Cutting to an ad-break in the middle of a crucial scene is never a good idea. Ad-breaks during episodic or feature length content must make sense to the viewer and if the timing is right, they are more willing to accept the interruption and watch the ads. Commercial content providers need to keep viewers engaged, while also keeping advertisers happy.
Identifying optimal moments to cut to an ad-break can be a time-consuming task. Their positioning must avoid distracting the viewer from the flow of the program, and instead capture their attention during a natural pause in the action. Media organisations need to offer advertisers the best possible opportunity to reach their target demographic without alienating them. So how can they strike a balance between their viewers needs and advertisers requirements?
Finding the Right Spot
A typical workflow in commercial broadcasting is to identify black frames in content, to determine suitable locations for ad-breaks. This involves the content processing team manually scrubbing through, looking for shot and scene changes and placing ad-break markers into a programme timeline. There are a few technical tools and AI services that can automatically detect black frames. However, simply processing your content through a service isnt enough. To make informed decisions, operators need to visually inspect and confirm that detected segments are suitable.
Keeping up the Pace
By using AI services for black frame detection, then processing media content for final QA/QC, operators can drastically reduce this traditionally manual and labour-intensive validation process. AI will detect video intervals that are (almost) completely black, meaning there needs to be several subsequent black frames in order to be flagged as a black interval. Audio is also taken into account. AI detects the combination of silence and black frames to identify segments for removal. The duration and the minimum pixel and frame thresholds can be customised via settings within the black frame detection filter. Speed-wise, black frame detection is a relatively quick process, executing at 17x speed, meaning a 17-minute-long video will take roughly 1 minute to analyse.
Striking a Balance
Black frame detection can either run automatically as part of the ingest process, or on-demand. Media companies can leverage AI generated metadata, but there may still be instances where skilled operators need to step in and manually create markers. Accurate.Video visualises time-based metadata and helps operators make faster editing decisions, whilst keeping them in control of the process. This offers the ultimate flexibility, automating where it makes sense, and connecting seamlessly with existing tools and workflows.
Black frame detection is a common use case for QC and Validation, when operators need to process content for ad-break insertion. Accurate.Video will help highlight and suggest chapter transitions, commercials, or invalid recordings, so media companies can deliver with confidence. Find out more about Accurate.Video
Europe Stories
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
12/05/2025
As newsrooms around the world begin to experiment with artificial intelligence, many are asking the same question: how do we move beyond isolated pilots and emb...
12/05/2025
12 May 2025
VEON Joins GSMA Advance's People Excellence Partner Program as ...
12/05/2025
Fox Corporation Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2025 Financial Results NEW YORK, NY, May 12, 2025 - Fox Corporation (Nasdaq: FOXA, FOX; FOX or the Company ) t...
12/05/2025
FOX Unveils Name of New Streaming Service FOX One Featuring all of FOX's Premium News, Sports and Entertainment Programming in One Dynamic Platform New ...
12/05/2025
FOX Orders Propulsive, Edge-Of-Your-Seat Thriller Memory of a Killer For 2025-20...
12/05/2025
FOX Announces Schedule for 2025-26 Season #1 NETWORK IN A18-49 DELIVERS SLATE FILLED WITH FUN, IRREVERENT CONTENT AND BOLD, SIGNATURE FOX CHARACTERS ALL-NEW ...
12/05/2025
What is success? How is it achieved? And what does it really cost? These are the...
09/05/2025
At the Frontline Club in London, a venue long associated with media freedom and ...
09/05/2025
As excitement builds for the annual Eurovision Song Contest, Spotify data offers...
09/05/2025
In our latest blog, Laura Rognoni dives into the shifting currents of change in the digital entertainment landscape, revealing the trends that will keep viewers...
09/05/2025
Friday 9 May 2025
Download images HERE
Episodes are available on Sky Media Vil...
09/05/2025
New beta programme for Avid Pro Tools users provides versioned backup/archive
M...
09/05/2025
Further to the comments from RT Director-General, Kevin Bakhurst on Wednesday 7th May included below in which he asked the EBU for a discussion on Israel&#...
09/05/2025
Here is your host, Patrick Kielty!
In the season finale of The Late Late Show, ...
09/05/2025
My Eurovision Party 2025 - join in on the fun with RT Kids!
Eurovision launche...
