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Pod serving DAI

IMA SDKs simplify integrating multimedia ads into your websites and apps.

IMA SDKs can request ads from any VAST-compliant ad server and manage ad playback in your apps.

With IMA DAI SDKs, apps make a stream request for ad and content video for either VOD or live content. The SDK then returns a combined video stream, so that you don't have to manage switching between ad and content video within your app.

This guide demonstrates how to play a Live DAI Pod Serving stream, using the IMA DAI SDK for CAF.

Before using this guide, familiarize yourself with the Chromecast Application Framework's Web Receiver protocol. This guide assumes a basic understanding of CAF receiver concepts, such as message interceptors and mediaInformation objects, and familiarity with using the Cast Command and Control tool, to emulate a CAF sender.

To use IMA DAI pod serving, you must be working with a pod serving partner and must have an Ad Manager 360 Advanced account. If you have an Ad Manager account, contact your account manager for more details. For information about signing up for Ad Manager, visit the Ad Manager Help Center.

For information on integrating with other platforms, or on using the IMA client-side SDKs, see Interactive Media Ads SDKs.

IMA DAI Pod Serving overview

Implementing pod serving using the IMA CAF DAI SDK involves two main components, which are demonstrated in this guide:

• StreamRequest: An object that defines a stream request to Google's advertising servers. Requests specify a Network Code, Custom Asset Key, and an optional API key, as well as other optional parameters.
• StreamManager: An object that handles communication between the video stream and the IMA DAI SDK, such as firing tracking pings and forwarding stream events to the publisher.

Prerequisites

• A Cast Developer Console account with registered test devices.
• A hosted web receiver app that is registered with your Cast Developer Console and which can be modified to host the code provided by this guide.
• A sending app that is configured to use your web receiver app. For the purposes of this example, use the Cast Command and Control tool as your sender.

Configure the sender's MediaInfo objects

First, configure your sender app's MediaInfo object to include the following fields:

Here are some code samples to help you get started:

// Create mediaInfo object
const mediaInfo = new chrome.cast.media.MediaInfo("CONTENT_ID");
mediaInfo.contentUrl = "BACKUP_STREAM_URL";
mediaInfo.contentType = "CONTENT_STREAM_MIMETYPE";
mediaInfo.streamType = chrome.cast.media.StreamType.LIVE;
mediaInfo.customData = {
manifestUrl: "MANIFEST_URL",
networkCode: "NETWORK-CODE",
customAssetKey: "CUSTOM_ASSET_KEY",
apiKey: "API_KEY"
};

// Make load request to cast web receiver
const castSession = cast.framework.CastContext.getInstance().getCurrentSession();
const request = new chrome.cast.media.LoadRequest(mediaInfo);
castSession.loadMedia(request).then(
  () => { console.log('Load succeed'); },
  (errorCode) => { console.log('Error code: ' + errorCode); });

JSONObject customData = new JSONObject()?
  .put("manifestUrl", "MANIFEST_URL")
  .put("networkCode", "NETWORK-CODE")
  .put("customAssetKey", "CUSTOM_ASSET_KEY")
  .put("apiKey", "API_KEY");
MediaInfo mediaInfo = MediaInfo.Builder("CONTENT_ID")
  .setContentUrl("BACKUP_STREAM_URL")
  .setContentType("CONTENT_STREAM_MIMETYPE")
  .setStreamType(MediaInfo.STREAM_TYPE_LIVE)
  .setCustomData(customData)
  .build();

RemoteMediaClient remoteMediaClient = mCastSession.getRemoteMediaClient();
remoteMediaClient.load(new MediaLoadRequestData.Builder().setMediaInfo(mediaInfo).build());

NSURL url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"BACKUP_STREAM_URL"];
NSDictionary *customData = @{
  @"manifestUrl": @"MANIFEST_URL",
  @"networkCode": @"NETWORK-CODE",
  @"customAssetKey": @"CUSTOM_ASSET_KEY",
  @"apiKey": @"API_KEY"};
mediaInfoBuilder.customData = customData;

GCKMediaInformationBuilder *mediaInfoBuilder =
  [[GCKMediaInformationBuilder alloc] initWithContentID: @"CONTENT_ID"];
mediaInfoBuilder.contentURL = url;
mediaInfoBuilder.contentType = @"CONTENT_STREAM_MIMETYPE";
mediaInfoBuilder.streamType = GCKMediaStreamTypeLive;
mediaInfoBuilder.customData = customData;
self.mediaInformation = [mediaInfoBuilder build];

GCKRequest *request = [self.sessionManager.currentSession.remoteMediaClient loadMedia:self.mediaInformation];
if (request != nil) {
  request.delegate = self;
}

let url = URL.init(string: "BACKUP_STREAM_URL")
guard let mediaURL = url else {
  print("invalid mediaURL")
  return
}

let customData = [
  "liveConfigID": "MANIFEST_URL",
  "networkCode": "NETWORK-CODE",
  "customAssetKey": "CUSTOM_ASSET_KEY",
  "region": "API_KEY"
]

let mediaInfoBuilder = GCKMediaInformationBuilder.init(contentId: "CONTENT_ID")
mediaInfoBuilder.contentURL = mediaUrl
mediaInfoBuilder.contentType = @"CONTENT_STREAM_MIMETYPE"
mediaInfoBuilder.streamType = GCKMediaStreamType.Live
mediaInfoBuilder.customData = customData
mediaInformation = mediaInfoBuilder.build()

guard let mediaInfo = mediaInformation else {
  print("invalid mediaInformation")
  return
}

if let request = sessionManager.currentSession?.remoteMediaClient?.loadMedia
(mediaInfo) {
  request.delegate = self
}

{
  "media": {
    "contentId": "CONTENT_ID",
    "contentUrl": "BACKUP_STREAM_URL",
    "contentType": ""CONTENT_STREAM_MIMETYPE"",
    "streamType": "LIVE",
    "customData": {
      "liveConfigID": "MANIFEST_URL",
      "networkCode": "NETWORK-CODE",
      "customAssetKey": "CUSTOM_ASSET_KEY",
      "oAuthToken": "API_KEY"
    }
  }
}

This custom load request can be sent to the receiver to test the rest of the steps.

