Digital ad insertion for video-on-demand

1. A video-on-demand service provider comprising machine memory and circuits, the machine memory and circuits themselves comprising:

logic configured to select advertising to provide with video-on-demand content, the advertising to provide selected at least in part according to at least one of content metadata, ad schedules, or subscriber profile information, and to signal when the advertising to provide is unavailable;

logic configured to identify ad break points for the video-on-demand content;

logic configured to generate a playlist identifying the video-on-demand content and when the video-on-demand content is to be provided, and identifying content corresponding to selected advertising and when the content corresponding to selected advertising is to be provided;

logic to receive from a set top box a signal to pause or stop providing of the content to the set top box;

logic to receive from the set top box a signal to resume providing the content to the set top box; and

logic to select different advertising from the advertising to provide at least in part according to changed conditions when the signal to resume providing the content to the set top box is received, and to modify the playlist to reference the different advertising.

2. The video-on-demand service provider of claim 1 , wherein the logic configured to generate the playlist further comprises:

logic configured to generate playlist references that result in replacement of advertising content embedded in the video-on-demand content.

3. The video-on-demand service provider of claim 1 , wherein the logic configured to generate the playlist further comprises:

logic configured to generate playlist references that result in insertion of ad content when providing the video-on-demand content.

4. The video-on-demand service provider of claim 1 , wherein the logic configured to select the advertising to provide with the video-on-demand content further comprises:

logic configured to select the advertising to provide according to an ad schedule for a region comprising the set top box that provided a request for the video-on-demand content.

5. A method comprising:

receiving a content identifier from a set top box;

selecting advertising to provide with content corresponding to the content identifier, the advertising to provide selected, at least in part, according to at least one of a feature or property of the content corresponding to the content identifier, a feature or property of a household or subscriber requesting the content, or a feature or property of a geographic region comprising the set top box from which a request for the content corresponding to the content identifier is received;

generating a playlist referencing the content corresponding to the content identifier and the advertising to provide, and signaling when the advertising to provide is unavailable;

providing the playlist to a video server, the video server applying references in the playlist to identify the content corresponding to the content identifier and the advertising to provide to the set top box;

receiving from the set top box a signal to pause or stop providing of the content to the set top box;

receiving from the set top box a signal to resume providing the content to the set top box; and

selecting different advertising from the advertising to provide at least in part according to changed conditions when the signal to resume providing the content to the set top box is received, and modifying the playlist to reference the different advertising.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein selecting the advertising to provide with the content corresponding to the content identifier further comprises:

selecting the advertising to provide at least in part according to at least one of a date or time of day that the content identifier is received.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein selecting the advertising to provide with the content corresponding to the content identifier further comprises:

selecting the advertising to provide at least in part according to at least one of a set top box identifier, a household or subscriber identifier, or a set top box service group.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein selecting the the advertising to provide at least in part according to at least one of the set top box identifier, the household or subscriber identifier, or the set top box service group further comprises:

selecting the advertising to provide at least in part according to a MAC address of the set top box.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein selecting the advertising to provide with the content corresponding to the content identifier further comprises:

selecting the advertising to provide at least in part according to at least one of a rating, provider, or category of the content corresponding to the content identifier.

10. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

receiving one or more signals to cause replaying of at least a portion of the content; and

modifying the playlist so that advertising content that has already been provided is not provided again.

11. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

updating an ad tracking database as a result of providing ad content referenced in the playlist.