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The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has announced Video Player-Ad Interface Definition Guidelines in an effort to simplify the buying and selling of digital video media. The guidelines outline methods of communication between video players and video ads while providing specs for planning, production, and implementation of video advertising.

Click here to See Larger Version and Digital Video Overview (pdf)

The IAB says the guidelines will help all stakeholders in the interactive advertising industry—marketers profit from reduced costs of production, creative agencies benefit from the decreased time it takes to execute a campaign and publishers gain from the expansion of the marketplace to more interactive digital advertising. According to the IAB, the guidelines help the industry:

- Define a standard method for video ads to communicate with video players and enable ad compatibility across all VPAID-compliant players

- Provide specifications that can be implemented by any type of video player

- Cut production costs and improve ROI for advertisers while enabling a less intrusive experience for video content viewers.

"Digital video is one of the most critical growth areas for interactive advertising because it provides marketers with the power of sight sound and motion," says IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg. "The standards that the IAB has created have played a key role in paving the way for a greater breadth of marketers across vertical industries to tap its power and I have no doubt that we are only at the very beginning."

The guidelines can be perused in a group of documents located at the IAB's site here. Documents include an overview, in-stream ad format guidelines and best practices, an ad serving template, and in-stream ad metrics definitions.