DCR Norway Audio ios App SDK

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Overview

The Nielsen software development kit (SDK) is one of multiple frameworks that Nielsen provides to enable measuring linear (live) and on-demand audio and video viewing using desktop computers, mobile devices, OTT devices, etc. The App SDK is the framework for mobile application developers to integrate Nielsen Measurement into their media player applications. It supports a variety of Nielsen Measurement Products like Digital in TV Ratings, Digital Content Ratings (DCR & DTVR), and Digital Ad Ratings (DAR). Nielsen SDKs are also equipped to measure static content and can track key life cycle events of an application like:

• Application launch events and how long app was running
• Time of viewing a sub section / page in the application.

Prerequisites

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

• App ID (appid): Unique ID assigned to the player/site and configured by product.
• sfcode: Unique identifier for the environment that the SDK should point to.
• Nielsen SDK: The Nielsen SDK package contains a variety of sample players for your reference.

If you do not have any of these prerequisites 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.

Implementation

This guide covers implementation steps for iOS using Xcode.

Setting up your Development Environment

xCode

Configuring Xcode Development Environment

Nielsen App SDK is compatible with Apple iOS versions 9.0 and above.

The SDK uses the NSURLSession instead of the deprecated NSURLConnection.

Note: All communications between the SDK and the Census (Collection Facility) use HTTPS.

Importing Frameworks The first step is to ensure that the following frameworks and libraries are imported into the Frameworks folder of the Xcode project before creating an instance of the Nielsen App SDK object.

• UIKit.framework
• Foundation.framework
• AdSupport.framework
• SystemConfiguration.framework
• Security.framework
  • Nielsen Analytics framework makes use of a number of functions in this library.
• AVFoundation.framework
  • This framework is mandatory for the iOS SDK version 5.1.1 to work.
• CoreLocation.framework
• CoreMedia.framework
• NielsenAppApi.framework
• libc++.tbd (as SDK contains Objective C++ source file)
  • Alternatively, include -lstdc++ in Build Settings → Other Linker Flag of the Xcode project

Example

• Extract “NielsenAppApi.Framework” from the Nielsen App SDK sample app and copy it to Frameworks folder of the Xcode project.
• Add the code -#import NielsenAppApi/NielsenAppApi.h to the View Controller’s header file.

Ensure that the following are included in the Linked Frameworks and Libraries list (located in the project’s Summary settings).

• Nielsen App SDK
• iOS security framework

Using Swift To import a set of Objective-C files in the same app target as your Swift code, you rely on an Objective-C bridging header to expose those files to Swift. Xcode offers to create this header file when you add a Swift file to an existing Objective-C app, or an Objective-C file to an existing Swift app.

Select File/New File/Objective-C File
Xcode will prompt you to create a bridging header.

Once this file has been created, you need to add the following:

#import <NielsenAppApi/NielsenAppApi.h>

Using Objective-C Add the code

#import <NielsenAppApi/NielsenAppApi.h>

to the View Controller’s header file.

SDK Initialization

The latest version of the Nielsen App SDK allows instantiating multiple instances of the SDK object, which can be used simultaneously without any issue. The sharedInstance API that creates a singleton object was deprecated prior to version 5.1.1.

• A maximum of four SDK instances per appid are supported. When a fifth SDK instance is launched, the SDK will return “nil” from initWithAppInfo:delegate:
• When four SDK instances exist, you must destroy an old instance before creating a new one.

The following table contains the list of arguments that can be passed via the AppInfo JSON schema.

• The appid is provided by the Nielsen Technical Account Manager (TAM). The appid is a GUID data type and is specific to the application.

Parameter / Argument	Description	Source	Required/Obligatory?	Example
appid	Unique id for the application assigned by Nielsen. It is GUID data type.	Nielsen-specified	✓	PXXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
appversion	Release version of the client app. Not needed anymore.	custom		0.1.1
sfcode	Nielsen collection facility to which the SDK should connect. Norway RAM integrations "nor"	Nielsen-specified	✓	"nor"
nol_devDebug	Enables Nielsen console logging. Only required for testing	Nielsen-specified	required until cretification/going live	"DEBUG"

