Akamai bowls up dynamic ad insertion for live cricket with SonyLIV
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Editor
| 18 March 2018

Cloud delivery platform provider Akamai Technologies has revealed how its dynamic ad insertion capabilities saw use by premium video-on-demand (VOD) provider SonyLIV during the recent India-South Africa cricket series.


SonyLIV was the official and exclusive mobile and internet broadcaster for the India Tour of South Africa series held in January and February 2018 and delivered multiscreen engagement to users on all devices. The company says that digital advertisers gained the most through the course of the series, with Akamai’s dynamic ad insertion delivering targeted advertisements during the live stream. With this partnership SonyLIV was said to have achieved a near 100% ad fill rate without compromising on the viewing experience for users.

Powered by advertising technology firm Yospace, Akamai’s dynamic ad insertion is designed to help content providers offer greater monetisation opportunities through online advertising, while maintaining a TV-like experience for viewers at scale. Server-side ad insertion, in which advertisements are stitched into content from the server-side, is intended to offer numerous benefits to advertisers, content providers and consumers.

“SonyLIV has a vast library of original content. However, in India, few entertainment options have the capability to attract mass audiences like cricket,” said Sidharth Pisharoti, regional vice-president, media, Asia Pacific and Japan of Akamai Technologies. “While the challenge on the one hand is to keep audiences engaged with a TV-like experience, the equally hard part is ensuring that advertisers see value in leveraging digital platforms to drive views and consequently, revenue through advertisements. With Akamai’s capabilities, we were able to successfully deliver what audiences and advertisers wanted over the course of the India-South Africa series.”

Added Uday Sodhi, EVP and business head, digital business, Sony Pictures Networks (SPN): “The India Tour of South Africa series was a huge success for SonyLIV and our audiences had a seamless experience throughout. We partnered with Akamai and leveraged their technology and added it to our already existing capabilities. The series was a huge hit with all the brands we associated with.”