Adaptive bitrate streaming (or shortly ABS) refers to a technology that enables to ensure video delivery in the highest possible quality, with basically no buffering, across all devices and screens.
How Adaptive Streaming Works
In plain words, adaptive streaming tech implies a video source file is initially transcoded into multiple streams of different resolutions and different bitrates.
The video content/video ad delivery is handled by an ad-enabled video player, via HTTP-based technologies (MPEG DASH and HLS)
The transcoder segments video stream variations into smaller parts (usually from 2 to 10 seconds in duration), further accessible by a video ad player via a file manifest.
This is what, actually, allows the player to shift between stream variations dynamically, depending on the connection speed and device screen, hence delivering content to viewers in high quality and without interruptions.
Benefits of Adaptive Bitrate Streaming
From a viewer’s perspective, the most obvious advantage of ABS is that the video stream adjustment is happening instantly, without any interaction required. This results in their non-disruptive watching experience, regardless of one’s device processing power, connectivity and/or screen size.
More importantly, unlike in case with progressive streaming, adaptive streaming enables adjusting the video quality almost instantly, in case the speed of Internet connection drops or vice versa, comes back to “normal”.
In the video advertising context, adaptive bitrate streaming benefits both publishers and advertisers, allowing to avoid buffering or playback errors and ensure the proper video ad display across all browsers and platforms.
Simply put, this means higher audience engagement and ROI for brands, and greater video ad revenue for publishers.
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Read more on how to select a quality video ad player in a comprehensive guide on the AdPlayer.Pro blog.