CableLabs Issues Ad Specs
CableLabs today issued an anticipated set of specifications created to spur the development of cable advertising and other interactive products.
The Stewardship and Fulfillment Interfaces (SaFI) are comprised of component specs aimed at enabling interactive advertising, advertising within existing video on demand platforms and advanced forms of addressable ads.
The SaFI set includes the following four parts:
- Service Measurement Summary Interface (SMSI)
- Interactive Fullfillment Summary Interaface (IAF)
- Interactive Application Messaging Platform (IAM)
- Campaign Information Package Interface (CIP)
According to CableLabs, a working group comprised of technical experts from various MSOs, Canoe Ventures and CableLabs developed and will maintain the SaFI specs, “with selective input from the vendor community.”
Already tested in early draft versions at interop events, these specs were on a “fairly fast track,” said CableLabs SVP of Advanced Platforms Don Dulchinos, in a statement.
“Their publication is the critical next step in the development of the cable industry’s Advanced Advertising 1.0 architecture specification,” Arthur Orduna, CTO of Canoe Ventures, said in the CableLabs statement.
Terri Swartz, director of advertising technology at Cox Communications and a member of the MSO executive team overseeing this work at CableLabs stated that Cox “will look for compliance with SaFI specs as a key requirement for our advanced advertising vendors.”
For more on the Advanced Advertising 1.0 initiative, CableLabs recommends this page on their site. To access a recent CT-hosted webcast on advanced advertising, featuring representatives from Comcast Spotlight, Canoe Ventures, OpenTV, Sigma Systems and Tandberg Television, click here.
—Jonathan Tombes