Inserting geo-localised of avertissement break.

[Christian]

Hi,

I posted a request long ago but I still have no feasible and stable solution.  :'(
I am searching for a mechanism to insert advertisements that are localized to the listeners. The idea is to use the scheduler or tagging information to trigger the broadcast of specific add to listeners or advertising fillers if no add for targeted listeners. Example US listeners listen to US add, German listeners to German add and so on where add are available and all other people listen to an advertisement filler .
I know how to geo localized listeners and forward them to specific Icecast/shoutcast server. 
I am looking for an ?add management software? or a RB plugin that ?replaces? the RB live stream by the advertisement files and go back to live stream at the end of playback.
I was thinking of using MPD daemon with some management scripts but this is not so easy.
As anyone face that request? Any solution ?  ???

Christian
http://www.clubbingstation.com

 

[djsoft]

It's possible to play network stream and insert advertisements at specific time points.

Here's the idea on how this should work:
1) RadioBOSS#1 - it creates the main stream without goe-specific ads. It's the internal stream, users don't connect to it. Let's say this stream has this address: http://127.0.0.1:9999
2) RadioBOSS#2 ... N - several instances for each geo location - each broadcadts to its own shoutcast/icecast server and listeners connect to those servers.
Setup of those instances is similar to each other: turned on "Repeat playlist" option, the only entry in the playlist is the address of stream played by RadioBOSS#1 - http://127.0.0.1:9999 as in example.
Then add scheduler events to play ads at specified times. All events have the "Overlay playback" option turned on and "Set playlist level to 0 (zero) - this will mute the stream at the specific time and will play advertisement file/playlist.

The mechanics like this is used by retransmitting stations, but it fits in your situation as well.

Please let me know of any questions.

 

[Christian]

Hi Dmitry,

  I thought of using than. The issue here is that Ad will start at unpredictable time in the playlist. It could be in the middle of a track or even wors on top of a show or a voice track.
I need a way to get a trigger signal from the main stream. Could be on specific Title - Artist Name (ie Advert: - Advert as Radionomy does for live sources. In my RB knowledge such sync cannot be done.

Christian

 

[djsoft]

Yes, the solution I provided will only work if ads always start at the exact same time or when you don't care about interrupted tracks.

Well, synching by title is not possible. I'm thinking about adding new conditions for event startup, eg. by DTMF signal, by checking tream title, checking specified file contents etc.

But there's no ready solution to do the sync you requested right now...

 

[nelson c]

Hi, I think the issue of replacement of advertising is very complicated, because it must replace the audio on the right when you want and return to the air just as the advertising end of the main pc.

I particularly am also going to need the same thing as' Christian in the future.
At the moment we have a local FM in my little town, but we are saving to expand and put 2 or 3 FM radio stations in several cities connected by internet.

Bone from my town I transmit streaming at 192 kbps and each station would have a pc with RB receiving audio from the base station and to some stimulus (title information or DTMF) signal streaming court and start playing commercials then when you realize you must return to the air, immediately perform a fade on the current market and follow with streaming playback.

At the same time when if you find that the streaming fails (for cutting internet or otherwise) should play local audio until you reconnect to the Internet.

In my country there are many radio stations have chains. Most use an automation software called Audicom 8 made here in Argentina that can work with other software of the same company called I-link which is responsible for replacing the commercials.

The automation software is very complex and expensive (800 dollars ouede version not work with I-link and 1600 version that supports the work with I-link each license over $ 500 I-link (the software that replaces commercial.)
Above the high price of music composition skills are well below the Playlist Generator Pro! 

So I ask you to develop a solution to replace commercial, I do not want in the future having to leave Boss Radio. Sorry for the extension to the post. Greetings!

 

[Christian]

Hi,

  This is my own opinion but I really thing this kind of tool will be of a great help in the near future. In the exact same way that adds are geolocalized on web sites we are facing the exact same need for webradio stations where listeners are all around the world. Radionomy is I think really a leader here, they are not only able to target listeners by countries but now also they start to target major cities.
So local advertisment can also be offered.
It's easy to geolocalised listeners and to redirect them to specific Shoutcast/Icecast stream. The isue is to manage adds and streams. An other chalenge is to get a report on how many listeners really get the ads, it is extremly important as on webradios adds are monetised by the number of impressions. It's a real need to have exact figures on how many listeners really listened on each adds.
I really thing there is a REAL LARGE BUSINESS POTENTIAL here for DJSoft. Just give a though of it.
Webradios that can offer advertising with advanced features will be able to monetise there broadcast and have the potential to grow.

Christian
http://www.clubbingstation.com

 

[djsoft]

Maybe the DTMF and/or title checking will be implemented in one of the 4.7.x updates.
I'm still not sure yet if those features can be used by general software audience... So maybe it will be available as plugins.

 

[Christian]

Yes Dmitry.