Sample SDK Initialization Code

Swift

Swift 4.0 Example: NielsenInit.swift

class NielsenInit: NSObject {
    class func createNielsenAppApi(delegate: NielsenAppApiDelegate) -> NielsenAppApi?{
    let appInformation:[String: String] = [
           "appid": "PDA7D5EE6-B1B8-XXXX-XXXX-2A788BCXXXCA",
            "sfcode": "nor",
            "nol_devDebug": "DEBUG"
        ]
        return NielsenAppApi(appInfo:appInformation, delegate:delegate)
    }
}

Sample code using AVPlayer.
ViewController.swift

class ViewController: UIViewController, NielsenAppApiDelegate, AVPictureInPictureControllerDelegate, CLLocationManagerDelegate  {
    
    let avPlayerViewController = AVPlayerViewController()
    var avPlayer:AVPlayer?
    var nielsenAppApi: NielsenAppApi!

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        self.nielsenAppApi = NielsenInit.createNielsenAppApi(delegate: self)
        NSLog("Nielsen SDK initialized")
    }
}

Objective C

Initialize the Nielsen App object within the viewDidLoad view controller delegate method using initWithAppInfo:delegate:

If App SDK is initialized using init or new methods, it will ignore the API calls resulting in no measurement. The SDK will not return any errors.

    
#import "NlsAppApiFactory.h"
#import <NielsenAppApi/NielsenAppApi.h>

@implementation NlsAppApiFactory

+ (NielsenAppApi *)createNielsenAppApiWithDelegate:(id<NielsenAppApiDelegate>)delegate;
{
    NSDictionary *appInformation = @{
                                     @"appid": "PDA7D5EE6-B1B8-XXXX-XXXX-2A788BCXXXCA",
                                     @"sfcode": "nor",
                                     @"nol_devDebug": @"DEBUG"
                                     };
    return [[NielsenAppApi alloc] initWithAppInfo:appInformation delegate:delegate];
}
@end

The following would be the NlsAppApiFactory.h file:

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@class NielsenAppApi;
@protocol NielsenAppApiDeligate;

@interface NlsAppApiFactory : NSObject 

+ (NielsenAppAPI *) createNielsenAppApiWithDelegate:(id<NielsenAppApiDelegate>)delegate;

@end

• Here, appContext is the App context object and appSdkConfig is JSON object for holding the parameters (appid, sfcode) the App passes to the Nielsen App SDK via a JSON string. The appid is obtained from Nielsen operational support and is unique to the app.

The integration of Nielsen App SDK will depend on type of client app.

• Ensure that SDK files (AppSdk.jar and libAppSdk.so [App SDK 1.2 Only]) are included under the App’s project and the App SDK is linked to the App (the setting to link App SDK to the App can be found on property page of the App’s project).

APP SDK Error & Event Codes

To view the Error and Event codes for iOS, please review the App SDK Event Code Reference page.

Configure Payload

Handling JSON Metadata

All the SDK methods handles only two types of objects: NSString, NSDictionary. The parameters passed must be either a JSON formatted string or a NSDictionary object. The JSON passed in the SDK must be well-formed.

• NSDictionary object
  • If an object of unexpected type is passed to the method, the error message will be logged.
  • If string has invalid JSON format, the error message will be logged.
• JSON value must be string value.
  • This includes boolean and numeric values. For example, a value of true should be represented with "true", number value 123 should be "123".
  • All the Variable Names like appid, appname, sfcode, dataSrc, title, type etc. are case-sensitive. Use the correct variable name as specified in the documentation.
• JSON string can be prepared using either raw NSString or serialized NSDictionary.

Swift

let channelInfo = [
    "channelName": "My Channel Name 1",
];
        
let contentMetadata = [
    "type": "content",
    "isAudio": "true",
    "assetid": "88675545",
    "title": "Program S3, EP1",
    "isfullepisode": "n",
    "adloadtype": "2",
    "program": "Program Name",
    "length": "3600", 
    "airdate": "20171020 10:05:00",
];

Objective C

 
NSDictionary  *channelInfo = @{
    @"channelName":@"My Channel Name 1",
}

NSDictionary *contentMetadata = @{
    @"type": @"content",
    @"isAudio": @"true",
    @"assetid": [NSString stringWithFormat:@"ProgramAssetId-%d", i],
    @"length": @"3600",
    @"program", "Program Name",
    @"title": @"Program S3, EP1",
    @"isfullepisode": @"y",
    @"adloadtype": "2",
    @"airdate": "20161013 20:00:00",
}

Configure metadata

When starting a streaming session a channel info metadata object needs to be passed to the SDK containing a channelName. The name should remain constant throughout the completion of an episode or live stream.

