ITV picks Yospace DAI for Freely channels

Freely makes it possible for UK viewers to stream live TV alongside on-demand content for free, without requiring any dish, set-top box or aerial. It is built on a shared player model, which means that it is not practical to use multiple embedded SDKs from each broadcaster, which would typically be critical to supporting Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)-compliant measurement. It also had to be compatible with Freely’s requirements, which included the HbbTV Operator Application (OpApp) specification.

Yospace delivered a dynamic ad insertion (DAI) offering combined with client-guided ad measurement (CGAM). It works by enabling the shared Freely player to call a Yospace API with its specific playback position. This generates the data required to provide accurate, IAB-compliant ad measurement across all of Freely’s supported devices without requiring SDK integration and management.

Thomas Thomas, Director of Engineering at ITV, said: “Working with Yospace on this innovative new solution means we can give advertisers the insight they need by confidently measuring advertising results. ITV has partnered with Yospace for over a decade as we increasingly look for new developments to make sure our clients can make the most of their ad spend.”

According to Yospace, the initiative formed the basis of a wider push to standardise scalable ad measurement capture. Yospace said it ensured that the new common media client data v2 (CMCDv2) specification supports the required extensions to provide CGAM. 

Tim Sewell, CEO of Yospace, said: “Our collaboration with Everyone TV and ITV has helped create a genuinely meaningful solution to an ad measurement problem. Through the upcoming CMCDv2 standard, this innovation will now be opened up for every other broadcaster.”