  In my opinion it should be something optionnal. Either a plungin or a specific software that can interract with RB or maybe any other general Radio Software. Something in between the Radio Software and the streaming servers.
It should provide an interface to manage the different addvertisement schedule, the lengh of add breaks and of course the various locations. It sould also provide effective reporting to prove the annoncers that the required number of impressions are reached. Or display the effective cost in relation of the number of effective listers.
To give un idear at present time in France a 20 second addvertisement cost an average of 10? for 1000 impressions. So if you have 100 listeners you need to play 10 times an add to get paied 10?

One issue that Radionomy is still facing is the sound processing. The radio breaks sound much less loud than general program. Also keep in mind that sound processing uses hight CPU, so running multiple sound processer can raise a new issue and limit the capacity of handeling many streams.

Christian
http://www.clubbingstation.com

 

[djsoft]

Well, the adverticement manager is planned, but I don't know ETA for it.

Regarding the stream modification as we talked before (insert ads based on stream title), but without any features like counting impressions etc - it can be added pretty soon.

 

[Christian]

Ok, maybe check with other customers if they are interested by such a feature!
I can manage counting impressions by triggering a script from one of the http GET that will run a php script that will log the current number of listeners. I already monitor minutes by minutes my listeners accross all streaming servers to get a graphic and to calculate the daily TSL and print a graphic out of it.

Christian
http://www.clubbingstation.com

 

[djsoft]

It's now on to-do list, so I think it will be implemented in one of the future versions.
I'll post here any updates on this.

 

[Christian]

Hi Dmitry,

  Any update on the subject? Any beta version to test ?

Christian
http://www.clubbingstation.com

 

[djsoft]

Not yet, sorry... I'm still thinking out the best way to implement it.

 

[Christian]

Do you want me to give you more details on what I am looking for ? Or do you have amy information?
Just to mentiooned it might not only be used for Advertisingt purposes but it could also be used to provide local news break for exemple.

Christian
http://www.clubbingstation.com

 

[djsoft]

Technically it's not that hard to implement... The problem is I don't want to overload the UI with more buttons and controls, so I'm testing out different methods on adding those new features.

Most likely it will be implemented as a new option for scheduler events (a single button in the event window "Additional launch options" or something like this). The options are start event when:
1) DTMF signal received
2) Current network stream title equals to some string
3) Probably some other conditions (let me know if you have any ideas)

This will allow to start events not only time based, but also react to some external happenings, making scheduler more flexible.

 

[nelson c]

I have an idea but not if it is technically possible.
Compare the peaks of a file, with streaming.
in the PC business that replaces a file is loaded, this peak was analyzed, then rb streaming is constantly analyzing and comparing the peak streaming with that file loaded before. when the peaks coincide, procesede to make a cast in the stream and starts playing local advertising.
The audio of this file might say things like "it comes to advertising, in a moment continued," This would be achieved with a perfect synchronization, and without entering the DTMF noises that are audible to the audience.
on the other side of the streaming metadata are not accurate, there is always a minimal difference between audio and such, so do not see it as something 100% reliable.
something I think would be important, when you start playing the local advertising, the streaming should continue playing in silence.
so as to continue analyzing the stream, so that when re-detect these peaks do a cast on commercial air and put back on the main air stream.
this is just an idea would have to prove if it works because many use equalizers and compressors that "modify the peaks" and maybe another problem would be the crossfader.
regards

 

[Leandrofiorenza]

maybe in the metadata can send the total duration of advertising so that once you start to replace local advertising, RB know in a few minutes back on the air without having to be playing the streaming in the background.
but neither would be accurate, you should start a little earlier because the buffer takes 2 or 3 seconds
Thanks

 

[djsoft]

@nelson c
Detecting sound samples will require more CPU power compared to DTMF and I'm not sure it will be accurate enough... I think we should return to this after DTMF feature is added.
Also, DTMF is widely-used, and detection of it is easier than detection of custom audio patterns. And it's not a big issue that audience hear the tone... So we'll start with DTMF for now

@Leandrofiorenza
About streaming, you're right that stream should start immediately. A new feature is planned for future versions: streams preloading. It will buffer the stream in the background and when time comes - launch it immediately.

Regarding AD block length... It depends on station. Usually stations should play all their local ADs, even if the AD block of a main station is shorter.

 

[Leandrofiorenza]

ok, is right.
anyway I think you can hide the DTMF!.
streaming as it is charged in the buffer, DTMF tone comes just seconds before being played, so if you make a good synchronization could be run from the buffer (eg a second before) so that it stops playing the streaming the right time. just before the audience hears a tone DTMF.

 

[nelson c]

hello, i was thinking of a good solution: My idea is that maybe the metadata can be sent an indication that activates a peak detector of a sound (using the metadata always arrive before the buffer). with this but maybe you can optimize CPU usage (even less than a DTMF) and is activated only when indicated by the metadata.
with this new command to point links online play I think it would save using a new event planner: could be used as follows: when it detects that you must replace commercial, perform a cast and play the next track would be a from the task scheduler commercial from the common Scheduler  .
Thanks