Skip ad breaks for a period of time

By default, TVSDK forces an ad break to play when the user seeks over an ad break. You can customize the behavior to skip an ad break if the time elapsed from a previous break completion is within a certain number of minutes.

To override the default TVSDK ad break behavior, you can extend the default ad policy selector. There are four ad break policies available:

• PLAY

• SKIP

  NOTE

  The SKIP ad break policy might not work as expected for live streams when an ad is present at the live point. For example, for a pre-roll, SKIP will cause a seek to the end of the ad break, which could be greater than the live point. In this case, TVSDK may seek to the middle of an ad.

• REMOVE_AFTER

• REMOVE

  NOTE

  The REMOVE ad break policy is slated for deprecation. Adobe recommends that you use the SKIP ad break policy in place of REMOVE.

The following example of a customized ad policy selector skips ads in the next five minutes (wall clock time) after a user has watched an ad break.

1. When the user finishes watching an ad break, save the current system time.

   @Override
   public void onAdBreakComplete(AdBreak adBreak) {
       ...
       if (isShouldPlayUpcomingAdBreakRuleEnabled()) {
           CustomAdPolicySelector.setLastAdBreakPlayedTime(System.currentTimeMillis());
           ...
       }
   }
   

2. Extend AdPolicySelector.

   package com.adobe.mediacore.sample.advertising;
   
   import com.adobe.mediacore.MediaPlayerItem;
   import com.adobe.mediacore.MediaPlayerItemConfig;
   import com.adobe.mediacore.timeline.advertising.policy.*;
   import com.adobe.mediacore.timeline.advertising.AdBreakTimelineItem;
   import com.adobe.mediacore.metadata.AdvertisingMetadata;
   
   import java.util.ArrayList;
   import java.util.List;
   
   public class CustomAdPolicySelector implements AdPolicySelector {
   
       private static final long MIN_BREAK_INTERVAL = 300000; // 5 minutes for next ad break to be played
       private MediaPlayerItem _mediaPlayerItem;
       private static long _lastAdBreakPlayedTime;
       private AdBreakWatchedPolicy watchedPolicy = AdBreakWatchedPolicy.WATCHED_ON_BEGIN;
   
       public CustomAdPolicySelector(MediaPlayerItem mediaPlayerItem) {
           _mediaPlayerItem = mediaPlayerItem;
           _lastAdBreakPlayedTime = 0;
   
           if (mediaPlayerItem != null) {
               watchedPolicy = extractWatchedPolicy(mediaPlayerItem.getConfig());
           }
       }
   
       @Override
       public AdBreakPolicy selectPolicyForAdBreak(AdPolicyInfo adPolicyInfo) {
           if (shouldPlayAdBreaks() && adPolicyInfo.getAdBreakTimelineItems() != null) {
   
               AdBreakTimelineItem item = adPolicyInfo.getAdBreakTimelineItems().get(0);
   
               // This condition will remove the pre-roll ad from live stream after watching
               if (item.getTime() == 0 && _mediaPlayerItem.isLive()) {
                   return AdBreakPolicy.REMOVE_AFTER_PLAY;
               }
               if (item.getTime() == 0) {
                   return AdBreakPolicy.PLAY;
               }
   
               // This condition will remove every ad break that has been watched once.
               // Comment this section if you want to play watched ad breaks again.
               if (item.isWatched()) {
                   return AdBreakPolicy.SKIP;
               }
   
               return AdBreakPolicy.REMOVE_AFTER_PLAY;
           }
   
           return AdBreakPolicy.SKIP;
       }
   
       @Override
       public List<AdBreakTimelineItem> selectAdBreaksToPlay(AdPolicyInfo adPolicyInfo) {
   
           if (shouldPlayAdBreaks()) {
   
               List<AdBreakTimelineItem> timelineItems = adPolicyInfo.getAdBreakTimelineItems();
               AdBreakTimelineItem item;
               List<AdBreakTimelineItem> selectedItems = new ArrayList<AdBreakTimelineItem>();
   
               if (timelineItems != null && timelineItems.size() > 0) {
   
                   // Seek Forward Condition
                   if (adPolicyInfo.getCurrentTime() <= adPolicyInfo.getSeekToTime()) {
                       item = timelineItems.get(0);
   
                       // Resume logic - This will be helpful in resuming the content
                       // from last saved playback session, and just play the pre-roll ad
                       if(adPolicyInfo.getCurrentTime() == 0) {
                           if(item.getTime() == 0 && !item.isWatched()) {
                               // comment this line if you just need to seek to the user's
                               // last known position without playing pre-roll ad. ZD#820
                               selectedItems.add(item);
                               return selectedItems;
                           }
                           else{
                               return null;
                           }
                       } else {
                           item = timelineItems.get(timelineItems.size()-1);
                           if (!item.isWatched()) {
                               selectedItems.add(item);
                               return selectedItems;
                           }
                       }
   
                       // Seek backward condition
                   } else if (adPolicyInfo.getCurrentTime() > adPolicyInfo.getSeekToTime()) {
                       item = timelineItems.get(0);
   
                       if(!item.isWatched()) {
                           selectedItems.add(item);
                           return selectedItems;
                       } else {
                           return null;
                       }
                   }
               }
           }
           return null;
       }
   
       @Override
       public AdPolicy selectPolicyForSeekIntoAd(AdPolicyInfo adPolicyInfo) {
           // Simple Ad Policy selector
           // if the first ad in the break was watched,
           // skip to the next add after the seek position
           // otherwise, play the ads in the break from the beginning
   
           List<AdBreakTimelineItem> timelineItems = adPolicyInfo.getAdBreakTimelineItems();
           if (timelineItems != null && timelineItems.size() > 0) {
               if (timelineItems.get(0).isWatched()) {
                   return AdPolicy.SKIP_TO_NEXT_AD_IN_AD_BREAK;
               }
           }
   
           // Resume play from the next ad in the break
           return AdPolicy.PLAY_FROM_AD_BREAK_BEGIN;
   
       }
   
       @Override
       public AdBreakWatchedPolicy selectWatchedPolicyForAdBreak(AdPolicyInfo adPolicyInfo) {
           return watchedPolicy;
       }
   
       public static void setLastAdBreakPlayedTime(long lastAdBreakPlayedTime) {
           _lastAdBreakPlayedTime = lastAdBreakPlayedTime;
       }
   
       private boolean shouldPlayAdBreaks() {
           long currentTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
   
           if (_lastAdBreakPlayedTime <= 0) {
               return true;
           }
   
           if (_lastAdBreakPlayedTime > 0 &&
             (currentTime - _lastAdBreakPlayedTime) > MIN_BREAK_INTERVAL) {
               return true;
           }
   
           // return false for not playing Ad if this
           // Ad occurs with 5 minutes of last Ad playback
           return false;
       }
   
       private AdBreakWatchedPolicy extractWatchedPolicy(MediaPlayerItemConfig config) {
           if (config != null) {
               AdvertisingMetadata metadata = config.getAdvertisingMetadata();
               if (metadata != null) {
                   return metadata.getAdBreakWatchedPolicy();
               }
           }
           return AdBreakWatchedPolicy.WATCHED_ON_BEGIN;
       }
   }