What is SGAI (Server-Guided Ad Insertion)?
A smarter ad architecture for live streaming.
More value from every moment. StreamLayer's Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI) architecture redefines how ads are delivered in live streaming. The server decides what to show and when. The SDK renders it seamlessly in the experience.
The result: StreamLayer SGAI delivers more inventory, better targeting, and a fundamentally better viewer experience.
More ways to monetize.
SGAI opens up more ways to monetize every stream — from nonlinear Live Moment Ads, to Pause Ads, to traditional SCTE ad breaks.
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Find the moment.
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When the stream pauses.
SGAI makes pause ads possible, turning a viewer-initiated pause into a higher-value monetization moment.
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Interactivity, built in.
Fully interactive ad experiences become possible, creating more ways for viewers to engage and brands to perform.
Hyper context drives interest.
Creative can align with the play, the player, the stat, the device, and the audience —making each impression more relevant and more valuable.
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Live data creates value.
Live data becomes higher-value ad opportunities, with dynamic ads shaped by what’s happening in the moment.
The stream stays untouched.
Because ads are delivered through a lightweight SDK, SGAI leaves the video stream and existing streaming workflow unchanged.
A smarter way to deliver ads.
SGAI is a hybrid advertising architecture. The server handles timing, logic, and ad selection. The SDK handles rendering, personalization, and interaction.
Live Signal
Decisioning
Selection
SDK Rendering
Measurement
With StreamLayer, ad experiences can respond to live stats, key moments, scheduled logic, SCTE markers, VAST signals, elapsed time, or viewer actions. And because the SDK renders the experience, the result can feel native to the product across CTV, mobile, and web.
Built for more than breaks.
CSAI gave platforms flexibility. SSAI improved continuity and reliability. But both models were built around delivering ads in or around standard ad slots. SGAI goes further.
It turns ad delivery into an intelligent layer that can react in real time, respond to context, and support interactive creative instead of treating every opportunity like a stitched video impression.
What changes with SGAI.
SSAI is built to insert ads into the stream.
SGAI is built to orchestrate ad experiences around it.
SSAI
SGAI
Primarily stitched video ads; some platforms may support limited companion formats
Video plus interactive ad units across multiple formats
Yes — ads are stitched into the stream
No — ad experience is rendered outside the stream by the SDK
Not core to the model
Core to the model
Limited or none
Full interactivity. Tap, swipe, scan, shop, vote, send to phone
Limited, usually marker-based or manually cued
Native to the architecture; can be triggered by stats, AI, rules, or timing
Basic or campaign-level
Full context: moment, player, game state, stats, audience, device
Mostly impression-based
Impressions plus engagement and interaction-based value
Standard
Premium, because interactivity and context support higher-value inventory
Broadcast-quality stitched video
Broadcast-quality video plus HD interactive creative rendered by the SDK
Typically not a native product layer
Full pause ad platform
Mostly existing ad slots
Existing slots plus incremental, non-linear inventory
During the moment. And when it stops.
StreamLayer SGAI gives publishers a single advertising architecture for both nonlinear ads and Pause Ads. That matters because these are not the same opportunity.
Ads that run with the content, not instead of it.
Interactive overlays in sidebar, L-bar, overlay, and picture-in-picture formats. Triggered by video markers, real-time stats, or key moments.
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Pause creates a different kind of opportunity.
Full-screen, sidebar, L-bar, and overlay presentations. CTA buttons, QR codes, and send-to-phone flows enriched with live contextual data.
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Moment Ads and Pause Ads are complementary.
Non-linear and Pause Ads are complementary. Non-linear monetizes the live moment while content is still moving. Pause monetizes the moment when the viewer stops.
Together, they let StreamLayer create incremental, context-aware revenue without depending only on traditional linear breaks. That is what SGAI enables for StreamLayer: one system that can monetize the stream both during the moment and when it stops.
Frequently asked questions about SGAI
What is SGAI (Server-Guided Ad Insertion)?
Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI) is a hybrid ad-delivery framework in which a server handles ad decisioning while a client-side SDK renders the ad experience alongside the stream. SGAI is an emerging next-generation framework, rapidly becoming the definitive standard the streaming industry is moving toward. It is the foundation for every modern streaming ad format: pause ads, interactive pause ads with live data, interactive SSAI overlays, moment-based ads, shoppable experiences, and precise per-viewer targeting. SGAI works alongside existing SSAI and CSAI infrastructure rather than replacing it.
How is SGAI different from SSAI and CSAI?
CSAI inserts ads in the player: flexible but easily blocked. SSAI stitches ads into the video stream server-side: robust but limited to standard linear video formats. SGAI is hybrid: the server decides ad timing and selection while a client SDK renders the experience alongside the stream, enabling moment-based, interactive, pause, and contextual ad formats without touching the video manifest.
What kinds of ads can SGAI deliver?
SGAI delivers nonlinear moment-based ads (overlay, sidebar, L-bar, picture-in-picture, side-by-side) triggered by live events; pause ads (full-screen, overlay, sidebar) activated when a viewer pauses; interactive units (polls, trivia, predictions, shoppable); contextual ads bound to live stats and game state; and SSAI-enhancement layers that add interactivity to stitched SSAI ads.
Does SGAI replace existing SSAI infrastructure?
No. SGAI works alongside existing SSAI and CSAI infrastructure. SSAI continues to stitch standard video ads as before; SGAI adds an interactive, server-orchestrated layer on top — pause ads, moment-based ads, interactive SSAI overlays — without changes to the stream or manifest.
How does SGAI improve ad fill rate and CPM?
SGAI improves both by creating net-new inventory that does not compete with existing ad break slots. Ad-break-only models generate roughly $25-40 effective CPM per viewer hour; adding SGAI moment-based and pause ads lifts this to approximately $35-55 — a 40% increase reflecting interactivity and contextual targeting.
What platforms does SGAI support?
Cross-platform by design. StreamLayer’s SGAI SDK supports CTV (tvOS, Roku, Fire TV, Google TV, Tizen, WebOS, VIDAA, Vizio, TitanOS, PlayStation, Xbox), mobile (iOS, Android, React Native), and web. Server-side decisioning is platform-agnostic; client rendering uses native UI components for broadcast-quality output.
How does SGAI handle interactivity?
SGAI separates ad decisioning from ad rendering, which makes interactivity possible at scale. The server selects the experience and forwards moment metadata; the client SDK renders the interactive layer using native device capabilities — polls, trivia, predictions, shoppable units, QR codes, send-to-phone, and live odds widgets.
What is the difference between SGAI and standard linear ad breaks?
Standard ad breaks interrupt content; SGAI runs with content. Linear ad breaks rely on scheduled time slots, with viewers seeing the ad in place of the content. SGAI experiences appear alongside the stream as overlays, sidebars, or pause units — capturing monetization during high-attention moments without disrupting playback.
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