Yospace Technologies

About Yospace Technologies

Yospace Technologies operates as a specialist in server-side ad insertion (SSAI) for the digital streaming market. The company provides the technology that enables broadcasters and media owners to replace broadcast advertising with personalized, targeted ads in live and on-demand video streams delivered over the internet.

Founded in 1999 by David Springall, Yospace began its journey in the mobile applications industry. An early product was the SmartPhone Emulator, a WAP handset emulator released in 2000. The company later pioneered user-generated video on mobile with its 'SeeMeTV' community in 2005, a venture that predated YouTube and was launched in partnership with mobile operator '3' in the UK. This period of its history was marked by several acquisitions; it was bought by EMAP for £8.7 million in 2007, and following EMAP's acquisition by H. Bauer Publishing, Yospace was sold to private investors for £1 in 2009. The business then operated independently, launching its SSAI solution for video-on-demand (VOD) in 2011 and for live simulcast in 2012. A significant milestone was its acquisition by RTL Group in January 2019 for up to $33 million, integrating Yospace into RTL's ad-tech unit to complement its existing ad-tech company, SpotX.

The company's core business revolves around its Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) platform. This technology acts as middleware that integrates with a broadcaster's existing ad serving infrastructure to deliver a seamless viewing experience, where personalized ads are stitched directly into the video stream on the server side. This method avoids issues like ad-blockers and maintains a broadcast-quality, frame-accurate transition between content and commercials. Yospace serves major broadcasters, telcos, and media companies globally, including clients like BT Sport, Channel 4, TV4 in Sweden, and Seven West Media in Australia. Its revenue model is based on providing this technology as a cloud-based, software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution. The technology has been instrumental in monetizing major global sporting events, including multiple Olympic Games and FIFA World Cups, stitching between 4 to 6 billion ads per month.

The platform supports both live and VOD content, offering features like server-guided ad insertion (SGAI) for compatible players, real-time measurement dashboards, and an Orchestrator module for managing pop-up channels for one-off events. By enabling one-to-one addressable advertising at scale, Yospace allows media owners to increase the value of their ad inventory and generate new revenue streams from their digital audiences. The company's technology is designed to handle the massive, concurrent viewership of live events, using advanced prefetch capabilities to manage ad requests and ensure high fill rates.