Google IMA

THEOplayer offer supports for Google IMA as an ad integration system. Users of Google Ad Manager (formerly known as DoubleClick for Publishers) should use this ad integration.

Scheduling and tracking ads through the Google IMA ad integration is similar to the default ad integration, so you're advised to read through "How to set-up VAST and VMAP.

The main difference with the default THEO ad integration is that you need to indicate through the API that you want to use Google IMA as the ad integration, and that you need to include the Google IMA SDK.

SDKs

Web SDK	Android SDK	iOS SDK	tvOS SDK	Android TV SDK	Chromecast SDK
Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

Web SDK

To use Google IMA in the Web SDK,

1. You need to include the Google IMA SDK,
2. You need to specify integration: "google-ima" in your AdDescription.

Include the IMA SDK

Google IMA has a dependency on the IMA SDK. Hence, this library needs to be included. The following snippet demonstrates how the IMA SDK can be included:

<script
  type="text/javascript"
  src="https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js"
></script>

Alternatively, you can include the debug version of the IMA SDK for troubleshooting, which will provide extra logs from IMA on console:

<script
  type="text/javascript"
  src="https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3_debug.js"
></script>

Specify the integration

You need to set integration to "google-ima", as demonstrated by the snippet below which configures a pre-roll VAST ad.

player.source = {
  sources: [
    {
      src: "https://cdn.theoplayer.com/video/big_buck_bunny/big_buck_bunny_metadata.m3u8"
    }
  ],
  ads: [
    {
      integration: "google-ima",
      sources: "https://cdn.theoplayer.com/demos/ads/vast/vast.xml",
      timeOffset: "start"
    }
  ]
};

Limitations

• There's a known issue within the IMA HTML5 SDK where it does not work well with multiple VPAID ads in a VMAP. More specifically when the ImaSdkSetting vpaidMode is set to enabled and the AdsRenderingSetting enablePreloading is set to true, it will not manage to play all ads (these are the default configurations when using the Google IMA integration in THEOplayer). The production IMA SDK doesn't throw any error in this scenario, the debug SDK, however, prints Vpaid Error: VPAID ad called play on video element before start was called on VPAID manager in the console in this case. This can be resolved by either using vpaidMode insecure or by disabling preloading. Both can be achieved by specifying your preference in the AdsConfiguration.

Android SDK

The usage of Google IMA differs across the two Android-based SDKs.

1. The Android SDK requires you to add GoogleImaIntegration.
2. The Legacy Android SDK (4.12.x) requires you to configure the THEOplayerConfig correctly.

Android SDK

Using Google IMA in the Android SDK consists of 3 steps:

1. Add the integration-ads-ima dependency to your module's build.gradle.
2. Use the GoogleImaIntegrationFactory to create and add a GoogleImaIntegration.
3. Use a GoogleImaAdDescription to schedule ads.

Add the integration-ads-ima dependency

Add implementation 'com.theoplayer.theoplayer-sdk-android:integration-ads-ima:+' to your module build.gradle file, as demonstrated below:

dependencies {
    // ...
    implementation 'com.theoplayer.theoplayer-sdk-android:core:+'
    implementation 'com.theoplayer.theoplayer-sdk-android:integration-ads-ima:+'
    // ...
}

Use the GoogleImaIntegrationFactory

Create a GoogleImaIntegration through the GoogleImaIntegrationFactory, and add it to your player instance, as demonstrated below:

// THEOplayerView theoPlayerView = ...;
GoogleImaIntegration imaIntegration = GoogleImaIntegrationFactory.createGoogleImaIntegration(theoPlayerView);
theoPlayerView.getPlayer().addIntegration(imaIntegration);

Use a GoogleImaAdDescription

Use a GoogleImaAdDescription to schedule advertisements, as demonstrated below:

TypedSource typedSource = new TypedSource.Builder("https://cdn.theoplayer.com/video/elephants-dream/playlist.m3u8")
    .build();

GoogleImaAdDescription imaAdDescription = new GoogleImaAdDescription.Builder("https://cdn.theoplayer.com/demos/ads/vast/vast.xml")
    .timeOffset("start")
    .build();

SourceDescription sourceDescription = new SourceDescription.Builder(typedSource)
    .ads(imaAdDescription)
    .build();

playerView.getPlayer().setSource(sourceDescription);

Other

The available ad events are different between the Android SDK and the Legacy Android SDK (4.12.x). More information is available at "How to subscribe to ad events".

The GoogleImaIntegration instance exposes a number of methods. For example, schedule() can be used to schedule ads dynamically, and requestAds() can be used to request ads through the native Google IMA API.

When you add your THEOplayer IMA dependency to your module build.gradle file (i.e. implementation 'com.theoplayer.theoplayer-sdk-android:integration-ads-ima:+'), we will automatically add com.google.ads.interactivemedia.v3:interactivemedia with the version specified here. You can overwrite this with a later version of the Google IMA SDK by adding this dependency to your module build.gradle file, but at your own risk.

