Script TV’s ad protocol launches: A dive into how it works within the TV platform

Script Network
Script Network
Published in
5 min readMay 10, 2024

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May has seen the launch of Script TV’s web3 ad protocol. This gives another industry first — instream video advertising from world class brands, organisations and web3 companies to publish their ads to millions of devices. Below we have explained how the ad protocol works, how Script Network generates revenue, and a look ahead to some original services offered.

Understanding Video In-Stream Advertising

Online advertising in the Web2 era has been a dominant force in shaping the digital world. It’s the engine behind the vast majority of free online services and content, from social media platforms to news sites. However, the mechanism driving Web2 advertising relies heavily on collecting user data and deploying sophisticated algorithms to deliver targeted ads, raising significant concerns about privacy and data security. This is what we aim to fix, alongside provide a solution in web3 for.

How Web2 Ad-Tech Works

In the Web2 world, advertising is a complex ecosystem where personal data is the key currency. Here’s a simplified look at the main components:

  • Data Collection: Platforms and advertisers track user behavior through cookies, web trackers, and even user accounts, building a rich dataset that includes your preferences, location, and browsing history.
  • Profiling: Once they gather this data, advertisers create detailed user profiles. These profiles help them identify specific audience segments, making it easier to target their ads based on user interests and behaviors.
  • Targeting: With detailed profiles in hand, advertisers employ algorithms to determine which ads are most relevant to individual users. This process happens in real-time, ensuring that the ads you see are personalized based on your online activity.
  • Ad Placement: The actual placement of ads is often handled through a process called real-time bidding (RTB). Here, advertisers compete to secure space on websites, apps, and social media platforms.

Intermediaries in the Web2 Ad-Tech Ecosystem

A key characteristic of Web2 advertising is the multitude of intermediaries involved in the ad-buying process. This complexity can lead to inefficiencies and higher costs. Here’s an overview of the major players:

  • Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs): DSPs help advertisers and agencies automate the purchasing of ad space across various networks. They enable advertisers to manage campaigns more efficiently but add an additional layer to the ecosystem.
  • Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs): SSPs are the counterpart to DSPs, working on behalf of publishers and app developers to sell ad space. They connect publishers with multiple ad networks, optimizing revenue opportunities.

Challenges of Web2 Ad-Tech

Despite its efficiency in delivering targeted ads, Web2 advertising has significant drawbacks:

  • Privacy Concerns: The extensive collection of personal data has triggered widespread privacy concerns. Users often don’t know how much of their data is collected, who has access to it, or how it’s being used.
  • Ad Fraud: The complex nature of Web2 ad-tech has given rise to ad fraud, where advertisers are tricked into paying for fake impressions or clicks generated by bots instead of real users.
  • Middlemen: The ad-tech ecosystem’s reliance on intermediaries leads to inefficiencies, increased costs, and challenges in tracking campaign effectiveness.

The Promise of Web3 for Advertising — What Script Network does differently with Script TV

Web3 represents a new paradigm in online advertising, one that emphasizes decentralization, privacy, and transparency. Technologies like blockchain and decentralized identifiers (DIDs) could address many of the issues plaguing Web2 ad-tech.

Simply, Script Network earns from publishers paying for ad space within the respective channels on Script TV
  • Privacy: Web3’s use of decentralized storage and encryption gives users more control over their data. This technology allows users to selectively share their information with advertisers while maintaining privacy.
  • Transparency: Blockchain-based systems offer a transparent, immutable record of transactions. This transparency helps reduce ad fraud and ensures greater accountability across the advertising supply chain.
  • Direct Engagement: By enabling direct interaction between advertisers and users through smart contracts, Web3 reduces the need for intermediaries. This approach can lead to more efficient and cost-effective advertising campaigns.
A Unicef ad, (one of our publishers) within the Script TV platform that is currently being aired.

Why is Script Network best positioned to lead in web3 video advertising?

Script TV leverages its blockchain Layer 1 technology to revolutionize the advertising ecosystem by enabling publishers to offer advertising placements with unparalleled flexibility, without the traditional hurdles of red tape.
By utilizing blockchain’s decentralized and transparent nature, Script TV allows publishers to connect directly with advertisers, eliminating intermediaries that often slow down the process and add complexity. This direct interaction provides publishers with greater autonomy to set terms and control their ad spaces.
Additionally, Script TV’s technology facilitates richer data insights, enabling publishers to access comprehensive and verifiable data on ad performance, audience engagement, and user demographics without compromising user privacy. With this innovative approach, publishers can optimize revenue streams and customize advertising strategies with greater agility, paving the way for a more efficient and flexible advertising marketplace. This gives a new novel solution for advertisers — to advertise to a new audience of over 100m devices with no red tape, more data, and more dynamic pricing with $SCPT. This offers an invaluable service for millions of filmmakers, producers, project owners and businesses to get unparalleled access to web3 communities through video.
Overall, the goal in this case is simple, provide a game changing underlying technology solution whilst providing an original advertising solution for publishers.

A reminder on the utility of $SCPT, with advertising being one of the utility / uses for token ownership

*Content Governance Ad revenue rewards as previously mentioned will be applied at a later date once the protocol is scaled.

Conclusion: A New Era of Advertising

While Web2 advertising has driven the growth of the digital economy, it comes with significant drawbacks in terms of privacy, transparency, and efficiency. Web3 offers a compelling alternative, using decentralized technologies to create a more user-centric and privacy-focused approach to online advertising. By embracing Web3, advertisers and users alike can enjoy a more transparent and mutually beneficial digital advertising ecosystem. If you’re interested in learning more about Web3 advertising, visit token.script.tv to explore innovative solutions that could reshape the future of digital advertising.

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Script Network
Script Network

Script Network is an open source web3 live tv platform, protocol, and storage network