DocumentationAnalyticsStreaming media services guide

Session start

Last update: June 8, 2026

CREATED FOR:

  • Developer

The session start event opens a media tracking session. It must be the first event sent for any playback. The response returns a session ID that all subsequent events for the same session must include.

A session expires automatically if no events are received for 10 minutes, or if there is no playhead movement for 30 minutes. If a session expires, you must call session start again to obtain a new session ID.

  • Prerequisites: None; always the first event
  • Associated metric: Media starts
Web SDK

Call sendEvent with eventType: "media.sessionStart" and the required sessionDetails. The response includes the session ID in handle[].payload[].sessionId (type media-analytics:new-session). Store this value and pass it as sessionID in all subsequent events.

code language-javascript 
alloy("sendEvent", {
  xdm: {
    eventType: "media.sessionStart",
    mediaCollection: {
      sessionDetails: {
        name: "video-123",
        length: 128,
        contentType: "vod",
        playerName: "HTML5 Player",
        channel: "Sports",
        streamType: "video"
      },
      playhead: 0
    }
  }
});
iOS

Call trackSessionStart with a media object and optional metadata.

code language-swift 
let mediaObject = Media.createMediaObjectWith(name: "video-123",
                                               id: "video-id-123",
                                           length: 128,
                                       streamType: MediaConstants.StreamType.VOD,
                                        mediaType: MediaType.Video)

tracker.trackSessionStart(info: mediaObject, metadata: nil)
Android

Call trackSessionStart with a media object and optional metadata.

code language-kotlin 
val mediaObject = Media.createMediaObject("video-123",
                                          "video-id-123",
                                          128,
                                          MediaConstants.StreamType.VOD,
                                          Media.MediaType.Video)

tracker.trackSessionStart(mediaObject, null)
Roku Edge

Call createMediaSession with the required session details:

code language-brightscript 
m.aepSdk.createMediaSession({
    "xdm": {
        "eventType": "media.sessionStart",
        "mediaCollection": {
            "sessionDetails": {
                "name": "video-123",
                "length": 128,
                "contentType": "vod",
                "playerName": "Roku Player",
                "channel": "Sports",
                "streamType": "video"
            },
            "playhead": 0
        }
    }
})
Media Edge API

Call the sessionStart endpoint. The response includes the session ID in handle[].payload[].sessionId (type media-analytics:new-session).

code language-sh 
curl -X POST "https://edge.adobedc.net/ee/va/v1/sessionStart?configId={datastreamID}" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
  "events": [{
    "xdm": {
      "eventType": "media.sessionStart",
      "mediaCollection": {
        "sessionDetails": {
          "name": "video-123",
          "playerName": "HTML5 Player",
          "contentType": "VOD",
          "length": 128,
          "channel": "Sports"
        },
        "playhead": 0
      }
    }
  }]
}'

Legacy implementation types (Analytics-only)

Media SDK JS 3.x

Call trackSessionStart with a media object created using ADB.Media.createMediaObject:

code language-javascript 
var mediaObject = ADB.Media.createMediaObject(
  "video-123",                  // name
  "video-id-123",               // media ID
  128,                          // length (seconds)
  ADB.Media.StreamType.VOD,     // stream type
  ADB.Media.MediaType.Video     // media type
);

tracker.trackSessionStart(mediaObject, null);
Chromecast

Call trackSessionStart with a media object created using ADBMobile.media.createMediaObject:

code language-javascript 
var mediaInfo = ADBMobile.media.createMediaObject(
  "video-123",                        // name
  "video-id-123",                     // media ID
  128,                                // length (seconds)
  ADBMobile.media.StreamType.VOD,
  ADBMobile.media.MediaType.Video
);

ADBMobile.media.trackSessionStart(mediaInfo, null);
Roku 2.x

Build a media object with adb_media_init_mediainfo and call mediaTrackSessionStart. The optional second argument accepts an associative array of a.media.* metadata keys, or invalid:

code language-brightscript 
adb = ADBMobile()
mediaInfo = adb_media_init_mediainfo("video-123", "video-id-123", 128.0, adb.MEDIA_STREAM_TYPE_VOD, adb.MEDIA_TYPE_VIDEO)

adb.mediaTrackSessionStart(mediaInfo, invalid)
Media Collection API

Send a sessionStart POST to the sessions endpoint. The response Location header contains the session ID to use in all subsequent event requests.

code language-json 
{
  "playerTime": { "playhead": 0, "ts": 1699523820000 },
  "eventType": "sessionStart",
  "params": {
    "media.channel": "Sports",
    "media.playerName": "HTML5 Player",
    "media.contentType": "vod",
    "media.length": 128,
    "media.id": "video-123"
  }
}

Resuming a session

When resuming a previously closed session (for example, after a cross-device handoff or after the application restores saved playback state), set the resume flag at session start. This causes Analytics to increment Content resumes rather than Media starts.

