LONDON, 12 February 2019 — Michael Tuminello, VP of Publisher Products at Integral Ad Science (IAS), has been honoured with the IAB Tech Lab Service Excellence Award for outstanding contributions to VAST 4.1 video specifications. The award recognises IAB Tech Lab member companies and individuals for their noteworthy work on IAB Tech Lab initiatives over the past year.

Digital video ad spend was forecasted to total £2.52 billion in 2018 and by 2020, video is projected to represent more than half of display ad spending, according to eMarketer. A majority of that spend is targeted toward mobile and new video platforms including OTT, as consumer behaviours shift. Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) data shows that by Q4 2018 the number of homes now accessing at least one OTT service has remained steady at 11.6 million, with 33,000 additional homes taking at least one SVOD service compared to the previous quarter. As advertisers evolve their plans to reach consumers, standardised mobile and video measurement solutions become more critical.

As a founding member of the IAB Tech Lab Open Measurement initiative, IAS has partnered with key industry stakeholders and the IAB Tech Lab since 2016 to advance measurement standards. VAST 4.1 incorporates the Open Measurement standard for web as the mechanism for measuring web VAST inventory. The Open Measurement initiative has been successful for mobile, and IAS is dedicated to ensuring VAST 4.1 has the opportunity for industry-wide adoption.

“I am thrilled to receive the IAB Tech Lab Service Excellence Award. VAST 4.1 paves the way for adoption of OMID for video and sets the stage for standardised measurement of video across all devices, including OTT. The next step is for publishers and video broadcasters to transition away from VPAID and embrace the cross-device OMID model. We know buy-side and sell-side alike stand to benefit by leaving VPAID behind, and IAS is ready to support our advertiser and publisher clients in making the adjustment,” said Tuminello.

VPAID, the existing primary standard measurement used for video, has become a liability for publishers and end users over time because of latency and performance issues. VAST 4.1 solves for those challenges by improving the video experience for consumers while allowing advertisers to measure their video ads; ultimately expanding their ad spend.

“The digital video space has certainly evolved tremendously since 2012 when VAST 3.0 was released,” said Dennis Buchheim, SVP and GM of the IAB Tech Lab. “The need to support cross-platform ad delivery and measurement, server-side ad insertion, and enhanced workflow – along with the drive towards transparency – led to a refresh of VAST that, coupled with Tech Lab’s Open Measurement initiative, will spur innovation in video advertising. The industry’s leading companies came together to develop VAST 4.1, and we’re grateful for their contributions and commitment.”

IAS is committed to working closely with the IAB Tech Lab to advance initiatives like the OM SDK in mobile and video that continue to move the industry towards more comprehensive measurement solutions. For more information on IAS or our work, email press@integralads.com.