Introducing UniversalAdId Support in OM SDK

The Open Measurement SDK is the industry standard for impression and viewability measurement. The single implementation supports multiple verification partners, easing maintenance cost and increasing measurement coverage. Today we’re sharing how this industry standard supports a newer Tech Lab Specification: ACIF. The Ad Creative ID Framework (ACIF) was developed by Tech Lab’s Advanced TV Commit Group and defines the use of a consistent identifier for ads that persist in every technical platform the ad touches. Such a framework improves ad decisioning, counting and measurement, and creative reconciliation. More importantly, it is foundational to bridging the gap between linear programming in CTV and the on-demand video we’ve become accustomed to in web and other connected environments.

A critical element of that framework is the UniversalAdId.

What is UniversalAdId?

Think of this as the source of truth for a creative ID. When an ad is trafficked, each system in which it resides tends to create an identifier for the ad. The UniversalAdId refers to a unique creative identifier that is maintained across systems by a registration authority that works with the creative owner. This creative ID may be generated with an authoritative program, such as the AD-ID® program in the United States, Clearcast in the UK, and ARPP in France. Many countries have ad registration authorities for purposes of linear advertising.

What does this mean for OM SDK?

Starting with OM SDK v1.5.5, the UniversalAdId has been introduced to the OMID API. This feature is fully backward-compatible, introducing no breaking changes to the existing API, allowing for a gradual integration.

Apps and Ad SDKs using the OM SDK can now pass through the idRegistry and idValue attributes from the <UniversalAdId> tag within the VAST document for the currently playing ad creative. This will allow measurement providers to more seamlessly reconcile the impression measurement with the specific advertiser creative.

Technical Details

The provided values are appended to the AdSession and then sent on the sessionStart event similar to the customReferenceData attribute.The idValue & idRegistry content is joined as a string in the following format: “idValue; idRegistry”.

For example: "CNPA0484000H; ad-id.org"

This feature is available in Android, ioS, tvOS and Web Video SDKs.

What should OM SDK integrators do?

The UniversalAdId can be provided to the corresponding AdSession through the OMID API using the Context object.

All AdSession types (Native, JavaScript & HTML) support transporting UniversalAdId information and can be configured as outlined in the following scenarios.

We’re excited to support the industry in further adoption of the Ad Creative ID Framework. Leveraging OM SDK to pass the creative ID to measurement partners should help improve reconciliation.