MediaTailor parameter routing for ADS and origins

AWS Elemental MediaTailor routes query parameters to different destinations based on their prefix and purpose. Understanding parameter routing is essential for implementing origin-specific functionality like time-shifted viewing with MediaPackage.

Parameter routing rules

MediaTailor uses the following routing rules for query parameters:

• Origin parameters (no prefix): Parameters without a specific prefix are passed through to the origin server for origin-specific functionality

• ADS parameters (ads. prefix): Parameters prefixed with ads. are sent to the Ad Decision Server

• Manifest parameters (manifest. prefix): Parameters prefixed with manifest. are used for CDN routing and authorization

Example Parameter routing example

The following session initialization demonstrates parameter routing:

POST /v1/session/123456789/originId/index.m3u8
{
    "adsParams": {
        "param1": "value1",
        "param2": "value2"
    },
    "manifestParams": {
        "auth_token": "abc123"
    }
}

In this example:

• param1 and param2 are sent to the ADS

• auth_token is used for CDN routing and authorization

• Parameters without prefixes would be passed to the origin server

Origin server parameter behavior

Parameters passed to origin servers enable origin-specific functionality such as time-shifted viewing, content filtering, and authentication.

Common origin parameter use cases

Origin parameters are commonly used for:

• Time-shifted viewing: start and end parameters for MediaPackage time-shifted content

• Content authentication: Authentication tokens required by the origin server

• Content filtering: Parameters that control which content variants are returned

• Origin-specific features: Any parameters that the origin server uses for content processing

Important

Parameters are processed at session initialization and maintained throughout the session. To modify parameters like time-shift windows, you must create a new session with updated values.