One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for inserting content into a media program. The technique includes determining a plurality of markers corresponding to a plurality of locations within a media program. The technique also includes for each marker included in the plurality of markers, automatically analyzing a first set of intervals within the media program that lead up to the marker and a second set of intervals within the media program that immediately follow the marker and determine a set of audio characteristics associated with the first set of intervals and the second set of intervals. The technique further includes generating a plurality of scores for the plurality of markers based on the set of audio characteristics for each marker and inserting additional content at one or more markers included in the plurality of markers based on the plurality of scores.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION (1) This application is a U.S. National Stage Patent Application of the International Patent Application titled, “OPTIMIZING INSERTION POINTS FOR CONTENT BASED ON AUDIO AND VIDEO CHARACTERISTICS,” filed Dec. 13, 2022, and having Serial No. PCT/CN2022/138617. The subject matter of this related application is hereby incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND Field of the Various Embodiments (2) Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to computer science and inserting content into media programs and, more specifically, to optimizing insertion points for content based on audio or video characteristics. Description of the Related Art (3) Movies, television shows, user-generated videos, radio shows, podcasts, or other types of media programs are frequently aired or played with commercial breaks that occur at various “insertion points” included in the media programs. The insertion points include “black slugs,” or sequences of black video frames, that are inserted between shots or scenes within a given media program. The insertion points also can include, or instead include, markers that identify specific video frames as locations of scene changes, chapter breaks, or other types of “transitions” within a given media program. (4) Typically, the number of potential insertion points in a media program is greater than the number of commercial breaks in the same media program. Thus, a subset of potential insertion points can be selec
1. A computer-implemented method for inserting additional content into a media program, the method comprising: determining a plurality of markers corresponding to a plurality of locations within the media program; for each marker included in the plurality of markers, performing one or more operations to automatically analyze a first set of intervals within the media program that lead up to the marker and a second set of intervals within the media program that immediately follow the marker and determine a set of characteristics associated with the first set of intervals and the second set of intervals; generating a plurality of scores for the plurality of markers based on the sets of characteristics; and inserting the additional content at one or more markers included in the plurality of markers based on the plurality of scores; wherein generating the plurality of scores comprises computing a score for a first marker included in the plurality of markers based on a first characteristic determined for a first interval within the media program that leads up to the first marker and a second characteristic determined for a second interval within the media program that immediately follows the first marker. ||
10. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform: determining a plurality of markers corresponding to a plurality of locations within a media program; for each marker included in the plurality of markers, performing one or more operations to automatically analyze a first set of intervals within the media program that lead up to the marker and a second set of intervals within the media program that immediately follow the marker and determine a set of characteristics associated with the first set of intervals and the second set of intervals; generating a plurality of scores for the plurality of markers based on the sets of characteristics; and inserting additional content at one or more markers included in the plurality of markers based on the plurality of scores; wherein generating the plurality of scores comprises computing a score for a first marker included in the plurality of markers based on a first characteristic determined for a first interval within the media program that leads up to the first marker and a second characteristic determined for a second interval within the media program that immediately follows the first marker. ||
19. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform: determining a plurality of markers corresponding to a plurality of locations within a media program; for each marker included in the plurality of markers, performing one or more operations to automatically analyze a first set of intervals within the media program that lead up to the marker and a second set of intervals within the media program that immediately follow the marker and determine a set of characteristics associated with the first set of intervals and the second set of intervals; generating a plurality of scores for the plurality of markers based on the sets of characteristics; and inserting additional content at one or more markers included in the plurality of markers based on the plurality of scores; wherein generating the plurality of scores comprises: inputting the first and second characteristics for the first marker included in the plurality of markers into a machine learning model; and obtaining the scores as an output of the machine learning model. ||
20. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform: determining a plurality of markers corresponding to a plurality of locations within a media program; for each marker included in the plurality of markers, performing one or more operations to automatically analyze a first set of intervals within the media program that lead up to the marker and a second set of intervals within the media program that immediately follow the marker and determine a set of characteristics associated with the first set of intervals and the second set of intervals; generating a plurality of scores for the plurality of markers based on the sets of characteristics; and inserting additional content at one or more markers included in the plurality of markers based on the plurality of scores; wherein the first and second characteristics determined for a first marker included in the plurality of markers comprises a first audio loudness level associated with the first interval leading up to the first marker, a second audio loudness level associated with the second interval immediately following the first marker, a first detection of speech within a third interval leading up to the first marker, and a second detection of speech within a fourth interval immediately following the first marker.