Proving the reliability and profitability of online advertising is increasingly a priority for online businesses dependent on advertising for survival. To that end, the Internet Advertising Bureau has introduced five initiatives to improve the efficiency and spur the growth of online advertising.
The new IAB standards, which focus on implementing best practices, increasing efficiency and standardizing online ad sales, are intended to help encourage growth across the industry by making the process of buying and selling ads easier.
Jeremy Fain, vice president of the IAB, says “It is time to begin the critical work of adopting these standards and practices across the digital ecosystem and I encourage all stakeholders in the industry to take the necessary steps toward implementation so we can accelerate our trajectory of growth as an industry.”
Mike Hudack, CEO of online video portal blip.tv, is most excited about the Digital Video Ad Serving Template (VAST), which will standardize communication between digital video players and servers. Currently, there is no standard for talking to different video ad networks, which complicates the process of selling remnant advertising. “Theoretically, this should make all of that pain go away," says Hudack. "Everything will just work better and more seamlessly with less effort."
