Broadcast Bigs Embrace Internet Tracking Tech

The four major television networks have embraced the Ad-ID tracking standard, which uses an XML-based system to assign and track unique identification codes for marketing assets across all media, including online.

ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX are now all fully Ad-ID compliant, according to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA). The industry trade groups are behind the two-year-old Ad-ID project, which is designed to replace the television-only Industry Standard Coding Identification (ISCI). The ISCI, the groups say, has too few digits, only 8, and doesn’t allow for the added data the 12-digit digital Ad-ID system makes possible.

“Top tier TV network acceptance is adding yet another ring to the ripple effect that Ad-ID has started within the advertising industry,” said Bob Liodice, president and CEO of the ANA. “Ad-ID is continuing to pick up more and more media companies and advertisers, firmly establishing the system as an industry-standard practice for driving marketing accountability.”

Ad-ID enables both the labeling of specific marketing assets and the recording of XML-based metadata — such as who created it, and when the ad is scheduled to run — about each asset. That’s initially expected to enable more efficient delivery and billing. Longer-term benefits of the system are expected to be global measurement, cross-media campaign tracking, analysis of advertising ROI and real-time verification that media ran according to the plan.

More than 100 marketers, including Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Con Agra, PepsiCo, Ernst & Young, Ford, Coors and Wachovia, have signed onto Ad-ID. Industry organizations such as the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau, the Television Advertising Bureau, the Interactive Television Alliance, the Internet Advertising Bureau, the Radio Advertising Bureau and the Outdoor Association of America have also publicly come out in favor of the standard.