Cross-platform training program developed with big agencies

With over-the-top streaming on the rise, the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the trade group for digital advertising, has created a training programming to teach media buyers more about the capabilities of digital video.

The IAB says it found a fundamental lack of digital video knowledge among planners, buyers and creative teams.

In response, the IAB has created a curriculum it says will help TV planners by highlighting the unique factors and considerations involved in cross-platform planning and buying.

The curriculum was developed working with planners and buyer from top media agencies including Mediabrands North America, Carat, Publicis and BPN Worldwide.

At a time when YouTube and others in the digital world are creating more TV-like metrics to sell ads, digital ad buyers also need to learn more about the traditional TV world said, Christa Babcock, VP of Learning & Certification at IAB. But Babcock says the IAB course will focus on what those in traditional TV need to learn about digital. “We’ve seen an increasing skill set gap as a result of the increasing complexity in market,” she said. “More so, we’ve heard increasingly from our members and partners that there is a distinct need to provide education on this topic.”

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Babcock said the program was not designed to get agencies to buy more digital video and less traditional TV.

“We don’t see it as more of one is less of another. By providing state of the art training, we are empowering a population of buyers and planners to engage with a larger set of platforms and opportunities much more effectively,” she said.

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The curriculum focuses specifically on digital video and advanced TV ecosystems; audience-based planning strategies (including addressability and audience data sources); programmatic video buying; digital video creative considerations; video ad serving and trafficking best practices; as well as managing and reporting on video ad campaign success and optimization considerations.

The program was designed for people with 1 to 2 years of traditional TV planning and buying experience.