Video Viewability Initiative OpenVV Quadruples Membership

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Aug. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Open VideoView (OpenVV), the open-source viewability solution for in-stream video advertising that was released in May 2013, announced today it has quadrupled membership with 20 companies now offering support for the open viewability initiative.

The roster of new companies joining OpenVV include 24/7 Media, Adap.tv, Adconion Direct, Blinkx, Brainient, DataXu, DG, Extreme Reach, Media6Degrees, Meetrics, Mixpo, Nielsen, PointRoll, SourceKnowledge and TRUSTe. These companies join founding members TubeMogul, BrightRoll, Innovid, LiveRail and SpotXchange in the effort to create an open standard for video viewability.

While some companies in the industry claim to have solved the viewability issue in digital video, the variety of proprietary technologies has contributed to disagreement on what viewability actually means and how advertisers can verify whether their ads are seen. The belief among the OpenVV consortium is that we need to move toward an industry-wide standard that will benefit brands, agencies and publishers.

OpenVV aims to change this by providing open-source code that can be used as a reference template to create an open and common standard of measurement. The members of OpenVV believe this is critical to avoid the confusion that currently exists in display viewability, where proprietary solutions of multiple vendors have generated varying results for viewability rates. Members of the OpenVV consortium are conducting viewability data testing in collaboration with the Media Rating Council (MRC) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). The initial findings have been shared with the MRC and they will help inform the final definition of viewability for in-stream video advertising.

"We recognize the collaborative efforts behind OpenVV and their open-sourced approach to solving the technology behind video viewability," comments Rene Asis, Director, Media Tools & Technology at Razorfish. "These efforts are a big step forward in standardizing the industry's approach to viewability. The ability to validate media that appears in the viewable space has always been on the industry's wish list and with OpenVV we are all closer to making this a reality."

The OpenVV open-source code accounts for the key pieces of video viewability: the code tracks whether a video is in view, whether the ad is muted, whether or not the window is active and the exact percentage of video that is viewable on a user's screen. To download the code or see a demo, please visit: http://www.openvv.org

OpenVV is open to any brand, agency, publisher or vendor within the video ecosystem and is accepting new members on an ongoing basis. Please refer to http://www.openvv.org/contact if your company would like to join.

24/7 Media
"24/7 Media is joining OpenVV because we recognize that our industry needs a standard for measurement of digital video advertising viewability. With this standard, advertisers will continue to expand their investment in video advertising and publishers will be able to monetize their premium content at a fair price." Rob Schneider, SVP Corporate Strategy and Platform Development

Adconion Direct
"Adconion Direct fully supports the OpenVV consortium and the development of an open and transparent approach to viewability measurement for video. We believe that viewable impressions for both video and display are essential to providing the highest standards of advertiser solutions, and OpenVV is paving the way towards effective industry measurements and future video advertising success." Michael Parkes, SVP of Sales

Brainient
"We are very pleased to be part of this industry defining initiative. We will be integrating these metrics into our reporting over the next few months to give our customers key insight into the quality of their interactive video ad placements." Anna Tracey, COO

DataXu
"As one of the founders of Open RTB, DataXu believes in the power of industry collaboration to solve big, thorny problems that are best solved by multiple parties in the ecosystem working together. The concerns surrounding viewability must be addressed with a standard measurement framework and OpenVV is committed to moving the industry forward." Mukund Ramachandran, GM of Video Advertising Solutions

DG
"Our industry has the momentum now to bring brands, advertisers and agencies increased accuracy and relevancy to their campaigns, as we shift from served impressions to viewable impressions as a standard currency for online video advertising. If the goal is to create parity between TV and Online Video this joint initiative is the next step in ensuring that, together, we are able to meet the challenges of increasingly complex campaigns with the most sophisticated campaign management tools across all screens." Mike Caprio, VP of Video, Broadcast & Connected Devices

Extreme Reach
"Our clients want standardized video viewability metrics and a methodology that's consistent across the industry, from online publishers and networks to video ad serving platforms. We're pleased with the momentum of OpenVV and very happy to be able to offer the standardized approach to viewability that our clients prefer." John Roland, CEO

Media6Degrees (m6d)
"We are proud to join our fellow industry leaders as a member of OpenVV. The industry is in desperate need of an open viewability standard that prevents disreputable companies from taking advantage of brands by delivering misleading measurements. This consortium will help lead the industry through the necessary legwork to achieve legitimate standards." Alec Greenberg, VP of Media Operations

Meetrics
"As a company that specialises in visibility tracking, we welcome the OpenVV standard to overcome the fragmented video ad inventory due to incompatible technologies.  Having the OpenVV standard will help drive knowledge and adoption with clients in order to meet the rising demand for tracking video ads." Anant Joshi, Director of International Business

Mixpo
"We strongly support the motivation behind the OpenVV initiative. Raising the awareness of off-page inventory and the need for a standards-based measurement of viewability is vital to the video advertising industry." Brian Cohee, SVP, Data and Systems

Pointroll
"Advertisers find video incredibly appealing, because it allows them to engage online consumers with dynamic, and even interactive content. Of course, these ads are only effective when seen. With growing investment in online video, viewability is one of the biggest concerns. We are glad to be a part of OpenVV to solve the issues with ad visibility and develop a standard that helps all advertisers, agencies, and ad companies." Mario Diez, CEO of PointRoll

SourceKnowledge
"We believe open standards like OpenVV lay a solid foundation of transparency and trust with advertisers and are critical to the advancement of the online video advertising industry. We are excited to join the OpenVV community and contribute to further developing the open viewability standard." Stuart MacDougall, CTO of SourceKnowledge

TRUSTe
"TRUSTe is excited to do its part in helping realize viewability as a new standard for the world of digital video. We look forward to and welcome all efforts to further transparency within online advertising, and think OpenVV technology is a great beginning towards developing an open source standards-based technology offering." Kevin Trilli, VP of Product at TRUSTe

About OpenVV
OpenVV is open source technology for measuring video ad viewability, aligned with commonly agreed upon industry standards and exposed to broad technical review. The solution is comprehensive, industry tested, innovative and its capabilities are continually reviewed and expanded by member companies. The solution is released with the most relaxed license available allowing anyone to edit, copy or use the code. OpenVV was founded in May 2013 by TubeMogul, BrightRoll, Innovid, LiveRail and SpotXchange and currently includes 15 additional leading companies from the digital video industry.

To learn more, visit OpenVV.org

SOURCE OpenVV