One of the industry groups aiming to bring simplicity and scale to advanced TV ad buying just got a little bigger.

OpenAP says it is adding ad inventory from CBS Television Network and CBS digital video properties to its offering that already included Fox, Viacom, NBC Universal and Univision.

The move is a natural consequence of the merger of Viacom and CBS, which completed last week, forming ViacomCBS. Jo Ann Ross, President and Chief Advertising Revenue Officer of ViacomCBS Domestic Advertising Sales, is joining representatives of the other networks on OpenAP’s board.

In a recent interview with Beet.TV at the Beet Retreat leadership event, which we are republishing here, OpenAP CEO David Levy said the new TV industry needs to come together to offer ad capabilities to rival the digital “duopoly”.

“I think there is a common need now with Facebook and Google out there – I think most people feel like that is the real competitor,” he said. “There’s actually been an incredible amount of collaboration, camaraderie amongst the table, so that (collaboration) has not been as bad as most people think.”

OpenAP’s evolution

Whilst advanced TV advertising offers tremendous opportunities like precision targeting and frequency capping, there is also buy-side frustration that many of the platforms on offer speak different languages.

OpenAP launched two years ago as  the means through which the TV networks harmonized how they define audience segments that are used by ad buyers who want to buy across outlets.

Recently, OpenAP made a step-change – launching an actual marketplace through which ad buyers can purchase data-driven TV ads across those networks from OpenAP itself, or else through buying platforms with OpenAP integrations. A recent update added workflow automation and guaranteed “audience delivery” for cross-platform campaigns.

In its ViacomCBS announcement, OpenAP says: “With the addition of CBS, the OpenAP Market is now the single largest advanced advertising platform in the U.S., representing campaign reach of virtually all U.S. television audiences through a combined member footprint that encompasses more than half of total national TV advertising spend across four broadcast networks, over 20 cable networks, and a vast array of digital video.”

Together for scale

Consortia now aiming to bring harmonization, simplicity and scale to addressable TV ad buying now include…

OpenAP:

Harmonized audience attributes plus self-serve buying across:

  • Fox
  • ViacomCBS
  • NBC Universal
  • Univision

Ampersand:

Uses proprietary viewing insights from 40 million households to help plan, execute and measure multi-screen ads via multiple cable operators. Owned by:

  • Comcast
  • Charter Communications
  • Cox Communications

Project OAR:

Vizio-founded consortium aiming to create an addressable advertising standard for targeting specific households, helping to make national ad inventory targetable. Members include:

  • AMC Networks
  • CBS
  • Discovery
  • FreeWheel
  • Hearst Television
  • NBCUniversal
  • The Walt Disney Co.
  • WarnerMedia’s Xandr
  • Fox

An ad agency committee includes representation from:

  • Publicis Media
  • Omnicom Media Group
  • GroupM
  • IPG/Magna
  • Dentsu Aegis Network
  • Havas
  • Horizon Media
By Robert Andrews on @robertandrews