IAB Europe sets common rules for measuring connected TV ads. Sellers must say when the TV is off

IAB Europe published the final version of its CTV measurement framework on 1 October. CTV means connected TV: television sets that stream content over the internet. The document sets out which metrics sellers should report for ads on these sets, and five transparency principles. It follows a public consultation earlier this year.

Will Hunter of Magnite led the IAB Europe working group

The working group was led by Will Hunter, a director at Magnite’s SpringServe in Europe. Contributors included Amazon Ads, the broadcasters’ group EGTA, FreeWheel, IAB UK, MFE, ProSiebenSat.1, Pubitalia, RMB Belgium, RTÉ and Samsung Ads.

Hunter said consistency means more than using the same metric names. Buyers also need clarity on “methodology, limitations and the assumptions behind the numbers”, he said.

The framework splits CTV metrics into three groups

The first group covers delivery: impressions, filtering of invalid traffic, viewability and detecting when the TV is switched off. The second covers exposure and audience: completion rates, view-through rates, reach, device IDs and data about the content next to the ad. The third covers results, such as conversions, return on ad spend, incrementality, brand uplift, ad recall and attention.

Sellers should disclose limits and the TV’s power state

The five principles ask for shared definitions in line with existing standards and full disclosure of measurement limits. Buyers should be able to collect their own data, see whether the screen was on, and get detailed reports they can act on.

IAB Europe has worked on common standards in other areas too. Earlier it proposed one way to count in-store retail media impressions. Viewing habits explain the push: in the UK, eight in ten TV owners stream on the set.

One question to put to a CTV seller this week: does your report show which impressions ran while the TV was switched off?