Timeline 2 - User abandons session

VOD, Pre-roll ad, mid-roll ads, user abandons content early

The following diagrams illustrate the playhead timeline and the corresponding timeline of a user’s actions. The details for each action and its accompanying requests are presented below.

Action details

Action 1 - Start session

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
Auto-play or Play button pressed	0	0	/api/v1/sessions

Implementation Details

This call signals the user’s intention to play a video. It returns a Session ID ( {sid} ) to the client that is used to identify all subsequent tracking calls within the session. The player state is not yet “playing”, but is instead “starting”. Mandatory session parameters must be included in the params map in the request body. On the backend, this call generates an Adobe Analytics initiate call.

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: {
        playhead: 0,
        ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:sessionStart, params: {
        "media.playerName": "sample-html5-api-player",
        "analytics.trackingServer": "[ _YOUR-TS_ ]",
        "analytics.reportSuite": "[ _YOUR-RSID_ ]",
        "analytics.visitorId": "[ _YOUR-VISITOR-ID_ ]",
        "media.contentType": "VOD",
        "media.length": 60.3333333333333,
        "media.id": "VA API Sample Player",
        "visitor.marketingCloudOrgId": "[YOUR-MCID]",
        "media.name": "ClickMe",
        "media.channel": "sample-channel",
        "media.sdkVersion": "va-api-0.0.0",
        "analytics.enableSSL": false
    }
}

Action 2 - Ping timer start

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
App starts ping event timer	0	0

Implementation Details

Start your app’s ping timer. First ping event should then fire 1 second in if there are pre-roll ads, 10 seconds in otherwise.

Action 3 - Ad break start

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
Track pre-roll ad break start	0	0	/api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Implementation Details

Pre-roll ads must be tracked. Ads can only be tracked within an ad break.

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: {
        playhead: 0,
        ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:adBreakStart, params: {
        "media.ad.podFriendlyName": "ad_pod1",
        "media.ad.podIndex": 0,
        "media.ad.podSecond": 0
    }
}

Action 4 - Ad start

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
Track pre-roll Ad #1 start	0	0	/api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Implementation Details

A 12 second ad starts.

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: {
        playhead: 0,
        ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:adStart, params: {
        "media.ad.podFriendlyName": "ad_pod1",
        "media.ad.name": "Ad 1",
        "media.ad.id": "002",
        "media.ad.length": 7,
        "media.ad.podPosition": 1,
        "media.ad.playerName": "Sample Player",
        "media.ad.advertiser": "Ad Guys",
        "media.ad.campaignId": "1",
        "media.ad.creativeId": "42",
        "media.ad.siteId": "XYZ",
        "media.ad.creativeURL": "https://xyz-creative.com",
        "media.ad.placementId": "sample-placement2"
    },
}

Action 5 - Ad pings

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
App sends ping event	1	0	/api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Implementation Details

Ping the backend every 1 second. (Subsequent ad pings not shown, in the interest of brevity.)

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: {
        playhead: 0,
        ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:ping
}

Action 6 - Ad complete

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
Track pre-roll Ad #1 complete	12	0	/api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Implementation Details

The first pre-roll ad is over.

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: {
        playhead: 0,
        ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:adComplete
}

Action 7 - Ad break complete

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
Track pre-roll ad break complete	12	0	/api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Implementation Details

The ad break is over. Throughout the ad break, the player has remained in the “playing” state.

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: {
        playhead: 0,
        ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:adBreakComplete
}

Action 8 - Play content

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
Track play event	12	0	/api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Implementation Details

Move the player to the “playing” state; begin tracking the start of content playback.

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: {
        playhead: 0,
        ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:play,
    qoeData: { bitrate: 10000 }
}

Action 9 - Ping

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
App sends ping event	20	8	/api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Implementation Details

Ping the backend every 10 seconds.

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: {
        playhead: 8ß,
        ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:ping
}

Action 10 - Ping

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
App sends ping event	30	18	/api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Implementation Details

Ping the backend every 10 seconds.

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: {
        playhead: 18,
        ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:ping
}

Action 11 - Error

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
Error occurs, app sends error information.	32	20	/api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Implementation Details

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: {
        playhead: 20,
        ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:error
}

Action 12 - Play content

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
App recovers from error, user presses Play	37	20	/api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Implementation Details

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: {
        playhead: 18,
        ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:play, qoeData: { bitrate: 10000 }
}

Action 13 - Ping

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
App sends ping event	40	28	/api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Implementation Details

Ping the backend every 10 seconds.

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: {
        playhead: 28,
        ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:ping
}

Action 14 - Ad break start

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
Track mid-roll ad break start	45	33	/api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Implementation Details

Mid-roll ad of 8 seconds duration: send adBreakStart .

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: {
        playhead: 33,
        ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:adBreakStart, params: {
        "media.ad.podFriendlyName": "ad_pod2",
        "media.ad.podIndex": 1,
        "media.ad.podSecond": 33
    }
}

Action 15 - Ad start

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
Track mid-roll Ad #1 start	45	33	/api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Implementation Details

Track the mid-roll ad.

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: { playhead: 33, ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:adStart, params: {
        "media.ad.podFriendlyName": "ad_pod1",
        "media.ad.name": "Ad 1",
        "media.ad.id": "002",
        "media.ad.length": 8,
        "media.ad.podPosition": 1,
        "media.ad.playerName": "Sample Player",
        "media.ad.advertiser": "Ad Guys",
        "media.ad.campaignId": "7",
        "media.ad.creativeId": "40",
        "media.ad.siteId": "XYZ",
        "media.ad.creativeURL": "https://xyz_creative.com",
        "media.ad.placementId": "sample_placement2"
    },
}

Action 16 - Close app

Action	Action Timeline (Seconds)	Playhead Position (Seconds)	Client Request
User closes the app. The app determines that the user has abandoned viewing and isn’t returning to this session.	48	33	/api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Implementation Details

Send sessionEnd to the VA backend to indicate that the session should be closed immediately, with no further processing.

Sample request body

{
    playerTime: {
        playhead: 33,
        ts: <timestamp>
    },
    eventType:sessionEnd
}