Use Category Separation
On this page, we describe how to use category separation to automate playlist creation in Broadsign Control Player. For more information on how Broadsign Control Player generates a playlist, see Playlist Generation.
Categories can be used for different purposes. The category’s type is a useful way to sort your categories so that only the proper type can be used in the correct context. In this tutorial, we will use the Separation category type.
A Separation category can be used for separating similar content in the loop, such as competing brands. They can be assigned via the Separation tab in the Media Package, Campaign and Bundle Properties.
It is also possible to specify secondary levels of separation to, for example, ensure that two car ads never play back to back, but furthermore also separate car ads from alcohol ads.
This category will be used in further steps to separate campaigns.
Before assigning a separation category to campaigns, you must first create it.
To create a category:
- From the resource tabs on the left, select Categories & Triggers.
- Right-click anywhere in the work area. From the contextual menu, select Add Category Folder.
- In the "Separation" folder, right-click; from the contextual menu, select Add Category.
- Name that category "Car Companies".
- Select the Separation type, then click Finish.
- In the "Separation" folder, add the following categories:
- A category called "Alcohol", with the Separation type.
- A category called "Children", with the Separation type.
To keep things organized, for this tutorial we recommend that you create a category folder called "Separation".
The Add Category Wizard opens.
You can book a campaign and assign a separation to it in the Add Campaign Wizard.
Example: Imagine that we have two campaigns for two different car companies. We don't want these campaigns to play back to back in the loop, so we will assign a separation category to them.
To add a primary separation:
- Add a campaign. Pay special attention to the following pages in the Add Campaign Wizard:
- Welcome – Name the campaign "Car Ad - Company A".
- Category Separation – Select the "Car Companies" category that you have created in Step 1: Adding a Separation Category.
- Create another campaign.
- Welcome – Name the campaign "Car Ad - Company B".
- Category Separation – Also select the "Car Companies" category.
Since you have selected the same separation category, these two campaigns will be spaced out in the loop.
It is also possible to book a campaign and specify secondary levels of separation.
Example: Imagine that we do not want the two car ads created in Step 2: Adding a Primary Separation to a Campaign to play next to alcohol ads. We will specify a second level of separation category to them.
Specifying a secondary level of separation can be done in the Add Campaign Wizard by selecting the Use Secondary Separation option in the Category Separation page. However, we will rather modify our existing campaigns by accessing the campaign properties.
For the secondary separation to work, the primary separation of the campaigns must be in the other's list, either as primary or secondary separation. To decide if campaigns will be separated, Broadsign Control Administrator compares the list of separation categories in a campaign only with the primary separation categories of other campaigns.
Example 1:
- Car Ad - Company A: primary Car companies, secondary Alcohol
- Car Ad - Company B: primary Car companies, secondary Alcohol
- Will be separated
Example 2:
- Car Ad - Company A: primary Car companies, secondary Alcohol
- Car Ad - Company B: primary Car companies, secondary Children
- Will be separated
Example 3:
- Car Ad - Company A: primary Car companies, secondary Alcohol
- Car Ad - Company B: primary Children, secondary Alcohol
- Will not be separated (none of the campaigns has the primary separation of the other in its list)
To add a secondary separation:
- Double-click the Car Ad - Company A campaign.
- Click the Media section, and then the Separation tab.
- Enable the Use Secondary Separation option.
- Click the + button.
- In the Select Resources window, select the Alcohol category separation.
- Click OK.
- In the Properties Propagator window that opens, click Yes to propagate the property to assigned ad copies assigned to the campaign.
- Do the same thing for the Car Ad - Company B campaign.
The campaign properties window opens.
The Car Ad - Company A campaign will not be played next to any other campaign that has Alcohol as primary category separation.