Ad optimization lets you deliver different ad experiences to defined audience segments without changing your video application. Using request data, media metadata, and other sources, you can tailor ad loads for audiences such as new and returning viewers, select experiences based on content, and schedule when those experiences apply.

New Features

Ad optimization provides the following capabilities:

• Audience segmentation: Define audience segments using signals from an SSAI request, metadata on the requested media item, or a specified date and time.
• Prioritized evaluation: Arrange audience segments in the order JWX should evaluate them. When a request meets every condition in a segment, JWX applies the outcome configured for that segment.
• Default advertising segment: Define a default outcome that JWX applies when no audience segment matches the request.
• Complete advertising outcomes: Assign an ad config, control bumper behavior, and define stitch mode for each audience segment.
• Independent configuration: Configure advertising, bumpers, and stitch mode independently to tailor each part of the experience to an audience.
• Traffic splitting: Distribute traffic between ad configs to compare different advertising experiences or balance delivery.
• Segment measurement: Measure the performance of individual audience segments, then refine their conditions and traffic distribution.

Learn more about ad optimization. 

NOTE: Ad optimization is currently available as a beta offering. Contact your JWX Account Manager to request access. Use of this feature is subject to the JWX Beta Program Agreement.

You can now control whether a web player displays Motion Thumbnails when creating a web player or configuring Player UX for Dynamic Strategy Rules.

New Feature

Use the Motion Thumbnails setting under Display Settings to control whether the player displays motion thumbnails. The setting is enabled by default. When disabled, the player displays a static poster instead.

Motion thumbnails must be available for the video before the player can display them. Learn how to enable the delivery of auto-generated motion thumbnails.

Learn more about configuring web player display options and Player UX for Dynamic Strategy Rules.

You can now replace the source file of an existing CMAF VOD media item without deleting and recreating it. Re-uploading preserves the media ID, metadata, and delivery URLs. This allows playlists, feeds, and downstream integrations to continue working without interruption.

New Features

CMAF VOD now supports the following re-upload capabilities:

• Media re-uploads: Use the re-upload endpoint to upload a new source file for an existing CMAF VOD media item. JWX preserves the media ID, metadata (such as the title and description), and delivery URLs. Playback switches to the new version after processing is complete.
• Automatic rendition regeneration: By default, JWX generates new renditions using the transcoding config from the media item’s previous version. If your site has multiple transcoding configs, you can specify a different config for the re-upload.
• Hosting type conversion: Use a re-upload to change a media item’s hosting_type from hosted (Traditional VOD) to renditions (CMAF VOD), or from renditions to hosted.
• Re-upload status: Use the media versions endpoints to confirm that a re-upload succeeded.

The existing re-upload limitations for audio and caption tracks still apply.

This update helps you:

• Deliver corrected masters, edits, and compliance cuts without breaking playlists, feeds, or integrations
• Maintain a consistent rendition ladder across re-uploads
• Manage CMAF VOD media using the same re-upload workflow available for Traditional VOD

NOTE: CMAF VOD re-uploads are currently available only through the Management API v2. Support for re-uploading through the JWX dashboard will be added in a future release.

Seek thumbnails for CMAF VOD media are now generated at intervals that scale with video duration, at most 10 seconds apart, providing more accurate previews as viewers scrub through content on web, mobile, and connected TV (CTV) devices.

Previously, JWX generated a maximum of 80 seek thumbnails per video, which could result in sparse previews for longer content. CMAF VOD media now has no thumbnail limit.

New Features

This update includes the following improvements for CMAF VOD media:

• More frequent thumbnails: JWX generates seek thumbnails at intervals based on video duration — at most every 10 seconds for long-form content and as often as every 2 seconds for shorter videos.
• No thumbnail limit: Long-form content is no longer restricted to 80 thumbnails per video.
• Improved cross-platform previews: Viewers receive more accurate seek previews across web, mobile, and CTV.
• New Delivery API endpoint: Retrieve the WebVTT thumbnail track directly using GET /v2/sites/{site_id}/media/{media_id}/thumbstrip.vtt. The track also remains referenced in delivery endpoint responses.
• Automatic support for existing media: The improvement applies to existing CMAF VOD media without requiring reprocessing.

This update helps viewers navigate long-form content more precisely and quickly identify the section they want to watch.

To learn more, see the Delivery API reference.

NOTE: This update applies only to CMAF VOD media. Seek thumbnails for Traditional VOD media are unchanged.

Android SDK 4.27.0 adds caption styling and positioning APIs, fullscreen exit reasons, and new offline DRM capabilities. This release also improves offline-download reliability, upgrades AndroidX Media3 to 1.10.1, and fixes issues affecting captions, Chromecast, fullscreen playback, advertising, and media controls.

New Features

• New CaptionsConfig APIs let you customize caption font, size, text color, background and window colors, edge style, and placement.
• New caption positioning options let you configure caption box width, horizontal position, alignment, and vertical placement.
• FullscreenExitReason lets apps identify how fullscreen was exited.
• Offline DRM now supports process-scoped MediaDrmCallback registration, retrieving the remaining duration of an offline license, refreshing renewable licenses without re-downloading media, and improved license handling when downloads are removed or replaced.
• AndroidX Media3 has been upgraded from version 1.10.0 to 1.10.1.

Bug Fixes

• Captions no longer appear too small in letterboxed portrait layouts.
• Offline downloads no longer crash on Android 14 and later and now resume after a requirements wait, process restart, or reboot when supported by the Android version.
• Fixed potential crashes when selecting captions shortly after connecting to Chromecast or requesting fullscreen after the player had been destroyed.
• Fixed advertising issues affecting Google DAI pause and resume events, fullscreen VAST playback, and mid-roll playback after seeking while paused.
• The lock-screen scrubber no longer advances while playback is paused.
• Improved Picture-in-Picture and media-button broadcast receiver handling.
• Added missing consumer rules for optional dependencies that could cause minified host-app builds to fail.

