MRSS feed specification

Introduction

Media RSS (MRSS) is an RSS extension used for syndicating multimedia files (audio, video, image) in RSS feeds.

vi use MRSS feeds as the main integration option for video content providers to get their videos ingested into vi’s video library.

Each entry in the MRSS feed contains the relevant information about a video, such as links to video file, thumbnail image, title, description and other relevant meta data. The content providers’ MRSS feeds are typically served through an http(s) endpoint which vi’s ingestions system periodically requests to receive updated feed with the latest videos.

General information

Delivery method

The delivery method used for ingesting videos into the vi platform is MRSS feeds with separate feeds per language. All videos must be tagged with an appropriate IAB category (see below).

Hosting requirements

Metadata should be contained within the MRSS feed using the appropriate tags.  Your host URL will not be exposed to external traffic. Videos must be directly linked in the feed and not embedded within provider’s player.

MRSS notes

Please provide any API documentation for access – e.g. security keys, how to handle feed pagination, etc. We are flexible to a degree with tags and coding as long as what is provided remains consistent.

Other

Videos should have any and all YouTube embeds, watch next, subscription reminders, etc. removed before submission.

Video format

Preferred Duration: 1-3 minutes
Preferred Container: MP4
Preferred Video Codec: H264 MPEG-4
Preferred Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Resolution: 720p or 1080p. 16:9 and 1:1 content are accepted.
Video Bitrate: 3-8 Mbps
Preferred Audio Codec: MPEG AAC
Preferred Audio Bitrate: > 256 kbps

Artwork (thumbnail image)

Preferred Format: JPEG
Preferred aspect ratio: 16:9
Image Size: 1280×720 or larger
Resolution: >150 pixels
File size: < 200 KB

MRSS feed format

Example

Below is an example of what an mrss feed containing two videos (items) could look like. See further below for detailed specifications on each individual element.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:media="https://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <title><![CDATA[My channel title]]></title>
    <description><![CDATA[My channel description]]></description>
    <pubDate>2018-04-19T19:11:00+00:00</pubDate>
    <item>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">9aba69b5-0577-428b-941e-29372f71c5d8</guid>
      <title><![CDATA[World Cup Ahoy!]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[Football’s best are preparing for the 2018 World Cup]]></description>
      <pubDate>2018-04-19T10:09:00+00:00</pubDate>
      <media:content type="video/mp4" url="https://s3.amazon.com/ab/cd/football20180419.mp4" width="1280" height="720" duration="132" lang="en">
        <media:category><![CDATA[IAB17-44]]></media:category>
        <media:keywords><![CDATA[World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi]]></media:keywords>
        <media:thumbnail url="https://s3.amazon.com/ab/cd/football20180419.jpg"/>
      </media:content>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">6e57a9cb-e078-4ec4-a873-5eb60f682e30</guid>
      <title><![CDATA[The Big Fight!]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[Sergey Kovalev and Eleider Alvarez are preparing to fight for the world light heavyweight title.]]></description>
      <pubDate>2018-04-17T14:24:00+00:00</pubDate>
      <media:content type="video/mp4" url="https://s3.amazon.com/ef/gh/boxing20180417.mp4" width="1280" height="720" duration="104" lang="en">
        <media:category><![CDATA[IAB17-5]]></media:category>
        <media:keywords><![CDATA[Eleider Alvarez, Sergey Kovalev, Light Heavyweight, Title Match]]></media:keywords>
        <media:thumbnail url="https://s3.amazon.com/ef/gh/boxing20180417.jpg"/>
      </media:content>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

Channel elements

title

Optional

Feed title

Example:

<title><![CDATA[My channel title]]></title>

description

Optional

Feed description

Example:

<description><![CDATA[My channel description]]></description>

pubDate

Required

Last time the feed was updated, in the ISO 8601 format: yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss±hh:mm e.g.  “2018-04-19T19:11:00+00:00”

Example:

<pubDate>2018-04-19T19:11:00+00:00</pubDate>

Item

An <item> element corresponds to one video

These are the sub-elements of <item>:

guid

Required

A unique identifier that identifies the video in the content provider’s system. Must be same for a specific video every time the MRSS is requested. Used for identifying if a video is ingested since before or not. Also used in reporting to the content provider.

Example:

 <guid isPermaLink="false">9aba69b5-0577-428b-941e-29372f71c5d8</guid>

title

Required

Title of the video.

Example:

<title><![CDATA[World Cup Ahoy!]]></title>

description

Required

A longer description about the content of the video. Preferably a longer description than in the example below.

Example:

<description><![CDATA[Football’s best are preparing for the 2018 World Cup]]></description>

pubDate

Required

Date when the video was first published, in the ISO 8601 format: yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss±hh:mm e.g.  “2018-04-19T10:09:00+00:00”

Example:

<pubDate>2018-04-19T10:09:00+00:00</pubDate>

media:content

Required

Contains the necessary link and information about the video file.

Attributes of <media:content>:

AttributeTypeRequiredDescription
urlURL stringRequiredPublicly accessible link to the video file. For video requirements, see above.
typeStringRequiredVideo mime type
durationNumberRecommendedDuration of the video, in seconds
langStringRequiredLanguage of the video content, as a 2-letter ISO 639-1 string
widthNumberOptionalWidth of video
heightNumberOptionalHeight of video

Example:

<media:content type="video/mp4" url="https://s3.amazon.com/ab/cd/football20180419.mp4" width="1280" height="720" duration="132" lang="en">

Sub-elements of <media:content>

media:category

Required

Category of the video content,  as IAB category v1.0 id, tier 1 or tier 2.

Example:

<media:category><![CDATA[IAB17-44]]></media:category>
media:keywords

Recommended

Keywords describing the content of the video, e.g. names of persons, organizations mentioned or present in the video,  works of art, events, topics etc. Comma separated.

Example:

<media:keywords><![CDATA[World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi]]></media:keywords>
media:thumbnail

Required

Publicly accessible link to the thumbnail image file. For thumbnail image requirements, see above.

Example:

<media:thumbnail url="https://s3.amazon.com/ab/cd/football20180419.jpg"/>

 

Example of full media:content-tag:

<media:content type="video/mp4" url="https://s3.amazon.com/ab/cd/football20180419.mp4" width="1280" height="720" duration="132" lang="en">
  <media:category><![CDATA[IAB17-44]]></media:category>
  <media:keywords><![CDATA[World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi]]></media:keywords>
  <media:thumbnail url="https://s3.amazon.com/ab/cd/football20180419.jpg"/>
</media:content>