A method implemented by one or more computing devices for determining a percentage of an advertisement played by a smart appliance, the method comprising: receiving, by the one or more computing devices, metadata associated with the advertisement in a transport signal stream from an encoder; determining, by the one or more computing devices and based on the received metadata, a length of the advertisement and a frame rate of the transport signal stream; dividing, by the one or more computing devices, the length of the advertisement into at least one segment based on the length and the frame rate; instructing the encoder, by the one or more computing devices, to insert a first set of signal markers into a first set of segments of the transport signal stream corresponding to a plurality of time intervals of the advertisement to create a first plurality of marked segments, wherein each marker of the first set of markers inserted into corresponding segments in the transport signal stream has a different value; when the frame rate changes during transmission of the advertisement: instructing the encoder, by the one or more computing devices, to insert at least one different marker into at least one frame of the advertisement corresponding to the at least one segment, the at least one different marker differing from a corresponding at least one marker of the first set of markers but representing the same total percentage of the advertisement played by the smart appliance; and grouping, by the one or more computing devices, the at least one different marker with the corresponding at least one marker of the first set of markers associated with the same total percentage of the advertisement but of different frame rates together for identifying the same total percentage of the advertisement played by the smart appliance. receiving, by the one or more computing devices, metadata associated with the advertisement in a transport signal stream from an encoder; determining, by the one or more computing devices and based on the received metadata, a length of the advertisement and a frame rate of the transport signal stream; dividing, by the one or more computing devices, the length of the advertisement into at least one segment based on the length and the frame rate; instructing the encoder, by the one or more computing devices, to insert a first set of signal markers into a first set of segments of the transport signal stream corresponding to a plurality of time intervals of the advertisement to create a first plurality of marked segments, wherein each marker of the first set of markers inserted into corresponding segments in the transport signal stream has a different value; when the frame rate changes during transmission of the advertisement: instructing the encoder, by the one or more computing devices, to insert at least one different marker into at least one frame of the advertisement corresponding to the at least one segment, the at least one different marker differing from a corresponding at least one marker of the first set of markers but representing the same total percentage of the advertisement played by the smart appliance; and grouping, by the one or more computing devices, the at least one different marker with the corresponding at least one marker of the first set of markers associated with the same total percentage of the advertisement but of different frame rates together for identifying the same total percentage of the advertisement played by the smart appliance. instructing the encoder, by the one or more computing devices, to insert at least one different marker into at least one frame of the advertisement corresponding to the at least one segment, the at least one different marker differing from a corresponding at least one marker of the first set of markers but representing the same total percentage of the advertisement played by the smart appliance; and grouping, by the one or more computing devices, the at least one different marker with the corresponding at least one marker of the first set of markers associated with the same total percentage of the advertisement but of different frame rates together for identifying the same total percentage of the advertisement played by the smart appliance.