In one embodiment, a method comprises identifying an identifiable video object from a video picture of a digital video having video content and commercial content, the video picture contained within the video content; encoding the identifiable video object as a video overlay object; encoding the commercial content based on generating a first key frame, and storing the video overlay object within the first key frame as an object that is not displayed as part of the commercial content; and encoding the video picture based on generating a second key frame that includes a default video object in place of the identifiable video object, the default video object including an overlay reference to the video overlay object within the first key frame, wherein unavailability of the video overlay object during rendering of the second key frame causes display of the default video object to visually corrupt the video picture.