• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, June 9, 2023

IAB Tech Lab has formed an industry group dedicated to helping to lead the development of advanced TV technology frameworks, technical standards and market strategy, with the goal of “making every TV environment addressable.” 

Inaugural members of the Advanced TV Commit Group include media companies Paramount, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery and EW Scripps, Xperi, GroupM, Publica, Extreme Reach, the Video Advertising Bureau/VAB, and Nielsen. 

“What distinguishes the Advanced TV Commit Group from other initiatives is its comprehensive and collaborative approach to addressable TV advertising,” IAB Tech Lab CEO Anthony Katsur said.

The group “aims to partner with various initiatives across the industry, bringing together all stakeholders to establish a portfolio of solutions, and is focused on developing a technical framework that ensures “holistic reconciliation, a unified measurement framework and consistent ad experiences across digital video and TV environments,” Katsur added. That includes traditional linear environments like cable, satellite and over-the-air broadcast, as well as connected TV platforms.

Specific goals across TV environments include achieving interoperability for frame-accurate ad delivery and ad-break management to ensure consistent cross-platform ad break and ad slots signaling; universal addressability and reconciliation for audience measurement across all screens; complete cross-environment audit for advertising campaign delivery; ad measurement for delivery and client-side viewability verification on the TV; and omni-channel sales management for programmatic buying and selling of upfronts and spot buys.

Work in 2023 will focus on establishing a “foundation” for meeting those objectives, such as standardizing interoperability across creative IDs and how metadata is used in systems that handle ad placement and measurement.

"From creative identifiers to brand taxonomy and more, standardization allows for a more automated and scalable advertising ecosystem," said Ryan McConville, executive vice president advertising platforms and operations, NBCU. "It also leads to greater interoperability that is vital for more effective measurement, insights and greater efficiencies for advertisers in the premium video environment."

The group is inviting TV original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and all interested parties to join.

In a separate development, IAB Tech Lab this week released a Sustainability Green Playbook summarizing the initial set of recommendations from the sustainability working group that it launched in January to produce guidance, tools and initiatives that can be used to reduce the carbon impact of the programmatic supply chain.