We are excited to announce that now, using Grabyo Producer, you can insert custom ad markers into live streams broadcast to YouTube. 

Ad markers can now be inserted into RTMP streams published on YouTube. This new integration sets frame-accurate ad-markers into the broadcast, with additional metadata for the length of the ad break (or “pod”), triggering mid-roll ads for viewers at the precise moment you choose. 

This update allows you to enhance your live content monetization on YouTube, with the ability to insert dynamic, server-side ads based on specific YouTube viewer data, such as demographics and location.

Note: Your YouTube channel must have live-streaming ads enabled for this workflow.

This update builds on our recent launch of SCTE-35 ad-insertion for OTT, FAST and broadcast TV, enabling you to insert ad breaks into live streams simultaneously across multiple destination platforms.

How to insert custom ads into YouTube live streams using Grabyo

Within Grabyo Producer you can monetize live streams on YouTube with both ad insertion and replacement. 

Ad insertion

Our new update allows users to insert ad breaks into any live stream broadcast to YouTube. During your production, all you have to do is hit the ‘insert ad break’ button to trigger one. 

You can customize the marker offset and set the duration of the ad break. YouTube will then retrieve an ad from the Google ad server and display it to users as part of the live broadcast at the exact moment you set. 

When setting up your production, you can also insert a custom lead-in and lead-out asset (ad bumper), to transition your stream to and from an ad break, increasing your production value and giving you an opportunity to add custom branding or sponsor idents. 

If, for any reason, YouTube cannot serve a video advert to a user during your set ad break, you can pre-load a replacement asset into Grabyo Producer, which will play out instead. This replacement ad serves as a backup and will be the video that you see in your DVR recording of the stream in Grabyo.

For more information on ad insertion via SCTE-35 to broadcast TV, FAST and OTT platforms, head here. 

Ad replacement 

If you are ingesting a live broadcast feed into Grabyo Producer with ad breaks already inserted, if each ad break is segmented using SCTE-35 markers in the ingest stream, you also have the option to replace these assets automatically before streaming out to a third-party platform. 

This comes in handy to comply with social media advertising policies or if you would like to use this inventory for something else, such as digital sponsors or your own promotion. 

Grabyo users take advantage of this feature to remove network broadcast adverts and replace them with promo videos before multicasting the stream to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other platforms. 

When setting up your live production, you can pre-load any assets you would like to use to replace ad breaks in your ingest feed. Grabyo Producer will automatically trigger these assets to replace the ad break in line with the SCTE-35 markers.  

We are excited to bring this latest update to the market, the launch of multiplatform live ad insertion is here!

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