Developers
Collecting media data is critical for tracking user behavior when your customers consume video or audio content through Android and iOS mobile applications or on the web. mParticle provides a toolset for integrating media analytics into your customer experience.
The mParticle Media SDK provides a dedicated API for tracking common media events including session start/end, play, pause, and other milestones, as well as logging recurring advertising impressions and chapters for segmented content.
The mParticle Media SDK works hand in hand with the mParticle platform. Data logged from the Media SDK is forwarded to the Apple SDK and then forwarded to any included integrations.
The mParticle Media SDK is compatible with Adobe Analytics for Media, supporting the full range of media-related events including heartbeat events. This simplifies an otherwise complicated and error-prone process of setting up media session event tracking and Adobe Heartbeat yourself.
Before you can begin using the Media SDK, you need to have a working instance of the mParticle core SDK. Please see the core SDK getting started section for more details.
To integrate the SDK using CocoaPods, specify it in your Podfile:
target '<Your Target>' do
pod 'mParticle-Apple-SDK', '~> 8.0'
pod 'mParticle-Apple-Media-SDK', '~> 1.0'
end
To integrate the SDK using Carthage, specify it in your Cartfile:
github "mparticle/mparticle-apple-sdk" ~> 8.0
github "mparticle/mparticle-apple-media-sdk" ~> 1.0
To integrate the SDK using Swift Package Manager, open your Xcode project and navigate to File > Swift Packages > Add Package Dependency
Enter the repository URL https://github.com/mParticle/mparticle-apple-media-sdk
and click Next.
You can leave the version settings as default and click Next one more time to complete adding the package dependency.
The Apple iOS Media SDK provides a MPMediaSession
object. Each MPMediaSession
object represents a single end to end media experience and relates one-to-one to a piece of content. For example, if a customer is watching a video, pausing, seeking and scrubbing, that is considered a single session. If they stop the video, and play another piece of content, that is a new session.
let mediaSession = MPMediaSession.init(
coreSDK: MParticle.sharedInstance(), // mParticle SDK Instance
mediaContentId: '1234567', // Custom media ID, added as content_id for media events
title: 'Funny internet cat video', // Custom media Title, added as content_title for media events
duration: 120000, // Duration in milliseconds, added as content_duration for media events
contentType: .video, // Content Type (Video or Audio), added as content_type for media events
streamType: .onDemand // Stream Type (OnDemand, Live, etc.), added as stream_type for media events
)
You can access the source code and contribute to the mParticle Media SDK Github repo here.
Summary events are automated events that contain an accumulated record of what occured during a session, individual segments, and individual ads.
A Session Summary event tracks from when a MPMediaSession
is initialized to when it’s de-initialized or when logMediaSessionEnd
is called. The more accurate and detailed developers are with logPlay
, logPause
, logAdStart
, and other media events, the more accurate the summary data will be.
The following table explains the different parts of the Session Summary event.
Session Summary Keys | Description |
---|---|
“media_session_id” | A unique identifier automatically created for each session |
“content_id” | A unique identifier that can set by the user when initializing a session |
“content_title” | The title of the content. Can be set by the user when initializing a session |
“media_session_start_time” | Timestamp created on logMediaSessionStart event |
“media_session_end_time” | Timestamp of most recent valid event |
“media_time_spent” | Total seconds user spent on this session |
“media_content_time_spent” | The total seconds user spent playing content |
“media_content_complete” | True if logMediaContentEnd was called or if user progressed past percentage set in MPMediaSession.mediaContentCompleteLimit |
“media_session_segment_total” | The number of segments progressed into by the user |
“media_total_ad_time_spent” | The total seconds that ads played during this session |
“media_ad_time_spent_rate” | The parcentage of playback time that was ad content |
“media_session_ad_total” | The number of ads played in the media session |
“media_session_ad_objects” | An array of unique identifiers for ads played during this media session |
A Segment Summary event tracks from when logSegmentStart
is called to when either logSegmentSkip
or logSegmentEnd
is called. Segments could be the chapters of an audiobook or scenes in a movie.
