To enable the Video Stitcher API for your project, please reach out to your Account Representative or contact Sales to learn more.

Create a configuration for a VOD session

For Ad Manager integration, you need to create an ad tag for the VOD session.

You may also need to create a VOD configuration depending on the target platform. The Video Stitcher API registers this config with Ad Manager.

Create an ad tag in Ad Manager

Perform the following steps in your Ad Manager account:

Add a new ad unit.
Activate ad rules.
Create a new ad rule. As part of this step, find the Targeting > Inventory section in Ad Manager. Select the new ad unit from the previous step.
Create a valid ad tag by following the steps on Generate video and audio ad tags with the following modifications:
- For the Player SDK type, select Google IMA SDK.
- Add the parameter ad_rule=1 to the tag (for example, add &ad_rule=1 to the end).
- Add the parameter vid_d=<vod_asset_duration_in_secs> to the tag (for example, add &vid_d=1800 to the end for a 30 minute VOD asset).
- Modify the parameter output=vast to be output=xml_vmap1. The Video Multiple Ad Playlist (VMAP) specification is the only supported output type.

Select the target platform

Select the end user target platform from the following:

You need to create a VOD config. Continue with the steps on this page.

Create a VOD config

To create the config, use the projects.locations.vodConfigs.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 VOD 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
VOD_CONFIG_ID: a user-defined identifier for the VOD 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.
VOD_URI: the URI of the media to stitch. This URI must reference either an MPEG-DASH manifest (MPD) file or an HLS manifest (M3U8) file. Use a public URI or an unsigned URI for which you registered a CDN key.
Note: You can use the Transcoder API to create these manifest files. See Creating jobs based on presets for more information. You must make the manifest files public so that the Video Stitcher API can access them.
AD_TAG_URI: (Paste this value into the Request JSON code block below.) The URL for ad metadata retrieved from ad servers; for Ad Manager integration, this must be a valid Ad Manager video ad tag. To get a valid ad tag, follow the steps in the previous section Create an ad tag in Ad Manager.
NETWORK_CODE: the numeric identifier for your Ad Manager network; you can find this in the Global settings for the publisher account

Request JSON body:

{
  "sourceUri": "VOD_URI",
  "adTagUri": "AD_TAG_URI",
  "gamVodConfig": {
    "networkCode": "NETWORK_CODE"
  }
}

To send your request, expand one of these options:

curl (Linux, macOS, or Cloud Shell)

Note: The following command assumes that you have logged in to the gcloud CLI with your user account by running gcloud init or gcloud auth login , or by using Cloud Shell, which automatically logs you into the gcloud CLI . You can check the currently active account by running gcloud auth list.

Save the request body in a file named request.json. Run the following command in the terminal to create or overwrite this file in the current directory:

cat > request.json << 'EOF'
{
  "sourceUri": "VOD_URI",
  "adTagUri": "AD_TAG_URI",
  "gamVodConfig": {
    "networkCode": "NETWORK_CODE"
  }
}
EOF

Then execute the following command to send your REST request:

curl -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8" \
     -d @request.json \
     "https://videostitcher.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/LOCATION/vodConfigs?vodConfigId=VOD_CONFIG_ID"

PowerShell (Windows)

Note: The following command assumes that you have logged in to the gcloud CLI with your user account by running gcloud init or gcloud auth login . You can check the currently active account by running gcloud auth list.

Save the request body in a file named request.json. Run the following command in the terminal to create or overwrite this file in the current directory:

@'
{
  "sourceUri": "VOD_URI",
  "adTagUri": "AD_TAG_URI",
  "gamVodConfig": {
    "networkCode": "NETWORK_CODE"
  }
}
'@  | Out-File -FilePath request.json -Encoding utf8

Then execute the following command to send your REST request:

$cred = gcloud auth print-access-token
$headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $cred" }

Invoke-WebRequest `
    -Method POST `
    -Headers $headers `
    -ContentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8" `
    -InFile request.json `
    -Uri "https://videostitcher.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/LOCATION/vodConfigs?vodConfigId=VOD_CONFIG_ID" | Select-Object -Expand Content

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/vodConfigs/VOD_CONFIG_ID",
    "verb": "create",
    "cancelRequested": false,
    "apiVersion": "v1"
  },
  "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 VOD config 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:

curl (Linux, macOS, or Cloud Shell)

Execute the following command:

curl -X GET \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
     "https://videostitcher.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/LOCATION/operations/OPERATION_ID"

PowerShell (Windows)

Execute the following command:

$cred = gcloud auth print-access-token
$headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $cred" }

Invoke-WebRequest `
    -Method GET `
    -Headers $headers `
    -Uri "https://videostitcher.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/LOCATION/operations/OPERATION_ID" | Select-Object -Expand Content

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/vodConfigs/VOD_CONFIG_ID",
    "verb": "create"
  },
  "done": true,
  "response": {
    "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.video.stitcher.v1.VodConfig",
    "name": "projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/LOCATION/vodConfigs/VOD_CONFIG_ID",
    "sourceUri": "VOD_URI",
    "adTagUri": "AD_TAG_URI",
    "gamVodConfig": {
      "networkCode": "NETWORK_CODE"
    },
    "state": "READY"
  }
}

Check that the state is set to READY. If not, wait for a few seconds and send the request again.

For more information on VOD configs, see Create and manage a VOD config.

Set up CDN keys for Media CDN

Prepare for your client application to work with Google Ad Manager