Bitmovin launches AI-powered solution to boost ad revenue

Vienna - Austria, November 13, 2024 - Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, announces the launch of Bitmovin’s AI Contextual Advertising that combines the power of the Bitmovin Playback Solution and Bitmovin’s Encoding to provide hyper-personalized adverts for audiences based on the content they are viewing. Bitmovin’s AI Contextual Advertising optimizes ad placement for users based on a machine learning model that extracts the relevant characteristics of every video scene and analyzes viewer engagement. One of the key advantages of Bitmovin’s AI Contextual Advertising is that it’s based on cookieless workflows and provides relevant adverts to viewers without the need for personalized tracking.

“We’re extremely proud of Bitmovin’s AI Contextual Advertising, which is a unique solution that will deliver personalized and relevant content to the viewer, which will translate into increased ad conversions revenue and brand loyalty,” said Stefan Lederer, CEO and co-founder of Bitmovin. “We believe our AI Contextual Advertising will help propel the industry forward by harnessing the power of AI into the integration of our award-winning technologies for smarter ad placements that will positively impact the customer’s bottom line.”

Bitmovin’s Encoding solutions leverage AI to analyze video content, audio content, or both and use an AI model of OpenAI to extract the metadata from the content to enable a more content-focused advertising placement. Each extracted piece of content metadata is assigned a timestamp to map that information to the specific position in the content it belongs to. The metadata describes the content in sufficient detail to allow for targeted ad placement, but it can also describe the scene more broadly. The Bitmovin Player then takes this metadata and sends it to a content-aware ad server, which, in return, replies with contextual ads. Using a conversion heatmap generated by the Player, the ad's position is optimized to increase the chance of a conversion. This heatmap is mapped to the categories based on the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s taxonomy in tandem with an AI analysis of historical data and the current user environment. 

“More and more media and entertainment companies are looking to advertising to support growth. Yet, lack of personalization in advertising remains a huge challenge for brands.” added Lederer, “AI can help make advertising experiences more tailored to the viewer by analyzing the content they are watching, which can help pinpoint what mood they are in and place ads that they will be more receptive to in that moment.”

Bitmovin’s AI Contextual Advertising is designed to place adverts that target audiences based on the content they are watching. For example, if a viewer is watching a TV show featuring characters in a luxury hotel, subsequent advertisements could be for hotel brands, cruise ship holidays, spa weekends, or health and beauty brands. The rationale is that the viewer is more likely to engage with that content because they are already watching content that features those things and appeals to or interests them to some level, resulting in more ad-generated revenue.

Furthermore, Bitmovin AI Contextual Advertising & Prediction measures conversion rates at different points of the video, combined with information about the user’s viewing environment to place the ad when the viewer is most likely to convert. Additionally, contextual metadata can be used to ensure brand safety and avoid placing adverts with content incompatible with the brand. For example, it would avoid showing adverts for airlines during ad breaks for content that features plane crashes.

Bitmovin’s AI Contextual Advertising is unique because it integrates two existing products, which means it is simple for customers to integrate. After all, there is no need for multiple third-party integrations. It is compatible with Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI), Client-Side Ad Insertion, and Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI).

About Bitmovin

Bitmovin is the leading provider of video infrastructure for global digital media companies and service providers. The company has been at the forefront of industry innovation and all major developments in the digital video streaming industry. 

Bitmovin built the world’s first commercial adaptive streaming player and deployed the first software-defined encoding service that runs on any cloud platform. Its cloud-native technology offers the most flexible and scalable media encoding, playback, and analytics solutions available with unparalleled device reach, ease of integration, and world class customer support. 

Bitmovin customers benefit from optimized operations, reduced time-to-market, and the best viewer experience possible. Bitmovin is headquartered in Denver, Colorado and has major offices in Vienna, Klagenfurt, Austria as well as London, and Berlin. The company has over 400 customers across the globe, including ClassPass, BBC, fuboTV, Hulu, and Discovery. For more information, visit www.bitmovin.com.

Press Contacts

To arrange a briefing with Bitmovin, please contact: 

Sarah Thomas, Account Manager, Radical Moves
sarah.thomas@radicalmoves.co.uk

Zoe Mumba, Senior Manager,  PR and Communications zoe.mumba@bitmovin.com