IAB Australia has formed an Ad Tech Advisory Council, which aims to identify and address critical issues in advertising technology innovation, such as click fraud and ad viewability.
Launch members of the council include AppNexus, Amobee, Sizmek, Criteo, AdRoll, Exponential, Integral Ad Science, RadiumOne and SpotXchange.
Talking to AdNews last month IAB CEO Alice Manners and chair Ed Harrison, also CEO of Yahoo!7, said that ad tech is another growing area of membership for the IAB and that the organisation has a responsibility to grow its role within this area.
They said this could include establishing best practice and guidelines for that rapidly changing aspect of industry or helping as the conduit between advertisers, agencies and ad tech providers.
“It’s the stuff that isn’t usually high profile. It’s stuff that a lot of people wouldn’t recognise as work that’s being done. It’s not sexy, it doesn’t create headlines, but it requires a lot of focus. [Ad tech players] are crying out for an organisation that helps agree various standards and simplify the industry and makes it easier for advertisers to get involved,” he said.
Manners added: “Ad tech is such an incredibly confusing area for marketers. And so if we can help, not simplify it but explain it, and also to showcase the innovation and relevancy of ad tech and the possibilities that it brings through automation - it’s kind of needed because everything is getting mixed up at the moment.
“We talk about the data that comes out of it but we don’t talk about the technology which provides that. When you look at the areas of brand safety, there’s a lot of technology in that area.”
One of the first tasks of the Ad tech Advisory Council will be to survey marketers, to better understand the challenges and pressing concerns of the marketplace and then to look at operational solutions from a brand perspective.
The council's goal will be to focus on how technological innovations can deliver value and business outcomes for marketers Australia–wide, focusing on technical standards, operating guidelines, research, marketing, value-chain relationships and best practices.
The IAB is also primed to launch its Mobile Centre of Excellence later this quarter, with the centre aiming to be an industry resource providing useful support and information to advertisers about the ever-growing potential of mobile.
Nielsen Mobile and Tablet Audience Measurement data will also be stocked in the Mobile Centre.
“A lot of agencies are still grappling with what they do and that’s where we can play a role," Manners told AdNews.
IAB will also launch its Digital Audio Council later in 2015, with the purpose of creating standards and best practices to help bring clarity to the audio marketplace. The council will strive to educate marketers and agencies on the value of audio as a powerful and effective advertising medium, particularly since music and other forms of audio content increasingly are being delivered digitally via the Internet.
An increased focus on cross-screen effectiveness, audience planning and data integration will occur through 2015 for IAB, with a significant research project planned for late 2015 looking at cross-screen campaign optimisation focusing on video across TV, desktop and mobile.
The project will explore the "value" of each channel and the multiplier effect, with the aim of helping marketers deliver campaign impact beyond brand advertising and through to sales.
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