Wurl uncoils AdSpring to boost connected TV ad revenue
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Joseph O'Halloran
| 17 January 2019

Aiming to deliver new and immediate routes for video producers, online video distribution and ad monetisation network provider Wurl has launched a new solution to allow producers and services to maximise advertising revenue.

The new AdSpring cloud-based, turnkey server-side ad insertion (SSAI) product allows video producers to insert mid-roll ads on linear and on-demand (VOD) programming for distribution to video services and devices, including connected TVs. It can be pre-integrated with connected TV platforms including Samsung TV Plus, Roku and Apple TV among others.

Wurl noted that Viewing time is rapidly migrating to OTT services – especially connected TV. In order to participate in this fast-growing segment, Wurl says that video producers need a simple and cost-effective solution to provide targeted ad-insertion across their growing over-the-top (OTT) distribution footprints. Moreover, in its opinion, Wurl believes that with OTT ad spending projected to reach $40 billion by 2020, its network is the only fully integrated solution for video producers on the market today that can quickly, and cost effectively, monetise content by filling ad inventory with targeted ads.

AdSpring is claimed to be unique in two ways: it is offered as a turnkey service for video producers and it is priced on a pay-as-you-go model. Turnkey means no engineering required and video producers can use Wurl to schedule the location and duration of mid-roll ad breaks while Wurl takes care of the rest such as ad markers triggering real-time targeted ad requests, and stitching personally targeted ads into the live video stream with each ad measured and reported.

With pay-as-you-go pricing, there are no up-front costs and producers pay only for the ads they insert. The result is, says Wurl, is that video producers’ time-to-revenue is typically just a few weeks.
“Our commitment to our video producer customers is to eliminate the distribution obstacles created by legacy technology and legacy pricing,” said Wurl CEO Sean Doherty. “It gives video producers a risk-free, success-based platform to expand their distribution broadly and quickly.”