DocumentationAnalyticsStreaming media services guide

Session start

Last update: May 28, 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

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);
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

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);
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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