IAB Tech Lab Releases Content Taxonomy 3.0 to Enable Contextual Targeting for CTV & Expands News Categories

Content Taxonomy 3.0 Improves the Ability to Identify News Categories and Target CTV, Podcasts, Games, and Mobile Apps Content: Standard Available for Comment for 30 Days

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IAB Tech Lab

Sep 23, 2021, 08:30 ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IAB Tech Lab, the digital advertising technical standards-setting body, announced today the updated Content Taxonomy 3.0 structure to support contextual buying for connected TV (CTV) and expands the News category. It will be open for public comment for 30 days, from September 23 to October 22. Content Taxonomy 3.0 enables buyers to use a consistent, easy-to-understand language across the entire advertising ecosystem to segment and categorize all content.

The standard provides an improved set of categories and vectors to support buying on CTV/Video, Podcasts, Games, and Mobile Apps. It also includes updates to better describe and monetize News content. The implementation guide includes improved information about the usage within various contexts, while the core principles introduced in 2.x remain the same. As part of the update:

CTV/Video: For the first time, CTV buyers and sellers can leverage the IAB Content Taxonomy for contextual targeting, using the new "entertainment genres" that have been added.
News Content: A 2020 IAB study showed the value of news in consumers' lives and its high level of trust among consumers. With Content Taxonomy 3.0, buyers have even more clarity over the type of news they are advertising against. More vectors were added, to provide buyers more information about the type of news content they are supporting. The "Content Purpose" vector includes News, Opinions & Op Eds, Reviews, etc. In addition, news content is now not limited to just the "Politics and News" category, which has been removed.
Podcasts, Games, and Mobile Apps: These categories were added to better support these forms of media, including mappings to the categories supported by the most common platforms for each.

"There are three major factors at play driving IAB Tech Lab's investment in Content Taxonomy. First is the rise of CTV advertising. We want to provide consistent ways for advertisers who choose to use contextual targeting to buy CTV. Second is the privacy updates like the demise of 3rd party cookies and changes in Apple IDFA, which is increasing the interest in the use of contextual targeting. Third is the importance of supporting news media and helping buyers get more comfortable buying news content," said Amit Shetty, Vice President, Programmatic Products & Partnership, IAB Tech Lab. "The update rolled out today addresses these issues and adds greater clarity for both advertisers and publishers."

To review the proposed standard and provide feedback, please go to: https://iabtechlab.com/standards/content-taxonomy/

About IAB Technology Laboratory
Established in 2014, the IAB Technology Laboratory (Tech Lab) is a non-profit consortium that engages a member community globally to develop foundational technology and standards that enable growth and trust in the digital media ecosystem. Comprised of digital publishers, ad technology firms, agencies, marketers, and other member companies, IAB Tech Lab focuses on solutions for brand safety and ad fraud; identity, data, and consumer privacy; ad experiences and measurement; and programmatic effectiveness. Its work includes the OpenRTB real-time bidding protocol, ads.txt anti-fraud specification, Open Measurement SDK for viewability and verification, VAST video specification, and Project Rearc initiative for privacy-centric addressability. Board members/companies are listed at https://iabtechlab.com/about-the-iab-tech-lab/tech-lab-leadership/. For more information, please visit https://iabtechlab.com.

SOURCE IAB Tech Lab