Timeline 2 - User abandons session

Last update: 2022-11-12
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VOD, Pre-roll ad, mid-roll ads, user abandons content early

The following diagrams illustrate the playhead timeline and the corresponding timeline of a user’s actions. The details for each action and its accompanying requests are presented below.

API content

API actions

Action details

Action 1 - Start session

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
Auto-play or Play button pressed 0 0 /api/v1/sessions

This call signals the user’s intention to play a video. It returns a Session ID ( {sid} ) to the client that is used to identify all subsequent tracking calls within the session. The player state is not yet “playing”, but is instead “starting”. Mandatory session parameters must be included in the params map in the request body. On the backend, this call generates an Adobe Analytics initiate call. For information about sessions, see the Media Collection API documentation.

{
    "playerTime": {
        "playhead": 0,
        "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType": "sessionStart",
    "params": {
        "media.playerName": "sample-html5-api-player",
        "analytics.trackingServer": "[ _YOUR-TS_ ]",
        "analytics.reportSuite": "[ _YOUR-RSID_ ]",
        "analytics.visitorId": "[ _YOUR-VISITOR-ID_ ]",
        "media.contentType": "VOD",
        "media.length": 60.3333333333333,
        "media.id": "VA API Sample Player",
        "visitor.marketingCloudOrgId": "[YOUR-MCID]",
        "media.name": "ClickMe",
        "media.channel": "sample-channel",
        "media.sdkVersion": "va-api-0.0.0",
        "analytics.enableSSL": false
    }
}

Action 2 - Ping timer start

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
App starts ping event timer 0 0

Start your app’s ping timer. First ping event should then fire 1 second in if there are pre-roll ads, 10 seconds in otherwise.

Action 3 - Ad break start

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
Track pre-roll ad break start 0 0 /api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Pre-roll ads must be tracked. Ads can only be tracked within an ad break.

{
    "playerTime": {
        "playhead": 0,
        "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType": "adBreakStart",
    "params": {
        "media.ad.podFriendlyName": "ad_pod1",
        "media.ad.podIndex": 0,
        "media.ad.podSecond": 0
    }
}

Action 4 - Ad start

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
Track pre-roll Ad #1 start 0 0 /api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

A 12 second ad starts.

{
    "playerTime": {
        "playhead": 0,
        "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType": "adStart",
    "params": {
        "media.ad.podFriendlyName": "ad_pod1",
        "media.ad.name": "Ad 1",
        "media.ad.id": "002",
        "media.ad.length": 7,
        "media.ad.podPosition": 1,
        "media.ad.playerName": "Sample Player",
        "media.ad.advertiser": "Ad Guys",
        "media.ad.campaignId": "1",
        "media.ad.creativeId": "42",
        "media.ad.siteId": "XYZ",
        "media.ad.creativeURL": "https://xyz-creative.com",
        "media.ad.placementId": "sample-placement2"
    },
}

Action 5 - Ad pings

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
App sends ping event 1 0 /api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Ping the backend every 1 second. (Subsequent ad pings not shown, in the interest of brevity.)

{
    "playerTime": {
        "playhead": 0,
        "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType": "ping"
}

Action 6 - Ad complete

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
Track pre-roll Ad #1 complete 12 0 /api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

The first pre-roll ad is over.

{
    "playerTime": {
        "playhead": 0,
        "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType": "adComplete"
}

Action 7 - Ad break complete

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
Track pre-roll ad break complete 12 0 /api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

The ad break is over. Throughout the ad break, the player has remained in the “playing” state.

{
    "playerTime": {
        "playhead": 0,
        "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType": "adBreakComplete"
}

Action 8 - Play content

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
Track play event 12 0 /api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Move the player to the “playing” state; begin tracking the start of content playback.

{
    "playerTime": {
        "playhead": 0,
        "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType": "play",
    "qoeData": {
        "bitrate": 10000
    }
}

Action 9 - Ping

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
App sends ping event 20 8 /api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Ping the backend every 10 seconds.

{
    "playerTime": {
        "playhead": 8,
        "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType": "ping"
}

Action 10 - Ping

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
App sends ping event 30 18 /api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Ping the backend every 10 seconds.

{
    "playerTime": {
        "playhead": 18,
        "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType": "ping"
}

Action 11 - Error

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
Error occurs, app sends error information. 32 20 /api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events
{
    "playerTime": {
        "playhead": 20,
        "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType": "error"
}

Action 12 - Play content

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
App recovers from error, user presses Play 37 20 /api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events
{
    "playerTime": {
        "playhead": 18,
        "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType":"play",
    "qoeData": {
        "bitrate": 10000
    }
}

Action 13 - Ping

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
App sends ping event 40 28 /api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Ping the backend every 10 seconds.

{
    "playerTime": {
        "playhead": 28,
        "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType": "ping"
}

Action 14 - Ad break start

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
Track mid-roll ad break start 45 33 /api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Mid-roll ad of 8 seconds duration: send adBreakStart .

{
    "playerTime": {
        "playhead": 33,
        "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType":"adBreakStart",
    "params": {
        "media.ad.podFriendlyName": "ad_pod2",
        "media.ad.podIndex": 1,
        "media.ad.podSecond": 33
    }
}

Action 15 - Ad start

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
Track mid-roll Ad #1 start 45 33 /api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Track the mid-roll ad.

{
    "playerTime": { "playhead": 33, "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType": "adStart",
    "params": {
        "media.ad.podFriendlyName": "ad_pod1",
        "media.ad.name": "Ad 1",
        "media.ad.id": "002",
        "media.ad.length": 8,
        "media.ad.podPosition": 1,
        "media.ad.playerName": "Sample Player",
        "media.ad.advertiser": "Ad Guys",
        "media.ad.campaignId": "7",
        "media.ad.creativeId": "40",
        "media.ad.siteId": "XYZ",
        "media.ad.creativeURL": "https://example.com",
        "media.ad.placementId": "sample_placement2"
    },
}

Action 16 - Close app

Action Action Timeline (Seconds) Playhead Position (Seconds) Client Request
User closes the app. The app determines that the user has abandoned viewing and isn’t returning to this session. 48 33 /api/v1/sessions/{sid}/events

Send sessionEnd to the VA backend to indicate that the session should be closed immediately, with no further processing.

{
    "playerTime": {
        "playhead": 33,
        "ts": "<timestamp>"
    },
    "eventType": "sessionEnd"
}

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