Offline downloads on Android 14 and later

Apps using offline downloads and targeting API level 34 or later must declare android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE and android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE_DATA_SYNC.

For additional technical details, see the Android Changelog.

Vertical Video now responds to layout changes after load in Single player and Full screen display modes.

New Feature

Single player and Full screen display modes now scale with their containing element while maintaining a 9:16 aspect ratio as layout dimensions change. This includes viewport and orientation changes on mobile.

Learn more about configuring the Vertical Video experience.

You can now connect ad performance to the content, placements, and player experiences that generate impressions and revenue.

New Feature

JWX Ad Server customers can now analyze ad performance using additional media, placement, and player dimensions in Ad Serving analytics.

The following dimensions are available in Custom Reports and Ad Serving Sessions Data Sharing datasets:

• Media and Placement to analyze ad performance by content and inventory placement
• Player Name and Experience Type to compare performance across player experiences
• Ad Slot Type to analyze impressions and revenue by ad position

These dimensions are available in Data Sharing at daily and monthly granularity. Media dimensions use the same content fields as Playback Analytics, making it easier to connect content performance with monetization data.

Player Name is unavailable for Strategy Rules inventory. Ad Slot Type is null when the slot type cannot be determined.

Learn more about Ad Serving Data.

iOS SDK 4.28.0 adds custom VoiceOver labels and hints and new fullscreen exit reasons. This release also improves IMA ad handling during Chromecast sessions, supports VMAP-returning pre-roll tags, and fixes player initialization, language controls, and caption rendering.

New Features

• Custom accessibility labels and hints let you control how VoiceOver announces a playlist item's title and description without changing the visible text.
• New fullscreen dismiss callbacks identify whether the viewer used the dedicated dismiss button or fullscreen toggle, or your app dismissed fullscreen programmatically.

Bug Fixes

• Ending a Chromecast session while the player is off-screen no longer resumes local playback. IMA breaks suppressed during casting no longer block content playback or completion.
• Single pre-roll ad tags that return a VMAP schedule now play correctly.
• Calling stop() during player initialization no longer freezes the app.
• The language button is now available when a stream has multiple audio tracks, even when it has no captions.
• Captions now use the intended system font instead of Times New Roman.

Advertising behavior while casting

Client-side IMA ad breaks that become ready during an active Chromecast session are now suppressed. They do not play on the sender or count impressions, and this behavior cannot be disabled.

Ad server requests still occur for suppressed breaks, so requests and fills may have no corresponding impressions. VAST and Google DAI behavior is unchanged.

For additional technical details, see the iOS Changelog.

Media API v2 now returns a 400 parse error when a request contains a malformed or unsupported query parameter instead of dropping the invalid portion and returning results.

Bug Fix

Media API v2 query parameter validation: Requests to Media API v2 endpoints that include a malformed or unsupported query parameter now return a 400 response with a parse error message. 

Previously, the invalid portion of the query was dropped and the API returned a 200 with results that did not reflect the intended filter. Responses now match what was actually requested, and errors surface at the point of the request rather than silently returning unfiltered results.

Media uploaded through the CMAF VOD workflow can now be transcoded automatically into a complete rendition ladder. You no longer need to create custom renditions separately for each audio and video rendition.

New Features

CMAF VOD offers the following new transcoding capabilities:

• Automatic rendition creation: Each upload uses a transcoding config to generate its rendition ladder automatically.

• Default transcoding config: Every site receives a default config based on the standard Traditional VOD template. It creates:

  • AVC video renditions at 1080p, 720p, 540p, 480p, 360p, and 270p, capped at 60 fps
  • AAC-LC stereo audio up to 192 kbps
  • An AAC-LC or E-AC3 5.1 surround track up to 512 kbps when the source contains multichannel audio
• Source-aware transcoding: JWX preserves the source frame rate, including fractional frame rates, and maintains the orientation of vertical video. Sources are never upscaled. For example, a 720p source produces renditions at 720p and below.
• Custom transcoding configs: Work with your JWX account team to create a custom config. You can set it as the site default for all uploads or apply it to an individual media item by providing its config ID when creating the media through Management API v2. If no config is assigned to the media item, JWX uses the site default.
• Manual rendition creation: Your account team can create an empty config that bypasses automatic rendition creation. You can then create each rendition through the custom rendition endpoints.
• Rendition edits after automatic creation: A transcoding config does not lock the rendition ladder. After JWX creates the renditions, you can delete an existing rendition or use the custom audio and video rendition endpoints to add individual renditions alongside those created automatically.
• Transcoding config endpoints: New Management API v2 endpoints let you list a site’s transcoding configs and retrieve a specific config by ID, allowing you to confirm its settings before uploading media.
• Premium transcoding: Non-AVC codecs, 4K video, and audio loudness normalization require a premium transcoding entitlement and incur additional costs. If the entitlement is removed, JWX continues creating renditions with standard features and ignores any premium settings instead of failing the transcoding job.

This update helps you:

• Create complete rendition ladders without configuring each rendition individually
• Standardize transcoding across your site
• Customize transcoding for specific workflows or media items
• Retain full control over renditions, whether they are created automatically or manually.

To learn more, see the CMAF VOD overview.

NOTE: Automatic rendition creation is currently available only through the Management API v2. Support for uploading through the JWX dashboard will be added in a future release.