About a year ago IAB Tech Lab launched the Ad Format Hero initiative to standardize the “Wild West” of CTV ad formats just as the IAB had done 15 years or so ago for the traditional web formats we all use today. Little did we know how wild that “Wild West” was as the Ad Format Hero Task Force undertook the journey from well over 100 submitted formats to the 8 finalist candidates around which we surveyed the industry, down to 6 final formats that we have placed in the CTV Ad Portfolio we released today. Let’s review that journey and explain some of the decisions made along the way.
How we got here
The easy part was getting companies in the CTV space to submit examples of their ad formats. Each company needed to submit the specs and an example of their format that had been used in a real life monetization scenario. The variety and innovation we received was impressive. Over 40 companies, including media companies, CTV focused publishers, and ad tech companies, submitted well over 100 different formats. From that audience and from an open call to Tech Lab Members, we formed the Ad Format Hero Task Force to review the submissions and begin the standardization process.
First we evaluated each submission and grouped them into similar categories, which was more complicated than expected, given the variety. This process resulted in 8 formats identified. Next we surveyed the ecosystem, on both the buy and the sell sides to understand their level of interest in each format and what opportunities for revenue, efficiency, and growth each format presented.
The 8 formats, identified at this point in the process, were: Pause Ads, Overlay Ads over Content, Menu and Home Screen Ads, Screen Saver Ads, In-Scene Insertion Ads, Content Squeeze Back Ads, Ad Squeeze Back Ads, and Immersive/Extensible Ads.
(Note: These evolved after the survey, as the Task Force worked through how to describe the size, execution and user experience of each format.)
The hard discussions
We received over 100 responses to the survey, with input from Buyers and Sellers, Leaders, Product Managers, Ad Operations and Marketers, which provided the Task Force with helpful additional guidance. You can view a webinar discussing the results, along with a panel featuring Samsung and DirecTV on the finalization process here.
During the finalization process the Task Force debated (sometimes very spiritedly) whether a format was net new, or whether it was a feature of an existing format. They also discussed the amount of variation that should be allowed within the new formats.. These discussions resulted in reducing the final Portfolio to 6 formats, with 2 of those formats (Squeezeback and Overlay Ads) having specific variations defined. The final formats also had their names simplified for the release, to help create more consistent communication between partners.
The two formats consolidated from the industry survey were the Immersive/Extensible Ads format, and Ad Squeeze Back Ads. Immersive/Extensible Ads is largely supported by SIMID and was determined to be a feature applicable to most of the formats in the portfolio instead of a format itself. The specification has a section explaining how best to implement these types of Ads within the portfolio. Ad Squeeze Back Ads format,is a slot in a video pod execution. It is bought and sold through existing instream, ad pod mechanisms, , so it was deemed unnecessary to detail as a new format.
We aim to make it easy for the industry to adopt and implement these formats quickly. Standardization of ad formats reduces the time to create ads, and increases efficiency by unlocking scaled programmatic transactions. With a common understanding of growing CTV ad formats, everybody wins.
What’s Next?
The CTV Ad Portfolio was published on December 11, 2025, along with a major update to the CTV Programmatic Guide. They will both be open for Public Comment until January 31, 2026. But work is continuing in the meantime. To fully complete this initiative, and fully enable programmatic trading of the Portfolio, work will be needed by the Advanced TV and Programmatic Supply Chain Working Groups to determine any changes that are needed to the OpenRTB, VAST, AdCOM, and SIMID specifications for signaling around the formats in the Portfolio. If you are interested in joining this effort in any of the working groups, please email techlab@iabtechlab.com
Barnaby Edwards
Sr Director, Product Marketing
IAB Tech Lab