IAB Pushes for Common Language Between Video Ads and Players

The responsibility for creating standards in video advertising is fragmenting. Last week I touched on the dual roles now occupied by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, which is trying to increase efficiency for video ad buying, and “The Pool,” a project from Starcom MediaVest Group and Vivaki to establish creative standards for video ads.

As an example of where the IAB has now positioned itself in the standards creation process, the association today issued a set of proposed definitions (called VPAID, for Video Player-Ad Interface Definitions) that spell out how video players and ads should communicate. Without such commonality, agency-created ads won’t work with all video players..

According to the IAB, the new definitions will do the following:
-Define a standard method for video ads to talk to video players.
-Provide specs that can be used by any type of video player.
-Cut production costs and improve ROI for advertisers while enabling a less intrusive experience for video content viewers.
Dry stuff, but somebody’s gotta do it.