WASHINGTON, D.C., SYDNEY & LONDON (October 1, 2024): OAAA (Out of Home Advertising Association of America), OMA (Outdoor Media Association of Australia) and Outsmart (Out of Home Trade Association in UK) today announced that they have collaborated with IAB Tech Lab, the global digital advertising technical standard-setting body, to publish a comprehensive document and technical resources to support standardized Programmatic Guaranteed Direct trading across Classic and Digital Out of Home (OOH) media.
OpenDirect 2.1 is the updated programmatic trading standard that allows OOH buyers to plan, buy, activate and report directly from premium publishers. OOH screens and billboards can now be discovered, planned, traded, activated and reported using a common data driven trading standard.
The features supported in OpenDirect include:
- Searching for managed product inventory and guaranteed deals.
- Determining price and availability.
- Applying targeting and frequency constraints.
- Creating orders and adding lines.
- Uploading creative and assigning creative rules to booking lines.
- Reserving and booking inventory.
- Proof of Posting/Play.
Key organizations who contributed to this work include Clear Channel, Global Outdoor, JCDecaux, Ocean Outdoor, Place Exchange, Publicis, WPP, Denstu and Omnicom.
The OpenDirect API enables buyers to plan and deliver a guaranteed OOH advertising campaigns alongside both ‘Online’ and ‘Offline’ premium inventory channels such as, Display, Mobile, Print, TV and Radio that can also use the OpenDirect trading method.
Tim Lumb, Director of Outsmart comments, “The benefits of international collaboration across advertising associations, publishers and buyers are clear to see. IAB Tech Lab’s OpenDirect makes it even easier for brands to buy across media channels.”
“Embracing OpenDirect 2.1 represents a significant growth opportunity for the OOH industry,” said Jeff Jan, EVP Strategy & Growth, OAAA. “This update not only helps streamline our transactions but also greatly enhances our ability to integrate OOH with online and offline media, ensuring a more unified marketplace.”
Elizabeth McIntyre , CEO of the OMA commented “It’s exciting that OpenDirect 2.1. brings the real world Out of Home benefits of contextual relevance, attention and reach into the OpenDirect schema, allowing the programmatic guaranteed trade of both our OOH traditional (offline) and digital(online) formats alongside other premium media inventory.”
“The opportunity for true omnichannel advertising has grown exponentially over the past decade,” said Hillary Slattery, Director of Programmatic, Product, IAB Tech Lab. “As a growing number of advertisers integrate offline media into the funnel of online, mobile, audio, and CTV advertising, the importance of working with stakeholders across the programmatic ecosystem to establish a living, common language with standard definitions cannot be overstated. IAB Tech Lab is proud to collaborate with global Media Owners, Agencies and OOH trade organizations like OAAA, OMA and Outsmart to establish a common implementation of IAB Tech Lab’s OpenDirect methodology.”
Further details about the OpenDirect value proposition can be found here:
The documentation and technical resources to support standardized Programmatic Guaranteed Direct trading are available free of charge and can be found here.
https://github.com/InteractiveAdvertisingBureau/OpenDirect/blob/main/OpenDirect.md
About OAAA
The Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) is the national trade association for the entire out of home (OOH) advertising industry. OAAA represents over 850 members, including leading media companies, advertisers, agencies, ad-tech providers, and suppliers, which comprise over 90 percent of the industry. OOH media includes billboards, street furniture, transit, place-based media, and digital formats (DOOH) across every sector of the channel. OAAA is the unifying voice for the industry, the authoritative thought leader, and the passionate advocate for advancing OOH advertising in the United States. The legislative unit of OAAA advocates for the responsible growth of OOH with federal, state, and local governments. OAAA-member media companies donate over $500 million annually in public service advertising. Founded in 1891, OAAA is headquartered in Washington, DC, with offices in New York City.
About the OMA
The OMA is the peak industry body which represents most of Australia’s Outdoor Media Display companies and production facilities, and some Media Display asset owners. The OMA operates nationally and prior to July 2005 traded as the Outdoor Advertising Association of Australia (OAAA). It was first incorporated in 1939. The OMA’s charter is to serve its members by promoting the OOH industry and developing constructive relations with its primary stakeholders. Its core functions are Marketing and Research (including audience measurement), Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs, Media Relations, and Member Services. The OMA is governed by a Board of Directors which is elected by the membership. Members of the OMA adhere to a Code of Ethics and abide by the regulatory frameworks in which they operate.
About Outsmart
Outsmart is the UK trade body for the Out of Home (OOH) industry. We collaborate with all parts of the industry to provide a central reference point for our members, aiming to protect and advance their relationships with the advertising community, the public and national and local government. Visit https://www.outsmart.org.uk/
About IAB Technology Laboratory
Established in 2014, the IAB Technology Laboratory (Tech Lab) is a non-profit consortium that engages a member community globally to develop foundational technology and standards that enable growth and trust in the digital media ecosystem. Comprised of digital publishers, ad technology firms, agencies, marketers, and other member companies, IAB Tech Lab focuses on solutions for brand safety and ad fraud; identity, data, and consumer privacy; ad experiences and measurement; and programmatic effectiveness. Its work includes the OpenRTB real-time bidding protocol, ads.txt anti-fraud specification, Open Measurement SDK for viewability and verification, VAST video specification, and Project Rearc initiative for privacy-centric addressability including the Global Privacy Platform. Board members/companies are listed at https://iabtechlab.com/about-the-iab-tech-lab/tech-lab-leadership/. For more information, please visit https://iabtechlab.com.
*ISBA Second Programmatic Supply Chain Transparency Study in Partnership with PWC, 18 Jan 2023 (e.g. $6,400 of media will cost $10,000 to buy, an increase of 54%)