Create a basic CAF receiver

Create a custom web receiver, as seen in the CAF SDK Custom Web Receiver Guide.

Your receiver's code should look like this:

<html>
<head>
  <script
      src="//www.gstatic.com/cast/sdk/libs/caf_receiver/v3/cast_receiver_framework.js">
  </script>
</head>
<body>
  <cast-media-player></cast-media-player>
  <script>
    // ...
  </script>
</body>
</html>

Import the IMA DAI SDK and get the Player Manager

Add a script tag to import the IMA DAI SDK for CAF to your web receiver, just after the script loading CAF. In the script tag, store the receiver context and player manager as constants before starting the receiver.

<html>
<head>
  <script
      src="//www.gstatic.com/cast/sdk/libs/caf_receiver/v3/cast_receiver_framework.js"></script>
  <script src="//imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/cast_dai.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
  <cast-media-player></cast-media-player>
  <script>
    const castContext = cast.framework.CastReceiverContext.getInstance();
    const playerManager = castContext.getPlayerManager();

    castContext.start();
  </script>
</body>
</html>

Initialize the IMA Stream Manager

Initialize the IMA Stream Manager.

<html>
<head>
  <script type="text/javascript"
      src="//www.gstatic.com/cast/sdk/libs/caf_receiver/v3/cast_receiver_framework.js"></script>
  <script src="//imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/cast_dai.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
  <cast-media-player></cast-media-player>
  <script>
    const castContext = cast.framework.CastReceiverContext.getInstance();
    const playerManager = castContext.getPlayerManager();
    const streamManager = new google.ima.cast.dai.api.StreamManager();

    castContext.start();
  </script>
</body>
</html>

Create the Stream Manager Load Interceptor

Before your media items are passed to CAF, create your stream request in a LOAD message interceptor.

    const castContext = cast.framework.CastReceiverContext.getInstance();
    const playerManager = castContext.getPlayerManager();
    const streamManager = new google.ima.cast.dai.api.StreamManager();

    /**
     * Creates a livestream request object for a pod serving stream.
     * @param {!LoadRequestData} castRequest The request object from the cast sender
     * @return {StreamRequest} an IMA stream request
     */
    const createStreamRequest = (castRequest) => { /* ... */};

    /**
     * Initates a DAI stream request for the final stream manifest.
     * @param {!LoadRequestData} castRequest The request object from the cast sender
     * @return {Promise<LoadRequestData>} a promise that resolves to an updated castRequest, containing the DAI stream manifest
     */
    const createDAICastRequest = (castRequest) => {
        return streamManager.requestStream(castRequest, createStreamRequest(castRequest))
          .then((castRequestWithPodStreamData) => {
            console.log('Successfully made DAI stream request.');
            // ...
            return castRequestWithPodStreamData;
          })
          .catch((error) => {
            console.log('Failed to make DAI stream request.');
            // CAF will automatically fallback to the content URL
            // that it can read from the castRequest object.
            return castRequest;
          });
    };

    playerManager.setMessageInterceptor(
        cast.framework.messages.MessageType.LOAD, createDAICastRequest);

    castContext.start();

Create the stream request

Complete the createStreamRequest function to create a pod serving stream based on the CAF load request.

    /**
     * Creates a livestream request object for a pod serving stream.
     * @param {!LoadRequestData} castRequest The request object from the cast sender
     * @return {StreamRequest} an IMA stream request
     */
    const createStreamRequest = (castRequest) => {

      const streamRequest = new google.ima.cast.dai.api.PodStreamRequest();
      const customData = castRequest.media.customData;

      streamRequest.customAssetKey = customData.customAssetKey;
      streamRequest.networkCode = customData.networkCode;
      streamRequest.apiKey = customData.apiKey;

      return streamRequest;
    };

Replace the content URL with the manifest URL and stream ID

If your stream request is successful, use streamManager.getStreamId() to retrieve the stream's ID and insert it into your manifestUrl, replacing [[STREAMID]]. Then, replace the existing contentUrl with the new manifestUrl so that CAF plays the livestream with the stitched ad pods.

    /**
     * Initates a DAI stream request for the final stream manifest.
     * @param {!LoadRequestData} castRequest The request object from the cast sender
     * @return {Promise<LoadRequestData>} a promise that resolves to an updated castRequest, containing the DAI stream manifest
     */
    const createDAICastRequest = (castRequest) => {
        return streamManager.requestStream(castRequest, createStreamRequest(castRequest))
          .then((castRequestWithPodStreamData) => {
            console.log('Successfully made DAI stream request.');
            const media = castRequestWithPodStreamData.media;
                const manifestUrl = media.customData.manifestUrl || "";
                if (manifestUrl) {
                    console.log('Replacing the contentURL with the manifest URL and stream ID');
                    const streamId = streamManager.getStreamId();
                    castRequestWithPodStreamData.media.contentUrl = manifestUrl.replace('[[STREAMID]]', streamId);

            return castRequestWithPodStreamData;
          })
          .catch((error) => {
            console.log('Failed to make DAI stream request.');
            // CAF will automatically fallback to the content URL
            // that it can read from the castRequest object.
            return castRequest;
          });
    };

You can now request and play back pod serving streams with the Cast Application Framework and the IMA DAI SDK for CAF.