Legacy Android SDK (4.12.x)

To use Google IMA in the Legacy Android SDK (4.12.x),

1. You need to include the Google IMA SDK,
2. You need to set useNativeIma to true in your THEOplayerConfiguration.
3. You need to use a GoogleImaAdDescription.

Include the IMA SDK

You must add the Google IMA Android SDK to your Android project, as explained here.

We would recommend adding the following gradle dependency to your gradle file, as demonstrated below, near the place where THEOplayer .aar file is included in the same file.

implementation 'com.google.ads.interactivemedia.v3:interactivemedia:3.25.1'

Set useNativeIma to true

Google IMA has to be enabled by setting the useNativeIma to true, as demonstrated by the snippet below.

THEOplayerConfig playerConfig = new THEOplayerConfig.Builder()
    .ads(
        new AdsConfiguration.Builder()
            .googleImaConfiguration(new GoogleImaConfiguration.Builder().useNativeIma(true).build())
            .build()
    )
    .build();

Alternatively, if you specify your THEOplayerView through XML, you must configure it there, as demonstrated below.

<com.theoplayer.android.api.THEOplayerView
    android:id="@+id/theoPlayerView"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    app:adGoogleImaNative="true"
    app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior" />

Use a GoogleImaAdDescription

You have to use a GoogleImaAdDescriptioninstead of a THEOAdDescription. The snippet below demonstrates how you could schedule a pre-roll VAST ad.

TypedSource typedSource = new TypedSource.Builder()
    .src("https://cdn.theoplayer.com/video/elephants-dream/playlist.m3u8")
    .build();

GoogleImaAdDescription imaAdDescription = new GoogleImaAdDescription.Builder()
    .source("https://cdn.theoplayer.com/demos/ads/vast/vast.xml")
    .timeOffset("start")
    .build();

SourceDescription sourceDescription = new SourceDescription.Builder()
    .sources(typedSource)
    .ads(imaAdDescription)
    .build();
playerView.getPlayer().setSource(sourceDescription);

iOS/tvOS SDK and Legacy iOS/tvOS SDK (4.12.x)

To use Google IMA in the iOS SDK,

1. You need to include the Google IMA SDK,
2. You need to set useNativeIma: true in your THEOplayerConfiguration.
3. You need to use a GoogleImaAdDescription.

An example for the iOS SDK is available here. An example for the tvOS SDK is available here.

Note that some limitations may apply.

Include the IMA SDK

Similar to how you add the THEOplayer "framework" (i.e. SDK) in your Xcode, you must also add the Google IMA "framework" (i.e. SDK) in your Xcode.

You can find the Google IMA iOS SDK at here, which you will need to manually download and install. Alternatively, you can use Cocoapods as demonstrated here.

Set useNativeIma to true

Google IMA has to be enabled in the THEOplayerConfiguration, as demonstrated by the snippet below.

let playerConfig = THEOplayerConfiguration(chromeless: false, defaultCSS: false, ads: AdsConfiguration(showCountdown: true , preload: .MIDROLL_AND_POSTROLL, googleImaConfiguration: GoogleIMAConfiguration(useNativeIma: true)))

If you're using the tvOS SDK, then it's sufficient to create an empty AdsConfiguration object to enable Google IMA, as demonstrated by the snippet below.

let playerConfig = THEOplayerConfiguration(chromeless: false, ads: AdsConfiguration())

Use a GoogleImaAdDescription

You have to use a GoogleImaAdDescription instead of a THEOAdDescription. The snippet below demonstrates how you could schedule a pre-roll VAST ad.

let typedSource = TypedSource(src: "https://cdn.theoplayer.com/video/elephants-dream/playlist.m3u8", type: "application/x-mpegurl")
let stream = SourceDescription(source: typedSource, ads: [GoogleImaAdDescription(src: "https://cdn.theoplayer.com/demos/ads/vast/vast.xml", timeOffset: "start")])
player.source = stream;

Remarks

• The release notes for IMA SDK can be found on their respective pages: IMA HTML5 SDK release history, IMA iOS SDK release history and IMA Android SDK release history.
• THEOplayer internally supports IMA SDK up until a certain version across different SDKs. We regularly update the internal code to stay up to date with the latest version of IMA SDK. Later versions of IMA SDK should work as expected, however there could be cases where a fix for a breaking change or a newly introduced API is required. Please reach out to us if you require support for a more recent IMA SDK since we intend to rectify this limitation.
• The limitations documented on the support and compatibility pages of IMA SDK also apply to THEOplayer SDK when IMA integration is used. You can find the support matrix of IMA SDK on platform specific pages: HTML5, Android and iOS.
• You can try out the snippets mentioned here on our samples apps for Web SDK, iOS SDK and Android SDK.