Eight leading trade associations serving the advertising, marketing, and video technology industries are joining forces in an historic bid to create new guidelines for simplifying the distribution of digital video ads throughout the ad production sector.
The recommendations to be developed are aimed at advertisers, agencies, and production houses engaged in the production of digital video on computers, smartphones, tablets, and traditional television, which is increasingly becoming a digital medium.
The trade groups taking part in the initiative include:
- The Association of National Advertisers (ANA)
- The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Technology Laboratory
- The American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s)
- AICE: (The North American post production industry trade association)
- The Digital Production Partnership Ltd (DPP)
- The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA)
- The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM)
- The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE)
The trade groups will establish three joint working groups to address standards and make recommendations that will simplify digital video advertising distribution. Each group will address a specific area that the organizations have identified as being critical for meeting the ever-growing digital appetite of marketers and consumers. They are:
- File Delivery Specifications
- Advertising Metadata
- Audio Specifications and Best Practices
The three groups will commence work immediately and their work will evolve over time according to the issues they are addressing. Depending on each group’s disparate progress, an early draft of some recommendations could be completed by the end of the year.
“This is a momentous event in our industry whose time has come and is, in fact, overdue,” said Harold S. Geller, chief growth officer of Ad-ID LLC, a joint venture of the 4A’s and ANA. “Implementing common practices between digital assets will increase efficiency, profitability, and growth within our industry and I’m proud to be working with this exceptionally distinguished lineup of industry groups to deliver meaningful standardization across the supply chains.”
Alanna Gombert, general manager, IAB Tech Lab, and sr. VP, Technology and Ad Operations, IAB, added: “The time has come to chart a more efficient course that will support consumer consumption and ease navigation across multiple screens. These collective efforts will not only benefit our members, but the industry as a whole.”
“AICE is proud to be taking an active role in determining the best digital advertising distribution practices for production and post,” said Ryan Schnizlein, chairman of AICE’s Technical Committee and chief technology officer of Cutters Studios. “We look forward to working with stakeholders in other top trade organizations to overcome current and future integration challenges for our members.”