Web SDK

Add hasResume: true to sessionDetails:

code language-javascript 
alloy("sendEvent", {
  xdm: {
    eventType: "media.sessionStart",
    mediaCollection: {
      sessionDetails: {
        name: "video-123",
        length: 128,
        contentType: "vod",
        playerName: "HTML5 Player",
        channel: "Sports",
        streamType: "video",
        hasResume: true
      },
      playhead: 0
    }
  }
});
iOS

Set the resumed key on the media object before calling trackSessionStart:

code language-swift 
var mediaObject = Media.createMediaObjectWith(name: "video-123",
                                               id: "video-id-123",
                                           length: 128,
                                       streamType: MediaConstants.StreamType.VOD,
                                        mediaType: MediaType.Video)

mediaObject[MediaConstants.MediaObjectKey.resumed] = true
tracker.trackSessionStart(info: mediaObject, metadata: nil)
Android

Set the RESUMED key on the media object before calling trackSessionStart:

code language-kotlin 
val mediaObject = Media.createMediaObject("video-123", "video-id-123", 128,
                                          MediaConstants.StreamType.VOD,
                                          Media.MediaType.Video)

mediaObject[Media.MediaObjectKey.RESUMED] = true
tracker.trackSessionStart(mediaObject, null)
Roku Edge

Add "hasResume": true to sessionDetails:

code language-brightscript 
m.aepSdk.createMediaSession({
    "xdm": {
        "eventType": "media.sessionStart",
        "mediaCollection": {
            "sessionDetails": {
                "name": "video-123",
                "length": 128,
                "contentType": "vod",
                "playerName": "Roku Player",
                "channel": "Sports",
                "streamType": "video",
                "hasResume": true
            },
            "playhead": 0
        }
    }
})
Media Edge API

Add "hasResume": true to sessionDetails:

code language-sh 
curl -X POST "https://edge.adobedc.net/ee/va/v1/sessionStart?configId={datastreamID}" \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
  "events": [{
    "xdm": {
      "eventType": "media.sessionStart",
      "mediaCollection": {
        "sessionDetails": {
          "name": "video-123",
          "playerName": "HTML5 Player",
          "contentType": "VOD",
          "length": 128,
          "channel": "Sports",
          "hasResume": true
        },
        "playhead": 0
      }
    }
  }]
}'

Legacy implementation types (Analytics-only)

Media SDK JS 3.x

Set the MediaResumed key on the media object:

code language-javascript 
var mediaObject = ADB.Media.createMediaObject(
  "video-123", "video-id-123", 128,
  ADB.Media.StreamType.VOD, ADB.Media.MediaType.Video
);

mediaObject[ADB.Media.MediaObjectKey.MediaResumed] = true;
tracker.trackSessionStart(mediaObject, null);
Chromecast

Set the MediaResumed key on the media object:

code language-javascript 
var mediaObject = ADBMobile.media.createMediaObject(
  "video-123", "video-id-123", 128,
  ADBMobile.media.StreamType.VOD, ADBMobile.media.MediaType.Video
);

mediaObject[ADBMobile.media.MediaObjectKey.MediaResumed] = true;
ADBMobile.media.trackSessionStart(mediaObject, null);
Roku 2.x

Set the resumed key on the media object before calling mediaTrackSessionStart:

code language-brightscript 
adb = ADBMobile()
mediaInfo = adb_media_init_mediainfo("video-123", "video-id-123", 128.0, adb.MEDIA_STREAM_TYPE_VOD, adb.MEDIA_TYPE_VIDEO)
mediaInfo.resumed = true

adb.mediaTrackSessionStart(mediaInfo, invalid)
Media Collection API

Add "media.resume": true to the params object:

code language-json 
{
  "playerTime": { "playhead": 0, "ts": 1699523820000 },
  "eventType": "sessionStart",
  "params": {
    "media.channel": "Sports",
    "media.playerName": "HTML5 Player",
    "media.contentType": "vod",
    "media.length": 128,
    "media.id": "video-123",
    "media.resume": true
  }
}
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