Thank You for Choosing On The Spot Media!

Getting Started

We're here to help you to easily and quickly set up your account, and walk you through your first order. If you need even a little help uploading our order, we're ready to assist (without any extra fees, of course). Our OTSM Station Services team will follow up with verbal confirmations for every destination on your first time order.

The Support You Need | Pricing You Can Afford

We're proud to provide the industry's best 24x7x365 personalized service, bar none. And our Pure Digital Pricing means no more annoying and unnecessary late-night fees or rush charges. Same day delivery for basic short-form content is standard.

CYBORG|QC - the best combination of online quality analysis and human inspection

In addition to File-Based analysis to ensure file integrity, we visually inspect and approve all incoming masters for distribution. We will hold content and request approval prior to distribution if there are formatting concerns, including center cut safety, closed captioning, slating, picture quality, and/or linear specifications. If you have content you suspect will be flagged, pre-approval can be arranged by contacting clientservices@onthespotmedia.com prior to submission. See quick tips for better file quality.

Have A Question About Submitting Your Media?

Choose the category below on this page, or feel free to call us at 855.855.OTSM 24/7.

File Name and ISCI Code/Ad-ID Requirements

All advertisement files MUST follow the naming requirements below. The file name should consist of the ISCI code or Ad-ID, followed by the appropriate file extension. A valid ISCI code or Ad-ID is required for all advertisements, MUST not exceed 15 characters, and HD advertisements MUST end with an H.

• The file name must consist of the ISCI code or Ad-ID, followed by the appropriate file extension, such as .mpg or .mov.
• For example, a QuickTime file with the ISCI code ISCI1234 must be named ISCI1234.mov.
• A valid ISCI code or Ad-ID is required for all advertisements.
• The ISCI code or Ad-ID must not exceed 15 characters.
• HD advertisements must use an ISCI code or Ad-ID ending in H, such as ISCI1234H.

File Encoding Guidelines

Our primary objective is to distribute the highest quality content possible. To that end, clients are requested to upload the highest quality file available. We can process a wide range of formats, including but not limited to the following containers and codecs: Apple ProRes, MPEG-2, and MXF.

Apple Pro Res | MPEG 2 | MXF

Files intended for broadcast distribution should be submitted at a frame rate of 29.97. Frame rate conversion is available for an additional production service charge.

Video and chroma levels should conform to SMPTE 292M for HD-SDI.

Video levels should be set to 100 IRE, with black levels at 7.5 IRE for analog video and 0 IRE for digital video. Proper levels should be confirmed using color bars on a waveform monitor. The screenshot below shows the proper levels on the waveform monitor.

Chroma should be set to 100 percent. Although levels up to 110 percent may still be acceptable, maintaining chroma at 100 percent is recommended for optimum quality. The screenshot below shows the vectors at the 100 percent setting.

For content submitted for production services, Apple ProRes 422 HQ is recommended, with the following specifications:

Format: ProRes
Format Profile: 422 HQ
Bit Rate: 147 Mb/s
Width: 1920 Pixels
Height: 1080 Pixels
Display Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Frame Rate: 29.97
Color Space: YUV
Chroma Subsampling: 4:2:2
Scan Type: Native (Progressive or Interlaced)
Scan Order: Top Field First
Color Primaries: BT 709

To inquire about additional supported formats please email clientservices@onthespotmedia.com.

Audio Channel Mapping

Stereo Only
Stereo Mix on Channels: 1-2

Surround W/Stereo Mix
Surround on Channels 1-6
(Left Front, Right Front, Center, Low Frequency Effects, Left Surround, Right Surround)
Stereo Mix on Channels 7-8

Audio Levels, Loudness and CALM Act Compliance

Audio levels MUST comply with the CALM Act, maintaining a loudness level of −24 LKFS ±2 dB. All spots will undergo audio loudness processing prior to distribution to ensure compliance, at no additional cost.

The following guidelines are provided to assist in configuring acceptable audio levels:

Digital Audio Levels (dBFS Scale)
Audio levels should not exceed −10 dBFS (±1 dB).
Digital peak meters, available on broadcast equipment such as VTRs and non-linear editing (NLE) systems, should be used for measurement.

Analog Audio Levels (VU Scale)
Audio levels should not exceed 0 dB (±1 dB).
Levels should be monitored using a standard analog VU meter.

HD Center Cut Protect and 4:3 Title Safety Requirements

HD content MUST be composed to meet both “Center Cut Safe” and “4:3 Title Safe” requirements. All critical creative and legal elements—including, but not limited to, phone numbers, website URLs, disclaimers, logos, and other essential text or graphics—must remain within these safe areas.

Closed Caption Formatting and Encoding Specifications

We support and process accurately the following closed captioning data, "Line 21" VBI Captioning in files with a frame size of 486i or greater, QuickTime Closed Captioning Tracks in all versions of QT files, MPEG2 Captioning typically encoded as "Picture User Data".

High-definition captioned files MUST include embedded CEA-608 captions (required) and may optionally include CEA-708 captions. We also accept sidecar caption files (e.g., .scc, .srt) or can provide captioning services in-house for an additional fee.

Linear Formatting Requirements

Each advertisement MUST be exported as a self-contained file at a frame rate of 29.97 fps for standard distribution. Files must conform to one of the following approved configurations:

Order of Content Second Frames
Slate - 2 seconds - 60 Frames
Black and Silence - 2 Seconds - 60 Frames

Followed by:
:10 Second Creative - 300 Frames
:15 Second Creative - 450 Frames
:30 Second Creative - 900 Frames
:60 Second Creative - 1800 Frames
:90 Second Creative - 2700 Frames
:120 Second Creative - 3600 Frames

Followed by:
Black and Silence - 3 Frames

Slate Requirements

Each individual spot/file MUST have a slate before the start of picture (see Linear Spec for additional information). A slate is a still video segment with basic information required by broadcasters for identification. The slate MUST include, at a minimum, the Client, Advertiser, Product, Title, ISCI or Ad-ID (15-character maximum), and length.