Key	Description	Values	Required
channelName	Any string representing the channel/stream	custom	✓

Content metadata

Content metadata should remain constant throughout the entirety of an episode/clip including when ads play.

Keys	Description	Values	Required/Obligatory
type	type of asset	"content"	✓
isAudio	indicate measurement of audio ads or audio content	"true"	✓
assetid	unique ID assigned to asset (64 character limit)	custom (no Special Characters)	✓
program	(string) name of program (254 character limit)	custom	✓
title	(string) episode title (max 254 characters)	custom	✓
length	length of content in seconds	seconds ("0" for 24/7 Livestream if only one assetid is used for the whole stream. If reporting on program level, length of the program. For Event-Livestreams planned length. For on-demand stream length)	✓
airdate	the airdate in the linear over-the-air broadcast	Supported formats are: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MI:SS YYYY-MM-DDHH:MI:SS YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MI:SS+xx:xx YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MI:SS-xx:xx YYYYMMDDHH:MI:SS MM-DD-YYYY MM/DD/YYYY	✓
scheduledEndDate	the airdate when this particular asset ended in the linear over-the-air broadcast	should be same format as airdate	✓
isfullepisode	full episode flag	"y"- full episode, "n"- non full episode	✓
adloadtype	type of ad load: "1" Linear – matches over-the-air ad load "2" Dynamic – Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI)	"2" - DCR measures content with dynamic ads	✓
stationType	OTA station flag and/or OTA station type	"0" Custom station built per user "1" OTA streaming station with the same adload "2" OTA station with a different ad load "3" Multicast eRadio or online station "4" On Demand Audio(podcasting)	✓
stationId	(string) name of the channel	custom	✓
clientid	parent ID – value is automatically populated through provided App ID. In order to override the brand configured to the App ID, pass parent the value here and the sub-brand ID associated with that brand in the subbrand key (e.g. multiple brands in App)	provided by Nielsen
subbrand	vcid/sub-brand ID – value is automatically populated through provided App ID. In order to override the sub-brand configured to the App ID, value can be passed here (e.g. multiple sub-brands in App). clientId does not need to be provided.	provided by Nielsen
progen	(string) genre information (max 254 characters)	custom

Ad Metadata

The ad metadata (if applicable) should be passed for each individual ad, if ads are available during or before the stream begins.

Keys	Description	Values	Required
type	type of ad	'preroll', 'midroll', or 'postroll'	✓
assetid	unique ID assigned to ad	custom	✓

Configure API Calls

Sample API Sequence

A Sample API sequence could follow this flow:

Type	Sample code	Description
On App Start	[nielsenMeter loadMetadata: contentMetadata];	// contentMetadata Object contains the JSON metadata for the impression
Start of stream	[nielsenMeter play: channelInfo];	// channelInfo contains JSON metadata of channel 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.

Life cycle of SDK instance

Life cycle of SDK instance includes four general states:

1. Initial state – The SDK is not initialized and hence, not ready to process playing information. Once the SDK is moved out of this state, it needs instantiation of the new SDK instance in order to get the instance in the Initial state.
2. Idle state – The SDK is initialized and is ready to process playing information. Once Initialized, the SDK instance is not processing any data, but is listening for the play event to occur.
3. Processing state – The SDK instance is processing playing information. play and loadMetadata calls move the SDK instance into this state. In this state, the SDK instance will be able to process the following calls.
   1. playheadPosition – Call this API every one second when playhead position timer is fired.
   2. stop – Call this API when the playback is paused, switches between content and ad (within the same content playback) or encounters interruptions.
   3. end – SDK instance exits from Processing state when this API is called.
4. Disabled state – The SDK instance is disabled and is not processing playing information. SDK instance moves into this state in one of the following scenarios.
   1. Initialization fails
   2. appDisableApi is called

@property (assign) BOOL appDisableApi;

Note: The App SDK will fire data pings and continue measurement even after the user has opted out from Nielsen measurement on a device. The data ping will be marked as opted-out ping.

Note: In case of any interruptions during playback due to alarm, calendar, call, flight mode, Wi-Fi toggle, channel change, etc., call stop to stop the measurement.

