DCR Video iOS SDK

Engineering Portal / Digital / DCR & DTVR / DCR Video iOS SDK

Prerequisites

To start using the App SDK, the following items are required:

	Item	Description	Source
☑	App ID (appid)	Unique ID assigned to the player/site and configured by product.	Contact Nielsen
☑	sfcode	Environment that the SDK must point to	Contact Nielsen
☑	Nielsen SDK	Includes SDK libraries and sample implementation; See iOS SDK Release Notes	Download

If you do not have any of these pre-requisites or if you have any questions, please contact our SDK sales support team. Refer to Digital Measurement Onboarding guide for information on how to get a Nielsen App SDK and appid.

Import Library

Refer to iOS SDK API Reference - Importing Frameworks for information on importing libraries.

• The latest version of App SDK allows instantiating multiple instances of App SDK object and can be used simultaneously without any issues.

Initialize SDK

Initialize App SDK as soon as the application is launched. Refer to iOS SDK API Reference - Initialization for details on initializing an AppSDK object and the parameters required.

Configure API calls

play

Use play to pass the channel descriptor information through channelName parameter when the user taps the Play button on the player.

loadMetadata

Use loadMetadata to pass 'content' and 'ad' Digital Measurement Metadata. The CMS data must be passed as a JSON object.

    – (void) loadMetadata :(id)metadata;

Refer to loadMetadata for the list of parameters to be passed in the JSON object.

Note: The loadMetadata call after the first play call must have ‘content’ details ("type": "content"). This call should occur before any preroll ad starts playing.

playheadPosition (Content)

Use playheadPosition to pass the position of the playhead while the content is being played.

    – (void) playheadPosition: (long long) playheadPos

#	Key	Description	Values	Required? (Y/N)	Example
1	Live**	UTC of the live content	Client-defined	Yes	Seconds since 1970
2	Video On Demand (VOD)**	Position taken from beginning of the content in seconds.	Client-defined	Yes	Current player position from beginning of the content.

**Only one of these parameters is mandatory

Note: If playhead is not available from audio / video measurement, allow the app to start a timer (1-5 seconds) and send playhead position to SDK based on the timer event. Once the actual playhead is available, let the app send the proper playhead position. This allows the SDK to calculate and provide a closer value for duration.

Buffering state

• Do not supply playhead position while the content is being buffered.
• If the content is in buffering state continuously for more than 30 seconds, call stop API.

Live Content

    long long pos = [[NSDate date] timeIntervalSince1970];
    [nAppApiObject playheadPosition:pos];

On-demand Content

    CMTime curTime=[player currentTime];
    long pos=CMTimeGetSeconds(curTime);
    [nAppApiObject playheadPosition:pos];

playheadPosition (Ad)

Use playheadPosition to pass the position of the playhead while the advertisement is being played.

    – (void) playheadPosition: (long long) playheadPos

Key	Description	Values	Required? (Y/N)	Example
Ad	Position taken from beginning of the ad in seconds	Client-defined	Yes	Seconds since tart of the ad

Ad Content

    CMTime curTime=[adplayer currentTime];
    long pos=CMTimeGetSeconds(curTime);
    [nAppApiObject playheadPosition:pos];

Note: The playhead positions for ad and content should be maintained separately.

stop

stop must be called on the following events:

• At the end of ad
• In case of interruptions during playback like flight mode, Wi-Fi toggle, etc.

Call loadMetadata and playheadPosition when the stream resumes.

Call play when starting the new stream.

end

end must be called on the following events:

• End of playback
• Channel change

API Call sequence

Use Case 1: Content has no Advertisements

Use the sample API sequence below as a reference to identify the specific events that need to be called during content playback without ads.

Call play with channelName JSON as below.

{
   "channelName": "TheMovieTitle"
}

Call loadMetadata with JSON metadata for content as below.

{
  "type": "content",
  "assetid": "vid345-67483",
  "program": "ProgramName",
  "title": "Program S3, EP1",
  "length": "3600",
  "segB": "CustomSegmentValueB",
  "segC": "CustomSegmentValueC",
  "crossId1": "Reference11",
  "crossId2": "Reference22",
  "isfullepisode": "y",
  "airdate": "20161013 20:00:00",
  "adloadtype": "2",
  "progen":"GV"
}

Call playheadPosition every one second until a pause / stop.

Type	Sample code	Description
Start of stream	[nielsenMeter play: channelName];	// channelName contains JSON metadata of channel/video name being played
	[nielsenMeter loadMetadata: contentMetadataObject];	// contentMetadataObject contains the JSON metadata for the content being played
Content	[nielsenMeter playheadPosition: position];	// playheadPosition is position of the playhead while the content is being played
End of Stream	[nielsenMeter end];	// Content playback is completed.

Use Case 2: Content has Advertisements

Call play with channelName JSON as below.

