The New Order of the CTV Supply Chain Authorize. Authenticate. Verify.

As media dollars in North America begin to shift to Connected TV, securing the CTV supply chain has become top of mind. The Tech Lab has already extended several of their existing fraud-fighting tools, including Ads.txt and App-ads.txt, Ads.cert and Sellers.json to address the CTV environment and later this year they will be rolling out Open Measurement SDK for CTV to help on the measurement front.  

Collaborating closely with MRC to ensure appropriate accreditation was baked into the outputs, the Tech Lab started working on the Open Measurement (OM) SDK project in 2018.  

The OM SDK looks to address: 

  1. Impressions – Understanding whether an ad was delivered and is actually being viewed is a key priority.  This means that it takes into consideration whether a TV was turned on or not while also factoring in volume levels. The information is then sent back to verification providers like IAS or Moat to include in their reporting to advertisers. 
  1. Software Standardization – Standardizing a native software library will be a major step forward for the industry. Publishers looking to work with multiple verification systems implemented by their advertisers, will no longer need to install several libraries. The standardization of methodology behind the calculations also alleviates the “black box” effect that stems from the multiple proprietary systems out in the marketplace. Consistency of data across all campaigns and devices drives scale and all parties will ultimately benefit from this output. 

Looking at the order of the supply chain through the lens of authorization, authentication and verification, IAB Tech Lab has been working hard to develop solutions to address each of these areas of focus. Authorization of connected TV inventory sales through Ads.txt, authentication through Ads.cert to ensure the exact server of choice is involved in a transaction and verification through the Open Measurement SDK to confirm an ad was served on a device that was turned on and in use. 

Coverage currently is aimed at Apple TV and Android to cover up to 80% of the revenue of Connected TV today. While most agencies and advertisers have insisted on purchasing “IAB Gold Standard” inventory that has latest security standards such as these in place, adoption remains a major priority for the industry.  

IAB Canada will be working on informative outputs and communications to further encourage adoption into 2022. Join the conversation and participate in our working groups this fall and winter. Contact committees@iabcanada.com to get involved.