• As soon as the playback resumes, call play, loadMetadata and playheadPosition.

API Call sequence

Use Case 1: Content has no Advertisements

Call play() with channelName JSON as below.

{
   "channelName": "My Channel Name 1"
}

Call loadMetadata() with JSON metadata for content as below.

{
  "type": "content",
  "isAudio": "true",
  "assetid": "stream345-67483",
  "program": "ProgramName",
  "title": "Program S3, EP1",
  "length": "3600",
  ...
}

Call setPlayheadPosition() every one second until a pause / stop. Use the sample API sequence below as a reference to identify the specific events that need to be called during content playback without ads.

Type	Sample code	Description
Start of stream	mAppSdk.play(channelInfo);	// channelInfo contains JSON metadata of channel name being played
	mAppSdk.loadMetadata(contentMetaDataObject);	// contentMetadataObject contains the JSON metadata for the content being played
Content	mAppSdk.setPlayheadPosition(playheadPosition);	// position is position of the playhead while the content is being played
End of Stream	mAppSdk.end();	// Content playback is completed.

Use Case 2: Content has Advertisements

Call play() with channelName JSON as below.

{
   "channelName": "My Channel Name 1"
}

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 setPlayheadPosition() 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	mAppSdk.play(channelInfo);	// channelName contains JSON metadata of channel name being played
	mAppSdk.loadMetadata(contentMetaDataObject);	// contentMetadataObject contains the JSON metadata for the content being played
Preroll	mAppSdk.loadMetadata(prerollMetadataObject);	// prerollMetadataObject contains the JSON metadata for the preroll ad
	mAppSdk.setPlayheadPosition(playheadPosition);	// position is position of the playhead while the preroll ad is being played
	mAppSdk.stop();	// Call stop after preroll occurs
Content	mAppSdk.loadMetadata(contentMetaDataObject);	// contentMetadataObject contains the JSON metadata for the content being played
	mAppSdk.setPlayheadPosition(playheadPosition);	// position is position of the playhead while the content is being played
	mAppSdk.stop();	// Call stop after the content is paused (ad starts)
Midroll	mAppSdk.loadMetadata(midrollMetaDataObject);	// midrollMetadataObject contains the JSON metadata for the midroll ad
	mAppSdk.setPlayheadPosition(playheadPosition);	// position is position of the playhead while the midroll ad is being played
	mAppSdk.stop();	// App moves to background(midroll pauses)
	mAppSdk.loadMetadata(midrollMetaDataObject);	// App moves to foreground (midroll resumes)
	mAppSdk.setPlayheadPosition(playheadPosition);	// playheadPosition is position of the playhead while the midroll ad is being played
	mAppSdk.stop();	// Call stop after midroll occurs
Content (End of stream)	mAppSdk.loadMetadata(contentMetaDataObject);	// contentMetadataObject contains the JSON metadata for the content being played
	mAppSdk.setPlayheadPosition(playheadPosition);	// position is position of the playhead while the content is being played
	mAppSdk.stop();	// Always call stop irrespective of postroll is followed or not
End of Stream	mAppSdk.end();	// Call end() at the end of content
Postroll	mAppSdk.loadMetadata(postrollMetaDataObject);	// postrollMetadataObject contains the JSON metadata for the postroll ad
	mAppSdk.setPlayheadPosition(playheadPosition);	// position is position of the playhead while the postroll ad is being played
	mAppSdk.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.

play

Use play to pass the channel information containing the channelName parameter when the streaming session starts.

Swift

nielsenAppApi?.play(channelInfo);

Objective C

 - (void)play:(id)channelInfo;

loadMetadata

The loadMetadata function is used to inform the SDK about new content. The contentMetadata object passed in should contain the values as described above.

Swift

self.nielsenAppApi?.loadMetadata(contentMetadata)

Objective C

– (void)loadMetadata:(id)contentMetadata;

playheadPosition

Use playheadPosition to tell the SDK about the current position in the stream. For live content this should be the Unix timestamp (seconds since Jan-1-1970 UTC). For on-demand content, simply the position in seconds in the stream.

