Founded by a consortium of television publishers and operated by a leading, neutral third-party auditor, OpenAP delivers cross-publisher targeting and independent posting for advanced audiences.
Q. What is OpenAP?
A. Founded by a consortium of television publishers and supported by a leading, neutral third-party auditor, OpenAP is the television industry’s first open platform for cross-publisher audience targeting and independent posting.
OpenAP delivers a solution that is a step change for the industry, supporting sophisticated data-driven marketing, while preserving the integrity and transparency of television buying and posting.
Q. Why was OpenAP created?
A. Within our respective companies, OpenAP’s participating publishers were at the forefront of the evolution of TV, creating advanced, data-driven products that helped advertisers move beyond basic demographics and into advanced audience targeting. However, while demand for audience targeting has grown significantly, adoption has been limited by the industry’s failure to make audience buying as transparent and easy as traditional guarantees.
OpenAP was our response to a clear industry need that required collective action.
Q. How does OpenAP work?
A. OpenAP activates an advertiser’s custom audiences across the entire portfolio of participating television publishers:
Agencies and advertisers will benefit from
Q. Who are the participating OpenAP publishers?
A. Fox, Turner and Viacom co-founded OpenAP. OpenAP is open to all qualifying premium television publishers and our not-for-profit model encourages broad adoption. Today, participating publishers collectively reach 93% of all television audiences and we anticipate more publishers will join through 2017 and beyond.
Q. What is the independent auditor’s role in OpenAP?
A. An independent auditor has been contracted by the Governance Board to build and operate the OpenAP platform. As one of the world’s largest media auditors, they will provide 3rd party cross-publisher reporting of custom audience impressions.
Q. Is OpenAP a programmatic buying platform?
A. OpenAP is not a buying platform. OpenAP is a platform to ensure consistent definitions and independent posting of delivery.
Q. Will OpenAP support programmatic buying in the future?
A. OpenAP does not preclude new buying methods and in fact, simplifies audience buying. As an industry, we are focused on making cross-publisher audience targeting easy, consistent and independently posted. How sales are made is left up to the individual publishers. OpenAP does not preclude future programmatic sales models.
Q. How does OpenAP control security and protection over data and segment accessibility?
A. The OpenAP platform is built and administered by one of the world’s leading media auditors and is designed from the ground up with security and rights management as fundamental requirements. This means that agencies and advertisers maintain absolute control over which partners can review and analyze their target segments. It also means that segment definitions that are securely shared with publishers are blind by default; this means that publishers cannot see the specific construction or data source combinations included in a segment but instead only the specific viewing source IDs that comprise the segment.
Q. What is the future roadmap for OpenAP?
A. We will continue to build out OpenAP and make it more versatile for the industry including planned cross-platform capabilities. We anticipate more publishers to join through 2017 and we will continue to develop greater integration with agency and advertising planning and reporting systems. We will continue to preserve the integrity and openness of television buying and posting that has made TV and its premium content, such a trusted platform.
Q. Is there any cost to the agency/advertiser to use OpenAP?
A. OpenAP is available to use at no fee for agencies and advertisers. It means advertisers and agencies can use OpenAP to reach a potential 93% of all television audiences at no cost. OpenAP is an open model designed to encourage broad adoption, enabling advanced audience targeting across a massive portfolio of premium television content.
Q. Do all publishers within a buy need to agree to the same guarantee for OpenAP to work?
A. Each publisher and advertiser can continue to decide the specifics of their particular deal. OpenAP enables audience buying and will measure the media results on the designated agreed to audience. If an advertiser wants an additional deal guarantee, that can be negotiated specifically between the publisher and the advertiser.
Q. Does this change how advertisers interact with publishers?
A. No, it makes it easier. OpenAP simplifies audience buying without changing the way publishers will compete for your business. Publishers will still compete in content, pricing, and inventory packaging.
Q. How does OpenAP interact with existing agency tools and planning system?
A. The platform’s open architecture will enable system-to-system communication via APIs and the secure transfers of data in and out of the system to fuel our partners’ platforms and systems.
Q. Can OpenAP accept 1st-party custom audiences created in our own DMP or custom audiences developed at an agency?
A. Yes. OpenAP can onboard custom audience segments using a standardized, safe-harbor partner and process. OpenAP was built with the intended purpose of maximizing the investments and learnings advertisers and agencies have already made.
Q. What is measured and how is reporting delivered?
A. OpenAP measures cross-publisher audience delivery, reach and frequency. Reports will be available in the UI and exportable in user-friendly formats, or via API integration into agency reporting tools.
Q. Does OpenAP measure non-linear audience delivery?
A. The initial release of OpenAP is focused on the posting of audience buys on linear TV. Future versions of OpenAP will support independent posting of custom audience multi-platform delivery.