08/05/2025
As expected, continued weak demand from key sales markets and declining economic...
08/05/2025
A new three-part series is coming to BBC iPlayer and BBC One
(Image: The Christie Archive Trust)
The BBC has announced Agatha Christie's Endless Night, a...
08/05/2025
Expect even more chaos this July with Harriet Webb leading the returning cast, p...
08/05/2025
08 May 2025
VEON Shareholders Re-elect Board at 2025 AGM, Founder Augie Fabela ...
08/05/2025
Comedy and entertainment channel U&Dave bring back their #1 ranked programme of ...
08/05/2025
Expect even more chaos this July with Harriet Webb leading the returning cast, p...
08/05/2025
TenneT relies on Arvato Systems for market communication
Energy industry: Impressive market communication know-how and system integration expertise
G tersloh...
08/05/2025
When Taiki Hamamoto, 22, came across a Hanafuda deck at his local game shop, he was intrigued. He had grown up playing the traditional Japanese card game with f...
08/05/2025
The Liveline is now open , said Joe Duffy earlier today, as he previewed this af...
08/05/2025
RT , in association with the BBC, Screen Ireland and Cineflix Rights has reveale...
07/05/2025
Discovering music should feel effortless and fun. That's why Spotify continu...
07/05/2025
FOX Doubles Down on the Laughs Renewing Comedies Animal Control, Starring Joel M...
07/05/2025
07 May 2025
VEON's QazCode Signs MoU with Seekr to Develop AI-Powered Solut...
07/05/2025
UKTV has ordered a feature length documentary celebrating the life of Britain...
07/05/2025
Wednesday 7 May 2025
Shaun the Sheep fans are in for a baaaarilliant treat in 2...
07/05/2025
Rohde & Schwarz to highlight innovative broadcast technologies at CABSAT 2025 Rohde & Schwarz will showcase its latest energy-efficient transmitters and 5G Br...
07/05/2025
The Importance of Workflow Efficiencies in Post-Production Wednesday, 14 May
14:40
FilmLight sits down with Sam Lempp, head of business development for Nara, ...
07/05/2025
RT News is pleased to announce the appointment of RT journalist, Fergal O'Brien, as its new Business Correspondent.
In his new role, Fergal will be repor...
06/05/2025
In Colombia, music isn't just background noise-it's center stage. It'...
06/05/2025
En Colombia, la m sica no suena de fondo: es el centro del escenario. Es el cora...
06/05/2025
At Spotify, we always seek ways to connect users with their next favorite podcas...
06/05/2025
Since Spotify's 2019 launch in India, the growth of the country's local ...
06/05/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
06/05/2025
Comscore Reports First Quarter 2025 ResultsRESTON, Va., May 6, 2025 Comscore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a trusted partner for planning, transacting and evaluating ...
06/05/2025
Live from Studio 1 at 7pm, Tuesday May 6
Iconic trad-fusion group K LA will be ...
06/05/2025
Rohde & Schwarz hosts RF Testing Innovations Forum 2025, helping design engineer...
06/05/2025
LONDON, UK, May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at the company s annual THINK event, IBM (NYSE: IBM) is unveiling new hybrid technologies that break down the long...
06/05/2025
Apple today introduced Tap to Pay on iPhone in Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland, enabling millio...
06/05/2025
Ahead of Pride Month, Apple is introducing a new Apple Watch Pride Edition Sport Band, watch face, and iPhone and iPad wallpaper to celebrate the strength and b...
06/05/2025
First episode airs this Friday at 8pm on RT One and RT Player with Doireann N Ghlac in presenting
Guests include Barry Murphy, Brooke Scullion, Bryan Dobso...
05/05/2025
As Europe gears up for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, Spotify is celebrating the spirit of unity and musical legacy with a new series of Spotify Singles. Fiv...
05/05/2025
As part of the restructuring of its loss-making Carbon Fibers business unit, SGL Carbon has decided to close its production site in Lavradio (Portugal). Lavradi...
05/05/2025
Comscore Launches Certified Deal IDs in Magnite's SSP, Bringing Trusted Cont...
Cutting to an ad-break in the middle of a crucial scene is never a good idea. Ad-breaks during episodic or feature length content must make sense to the viewer and if the timing is right, they are more willing to accept the interruption and watch the ads. Commercial content providers need to keep viewers engaged, while also keeping advertisers happy.
