Interesting piece in USA Today on a new standard for tracking TV ads as well as ads across other mediums… Seems to have good buy-in from both networks and advertisers.
The top four U.S. broadcast networks — CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox — have signed on to comply with a new 12-character code for tracking all advertising, a system heralded as a new standard for monitoring the $263 billion U.S. ad industry, the two advertising trade groups behind the system said.
Called Ad-ID, the technical switch is being compared to the introduction of the universal product code, or UPC — the tiny bar codes that 30 years ago changed the way supermarket chains tracked and delivered inventory across the country.
Ad-ID gives advertisers a centralized Web-based system that helps assign unique codes to their properties. More than 100 leading advertisers and other trade groups have endorsed the system. The compliance of top broadcast networks paves the way for making it a standard. [USATODAY.com]