General Info
What should I be tracking?
You are expected to track both content and advertising. You should call the library's track-Method only once per content-stream, and once per ad(-block).
Can you summarise how your libraries work in simple terms?
All libraries for our supported platforms offer a mechanism to adapt any player for measurement (on the supported platform). The only information the library needs, is the current position on the stream in seconds. Beside that the measurement also requires the information about the stream itself (Content ID or live stream channel) and the duration of the stream in seconds ("0" for live simulcast streams).
Can you summarise how to use your libraries in simple terms?
The basic use of the library is:
1. Create once a "SpringStreams" instance which contains basic information like the sitename (required) and the application name when it's an app.
2. Choose or implement an adapter for the player or stream you want to use
3. Call the track method of the library by giving the adapter and the information about the stream itself
From this point the stream will be measured. These steps are always the same on each supported platform.
(see also: https://confluence.spring.de/display/public/Implementation+of+Stream+Measurement#ImplementationofStreamMeasurement-BasicUseoftheAPI )
What metadata must I provide to the library?
See General metadata tagging instructions. Our library needs to receive mandatory information on the current position of the stream in seconds, a stream identifier (unique BARB Barb Content ID and/or name of the stream) and information about the stream duration if the stream is VOD not live (so-called duration of the stream).
How do identify my program content?
See General metadata tagging instructions. For on-demand you must provide the BARB Barb standard Content ID. For live, this is still being revised because it might not always be possible to supply a standard Content ID in a live context.
What should I use to populate the Content ID (cq) variable?
Please discuss this with your Project Owner who will advise you which internal code you should use.
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What should the duration of a live simulcast stream be?
Live streams should always have a duration of “0”.
What should I do if duration (media length) is not available at the start of my stream?
We have seen cases where duration of a stream is not available to the library until after 10-20 seconds.This is not a problem, because it will later be naturally updated “in-play”. You must let the library have continuous access to reading this variable – therefore it will not matter if it updates from “0”. For each stream we will handle any change by taking the value assigned for the final data block, i.e. the final heartbeat.
For Live Simulcast, we have an existing rolling playhead parameter which updates every 0.25s. Is this sufficient for measurement, as I understand the implementation 'polls' for an update of the position every 0.2s?
This will not be a problem for the variable containing the position value. It will not create creating “pauses” in the stream. You do not need to do anything.
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It’s also worth noting that the original VideoViewAdapter class probably should not be keeping a hard reference to the VideoView class as it increases the potential for leaking the view if the lifecycle of the Stream is not very tightly handled. For instance, when the base class relies on calling Stream.stop from the Activity.onStop method, and similarly SpringStream.unload from the Activity.onDestroy method. Neither of onStop or onDestroy are guaranteed to be called, so in any scenario where they don’t get called you may leak a VideoVideo and all of the associated resources that go with it.
Content and Advertising
How do I manage pre- and mid-rolls?
In most cases, it is enough to connect the Kantar library to the programme content object in your player, and connect it separately to advertisement objects. The library will automatically keep track of the programme content when it is being paused for mid-rolls. You should not try to micro-manage what the library is doing. The play head position reported via the main content won't change whilst commercials are playing (it's paused during this time).
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I am serving multiple advertisments during my pre- and mid-rolls. Is there any specific instruction?
You need to stop the library after every ad, and call the track-method again with every new ad!
Mobile App Streaming
What happens if my app is sent to the background by the user?
A Stop event is called when the app goes to background. This necessarily means that any continuation of the viewing by bringing the app back to the foreground will result in a new measurement session. Failure to call the library on foreground-event will result in no measurement.
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It is mentioned that the 'unload' call in SpringStreams is executed when the App is backgrounded. We currently close our player down on a background event. Is there any implication to be aware of if we need to release Stream instances?
When the player is sent to the background it closes down and any stream is canceled. When the user restarts the app and it is brought to the foreground, the previously viewed content will either resume or not, but in any case: a brand new stream is started with a new session ID in the library. This should present no issues for the measurement. Assure yourself that also on resumes like this, the library is started!