IMA SDK unable to play ads on LG smart TV

[Filip Plavac]

Greetings, 

I'm trying to play ads using IMA SDK in my web OTT application running on smart TV and it seems the TV isn't able to play them.

Since the the TV in question is LG, I've posted a question on their webOS developer support forum, to which they responded by stating that they don't provide support for third party libraries and that I should contact you instead.

In summary, I've tried providing different ad URLs to the player, so I could test different standards of XML documents for ads, VAST and VMAP, but none has worked. These are the URLs I've used: 

VAST Single inline linear: 

https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/21775744923/external/single_ad_samples&sz=640x480&cust_params=sample_ct%3Dlinear&ciu_szs=300x250%2C728x90&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator= 

VMAP Pre-roll:

https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/21775744923/external/vmap_ad_samples&sz=640x480&cust_params=sample_ar%3Dpreonly&ciu_szs=300x250%2C728x90&gdfp_req=1&ad_rule=1&output=vmap&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator= 

One thing to note is that both VAST and VMAP sample ads I've provided are working fine when the aformentioned OTT application is run in a web browser. The problem seems to happen only when the web application is run on a smart TV device. 

With regards, 

Filip Plavac  

[Stenlik]

Hi,

Welcome to the world of troubles with IMA SDK on LG webOS (and other CTVs). Since those platforms are not officially supported you can expect those kinds of issues, not mentioning that there are different issued on different webOS versions...

Have you checked the console logs? Any issue there? Have you checked the network trace? Are you sure you are not receiving the empty VAST response?

Petr

[IMA SDK]

Hi Filip,

Thank you for contacting the IMA SDK support team.

I will check with our team regarding your query and one of my team members will reach out to you once we have an update on this. Meanwhile, kindly provide the Stack Trace with us for an investigation of the problem.

This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02tJ686:ref" (ADR-00236630)

Thanks,
 

IMA SDK Team

 

[Filip Plavac]

Hello,

Thank you for responding.

I will send the stack trace as soon as I get back to the office tomorrow and connect the debugger to the LG tv I mentioned earlier. I will also confirm the network trace and VAST response.

Filip

[IMA SDK]

Hi Filip,

I am sorry to say that connected tv web-views are not currently included in the supported platforms for the IMA SDK. This is because they pose many unique and challenging issues, such as arbitrary browser limitations (some platforms allow only a single frame/rendering instance per page, for an example) as well as varying browser features even from model to model (different production years are often stuck on various versions of their rendering engine, and updates are uncommon). Where possible we will attempt to fix specific errors, if they are well-scoped, but extensive debugging of smart tv web-apps is not supported at this time.

We are constantly working to expand our support to more platforms. If you have an Ad Manager account manager, I recommend contacting them to inquire about any current or upcoming beta programs you may be able to join.

All that aside, I would like to see the output of your debugger, to see if the issue is something we can easily resolve for you.


Thanks
 

This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02tJ686:ref" (ADR-00236630)

Thanks,
 

Greg Schoppe IMA SDK Team

[Filip Plavac]

Hello Greg,

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, we don't have an Ad Manager accout manager so contacting them isn't a possibility.

As for the debugger output, I have captured the following error from the player our app uses (PRESTOPlay from Castlabs): 

1. _.O {detail: _.J, bubbles: false, cancelable: false, defaultPrevented: false, timeStamp: 70578.395…}
   1. a:false
   2. bubbles:false
   3. cancelable:false
   4. currentTarget:T
   5. defaultPrevented:false
   6. detail:_.J
      1. category:9
      2. cause:null
      3. code:10002
      4. data:Object
      5. f:false
      6. message:"RECOVERABLE Clpp-Error [Category 9 - Code 10002]"
      7. severity:1
      8. stack:"Error: RECOVERABLE Clpp-Error [Category 9 - Code 10002]↵ at eD._.h.Gi (file:///media/developer/apps/usr/palm/applications/novaplus/assets/scripts/prestoplay6/cl.ima.min.js:14:228)↵ at VJ.d (file:///media/developer/apps/usr/palm/applications/novaplus/assets/scripts/prestoplay6/cl.core.min.js:324:1447)↵ at Ku (https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js:316:200)↵ at VJ.l.dispatchEvent (https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js:314:365)↵ at VJ.X (https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js:696:208)↵ at Ku (https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js:316:200)↵ at sG.l.dispatchEvent (https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js:314:365)↵ at sG.D (https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js:544:172)↵ at Gu (https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js:313:150)↵ at b (https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js:311:292)"
      9. __proto__:Error
   7. f:false
   8. isTrusted:false
   9. target:T
   10. timeStamp:70578.395
   11. type:"error"

In PRESTOPlay documentation the error code 10002 is described as follows:

Code.IMA_UNSUPPORTED_PLATFORM = 10002: Cannot currently run IMA on given platform (i.e. platform does not support multiple video elements).

So, it's bassically as you said, that the tv web-views aren't supported platforms for IMA SDK.

With regards,

Filip

[IMA SDK]

Hi Filip,

Unfortunately, this one looks like prestoPlay is enforcing an extra limitation on the IMA SDK. It is blocking support on systems that only support one video player at a time, but the IMA has a mode to support that. It may be that prestoPlay is incompatible with the IMA SDK's single player mode for other reasons, but as the issue is being caused by prestoPlay, rather than the IMA itself, you would need to reach out to them to see if there is a way they can enable IMA support.

Thanks,