OpenAP Debuts OpenID to ‘Drag Linear TV Into 2020’

OpenAP, an advanced TV ad platform, is introducing a new identifier for television that connects audiences, no matter how they’re watching content. The new tech, called OpenID, comes as TV viewing trends are shifting away from linear TV and into streaming. The ID, which will be available during the 2022 broadcast season, aims to bring consistency to audience-based TV planning, reporting and measurement. “Previously, the linear and digital audiences didn't really have a connection point to them. Now, they're all based off the exact same ID set,” said David Levy, CEO of OpenAP. While traditional linear TV still accounts for the majority of TV viewing and ad spend, streaming is quickly catching up in both areas. Mike Fisher, vp of advanced TV and audio at GroupM’s Essence, said having a common identifier has been a missing link in the TV planning, buy and measurement workflow. Making it more measurable “What OpenAP and OpenID can offer is .. dragging the linear TV industry into 2020. Making it look more digital, making it look more accountable and measurable,” Fisher said. Networks supporting OpenID include: AMC Networks, A+E Networks, Crown Media, Discovery, Disney, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal, Univision, ViacomCBS, WarnerMedia and The Weather Channel. We need to level the playing field and ensure we're using the same audience across the boardRandi Leonard, director of advanced video investment and Haworth Marketing and Media Levy joined OpenAP in May 2019 and has since moved the company away from a member-based consortium and toward a transaction-based business. WarnerMedia, a founding member of OpenAP, dropped out after two years, but around the last 12 months, the network has worked with OpenAP as the company has changed its structure and developed OpenID, Levy said. Dentsu Media, GroupM, Haworth Marketing and Media, Horizon Media and Omnicom Media Group will be using the ID to target audiences and measure campaigns across networks and screens. An apples-to-apples comparison “We just need to level the playing field and make sure that we're using the same audience across the board, so then it's an apples-to-apples comparison. we can measure it properly, we can report on it properly, and then we're not putting one particular network at an advantage over another,” said Randi Leonard, director of advanced video investment at Haworth Marketing and Media. Buyers still negotiate directly with networks. The OpenAP platform acts as a single place to activate advanced TV campaigns and measure the results across different platforms. For example, an advertiser looking to reach viewers in the market to buy a car would negotiate pricing directly with Disney, WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal. Then, OpenAP would create that audience using the OpenID, connecting viewership data across networks and their different screens, matching that against a graph of offline data and reporting results within its platform. OpenAP has contracted TransUnion to provide a base layer of identity data for OpenID. These tech and data costs are ultimately borne by the networks, though Levy said OpenAP’s business model is to consolidate data fees for media owners. “Without OpenAP, the programmers end up doing these audience onboarding process themselves,” Levy said. “What that means is that the networks ... have had to pick up the cost of moving that data and licensing that data in any particular campaign .. Instead of creating eight different audiences for each network, you're only having to create one and we can then distribute it to any of them.” OpenAP is also partnering with other data companies including Nielsen, Comscore, Epsilon and Experian to match data in clean rooms and ensure identity resolution for OpenID. One data point used to match audiences is mobile ad ID, including Apple’s IDFA, meaning even television is now no longer immune to the drastically changing digital privacy landscape. “As more and more identifiers do get deprecated there, we're going to work with all the programmers to leverage new identifiers that makes sense,” Levy said. Why an OpenID Is Critical to the Future of Addressable Digital Advertising