See it running
A real server-side render: the programme shrinks, the sponsor fills the L, and nothing pauses. Want it on your own channel? Send us a stream URL and we will stage it privately.
What the viewer actually sees
The picture is scaled down and moved into the top-right of the frame. The space that opens up along the left edge and across the bottom is where the sponsor lives. Four zones, each with a job:
Left or right column — sponsor logo, product shot, tagline or QR code. This is the main brand statement.
Full width along the base — the callout line, website, phone number or offer text. This is the call to action.
The reduced frame. Your normal programme, uninterrupted, scaled to fit — never cropped, never hidden behind the banner.
A small corner tag reading AD or Sponsored, for advertising-disclosure compliance.
The programme never pauses. Audio and video run continuously throughout. The viewer misses nothing — which is why this format does not cost you the audience that a mid-roll break costs you.
Nothing is cropped. The content is scaled to fit the reduced frame, so no part of the picture is cut off or sitting behind the banner. A scoreboard in the corner of a sports feed stays visible.
The transition is eased, not snapped. The frame animates in and out over a fraction of a second, so it reads as production design rather than as a rendering fault.
It survives the screenshot. Because the banner is burned into the video, taking a screenshot, casting to a TV or recording the stream all carry the sponsor with them. A player-side ad does none of that.
Why channels sell this instead of mid-rolls
A mid-roll break gives every viewer a reason to switch away. An L-shape banner gives them none, because the programme never stops.
The banner is part of the picture, not a separate element in the player. There is nothing for a blocker to find.
Short, frequent, peripheral exposure builds recall better than one interruption an hour that the viewer resents.
Because it is burned into the frame, it renders identically on a smart TV, a set-top box, a phone browser and a cast session.
A regional advertiser understands "your logo on screen 36 times a day" immediately. It needs no CPM literacy to buy.
Sponsors, rhythm and artwork are yours to change. Swapping a sponsor is an artwork change, not a re-integration.
A worked example
Take a regional live channel broadcasting 18 hours a day, with the banner scheduled for 30 seconds every 10 minutes:
The same 108 slots sold to a mid-roll advertiser would have interrupted the channel 108 times a day, and cost the channel audience on each one. That is the trade this format removes.
How the schedule is decided
Placement is scheduled per channel rather than hard-coded, and the rhythm is yours to set. The thirty-seconds-every-ten-minutes pattern above is one choice among many, and it is the one most channels settle on because it is frequent enough to sell and sparse enough that viewers stop noticing it.
Uneven patterns are no harder than even ones. A banner can run twice as often through a two-hour prime-time window and back off overnight, hold off entirely during a particular programme, or appear only across the ten days of a festival. Different sponsors can occupy different slots in the same broadcast day, so a single channel can carry several advertisers without any of them sharing a frame.
Each channel is scheduled and supervised independently, which matters more than it sounds: a change to one channel’s rhythm never touches another, and a fault on one channel does not interrupt the rest. What you supply is the pattern you want in plain terms — how often, how long, and during which parts of the day — and the channel is configured to match it.
For what this looks like from an engineering standpoint, and what to test before committing to any vendor, see HLS ad insertion without a discontinuity.
What you send us, and what happens next
- 1Send the creative and the source
A side panel and a bottom strip as PNG, plus your live HLS or RTMP URL. If the artwork is not ready, send a logo and a tagline and we will build the first set.
- 2We stage it on your own feed
You get a private preview URL showing the banner on your real programme, at the rhythm you asked for — not a mock-up on somebody else demo stream.
- 3Approve, then go live
We point the monetised output at your distribution. Changing a sponsor later is an artwork swap; the channel does not need to be re-integrated.
Everything after the creative is on our side: safe areas, scaling, the disclosure tag, the transitions and the encode. The channel keeps its existing player, its existing CDN and its existing audience.
Other formats in the same pipeline
A full-frame spot for the moments where a real break is wanted — a station ident, a festival promo, a headline sponsor.
A strip across the bottom only. Lighter than an L-shape, and useful for tickers, offers and phone numbers.
A small persistent logo. The lightest touch available, and the one most channels run continuously under a title sponsor.
These combine. A common arrangement is a permanent corner bug for the title sponsor, an L-shape rotation for three regional advertisers, and a fullscreen spot reserved for the channel own promotions. All three run from the same encoder, on the same channel configuration.
Frequently asked questions
What is an L-shape ad banner?+
An L-shape banner is a sponsor frame drawn along the left or right edge of the picture and across the bottom, forming an L around your live programme. The programme is scaled down to fit inside the remaining frame rather than being cropped or paused, so the viewer misses nothing while the sponsor is on screen.
Does the live programme stop while the L-shape banner is showing?+
No. Audio and video run continuously. That is the entire commercial argument for the format: a mid-roll break interrupts the channel and costs you audience every time, while an L-shape banner never interrupts anything. The frame eases in and out on a schedule you choose.
Can viewers block or skip an L-shape banner?+
No. The banner is burned into the video frame itself before the stream leaves our encoder, so there is no separate ad element for an ad blocker to remove or a player to skip. Screenshots, screen recordings and casting to a TV all carry the sponsor with them.
How often can the banner appear?+
You choose the rhythm. A common setting is 30 seconds visible every 10 minutes, which is six appearances an hour. On an 18-hour broadcast day that is 108 appearances; rotating three sponsors through those slots gives each of them 36 exposures a day.
What artwork do I need to send?+
Just the creative — a side panel and a bottom strip, as PNG with transparency where you want the background to show through. We handle the scaling, the safe areas, the transitions and the AD or Sponsored disclosure tag. If you do not have artwork ready, we can build the first set from a logo and a tagline.
Does it work on my existing stream?+
Yes, if you can give us an HLS or RTMP source. We take your live input, insert the banner, and hand back a monetised HLS output that you point your player or distribution at. Nothing on your side needs to be rebuilt.
Keep reading
Pixel geometry for 720p, 1080p and 4K, with the arithmetic shown.
Burned-in, player-side and HbbTV delivery compared.
What sets the price, and the break-even arithmetic for an operator.
The pipeline the L-shape banner rides on — how an overlay is stitched into a live HLS stream.
L-shape work is quoted per channel on feeds, formats and hours. Send us your stream and we will scope a pilot.
The same format tuned for temple livestreams: a donation QR instead of a commercial banner.
Video-technology engineer in Thane, India. Send me one live stream URL and I will run a free test on your own feed. You get my reply within one working day (IST), from the person who builds it, not a sales queue.
Bring us your stream.
Send us one live URL and what you want on it. We will put a demo on your own feed before you commit to anything.