Subsequent look media presentation on a playing device

1. A method comprising

receiving a request for a manifest;

forwarding the request to a server,

receiving the manifest, the manifest identifying a set of media segments;

obtaining an alternative URL corresponding to an alternative media segment and/or obtaining the alternative media segment;

receiving from a requestor a request for a first single one of said media segments identified in the manifest;

in response to the request for said first single media segment, providing to the requestor at least one of: (i) a redirect message comprising the alternative URL corresponding to the alternative media segment, wherein the redirect message is configured to trigger a receiver of the redirect message to use the alternative URL corresponding to the alternative media segment to retrieve the alternative media segment or (ii) a response message comprising the alternative media segment, wherein said alternative media segment is not identical to said requested first single media segment;

receiving from the requestor a request for a second single one of said media segments identified in the manifest; and

in response to the request for said second single media segment, providing to the requestor at least one of: (i) a redirect message comprising a URL corresponding to the first single media segment, wherein the redirect message is configured to trigger a receiver of the redirect message to use the URL corresponding to the first single media segment to retrieve the first single media segment or (ii) a response message comprising the first single media segment, wherein said first single media segment is not identical to said requested second single media segment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises providing to the requestor the redirect message comprising the alternative URL in response to the request for said single media segment.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises providing to the requestor the response message comprising the alternative segment in response to the request for said single media segment.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

modifying the manifest; and

providing the modified manifest to the requestor, wherein

the modified manifest causes the requestor to send requests for the said segments to a helper.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein external components trigger a request to obtain one or more subsequent ads from the network.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the requestor is located on a device, and

requests from the requestor for segments of ads are handled by a helper process located on the device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the requestor is located on a first device connected to a local network, and

requests from the requestor for segments of ads are handled by a helper process located on a second device connected to the local network.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein requests from the requestor are handled by a helper process located in the cloud.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the requestor is located on a device, and

ads are sourced from a location on the device.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the requestor is located on a first device connected to a local network, and

ads are sourced from a location on a second a device connected to the local network.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein ads are sourced from a location in the cloud.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the first single one of said media segments is a first particular content segment, and

the second single one of said media segments is a second particular content segment.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by a server-side ad insertion system.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by a client-side ad insertion system.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by a helper process.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the manifest is for a video on demand video.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request for the manifest for the video is a request for linear content.

18. A method comprising:

receiving from a requestor a request for a single media segment of a media item comprising a plurality of media segments;

obtaining an alternative URL corresponding to an alternative media segment and/or obtaining the alternative media segment, wherein the alternative media segment is not identical to the requested first single media segment;

providing to the requestor a response to the request for said single media segment, wherein the response to the request for said single media segment is: (i) a redirect message comprising the alternative URL corresponding to the alternative media segment, wherein the redirect message is configured to trigger a receiver of the redirect message to use the alternative URL corresponding to the alternative media segment to retrieve the alternative media segment or (ii) a message comprising the alternative media segment but not comprising the requested media segment;

after receiving from the requestor the request for the single media segment, receiving from the requestor a request for a second single media segment of the media item, wherein the second media segment is not identical to the first requested single media segment; and

providing to the requestor a response to the request for said second single media segment, wherein the response to the request for said second single media segment is: (i) a redirect message comprising a URL corresponding to said first requested single media segment, wherein the redirect message is configured to trigger a receiver of the redirect message to use the URL corresponding to said first requested first single media segment to retrieve said first requested single media segment or (ii) a message comprising said first requested single media segment but not comprising the second single media segment.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the response is the redirect message that comprises the URL corresponding to the alternative media segment.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the response is the message comprising the alternative media segment.

21. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

after receiving the request for the second single media segment of the media item, receiving from the requestor a request for a third single media segment of the media item; and

providing to the requestor a response to the request for said third single media segment, wherein the response to the request for said third single media segment is: (i) a redirect message comprising a URL corresponding to said second requested single media segment, wherein the redirect message is configured to trigger a receiver of the redirect message to use the URL corresponding to said second requested single media segment to retrieve said second requested single media segment or (ii) a message comprising said second requested single media segment.

22. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

prior to receiving the request for the first requested single media segment, receiving a request for metadata for the media item; and

providing to the requestor the requested metadata, wherein

each representation of the media item consists of M segments, and

the metadata specifies that each representation of the media item consists of N segments, where N is greater than M.