling. This problem can also be solved by automatizating local ad insertion workflow.
However, we can’t ignore the fact that the presence of SCTE-35 markers in broadcasting does not indicate that they can be inserted in the transport stream which is managed by splicers, as, after being used, these markers can be switched off by the very same systems.
The research conducted by Tecom Group showed that up to the present, 9 out of the 20 monitored Russian TV channels have inserted SCTE-35 PID in their transport streams and 5 out of the 9 TV channels are carrying CUE- IN/OUT splice events.
Qligent Vision system’s capability to analyze SCTE-35 markers allows a clearer understanding of the ratio of local ads in the on-air schedule. It also enables TV broadcasters to provide advertisers with visual reports.