{
   "channelName": "TheMovieTitle"
}

Call loadMetadata with JSON metadata for ad as below.

{
   "type": "preroll",
   "assetid": "ad=123"
}

Note: In case the individual ad details are not available, send ad pod (presence) details through the loadMetadata and playhead position through playheadPosition.

Call playheadPosition every one second until a pause / stop / another loadMetadata is called. Playhead should be passed for the entire duration of ad pod, if the ad pod details are passed as part of loadMetadata.

The sample API sequence can be used as a reference to identify the specific events that need to be called during content and ad playback.

Type	Sample code	Description
Start of stream	[nielsenMeter play: channelName];	// channelName contains JSON metadata of channel/video name being played
	[nielsenMeter loadMetadata: contentMetadataObject];	// contentMetadataObject contains the JSON metadata for the content being played
Preroll	[nielsenMeter loadMetadata: prerollMetadataObject];	// prerollMetadataObject contains the JSON metadata for the preroll ad
	[nielsenMeter playheadPosition: position];	// position is position of the playhead while the preroll ad is being played
	[nielsenMeter stop];	// Call stop after preroll occurs
Content	[nielsenMeter loadMetadata: contentMetadataObject];	// contentMetadataObject contains the JSON metadata for the content being played
	[nielsenMeter playheadPosition: position];	// position is position of the playhead while the content is being played
	[nielsenMeter stop];	// Call stop after the content is paused (ad starts)
Midroll	[nielsenMeter loadMetadata: midrollMetadataObject];	// midrollMetadataObject contains the JSON metadata for the midroll ad
	[nielsenMeter playheadPosition: position];	// position is position of the playhead while the midroll ad is being played
	[nielsenMeter stop];	// Call stop after midroll occurs
Content (End of stream)	[nielsenMeter loadMetadata: contentMetadataObject];	// contentMetadataObject contains the JSON metadata for the content being played
	[nielsenMeter playheadPosition: position];	// position is position of the playhead while the content is being played
	[nielsenMeter end];	// Called at the end of content
Postroll	[nielsenMeter loadMetadata: postrollMetadataObject];	// postrollMetadataObject contains the JSON metadata for the postroll ad
	[nielsenMeter playheadPosition: position];	// position is position of the playhead while the postroll ad is being played
	[nielsenMeter stop];	// Call stop after postroll occurs

Note: Each Ad playhead should reset or begin from 0 at ad start. When content has resumed following an ad break, playhead position must continue from where previous content segment was left off.

The Viewability Metric

The viewability metric introduced in the Nielsen AppSDK represents the visibility of a video in the player along a playback. If you decide to implement the Nielsen Viewability Module, the SDK will track the viewability of the targeted player/element, log the viewable percentage, and record in seconds the time the player/element was in that viewable state. Please refer to Implementing Viewability with AppSDK.

Interruptions during playback

As part of integrating Nielsen App SDK with the player application, the Audio / Video app developer needs to handle the following possible interruption scenarios:

• Pause / Play
• Network Loss (Wi-Fi / Airplane / Cellular)
• Call Interrupt (SIM or Third party Skype / Hangout call)
• Alarm Interrupt
• Content Buffering
• Device Lock / Unlock (Video players only, not for Audio players)
• App going in the Background/Foreground (Video players only, not for Audio players)
• Channel / Station Change Scenario
• Unplugging of headphone

In case of encountering one of the above interruptions, the player application needs to

• Call stop immediately (except when content is buffering) and withhold sending playhead position.
• Start sending pings – loadMetadata and playheadPosition for the new viewing session, once the playback resumes.

Please see the Digital Measurement FAQ for more details

Nielsen Measurement Opt-Out Implementation

As a global information and measurement leader, we are committed to protecting the privacy and security of the data we collect, process and use. Our digital measurement products are not used to identify the consumer in any way, but they help us and our clients measure and analyze how consumers engage with media across online, mobile and emerging technologies, and offer insights into consumer behavior.

• When the app user wants to opt in or opt out of Nielsen measurement, a new dynamic page (with content string obtained from optOutURL) should be displayed.
• Use optOutStatus to retrieve the device’s Opt-Out status.
• This Opt-out page should be displayed in a webview (within the app) and not in any external browser.
• (For SDK Version 5.1.1.17 or below) Capture the user’s selection in this page and pass it to the SDK through userOptOut for Nielsen to save the user’s preference.
• (For SDK Version 5.1.1.18 or above) Opt-out is controlled by the Limit Ad Tracking setting on the user's device. There is no need to capture any user selection on the opt-out page.

Pre-Certification Checklists

After the application is ready to be sent for Nielsen Certification, please go through the Digital Pre-Certification Checklist App SDK and ensure the app behaves as expected, before submitting to Nielsen.

Testing an Implementation - App

See Digital Measurement Testing.