Swift

        //Monitor the Playhead position of the AVPlayer
        let timeInterval: CMTime = CMTimeMakeWithSeconds(1.0,10)
        self.avPlayerViewController.player?.addPeriodicTimeObserver(forInterval: timeInterval, queue: DispatchQueue.main) {(elapsedTime: CMTime) -> Void in
            if self.avPlayerViewController.player!.currentItem?.status == .readyToPlay {
                let time : Float64 = self.avPlayerViewController.player!.currentTime().seconds;
                let pos = Int64(time);
                NSLog("New Elapse Time = \(time)");
                self.nielsenAppApi?.playheadPosition(pos);
            }
        }
    }

Objective C

– (void) playheadPosition: (long long) playheadPos;

Sending playheadposition for content

AVPlayer *player;
CMTime curTime=[player currentTime];
int pos = CMTimeGetSeconds(curTime);
[nAppApiObject playheadPosition:pos];

stop

Tell the SDK that content playback has stopped.

Swift

self.nielsenAppApi?.stop();

Objective C

– (void) stop;

end

When content stop is initiated and content cannot be resumed from the same position. For example when the stream has reached its end or in situations where it can only be restarted from the beginning.

Swift

self.nielsenAppApi?.end();

Objective C

- (void) end;

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 (For Audio players only if audio stops playing)
• App going in the Background/Foreground (For Audio players only if audio stops playing)
• Channel / Station Change Scenario
• Unplugging of headphone

In the 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.
• If it is Channel/station change scenario, call stop immediately followed by end
• Start sending pings – loadMetadata and playheadPosition for the new viewing session, once the playback resumes.

Please see the Digital Measurement FAQ for more details

Privacy and Opt-Out

iOS

iOS Opt-Out Implementation

To opt-out, users must have access to the page referenced by the opt-out URL provided by the SDK. Users can click this page from the app settings screen.

Include About Nielsen Measurement and Your Choices link in the Privacy Policy / EULA or as a button near the link to the app's Privacy Policy.

• URL for the Nielsen Privacy web page should be retrieved from the optOutURL property of the SDK object optOutURL and opened in 'WebView' / External browser.
• If the App SDK returns NULL in the optOutURL, handle the exception gracefully and retry later.
• To retrieve the current Opt-Out status of a device, use the optOutStatus method.

iOS 14, PRIVACY, AND OPT-OUT Integration settings.

• Version 8 of our App SDK will come in two versions. One that is enabled to work with the App Tracking Transparency Framework, and another version that does not use the Ad Framework.
• Code examples of both methods can be found on this LINK

The app must provide access to "About Nielsen Measurement" page for the users. Include "About Nielsen Measurement" and Your Choices link in the Privacy Policy / EULA or as a button near the link to the app's Privacy Policy.

• URL to this web page should be called from SDK and opened in 'WebView' / External browser.
• If the App SDK returns NULL as Opt-Out URL, handle this case and retry later.
• To retrieve the current Opt-Out status, use the optOutStatus property from Nielsen's SDK API.

@property (readonly) BOOL optOutStatus;

• App should provide a UI control like 'close' or 'back' button to close the 'WebView' / External browser.

Users can opt out or opt back into Nielsen Measurement. Opt-Out feature relies on iOS' system setting – "Limit Ad Tracking". The setting can be accessed in the Settings application on any iOS device: Settings → Privacy → Advertising → Limit Ad Tracking.

User is opted out of Nielsen online measurement research when the "Limit Ad Tracking" setting is enabled.

Note: The App SDK will fire data pings and continue measurement even after the user has opted out from Nielsen measurement on a device. The data ping will be marked as opted-out ping.

Going Live

Following Nielsen testing, users need to make one update to the initialization call to ensure that the site is being measured properly.

1. Debug Logging: Disable logging by deleting {nol_devDebug: 'DEBUG'} from initialization call.
   • Example Production Initialization Call - Refer to the production initialization call below:

iOS Example:

class NielsenInit: NSObject {
    class func createNielsenAppApi(delegate: NielsenAppApiDelegate) -> NielsenAppApi?{
    let appInformation:[String: String] = [
            "appid": "PXXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX",
            "sfcode": "nor"
            // Remove Flag:   "nol_devDebug": "DEBUG"
        ]
        return NielsenAppApi(appInfo:appInformation, delegate:delegate)
    }
}

Note: before going live you have to inform the Nielsen team - this is necessary because the Nielsen team has to adjust the internal configuration parameter to enable data collection. Without that notification, no data will be collected and no data will be reported.