The following table explains the different parts of the Segment Summary event.
Segment Summary Keys | Description |
---|---|
“media_session_id” | A unique identifier automatically created for each session |
“content_id” | A unique identifier that can set by the user when initializing a session |
“segment_title” | The title of the segment |
“segment_index” | The index of the segment |
“segment_start_time” | Timestamp created on logSegmentStart event |
“segment_end_time” | Timestamp of most recent valid event in segment |
“media_segment_time_spent” | Total seconds user spent on this segment |
“segment_completed” | True if logSegmentEnd was called to end the segment |
“segment_skipped” | True if logSegmentSkip was called to end the segment |
An Ad Summary event tracks from when logAdStart
is called to when either logAdSkip
or logAdEnd
is called.
The following table explains the different parts of the Ad Summary event.
Ad Summary Keys | Description |
---|---|
“media_session_id” | A unique identifier automatically created for each session |
“ad_break_id” | A unique identifier that can set by the user when initializing an ad break |
“ad_content_id” | A unique identifier that can set by the user when initializing an ad |
“ad_content_title” | The title of the ad |
“ad_content_start_time” | Timestamp created on logAdStart event |
“ad_content_end_time” | Timestamp of most recent valid event in segment |
“ad_completed” | True if logAdEnd was called to end the segment. |
“ad_skipped” | True if logAdSkip was called to end the segment. |
Once your session is instantiated, you will need to trigger a SessionStart
. This should be done at the moment the user interacts with your content. For example, if the media is set to trigger on a user click, and your player fires a play
event when the content starts, the session must begin before the play
event.
mediaSession.logMediaSessionStart()
mediaSession.logPlay()
pause
mediaSession.logPause()
mediaSession.logMediaContentEnd()
mediaSession.logMediaSessionEnd()
In most cases, advertising comes in as a series of Ad Breaks
each containing numerous Ads
. The Media SDK provides both sets of functionality so that you can track this behavior.
AdBreakStart
eventlet adBreak = MPMediaAdBreak.init(title: "pre-roll", id: "123456") // included as ad_break_title and ad_break_id for Ad Break Start/End and Summary events
adBreak.duration = 6000 // ad_break_duration
mediaSession.logAdBreakStart(adBreak) // logs Ad Break Start event
AdStart
eventlet adContent = MPMediaAdContent.init(title: "What?! Nobody rips off my kids but me!", id: "4423210") // included as ad_content_title and ad_content_id for Ad Start/End and Summary events
adContent.advertiser = "Mom's Friendly Robot Company" // ad_content_advertiser
adContent.campaign = "MomCorp Galactic Domination Plot 3201" // ad_content_campaign
adContent.duration = 60000 // ad_content_duration
adContent.creative = "A Fishful of Dollars" // ad_content_creative
adContent.siteId = "moms" // ad_content_site_id
adContent.placement = "first" // ad_content_placement
adContent.position = 0 // ad_content_position
mediaSession.logAdStart(adContent: adContent) // logs Ad Start event
AdEnd
or AdSkip
when appropriatemediaSession.logAdEnd()
AdBreakEnd
event when all ads have completedmediaSession.logAdBreakEnd()
The Media SDK will generate “Media” events for client-side kits such as Adobe Media Analytics, however these events can be converted to look just like a typical mParticle custom event that may be used to create audiences, used in calculated attributes, and sent to most mParticle integrations for analysis and activation.
To enable Custom event generation, pass a boolean to the initialization of your MediaSession
to enable the Log Page Event feature:
let mediaSession = MPMediaSession.init(
coreSDK: MParticle.sharedInstance(), // mParticle SDK Instance
mediaContentId: '1234567', // Custom media ID
title: 'Funny internet cat video', // Custom media Title
duration: 120000, // Duration in milliseconds
contentType: .video, // Content Type (Video or Audio)
streamType: .onDemand, // Stream Type (OnDemand, Live, etc.)
logMPEvents: true, // Whether to log mParticle custom events for audiences and non-media kits
logMediaEvents: true // Whether to log media events for media-enabled kits
)
The Media SDK will generate Custom events per the specification below.
