• by Wayne Friedman , April 6, 2017

Now there are more efforts to standardize “advanced” data-driven linear TV media deals.

A group calling itself the Advanced Target Standards Group, a consortium of eight network TV programmers, led by clypd, the sell-side programmatic platform for audience-based TV advertising, announced a set of guidelines and best practices for the use of advanced targets in linear television advertising.

This comes after a recent announcement that a new consortium --  backed by Fox Networks Group, Viacom and Turner -- is starting OpenAP. It intends to deliver “cross-publisher targeting and independent measurement for advanced audiences.”

A spokeswoman from clypd said the “members [of the ATSG] have requested their names not be disclosed.” In the past, the company says it has worked with Discovery Communications, ESPN and Fox Networks Group, among others.

ATSG, through a release by clypd, has outlined a number of areas to focus on: 1) target definition and sizing; 2) availability and of advanced target data; 3) calculation methodologies; and 4) standardization across network groups.

The group has been meeting since August 2016, chaired by Pete Doe, chief research officer at clypd.

Some “best practices” backed by the group: For national linear TV media buys, there should be suggested minimum advanced target size is 10 million viewers (about 3% of the U.S.). Also that age and gender targets should be fairly consistent year-on-year though advanced target definitions, such as brand purchase.

In addition, though there are many TV viewing data sets that can be used for advanced target deals, most of these data sets do not have MRC accreditation. The group cautions that both buyers and sellers should have an understanding about the pros and cons of the data source.