The DVB Project has published its first targeted advertising specification. The specification is the first piece of technical work of the DVB Targeted Advertising ecosystem to be published. It represents the first time that experts in broadcast advertising have come together to provide guidance on using existing advertising technology within linear broadcast.

As the initial DVB-TA specification observes, mass market penetration of internet connected televisions presents the opportunity for broadcast channels to support features commonly available in digital advertising.

Targeted advertising allows the substitution of an advert from a linear broadcast with an advert chosen by an advert decisioning service based on criteria such as viewer profile, viewing behaviour, environmental or contextual factors.

For broadcasters who wish to dynamically substitute advertising in a linear broadcast, or for platform operators who wish to enable that functionality for broadcasters, this document provides guidance on interfacing with prevailing digital advert decisioning systems and advice on the preparation of media for an optimized viewer experience.

The techniques described in the specification may also be applied to dynamic substitution of programme content.

The DVB BlueBook A178-1 on Dynamic substitution of content in linear broadcast is available from the DVB web site.

Work will continue on the signalling part of the specification, which will also be published as a DVB BlueBook in due course. Both documents will be forwarded for publication as ETSI standards.

www.dvb.org