Passing VAST tag parameter values for MediaTailor Channel Assembly FAST Channel Programs

Question

I would like help with setting up the right VAST parameter values for targeting MediaTailor Channel Assembly FAST Channel Programs.

Suppose, I've setup a Channel Assembly FAST Channel with 2 Programs (A and B). Program A has 2 mid-roll ad breaks. Program B has 1 mid-roll ad break. Channel is configured to play these 2 programs after each other in a loop. That is,

Program A -> Program B -> Program A -> Program B ... and so on in loop

I see that there are these 3 parameters ("splice_insert.avail_num", "splice_insert.splice_event_id", "splice_insert.unique_program_id") available when setting up an ad break in a Program.

Which of these should be used for distinguishing between Program A and B? And, which of these should be used for identifying a specific mid roll ad break (say, 1 or 2) within that program?

Also, could these be values be passed as parameters in VAST tag to Ad Server? For example, I want to use these parameters passed in the VAST tag to target the 2nd mid-roll ad break in Program A.

Thanks.

Answer 1

The values that are used for the splice_insert parameters in Channel Assembly are sent through to the server side ad insertion (SSAI) in the form of the session variables. For example, in Channel Assembly, splice_insert.avail_num becomes [scte.avail_num] in SSAI. Based on what you are trying to do, we would recommend one of the following:

• Channel Assembly's splice_insert.splice_event_id > SSAI's [scte.event_id] or
• Channel Assembly's splice_insert.unique_program_id > SSAI's [scte.unique_program_id]

For more information on the SSAI session variables, please review https://docs.aws.amazon.com/mediatailor/latest/ug/variables-session.html