MSN, MSNBC, and the Microsoft Advertising Video Network Gets VPAID

Microsoft has introduced VPAID protocol across it's MSN, MSNBC, and the Microsoft Advertising Video Network channels.

VPAID (Video Player Ad-Interface Definition) is a standard protocol from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) between ad units and video players that helps provide a foundation for dynamic advertising experiences for users and granular event reporting for advertisers.

The protocol helps the advertising network in two important ways. For one, it helps with ad sequencing and and dynamic creative optimization (DCO). It also is a useful driver of interactivity with ads, making them more engaging and valuable. For an advertiser, the ability to leverage audience data and real-time optimization will help make the ads more useful and relevant to users, which ultimately increases the ads performance.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has spent more than a year building it's “IAB Video Suite,” which include critical updates to its key specs – VAST and VPAID. VAST 3.0, VPAID 2.0, and VMAP 1.0 offer a range of benefits to advertisers, publishers, and users. Examples of the benefits include: 1. Support for “skippable” video ads that allow for pricing models dependent on ads that play to completion and 2. support for the display of in-ad privacy notices (for example).