DocumentationAnalyticsStreaming media services guide

Ad start

Last update: May 28, 2026

CREATED FOR:

  • Developer

The ad start event signals that an individual ad began playing. It must occur inside an Ad break start / Ad break complete pair.

IMPORTANT
This event must be surrounded by adBreakStart and adBreakComplete bookends, even when a single ad plays. Without these bookends, ad events are ignored and the ad duration is counted as main content duration.
Web SDK

Call sendEvent with eventType: "media.adStart" and the required advertisingDetails:

code language-javascript 
alloy("sendEvent", {
  xdm: {
    eventType: "media.adStart",
    mediaCollection: {
      advertisingDetails: {
        name: "ad-2125",
        friendlyName: "Ford F-150",
        length: 15,
        playerName: "Freewheel",
        podPosition: 0
      },
      sessionID: "{sid}",
      playhead: 0
    }
  }
});
iOS

Pass the ad name, ID, pod position, and length to createAdObject, then call trackEvent.

code language-swift 
let adObject = Media.createAdObjectWith(name: "Ford F-150",
                                          id: "ad-2125",
                                    position: 0,
                                      length: 15)

tracker.trackEvent(event: MediaEvent.AdStart, info: adObject, metadata: nil)
Android

Pass the ad name, ID, pod position, and length to createAdObject, then call trackEvent.

code language-kotlin 
val adObject = Media.createAdObject("Ford F-150",
                                    "ad-2125",
                                    0,
                                    15)

tracker.trackEvent(Media.Event.AdStart, adObject, null)
Roku

Call sendMediaEvent with eventType: "media.adStart" and the required advertisingDetails:

code language-brightscript 
m.aepSdk.sendMediaEvent({
    "xdm": {
        "eventType": "media.adStart",
        "mediaCollection": {
            "advertisingDetails": {
                "name": "ad-2125",
                "friendlyName": "Ford F-150",
                "length": 15,
                "playerName": "Roku Player",
                "podPosition": 0
            },
            "playhead": 0
        }
    }
})
Media Edge API

Call the adStart endpoint with the required advertisingDetails:

code language-sh 
curl -X POST "https://edge.adobedc.net/ee/va/v1/adStart?configId={datastreamID}" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
  "events": [{
    "xdm": {
      "eventType": "media.adStart",
      "mediaCollection": {
        "sessionID": "{sid}",
        "playhead": 0,
        "advertisingDetails": {
          "name": "ad-2125",
          "length": 15,
          "playerName": "Freewheel",
          "podPosition": 0
        }
      },
      "timestamp": "YYYY-08-20T22:41:40+00:00"
    }
  }]
}'

Legacy implementation types (Analytics-only)

Media SDK JS 3.x

Pass the ad name, ID, position, and length to ADB.Media.createAdObject:

code language-javascript 
var adInfo = ADB.Media.createAdObject(
  "Ford F-150",  // name (friendly name)
  "ad-2125",     // ad ID
  0,             // position in pod
  15             // length (seconds)
);

tracker.trackEvent(ADB.Media.Event.AdStart, adInfo, null);
Chromecast

Pass the ad name, ID, position, and length to ADBMobile.media.createAdObject:

code language-javascript 
var adInfo = ADBMobile.media.createAdObject(
  "Ford F-150",  // name (friendly name)
  "ad-2125",     // ad ID
  0,             // position in pod
  15             // length (seconds)
);

ADBMobile.media.trackEvent(ADBMobile.media.Event.AdStart, adInfo, null);
Media Collection API

Send an adStart POST to the events endpoint:

code language-json 
{
  "playerTime": { "playhead": 0, "ts": 1699523820000 },
  "eventType": "adStart",
  "params": {
    "media.ad.id": "ad-2125",
    "media.ad.name": "Ford F-150",
    "media.ad.length": 15,
    "media.ad.podPosition": 0
  }
}
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