MediaPost Publications The Next Challenge: Technical Chaos Stalls Digital Video Advertising 05/29/2008

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The Next Challenge: Technical Chaos Stalls Digital Video Advertising

by Steve Robinson, Thursday, May 29, 2008, 10:15 AM

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All of us are watching network and prosumer Internet video consumption explode on the Web. Yet, despite collaboration among many members of the media ecosystem and the Internet Advertising Bureau to create a comprehensive set of guidelines and standards for in-video advertising and make the promise of broadband-delivered and interactive video a reality, every publisher still has its own video player implementation. On top of that, there's a variety of downloaded players that support both streaming content and locally played content.

This situation is creating "technical chaos" -- that is, a different set of implementation requirements among video publishers to accept ad formats and media buys. Media buyers and video publishers need to develop a unified approach, just as television once did -- eliminating technical chaos with standards for ad delivery, insertion, playout and video player control -- in order to achieve ad buying scale to make Internet video a sound business,

Not only did the television model eliminate all technical chaos in advertising, but television's in-video playout and control standards are so successfully abstracted from media buyers and video publishers that they are taken for granted. Television standards summarized: "pause video at frame; play ad spot at frame for specified duration; restart video at frame." Very few of us are aware of these standards, and that's the entire point. Television ad buying is an easy decision, as ad integration is never even considered by buyers and sellers. There is no technical chaos; it just works.

On the Internet, video publishers want higher CPMs and more value for their content. The viewers are coming; the CPMs are there; and media buyers and their creative groups have the capabilities and desire to craft the most engaging experiences possible. But for Internet-distributed video to become a successful business, our industry first needs to take steps to flush out and develop standards for ad delivery, insertion, playout and video player control. With standards in place, media buyers and their creative teams can drive ads that not only engage consumers but also scale to work across multiple publishers and distribution points. That's when we will have a successful business!

So what steps can media buyers and video publishers take to ensure the groundwork is laid for unification of ad delivery, insertion, playout and video player control so ad buys can scale? Our thoughts include:

While the IAB is taking a great first step in developing standards, the online video advertising industry is so nascent that we really need a consortium similar to the group formed by television, The Society of Cable and Television Engineers (SCTE).

This consortium should be made up of the largest stakeholders -- technology companies, publishers and media buyers -- who have the most to gain by unified ad delivery, insertion, playout and video player control standards.

The consortium needs to look at today's technical capabilities and the future capabilities of digital video and what they mean for advertising, branding, commerce, engagement, and consumer interaction opportunities when creating standards.

After standards are created, the consortium should promote them and lead utilization by those implementing video players, publishing video inventory and making media buys. The consortium should also develop ongoing efficacy projects that analyze opportunities in digital video advertising so standards can be expanded as our industry progresses.

All of us realize Internet-delivered digital video allows for more advertising engagement and consumer satisfaction than television. Ad avails are unlimited and ad formats will continue to evolve as the combination of software tools and creativity drive innovation for new and more captivating ad experiences. But if we don't get ahead of the technical chaos issue we will drown, and the efficiencies, accessibility and scalability of the Internet advertising ecosystem will be unrealized.

This commentary is insightful. I recommend it to others.

1 person recommends this article.

6 comments on "The Next Challenge: Technical Chaos Stalls Digital Video Advertising"

Jennifer Omeara from FLIMP Media

commented on: June 19, 2008 at 6:09 PM

Player agnostic is key. If we want to see rapid adoption of web video marketing efforts, removing the technical barriers to be able to watch and engage with a video is critical.
stephen ward from empactv

commented on: May 29, 2008 at 11:55 PM

Well of course I'm bias, and for full disclosure I'm the founder of Empact Interactive Media. We have focused on standards such as the mpeg 7 and 21 for defining metadata and the tv anytime standard. Of course its hard to find anyone using these.
But what we have done is map advertisements to the video dynamically, not embed it. Therefore we are player agnostic. our technology in effect takes metadata and maps it to what you see and hear in the video itself, no pop ups no overlays. I've mocked up an example for you at http://empactv.com/youtube.htm The mock up is designed to show how clicking on video allows the viewer to pull advertising. The nice thing about this technology is that its standards based, its dynamic and it provides significantly more advertising possibilities.
Tom Stevenson from Atlas

commented on: May 29, 2008 at 3:08 PM

Darin--I hear your point and I think standards can still allow for great creativity and uniqueness. Rather than making everything identical, I believe that Steve is pointing out the efficiency of using a common campaign flow and "socket & plug" method. Historically our clients have had to use tens of different plugs to fit the myriad of unique sockets out there. This causes a good deal of effort on both sides and can often delay campaigns and limit the insight advertisers can gleam from online video advertising. By creating a standard we can still allow a wide variety of creativity in an automated socket & plug method which saves everyone time and money. I compare it to the common standards for banners which allow for a variety of different rich media executions and yet use similar inputs and consistent reporting no matter which sites they run on.
Steve--I agree with your assessment. Thank you for sharing! Our preference has been to work through the IAB toward this and I believe we are making good progress.
Tom Stevenson Atlas
Bill Loewenthal from Kiptronic Inc.

commented on: May 29, 2008 at 1:57 PM

I was delighted to see your article and agree with many of your points. Standards are ideal and emerging both from the IAB and ADM, but at the same time the publishers and advertisers canâ€™t wait. Major media publishers have edicts that they must build audience, create new ad inventory, and generate new revenue streams; from chaos and innovation standards will emerge. Solutions are available that do abstract complexity. Major media publishers are aggressively extending their ad supported content to the multiple devices and software applications that consumers use, without changes to their publishing process and integrated into their workflow. Our customers are using defacto standards for portable audio and video media: pre, post and mid-roll creative in :15 and :30 lengths. Other solutions that provide more interactive, but less standard ad units (overlays, animated bugs, etc.) do so in exchange for portability and standardization.
As standards emerge weâ€™ll conform with them, but our customers canâ€™t wait. Bill Loewenthal CEO Kiptronic
Darin Ingalls from James Tower

commented on: May 29, 2008 at 11:19 AM

I think everyone is way to caught up in standardization. Unique experience and delivery is what makes internet delivery ...well unique. All this uproar about metrics and standards is doing more harm then good. Sounds all a bit "1984" to me. Maybe I am just feeling a bit like an anarchist today.
And I am sorry but having standards implemented by only the larget players in the market is a duplication of the broadcast market. I will do all I can to ensure that our development fits our customers needs not what a group of execs in some corner office thinks the rest of the market needs. Now dont get me wrong ..some.. standards can be a good thing and are needed but trying to put everything into some neat little box and call it defined is not what online video is about. Lets not try and Googlize the enitre industry. What may be a great answer or solution for some may not be the standard for another. I have been behind alot of what the IAB has done but I will be the first to say once this utopian scalable network is in place...if ever. I ll be the first to start one that does not play by the rules....why?...to be unique of course.
Power to the People!
DAR
kelly burke from idr

commented on: May 29, 2008 at 10:23 AM

for video or DRTV production call Kelly Burke at Innovative Direct Response. www.innovativedr.com

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	STEVE ROBINSON
	Steve Robinson is CEO of Panache, which offers an ad-insertion platform that provides major media and entertainment companies with the infrastructure to generate and increase revenues in their movement of video to the Internet.

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