Microsoft quietly began to provide support for a video field across all publishing partners last week, regardless of the OpenRTB version of the standard.

The change means additional transparency in Microsoft Monetize, a web-based platform that helps publishers manage and sell their inventory to digital advertisers. It focuses on video to provide more information about the ads being bought and sold through programmatic platforms.

This update for video.plcmt, a field that is part of the IAB Tech Lab's OpenRTB specifications, which defines how programmatic ad-buying data is exchanged between buyers and sellers, is used to classify video placement in bid requests.

The standard indicates whether there is an in-stream ad playing alongside primary content, and identifies outstream ads that appear separately on the page, as well as other placements. 

The field provides details about context of the video content, helping bidders make more informed decisions and allows publishers to signal video inventory, adhering to the new advertising format guidelines without disrupting workflows.

Microsoft said numerous requests have come in asking the company to support this field across older versions. 

The IAB defines the "plcmt" in the code as "placement" signifying a way for publishers to categorize their video ad inventory accurately as "in-stream," "accompanying content," "standalone," or "interstitial." 

By using video.plcmt, buyers can better understand where a video ad will appear on a webpage and tailor their bidding strategies, a change that should improve the accuracy and effectiveness of ad bids by providing more contextual information about video placements, the company said.