In this part of our tutorial, we need an AWS account - as mentioned earlier here - specifically on AWS Elemental MediaTailor. There, we need to make some settings. In essence, we need a video source and an ad decision server. For both cases, you can use your own URLs, but for this tutorial, we’ve provided corresponding URLs that are only meant for testing purposes.

In AWS Elemental MediaTailor, we now need to create a new configuration. The configuration should have a unique name. To stream videos, we next need a channel for video assets. For our example, we’ve provided the following URL:

https://api.rapidstream.video/hls-pass-through/channel

If you have your own URL available, it must be SSL-encrypted; an own certificate doesn’t work with AWS here.

In the next step, we configure our ad decision server. An ad decision server determines which advertisement should be shown to a specific user. It plays a central role in optimizing digital advertising campaigns by ensuring that the right ads are delivered at the right time to the right users.

For this tutorial, we’ve provided such a server. So, if you don’t have your own ad server ready, we can simply head over to panel and configure the server we provided.

The ad server URL is: https://api.rapidstream.video/hack-ad-server

Then we can use the following URL in the AWS configuration for the ad decision server.

https://api.rapidstream.video/vast/sync?auth_token=AUTH_TOKEN&adBreakDuration=[asset.adBreakDuration]

Our example server has very rudimentary logic and plays dummy advertisements. This example URL contains a placeholder that we need to replace with the actual value, which is auth_token.

We’ve already created this token in the previous part of this tutorial, this token links your RapidStream account with AWS. You should have saved it safely. If you haven’t done so yet, now’s the time to create a new token; how to do that, you’ll find here:

https://rapidstream.video/docs/zero-to-ad-account/

The modified URL can now be entered into AWS MediaTailor as an ad decision server.

AWS creates an individual URL for each new configuration, which looks something like this:

https://AAA.mediatailor.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/v1/master/BBB/CCC/

The two placeholders AAA and BBB are actually longer IDs that AWS generates; the placeholder CCC corresponds to the name of the AWS configuration.

We now need to append a master manifest for a channel to this URL. We simply attach it at the end:

https://AAA.mediatailor.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/v1/master/BBB/CCC/f207e7d3-c806-4a4f-bdaa-7cf99e7950db/master.m3u8

Again, this is just an example for this tutorial.

One thing that you have to keep in mind: As soon as you use this setup, running it will produce costs, so you have to add your payment details. We’re talking about very low costs, so don’t be scared, but keep that in mind.

This URL should now be playable in any HLS-capable player, you can also use something like the VLC Player.

As a result, you should see a walk through Hamburg that we also have on our website as a showcase. The stream should be regularly interrupted by an ad block.

And with that, we’ve reached the end of this tutorial series. On our website, you’ll find more videos and explanations about individual features; if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask us for help!