By Srinath V Ramaswamy, Comcast
Advertising in video is an important business segment of the cable industry, and especially targeted advertising. In this paper, targeted advertising architectures deployed for linear television are discussed.
First, we discuss the architecture successfully deployed for the legacy devices followed by the architecture for IP-based devices. In the case of the solution for legacy devices, linear video and targeted ads were delivered over QAM whereas in the case of IP-based and hybrid QAM-IP devices, linear video was delivered over QAM and targeted ads over IP. This is followed by the architecture for targeting advertising for linear television over IP. Finally, detailed are challenges faced with seamlessly splicing MPEG transport streams and their possible resolutions. It is important to note that when service providers use set-top box data to deliver relevant programming and advertising to customers, they do so without disclosing personally identifiable information about customers to programmers or advertisers. Comcast collects and uses data in accordance with our privacy policies and all relevant laws and regulations.