The Media SDK exposes methods that will trigger Media Events based on the most common player functions. The Media SDK maps every MediaSession
API to a predefined Custom event name. The table below details all of the predefineed Media Events:
Media Session API | Custom Event Name |
---|---|
mediaSession.logPlay() | ‘Play’ |
mediaSession.logPause() | ‘Pause’ |
mediaSession.logMediaContentEnd:() | ‘Media Content End’ |
mediaSession.logMediaSessionStart() | ‘Media Session Start’ |
mediaSession.logMediaSessionEnd() | ‘Media Session End’ |
mediaSession.logSeekStart() | ‘Seek Start’ |
mediaSession.logSeekEnd() | ‘Seek End’ |
mediaSession.logBufferStart() | ‘Buffer Start’ |
mediaSession.logBufferEnd() | ‘Buffer End’ |
mediaSession.logPlayheadPosition() | ‘Update Playhead Position’ |
mediaSession.logAdClick() | ‘Ad Click’ |
mediaSession.logAdBreakStart() | ‘Ad Break Start’ |
mediaSession.logAdBreakEnd() | ‘Ad Break End’ |
mediaSession.logAdStart() | ‘Ad Start’ |
mediaSession.logAdEnd() | ‘Ad End’ |
mediaSession.logAdSkip() | ‘Ad Skip’ |
mediaSession.logSegmentStart() | ‘Segment Start’ |
mediaSession.logSegmentEnd() | ‘Segment End’ |
mediaSession.logSegmentSkip() | ‘Segment Skip’ |
mediaSession.logUpdateQoS() | ‘Update QoS’ |
The media attributes below are a list of all available for capturing valuable information with every media event listed above. The customer will choose which attributes will be logged for each event to best describe the session characteristics for that event at that time. Should you require attributes not listed below, you may add your own media attributes.
Note: Depending on your player, you will need to either enable the callback method to receive updates for playhead position and quality of service (QoS) or set up a job to frequently poll for the current values.
Event Attribute | Description |
---|---|
media_session_id | Unique identifier assigned when media event starts (it is recommended that this be included with every event log) |
media_session_start_time | Timestamp for media session initiation |
media_session_end_time | Timestamp for media session completed, ended, or quit |
media_session_ad_objects | Array of all ad_content_ids consumed |
media_session_custom_attribute | Custom media session attribute |
stream_type | Encoded audio and video streams are assembled in a container “bitstream” such as MP4, FLV, WebM, ASF or ISMA stream types |
stream_format | The video stream is compressed using a video coding format to make the file size smaller. Video coding formats include H.264, HEVC, VP8 or VP9 |
content_type | Content type name |
content_id | Unique content identifier |
content_duration | Content duration |
content_title | Content title |
content_asset_id | Content asset id |
content_season | A “season” is a reference to a set of episodes of a show within a specific period of time |
content_episode | An “episode” is a coherent narrative unit within a larger dramatic work, such as a radio, television, audio or video streaming series |
content_daypart | A “daypart” is the time division in a typical broadcast day by different media like Radio and Television. Different part of the days can be Morning shows, afternoon siesta, evening songs or prime time slot. Dayparts can be standard or customized. |
content_originator | Content source name |
content_network | A “network” includes broadcast and cable television networks, television distribution and production, domestic television stations, radio networks and stations, and audio and video streaming services. |
content_mvpd | A “multichannel video programming distributor” (MVPD) include cable operators, multichannel multipoint distribution services, direct broadcast satellite services, or television receive-only satellite program distributors. |
content_feed | Name of content feed |
content_show | Name of show |
content_show_type | Show type |
content_genre | A “genre” is a category of artistic composition, as in videos, music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. |
content_rating | A content rating (also known as maturity rating)rates the suitability of TV broadcasts, movies, comic books, or video games to its audience. |
content_authorized | Content rights, release, or licence reference |
content_first_air_date | Date of initial broadcast |
content_digital_date | Date of initial digital distribution |
playhead_position | The current playhead position at the moment the event occured |
