Driving innovation in Dynamic Ad Insertion: Overlay ads and SVTA/OMID beaconing

As the media and entertainment industry continues to evolve, the demand for more engaging, personalized, and measurable advertising experiences is reshaping the way content is delivered and monetized. At this year's IBC, Ateme and Castlabs are joining forces to showcase cutting-edge advancements in DynamicAd Insertion (DAI) that make advertising smarter, more measurable, and less disruptive for viewers. Together, we'll be highlighting two big steps forward for ad tech:

• Overlay Ads - immersive format like L-shaped and side-by-side ads without breaking the stream
• SVTA/OMID Beaconing - standards-based tracking and measurement you can trust

Both are designed to help content providers and operators maximize monetization opportunities while keeping the viewing experience front and center.

Overlay Ads: Seamless monetization without interruptions

Interruptive ads aren't always ideal - especially for live content. That's why overlay nonlinear ads offer a smarter alternative. With Ateme's NEA Composer SSAI solution generating custom HLS tags and Castlabs PRESTOplay advanced player technology, we've enabled support for L-shaped and side-by-side ad formats.

This approach allows ads to be displayed alongside the main video rather than breaking the stream, ensuring:

• Continuous engagement: Viewers stay focused on the content.
• High visibility: Ads remain prominent without being disruptive.
• Cross-player flexibility: Available on both PRESTOplay and Shaka Player, making adoption easier across ecosystems.

The result is a scalable, consistent solution that operators and broadcasters can deploy across platforms while preparing for broader industry adoption.

SVTA/OMID beaconing: Standards-based tracking & measurement at scale

The dual vendor approach demo also focuses on accurate, standards-driven ad tracking & measurement.

• Ateme NEA Composer generates HLS or DASH-manipulated manifests populated with SVTA2053-2-compliant metadata from the Ad Server's VAST response, ensuring that ads tracking beacons opportunities are clearly defined and standardized across delivery formats.
• Castlabs PRESTOads advanced addressable ads tracking & measurement solution provides OMID-compliant client-side beaconing, offering standards-based verification & viewability measurement to monetize high-value inventory across your entire audience platforms.

This alignment of SVTA metadata for ad signaling and OMID for measurement ensures consistency across the chain, supporting premium ad inventory where accountability is critical. PRESTOads is also designed to integrate with other players, giving operators flexibility for their playback solutions.

What's next?

Moving forward, in collaboration with IAB, the SVTA2053-3 release shall aim at specifying standardized nonlinear ads formats and supported layouts. Both companies are working on this standardization effort and ensuring NEA Composer and PRESTOplay will support these specifications as they evolve, continuing our joint commitment to open standards and interoperability.

Why this matters: A Unified Vision for the Future of Ad Tech

For the industry, this collaboration delivers benefits across the board:

• Publishers gain new monetization formats without compromising viewer experience.
• Advertisers get accurate, standards-based verification.
• Developers and integrators access flexible, interoperable solutions ready for scale.

By combining Ateme's delivery expertise with Castlabs' innovations in playback and measurement, we're creating ad experiences that scale smoothly across platforms and push the boundaries of what's possible in Dynamic Ad Insertion.

See it live at IBC 2025

If you're attending IBC2025, swing by our respective exhibit booths to check it out. From immersive overlay ad formats to standards-based beaconing workflows, you'll see how we are shaping the next generation of ad experiences. Together with Castlabs, we're moving the industry toward a more seamless, standards-driven future for ad delivery and measurement.