Intelligent routing fabric for asset insertion in content

1. A system, comprising:

a network element communicatively coupled to a plurality of content distributers and to a plurality of advertisement decision servers (ADSs), wherein the network element is operable to:

process a Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) 130-3 request from a first of the content distributers for advertisements to be inserted into a content selection provided to a subscriber by the first content distributer;

in response to processing the SCTE 130-3 request:

translate the SCTE 130-3 request into a Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) request; and

in parallel, transfer the SCTE 130-3 request to at least one of the ADSs and transfer the VAST request to at least another one of the ADSs;

receive advertisements from at least a portion of the ADSs receiving the SCTE 130-3 request and the VAST request;

determine a number of advertisement opportunities in the content selection;

select a portion of the advertisements from each of the ADSs that fulfills all of the advertisement opportunities in the content selection;

combine the selected portion of the advertisements from ADSs in a single SCTE 130-3 response; and

transfer the SCTE 130-3 response to the first content distributer for insertion into the content selection,

wherein the network element is further operable to:

process a SCTE 130-3 PlacementStatusNotification from the first content distributer indicating placement of the advertisements in the content selection; and

communicate viewing of the advertisements in the content selection to the ADSs.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the network element is further operable to:

determine values of the advertisements received from said at least a portion of the ADSs; and

select the portion of the advertisements from each of the ADSs that provides the most value to a content provider.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the network element is further operable to:

detect a timeout from one of the ADSs; and

reject any response from said one of the ADSs after the timeout.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein:

the timeout is on the order of milliseconds.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the network element is further operable to:

extract advertisements from a Video Multiple Ad Playlist (VMAP) response via tracking URLs to the advertisements.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the network element is further operable to:

detect that a primary ADS of the first content distributer cannot fulfill all of the advertisement opportunities in the content selection;

determine that the first content distributer authorizes a backfill of the advertisement opportunities in the content selection.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the network element is further operable to:

process the SCTE 130-3 request during the content selection for insertion of advertisements in at least one of a pre roll position, a mid-roll position, and a post roll position of the content selection.

8. A method operable with a network element communicatively coupled to a plurality of content distributers and to a plurality of advertisement decision servers (ADSs), the method comprising:

processing a Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) 130-3 request from a first of the content distributers for advertisements to be inserted into a content selection provided to a subscriber by the first content distributer;

in response to processing the SCTE 130-3 request:

translating the SCTE 130-3 request into a Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) request; and

in parallel, transferring the SCTE 130-3 request to at least one of the ADSs and transferring the VAST request to at least another one of the ADSs;

receiving advertisements from at least a portion of the ADSs receiving the SCTE 130-3 request and the VAST request;

determining a number of advertisement opportunities in the content selection;

selecting a portion of the advertisements from each of the ADSs that fulfills all of the advertisement opportunities in the content selection;

combining the selected portion of the advertisements from ADSs in a single SCTE 130-3 response;

transferring the SCTE 130-3 response to the first content distributer for insertion into the content selection,

processing a SCTE 130-3 PlacementStatusNotification from the first content distributer indicating placement of the advertisements in the content selection; and

communicating viewing of the advertisements in the content selection to the ADSs.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

determining values of the advertisements received from said at least a portion of the ADSs; and

selecting the portion of the advertisements from each of the ADSs that provides the most value to a content provider.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

detecting a timeout from one of the ADSs; and

rejecting any response from said one of the ADSs after the timeout.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein:

the timeout is on the order of milliseconds.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

extracting advertisements from a Video Multiple Ad Playlist (VMAP) response via tracking URLs to the advertisements.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

detecting that a primary ADS of the first content distributer cannot fulfill all of the advertisement opportunities in the content selection;

determining that the first content distributer authorizes a backfill of the advertisement opportunities in the content selection.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

processing the SCTE 130-3 request during the content selection for insertion of advertisements in at least one of a pre roll position, a mid-roll position, and a post roll position of the content selection.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a network element communicatively coupled to a plurality of content distributers and to a plurality of advertisement decision servers (ADSs), direct the network element to:

process a Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) 130-3 request from a first of the content distributers for advertisements to be inserted into a content selection provided to a subscriber by the first content distributer;

in response to processing the SCTE 130-3 request:

translate the SCTE 130-3 request into a Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) request; and

in parallel, transfer the SCTE 130-3 request to at least one of the ADSs and transfer the VAST request to at least another one of the ADSs;

receive advertisements from at least a portion of the ADSs receiving the SCTE 130-3 request and the VAST request;

determine a number of advertisement opportunities in the content selection;

select a portion of the advertisements from each of the ADSs that fulfills all of the advertisement opportunities in the content selection;

combine the selected portion of the advertisements from ADSs in a single SCTE 130-3 response;

transfer the SCTE 130-3 response to the first content distributer for insertion into the content selection,

process a SCTE 130-3 PlacementStatusNotification from the first content distributer indicating placement of the advertisements in the content selection; and

communicate viewing of the advertisements in the content selection to the ADSs.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that direct the network element to:

determine values of the advertisements received from said at least a portion of the ADSs; and

select the portion of the advertisements from each of the ADSs that provides the most value to a content provider.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that direct the network element to:

detect a timeout from one of the ADSs; and

reject any response from said one of the ADSs after the timeout.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein:

the timeout is on the order of milliseconds.