AWS Elemental MediaTailor now supports HLS Interstitials for live streams
AWS Elemental MediaTailor now supports HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) Interstitials for live streams, enabling broadcasters and streaming service providers to deliver seamless, personalized ad experiences across a wide range of modern video players. This capability allows customers to insert interstitial advertisements and promotions directly into live streams using the HLS Interstitials specification (RFC 8216), which is natively supported by popular players including HLS.js, Shaka Player, Bitmovin Player, and Apple devices running iOS 16.4, iPadOS 16.4, tvOS 16.4, and later.
With HLS Interstitials, MediaTailor automatically generates the necessary metadata tags (Interstitial class EXT-X-DATERANGE with X-ASSET-LIST attributes) that signal to client players when and how to play interstitial content. This approach eliminates the need for custom player-side stitching logic, reducing development complexity and ensuring consistent playback behavior. The feature integrates with MediaTailor's existing server-side ad insertion (SSAI) capabilities, delivering frame-accurate transitions with no buffering between content and interstitials. Server-side beaconing continues to work with HLS Interstitials, ensuring ad tracking and measurement workflows remain intact.
HLS Interstitials for live streams is particularly valuable for sports broadcasts, live news, and event streaming where precise ad timing and minimal latency are critical. The feature supports pre-roll and mid-roll insertion, giving customers flexibility in how they monetize their live content. This launch complements MediaTailor's existing HLS Interstitials support for VOD, rounding out support across Linear, Live, FAST, and VOD workflows. MediaTailor makes it easy to test and deploy—customers can rapidly enable or disable HLS Interstitials with a simple query parameter on the multi-variant manifest request, providing per playback session control without changing the underlying MediaTailor configuration.
AWS Elemental MediaTailor HLS Interstitials for live streams is available today in all AWS Regions where MediaTailor operates. You pay only for the features you use, with no upfront commitments. To learn more and get started, visit the AWS Elemental MediaTailor documentation and the HLS Interstitials implementation guide.