We are excited to announce the successful launch of Video Player 5.5.4 to production today (Monday, April 21, 2008). The 5.5.4 release features a number of new features that we hope you will be able to make good use of:
  1. Pre-roll with synched rich media 300 x 250 banner
  2. Support for non-synched 300 x 250 UAC banner
  3. Support for UI color customization
  4. UI enhancements
  5. Branding logo enhancements
  6. Dynamic blocking of Ads that do not support the synched text link
Coinciding with the release of Player 5.5.4, the Video Player's integration with Google Sponsored Links was recently approved, enabling sponsored links to appear in the mid-roll and post-roll events for the all Flash FPM player.

Example of FPM Player released in Player 5.5.4

What follows is an overview of Player 5.5.4's key features along with examples of the functionality in production.
  1. Pre-roll with synched 300 x 250 banner or non-synched 300 x 250 UAC banner: Working with Platform A's Lightning Cast team, the Player Platform team has enabled synched and non-synched 300 x 250 companion banners. When the player receives direction to display pre-roll, it calls down a synched banner. When the player is instructed to display the in-video ticker it displays a non-synched 300 x 250 UAC banner instead. We are working with Platform A to insure that all existing pre-roll campaigns are retrofitted with 300 x 250 creative. Until the retrofit period is complete (late April/early May) you can see an example of the functionality on http://player.qa.aol.com.
  2. Support for UI color customization: FPM now supports the color customization of the player top cap, controls, utility and in-video events. You can see an example of a color customized player below.
  3. Branding logo enhancements: The FPM player has migrated from GIF/JPEG branding elements to vector based graphics, enabling scalable, high-resolution graphics that can be surfaced in the player's top cap.