IAB Releases Redefining Media Types Standard for Public Comment

New Framework, Developed in Partnership With IAB Tech Lab, Establishes Shared Definitions for Digital Video Formats Aligned with Viewer Experiences

In Public Comment Until August 8

NEW YORK, July 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the leading trade organization for the digital advertising ecosystem, today announced the release of the Redefining Media Types (RMT) Standard for public comment, with IAB Tech Lab setting the technical standards needed for wide adoption. The public comment period will remain open through August 8, 2026 as IAB gathers feedback from brands, agencies, publishers, ad tech partners, networks, and other industry stakeholders.

"As the video marketplace has expanded across platforms, formats, and viewing experiences, the industry needs a more consistent way to define and classify digital video environments," said Jamie Finstein, VP, Media Center at IAB. "The Redefining Media Types Standard is intended to give buyers, sellers, publishers, and platforms a shared, future-proof language that improves planning, execution, and measurement across the entire ecosystem."

The RMT Standard is designed to help define the digital video ecosystem by creating comprehensive, standardized definitions for digital video product types and their associated advertising formats, including Connected TV, Online Video, social video, FAST, video podcasting, and retail video. The definitions consider channels, screens, context, and ad formats, with the goal of serving as an authoritative guide for media agencies, publishers, networks, technology partners, and brands.

"Many of the technical systems supporting digital advertising still rely on inconsistent or outdated classifications for video," said Anthony Katsur, CEO, IAB Tech Lab. "By partnering with IAB on this framework, we can help connect these definitions to the technical standards and infrastructure needed to support adoption across the industry."

The standard addresses a core problem in video advertising: legacy media classification terms were built to describe distribution technology and business models, not consumer experience.

For brands and agencies, inconsistent definitions can lead to misaligned planning strategies, incomparable measurement across platforms, and media investments that do not reflect the intended viewing environment. For publishers and platforms, inconsistent terminology can create confusion around inventory packaging, monetization, and buyer expectations. For ad tech and measurement providers, the lack of standardized classification makes it more difficult to support interoperability and consistent reporting across systems.

The RMT Standard provides a two-layer classification system designed to support both strategic planning and operational execution.

The first layer organizes video advertising environments into four macro buckets grounded in consumer viewing experience:

• Lean Back Viewing
• Personal Screen Viewing
• Passive and Communal Viewing

These buckets are based on how a viewer is cognitively and physically oriented to the screen, rather than the technology delivering the content or the business model funding it.

The second layer applies binary impression-level attributes that allow individual impressions to be classified with precision across platforms and devices, including:

• Sound state
• Skip-enabled versus completion-required
• Full-screen presentation
• Addressability
• Availability of signals
• Measurability
• Device
• Ad Formats

This operational layer gives planners, buyers, measurement vendors, and ad tech platforms a shared set of signals that can be used at the point of transaction.

Together, the two layers support both planning and technical execution. The macro buckets give the industry a shared language for strategy and cross-platform planning, while the operational attribute layer provides a framework for impression-level classification that can be encoded into OpenRTB bid requests and Project Eidos taxonomy fields.

The framework is intended to create clearer expectations and more consistent communication across the buy-side, sell-side, and technology ecosystem by:

• Helping brands and agencies align media investment with the intended consumer viewing experience
• Giving publishers and media owners more consistent ways to package and describe inventory
• Supporting more interoperable reporting and measurement across platforms
• Providing ad tech and measurement providers with standardized signals that can be used operationally at the point of transaction
• Creating a more stable standards foundation as video formats, platforms, and viewing behaviors evolve, and new media types enter the mix

The standard is intended to support everyone from the CMO setting a cross-platform video strategy to the engineer building the infrastructure, and as agentic workflows accelerate, a shared language is no longer optional. Without definitional alignment, agents acting on behalf of advertisers and sellers may produce costly and consequential errors.

"Given the extent of change in the video marketplace, from what and where people watch to how advertisers execute ad campaigns, it was critical to come together as an industry and develop a new, contemporary video marketplace framework," said Adam Gerber, Head of Strategy, Media.net. "The ambiguity and obsolescence of legacy definitions and ways of working were holding back growth and creating friction in the market. This new standard attempts to fix that and provide a common language for all marketplace participants to apply within the context of their individual businesses."

"With the constant innovation and increased complexity of our digital ecosystem, it is important for the industry to have consistent guiding principles in place," said Alex Stone, SVP, Managing Director, Horizon Media. "These IAB standards are our guardrails which we will use as our progression accelerates for years to come."

"As streaming and cross-platform video consumption continue to evolve, premium video remains one of the most effective environments for brands," said Michael Reidy, Senior Vice President, Small and Medium Business Growth, Advertising & Partnerships, NBCUniversal. "As an industry, we have an opportunity to align around clearer, more consistent standards that drive greater media effectiveness and deliver simplicity for our partners across buyers, sellers, and technology platforms."

"The way people watch video has changed dramatically, but the language the industry uses to describe it hasn't kept pace," adds Colt Cheadle, Sr. Manager, Sales Activation, Spectrum Reach. "As video continues to evolve across platforms, screens, and viewing experiences, establishing a common framework is essential to reducing complexity, improving collaboration, and helping buyers and sellers make more informed decisions."

The RMT Standard arrives as programmatic video investment, CTV spending, and cross-media video planning continue to grow, and as members across the buy-side, sell-side, and technology layer have acknowledged the need for definitional clarity. The framework is also designed to feed into IAB Measurement Center's Project Eidos taxonomy work and inform IAB Tech Lab's OpenRTB and AdCOM specifications, allowing it to work seamlessly with technical standards rather than a standalone document.

The public comment period for the RMT Standard is open from July 8, 2026, through August 8, 2026. IAB and IAB Tech Lab will continue working with industry stakeholders, working group participants, and standards contributors to refine the framework and support adoption across the ecosystem.

To learn more about the Redefining Media Types Standard and to provide feedback, click here.

About IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership comprises more than 700 leading media companies, brands, agencies, and the technology firms responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital ad marketing campaigns. The trade group fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing. In affiliation with the IAB Tech Lab, IAB develops technical standards and solutions. IAB is committed to professional development and elevating the knowledge, skills, expertise, and collaboration of the workforce across the industry. Through the work of its public policy office in Washington, D.C., the trade association advocates for its members and promotes the value of the interactive advertising industry to legislators and policymakers. Founded in 1996, IAB is headquartered in New York City.

SOURCE Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)