OpenAP Tackles Cross-Platform Targeting With Open Identity
Image courtesy of OpenAP
As video advertising becomes more targeted, OpenAP, the ad-tech company controlled by most of the biggest TV companies, is launching Open Indentity, a system that will make it easier for media buyers looking to build cross-platform campaigns that include traditional TV.
While data about TV audiences has been widely available to advertisers, as more viewing has shifted to streaming, information about who's watching has been closely held, making it difficult for advertisers to figure out the reach and frequency of their campaigns.
To facilitate targeting, media companies, media buyers, marketers and data providers have all developed their own identity spines, designed to help link their viewers to demographic and behavioral characteristics that can be used to build audiences for campaigns without sharing personally identifying information.
With the proliferation of identity spines, OpenAP’s Open Identity is designed to enable matching of identity data across publishers, advertisers, internet service providers and data providers without requiring a single central identity, something the industry is unlikely to produce.
OpenAP’s strategy has been endorsed by owners Comcast NBCUniversal, Fox, Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery.
The Walt Disney Co., which owns broadcast network ABC, cable networks including ESPN and streamers Hulu and Disney Plus is not a part of OpenAP.
The Open Identity technology will be live beginning May 2025.
In response to a question about whether streaming companies — Netflix, Amazon, Roku, etc. — would be invited to participate, an OpenAP spokesperson said, “Open Identity is built to work with any publisher, and no limitations have been put on it. It is up to the publishers whether to use it. Our ambition is that all folks participate.”
Data companies Acxiom, Deepsync, Experian, LiveRamp and TransUnion have signed on as data partners working to standardize identity data for targeting and measurement.
Identity data from DeepSync, Experian and TransUnion will be available within Open Identity for use in both creating audience segments for targeting and measuring campaign exposures at launch, with Acxiom and LiveRamp audience data integrations underway.
“The advertising industry is on the precipice of a renaissance where more scalable access to big data is driving increased ROI for advertisers across premium video. But this renaissance is dependent on privacy safe ways to both standardize identity and provide access to rich campaign data for planning and measurement,” said OpenAP CEO David Levy. “The workflow of the future for streaming video must be interoperable and data must connect seamlessly across all data providers, publishers, platforms and currencies. Open Identity's vision is to unlock this future potential.”
OpenAP was started by TV rivals Fox, Turner and what was then Viacom to compete with digital companies like Google and Facebook that were promising marketers more targeted and effective advertising.
Since that time, advertising has only become more digital, and OpenAP has worked to provide media buyers with a simple way to buy targeted audiences across television providers.
With a wide variety of identity spines across the industry and rules for using data that makes it difficult to compare and contrast the audiences of different streaming services, media buyers have said it is difficult to plan and measure the reach and frequency of cross-platform campaigns.
That difficulty is one reason why the share of ad dollars going to connected TV is smaller than the share of viewing that has moved to CTV.
OpenAP had previously launched OpenID as a common identifier designed to enable direct matching of identity data across publishers.
Open Identity is the overarching identity data infrastructure that enables interoperability and direct resolution across all identity solutions, not just OpenIDs, the company said.
Publishers and data providers connect their data sets to Open Identity via the OpenAP Data Hub, OpenAP's data clean room solution. Clean-room company SnowFlake is also an investor in OpenAP.
Open Identity will power OpenAP’s audience onboarding, distribution and reporting products to maintain consistency of audiences.
Advertisers and publishers will then use Open Identity to define the identity data providers that will be used on a campaign, as well as control the business logic that governs how households are associated with targeting and measurement signals in a transparent and consistent way.
"Partnering with OpenAP in the Open Identity initiative empowers advertisers to identify and reach the right audiences with measurable precision and efficiency,” said Martin Wexler, executive VP of partnerships at Acxiom. “By leveraging Acxiom's robust data, advertisers can minimize waste, enhance campaign performance, and achieve consistent, transparent results across streaming and cross-platform campaigns. This collaboration ensures advertisers can confidently navigate the complexities of data-driven TV advertising, unlocking new levels of engagement and ROI."
OpenAP said Open Identity will minimize waste and improve campaign efficiency, modernize ID matching, and consistently define and control the use of identity data from multiple providers when creating audiences and measuring audience performance.
“We consistently hear from advertisers that they need better targeting and measurement in streaming and that it needs to be easy to see holistic campaign performance, regardless of buy type or screen. By working together to build Open Identity through the OpenAP infrastructure, identity data can be interoperable across the entire premium video ecosystem, while creating the ability for publishers and advertisers to have control of how data is used for streaming and cross-platform campaigns. Getting the pipes in place will ensure consistency and transparency in audiences, and paves way for more innovation and effective measurement to continue to demonstrate that investment in premium video drives business outcomes,” Stephano Kim, chief strategy & operations officer at Fox Advertising; Ryan McConville, executive VP & chief product officer, advertising platforms & operations at NBCUniversal; Travis Scoles, executive VP of Advanced Advertising at Paramount Global; and David Porter, head of ad sales research, data, and insights at Warner Bros Discovery, said in a joint statement.
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LG Ad Solutions said it is working with Zenapse to bring emotionally intelligent artificial intelligence and psychographic targeting to connected TV advertising.
LG’s Ad Solutions Innovation Labs is collaborating with Zenapse’s proprietary Lage EMotion Model to target ads and develop new ad products designed to increase viewer engagement, personalization and campaign performance, the companies said.
“Putting together Zenapse's emotional intelligence AI capabilities and psychographic data with our proprietary technology is a win-win that enhances our ability to understand content, drive personalization, and improve targeting,” said David Rudnick, chief technology officer at LG Ad Solutions. “Ultimately, this helps advertisers forge deeper connections with viewers, maximize campaign performance, and increase ad relevance across connected environments.”
“Connected televisions are critical for digital ad strategies, and our partnership with LG Ad Solutions will enable marketers to deliver stronger customer experiences through emotionally intelligent insights backed by AI,” added Matthew Bernardini, CEO and co-founder of Zenapse. “Embarking on this new collaboration allows us to expand our reach and growing global footprint across all digital mediums.”