Create a configuration for a livestream event

For Ad Manager integration, you need to create a live configuration for a given livestream event. The Video Stitcher API registers this config with Ad Manager.

Create a slate

Before you create the live configuration, you need to create a slate. The Video Stitcher API inserts a default slate video when ads can't be inserted. You must register slate video with the Video Stitcher API to indicate the slate to use in the absence of ads. The slate video can be any MP4 file with at least one audio track.

You have two options for creating this slate. You can create a default network slate in your Ad Manager account or you can create slates using the Video Stitcher API.

Create a slate in Ad Manager

To create a default network slate in your Ad Manager account, follow the steps at Create a slate to fill content gaps and then skip to section Create the live config.

Create a slate using the Video Stitcher API

To create a slate using the Video Stitcher API, use the projects.locations.slates.create method.

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

  • PROJECT_NUMBER: your Google Cloud project number; this is located in the Project number field on the IAM Settings page
  • LOCATION: the location in which to create your slate; use one of the supported regions
    Show locations
    • us-central1
    • us-east1
    • us-west1
    • asia-east1
    • asia-south1
    • asia-southeast1
    • europe-west1
    • southamerica-east1
  • SLATE_ID: a user-defined identifier for the slate. This ID can only contain lower-case letters, numbers, and hyphens. The first character must be a letter, the last character must be a letter or a number, and the entire ID has a 63 character maximum.
  • SLATE_URL: the public URI for an MP4 video with at least one audio track (sample video)
  • NETWORK_CODE: the numeric identifier for your Ad Manager network; you can find this in the Global settings for the publisher account

To send your request, expand one of these options:

You should receive a JSON response similar to the following:

{
  "name": "projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/LOCATION/operations/OPERATION_ID",
  "metadata": {
    "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.common.OperationMetadata",
    "createTime": CREATE_TIME,
    "target": "projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/LOCATION/slates/SLATE_ID",
    "verb": "create"
  },
  "done": false
}

This command creates a long-running operation (LRO) that you can query to track progress. Copy the returned OPERATION_ID, which is the last part of the name field, to use in the next section.

Check for the result

Use the projects.locations.operations.get method to check if the slate has been created. If the response contains "done: false", repeat the command until the response contains "done: true".

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

  • PROJECT_NUMBER: your Google Cloud project number; this is located in the Project number field on the IAM Settings page
  • LOCATION: the location of the data; use one of the supported regions
    Show locations
    • us-central1
    • us-east1
    • us-west1
    • asia-east1
    • asia-south1
    • asia-southeast1
    • europe-west1
    • southamerica-east1
  • OPERATION_ID: the identifier for the operation

To send your request, expand one of these options:

You should receive a JSON response similar to the following:

{
  "name": "projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/LOCATION/operations/OPERATION_ID",
  "metadata": {
    "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.common.OperationMetadata",
    "createTime": CREATE_TIME,
    "endTime": END_TIME,
    "target": "projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/LOCATION/slates/SLATE_ID",
    "verb": "create"
  },
  "done": true,
  "response": {
    "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.video.stitcher.v1.Slate",
    "name": "projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/LOCATION/slates/SLATE_ID",
    "uri": "SLATE_URL",
    "gamSlate": {
      "networkCode": "NETWORK_CODE"
      "gamSlateId": "GAM_SLATE_ID"
    }
  }
}

Create the live config

To create the config, use the projects.locations.liveConfigs.create method. See the live config reference documentation for optional fields (like custom headers).

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

  • PROJECT_NUMBER: your Google Cloud project number; this is located in the Project number field on the IAM Settings page
  • LOCATION: the location in which to create your live config; use one of the supported regions
    Show locations
    • us-central1
    • us-east1
    • us-west1
    • asia-east1
    • asia-south1
    • asia-southeast1
    • europe-west1
    • southamerica-east1
  • LIVE_CONFIG_ID: a user-defined identifier for the live config. This ID can only contain lower-case letters, numbers, and hyphens. The first character must be a letter, the last character must be a letter or a number, and the entire ID has a 63 character maximum.
  • SOURCE_LIVESTREAM_URI: the source URL to the livestream video manifest. This must be accessible to the Video Stitcher API. The URL must either be publicly accessible or, if URL signing is enabled for the CDN, a registered CDN key has been provided to the Video Stitcher API. If you created a test livestream using the Live Stream API, then this is the URI to the main.m3u8 or main.mpd file in the Cloud Storage bucket.
  • AD_TAG_URI
    the URL for ad metadata retrieved from ad servers; for Ad Manager integration, this must be a valid Ad Manager live video ad tag. To get a valid ad tag, follow the steps on Generate video and audio ad tags with these modifications:
    • For Live traffic, enable live traffic.
    • For the Player SDK type, select Google IMA SDK.
    • Add the parameter ad_rule=0 to the tag (for example, add &ad_rule=0 to the end).
  • SLATE_ID: the ID of the slate to use in the absence of stitched ads
  • NETWORK_CODE: the numeric identifier for your Ad Manager network; you can find this in the Global settings for the publisher account.
  • AD_TRACKING: the ad tracking behavior for your stream. For IMA SDK integrations, use CLIENT. For server-side ad tracking, use SERVER. You may also override this value on a per-session basis later.

To send your request, expand one of these options:

You should receive a JSON response similar to the following:

{
  "name": "projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/LOCATION/operations/OPERATION_ID",
  "metadata": {
    "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.common.OperationMetadata",
    "createTime": CREATE_TIME,
    "target": "projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/LOCATION/liveConfigs/LIVE_CONFIG_ID",
    "verb": "create"
  },
  "done": false
}

The Video Stitcher API asynchronously registers the config on your Ad Manager account. This may take a couple of minutes.

This command creates a long-running operation (LRO) that you can query to track progress. For more information, see Check for the result.

Get the config

To get the config, use the projects.locations.liveConfigs.get method.

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

  • PROJECT_NUMBER: your Google Cloud project number; this is located in the Project number field on the IAM Settings page
  • LOCATION: the location of the live config; use one of the supported regions
    Show locations
    • us-central1
    • us-east1
    • us-west1
    • asia-east1
    • asia-south1
    • asia-southeast1
    • europe-west1
    • southamerica-east1
  • LIVE_CONFIG_ID: the user-defined identifier for the live config

To send your request, expand one of these options:

You should receive a JSON response similar to the following:

{
  "name": "projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/LOCATION/liveConfigs/LIVE_CONFIG_ID",
  "sourceUri": "SOURCE_LIVESTREAM_URI",
  "adTagUri": "AD_TAG_URI",
  "gamLiveConfig": {
    "networkCode": "NETWORK_CODE",
    "assetKey": "ASSET_KEY",
    "customAssetKey": "PROJECT_NUMBER-LOCATION-LIVE_CONFIG_ID"
  },
  "state": "READY",
  "adTracking": "CLIENT",
  "defaultSlate": "projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/LOCATION/slates/SLATE_ID",
  "stitchingPolicy": "CUT_CURRENT"
}

Find the customAssetKey field and copy the returned CUSTOM_ASSET_KEY. You send these values to the Interactive Media Ads (IMA) SDK in a subsequent step.