By Melissa Gallo
Today the IAB Tech Lab is pleased to announce the release of OpenDirect 1.5 for public comment. OpenDirect 1.5 marks the first update to the 1.0 version which was released earlier this year. This revision offers a multitude of improvements to the open API for automated guaranteed buying and simplifying the IO process. According to the IAB Programmatic Revenue Report for 2014, while the majority of programmatic inventory is currently bought and sold through the Open Auction, a shift to other forms of programmatic buying such as Automated Guaranteed is expected. In order to support the industry shift the OpenDirect Work Group, which is part of the IAB Technology Lab, for the past year has gathered feedback from those companies who have implemented and are currently developing against the protocol. The changes made to the protocol range from the inclusion of essential features such as change request support to revised diagrams and improved implementation references in order to drive wider industry adoption of the protocol.OpenDirect 1.5 main improvements:
- Increased currency rules– OpenDirect 1.5 supports multiple products per currency and allows the user to choose currency
- Publisher Order Creation – Enables publishers to create orders on behalf of the advertiser/buyer
- Change Request support – Allows for buyers to request changes to the order mid-flight
- Optional Creative Assignment – Support for publishers to allow for orders to be finalized prior to the assigning of a creative
“Through collaborative discussion, buyers and sellers in the working group continue to identify opportunities to more easily integrate in pursuit of an open ecosystem for automated guaranteed buying and selling.” said Lucas Black, Sr. Director, Advertising Systems Product Management at AOL Platforms and co-chair of the OpenDirect Work Group. “The enhancements in this iteration will help to increase the adoption of the spec by making it more reflective of real world feedback as buyers and sellers have started to implement and have found opportunities for the spec to solve issues encountered. Analysts continue to point to automated guaranteed buying as a main growth area; the developments in this spec will help to make these predictions a reality.”
The public comment period will run through January 19, 2016, after which the OpenDirect work group will evaluate the comments received, make any necessary revisions, and release a final version. Comments are being accepted via email to Melissa Gallo at melissa@iab.com.
Read more information about the IAB OpenDirect Specification.