milestone | A “milestone” is a customer defined percentage of content consumed typically reported at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 95%. Customers may capture milestones at any percentage points they are most interested in tracking |
buffer_duration | Duration of content buffering |
buffer_percent | Percentage of content buffering |
buffer_position | Playhead positioin when buffering |
seek_position | Playhead position when seek began or ended |
segment_title | Segment title |
segment_index | Segment index |
segment_duration | Segment duration |
ad_break_id | Unique identifier for the ad break. Ad breaks may have one or more pieces of ad content |
ad_break_title | Ad break title |
ad_break_duration | Ad break duration |
ad_content_id | Unique identitifer for a specific piece of ad content |
ad_content_title | Ad content title |
ad_content_duration | Ad content duration |
ad_content_advertiser | Name of advertiser |
ad_content_campaign | Name of campaign |
ad_content_creative | Name of creative |
ad_content_placement | Description of placement |
ad_content_position | Index of position in content |
ad_content_site_id | Identifier of ad content site |
ad_custom_attribute | User defined attribute |
player_name | Then name of the player used |
player_ovp | Online Video Platform name |
player_initial_resolution | The default resolution of the content |
qos_bitrate | Quality of service (QoS) bitrate |
qos_fps | Quality of service (QoS) frames per second |
qos_startup_time | Quality of service (QoS) time from content play event to first frame |
qos_dropped_frames | Quality of service (QoS) dropped frames |
other_attribute | Replace “other_attribute” with any attribute name you wish to capture. The system will create an object with that name and store the value provided. |
{
"event_type": "custom_event",
"data": {
"custom_event_type": "media",
"event_name": "Play",
"custom_flags": {},
"timestamp_unixtime_ms": "1573828863888",
"event_id": "-109840007014118971",
"source_message_id": null,
"session_id": "-8572887793551346848",
"session_uuid": "29959B6B-9C3B-486F-9807-B5534EA1B16A",
"session_start_unixtime_ms": "1573828757702",
"event_start_unixtime_ms": "1573828863888",
"custom_attributes": {
"content_title": "My sweet sweet media",
"content_duration": "120000",
"content_id": "1234567",
"content_type": "Video",
"stream_type": "OnDemand",
"media_session_id": "96a023b8-b0c7-47b7-b687-09f73b9dfac3",
"playhead_position": "110123"
}
}
}
You can create custom media session attributes when initializing a new media session directly in MPMediaSession.init
. These custom session attributes are helpful when you need to track data like the specific page a piece of content was viewed on.
Custom media session attributes are automatically propagated to all subsequent media events logged during the session in addition to the media session summary event. Since custom session attributes are propagated to any event (a media event, advertising event, or a custom events) that is logged during the session, you don’t need to set these attributes again when you trigger the start of a media session.
There are several differences between event-level custom attributes and custom media session attributes:
let mediaSession = MPMediaSession.init(
coreSDK: mParticle, // mParticle SDK Instance
mediaContentId: '1234567', // Custom media ID
title: 'Funny internet cat video', // Custom media Title
duration: 120000, // Duration in milliseconds
contentType: .video, // Content Type (Video or Audio)
streamType: .onDemand) // Stream Type (OnDemand, Live, etc.)
mediaSession.mediaSessionAttributes = [
"my_session_attribute": "My Session Attribute"
]
In cases where you may need to handle some custom functionality when a media event occurs, the Media SDK provides a mediaEventListener
which will provide a callback.
For example, if you need to trigger a custom function when Play or Pause occurs:
mediaSession.mediaEventListener = { (event: MPMediaEvent) -> Void in
// Some custom callback method defined by user
// Should only trigger when play or pause is fired
if event.mediaEventName == .play ||
event.mediaEventName == .pause {
// Get the Media Event as an mParticle Custom Event
let mpEvent = event.toMPEvent();
// Pass to your own custom function
myCustomFunction(mpEvent);
}
}
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