Live Stream Ad Markers (SCTE-35)

If you bring your own live stream — an external HLS or DASH manifest from your own encoder or CDN — you can control exactly where ad breaks happen by embedding SCTE-35 ad markers in the manifest. Vidori’s player detects these markers and plays an ad at each break, then resumes your live content.

Tip

This works automatically for both Live Channels and Live Events that use an external manifest URL. There is no switch to turn on — if your stream contains ad markers, Vidori respects them.

How it works

1. Set up your ad tag. Under Settings → Advertising, configure your VAST tag URL and make sure advertising is enabled. Your markers decide when a break happens; your ad settings decide what plays. See Advertising for details.

2. Embed ad markers in your manifest. Your encoder or origin adds SCTE-35 cue-out / cue-in markers at each ad opportunity (see the examples below).

3. Vidori inserts the ads. When playback reaches a marker, the player pauses the live feed, plays the ad, and returns to the live edge when the ad finishes.

Adding markers to your manifest

HLS

Vidori reads standards-compliant #EXT-X-DATERANGE tags in your live media playlist. Mark the start of a break with SCTE35-OUT and a PLANNED-DURATION (in seconds), and the end with SCTE35-IN:

#EXTINF:6.000,
segment-1001.ts
#EXT-X-DATERANGE:ID="break-1",START-DATE="2026-07-08T20:15:00.000Z",PLANNED-DURATION=30.0,SCTE35-OUT=0xFC30...
#EXTINF:6.000,
segment-1002.ts
#EXTINF:6.000,
segment-1003.ts
#EXT-X-DATERANGE:ID="break-1",START-DATE="2026-07-08T20:15:30.000Z",SCTE35-IN=0xFC30...
#EXTINF:6.000,
segment-1004.ts

DASH

For DASH, signal breaks with an in-manifest EventStream carrying the SCTE-35 payload, with a presentationTime and duration:

<EventStream schemeIdUri="urn:scte:scte35:2013:xml" timescale="90000">
  <Event presentationTime="..." duration="2700000" id="1">
    <scte35:SpliceInfoSection>
      <scte35:SpliceInsert outOfNetworkIndicator="true" spliceEventId="1">
        <scte35:BreakDuration duration="2700000"/>
      </scte35:SpliceInsert>
    </scte35:SpliceInfoSection>
  </Event>
</EventStream>

Guidelines

• Give each break a unique ID so it isn’t counted twice as the live playlist refreshes.
• PLANNED-DURATION is the expected break length; the player returns to live content when the ad finishes.
• Signal the cue-out slightly before the break boundary so the ad starts on time.

Supported markers

Marker	Supported
HLS #EXT-X-DATERANGE with SCTE35-OUT / SCTE35-IN	Yes
HLS #EXT-X-DATERANGE with a PLANNED-DURATION / DURATION	Yes
DASH EventStream / emsg SCTE-35	Yes
HLS #EXT-X-CUE-OUT / #EXT-X-CUE-IN (legacy)	Not yet
#EXT-OATCLS-SCTE35 / raw binary-only payloads	Not yet

Troubleshooting

1. No ads play. Confirm advertising is enabled under Settings → Advertising and that your VAST tag returns an ad. A break with no available ad simply stays on live content — there is no black screen.

2. The same ad plays twice. Make sure every #EXT-X-DATERANGE uses a stable, unique ID.

3. A viewer who joins mid-break sees content, not the ad. This is expected — viewers who join after a break has started are not pulled into an in-progress ad.