• by Laurie Sullivan , 10 hours ago

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) on Thursday released its first Campaign Data Standards from Project Eidos, introduced in February, for public comment, available through June 14.

Campaign Data Standards 1.0 establishes a baseline structure for campaign and placement-level data, presenting an interoperable framework designed to work across existing systems and media types.

Developed in collaboration between Project Eidos and the Measurement Advisory Committee (MAC), the standard aims to reduce measurement inefficiencies, streamline reporting, and enable more accurate cross-platform insights.

“Different naming conventions, misaligned classifications, and siloed datasets make it hard to reconcile data, slowing down reporting and pulling focus away from analysis and optimization,” stated Angelina Eng, vice president of the Measurement Center, IAB.

“These standards are about creating a common language so the industry can move faster, reduce friction, and get to more meaningful insights.”

This initial release introduces two foundational taxonomy dimensions: “Ad Type,” and “Ad Inventory.”

IAB describes “Ad Type” as the “advertising experience, including the ad format, product type, and behavior variant,” and describes “Ad Inventory” as “where the ad appears, including environment, placement, and specific position or slot within that environment.”

These represent two of several taxonomies that will combine to standardize campaign data across the ecosystem.

When applied at the line-item level, these standards enable granular reporting, clearer insights and improved cross-channel comparability.

Additional taxonomy standards are in development across campaign, placement and creative levels, and will expand on this framework.

While the framework is not a new platform, intended to replace proprietary systems or mandate specific measurement approaches, it has been designed in hopes of creating consistent and interoperability across existing workflows and technologies.

Prabhpreet Sidhu, senior vice president of analytics of commerce at Publicis, believes the challenge is not about collecting more data. It’s about “making data consistent, usable, and actionable.”

That has been the challenge for decades -- not only in the advertising industry, but also manufacturing and consumer product goods (CPG) supply chains, when companies initially used radio frequency identification technology or near field communication semiconductors to track inventory from manufacturing facilities to retail stores.

IAB is asking companies to test this standard against real-world execution and provide feedback on practical implementation, gaps in classifications or data coverage, alignment with existing workflows and systems and areas requiring additional clarity or flexibility.

“A shared campaign taxonomy can reduce the time teams spend on cleanup and reconciliation, allowing them to focus more on insights, optimization, and growth,” Sidhu said.