What is the most recommended advertising (AVOD) setup?

The most recommended configuration is a so-called "Waterfall Ad Server Setup" which allows you to add multiple ad-campaigns. This simply means when an ad-request is sent and one campaign doesn't serve ads due to e.g. a low fill-rate, it falls back to the next campaign in line and tries to serve ads. If that campaign doesn't serve ads for whatever reason, it falls back to the next ad-campaign etc.

 

 

- Tier 1: own ads for internal promotion uploaded to one of your unused VOD Channels

- Tier 2 (or merged with Tier 1): ads of direct advertisers / sponsors uploaded to one of your unused VOD Channels (you set the price for the ad campaign and collect revenue from them directly)

- Tiers 3+: ConnectedTV Ad Networks (e.g. Lightcast’s Ad Network Partners or you send us a VAST feed from an Ad Network you are partnering with )

 

It is important to mention that ad monetization is a numbers-game. It is entirely volume-dependent. While internal ads and direct advertisers / sponsors can become lucrative early on and very quickly, even with lower startup viewerships, ad-networks require high volumes of impressions in order to start booking campaigns on new apps. This is the reason for Lightcast’s official recommendation to set up a multi-tier waterfall ad-server configuration with a mix of internal ads of the publisher and of the publisher’s direct advertisers and sponsors, and of supplemental external ad-networks in order to maximize the fill-rate, and as a result, to maximize the revenue opportunity.