LAS VEGAS — When Fox, Turner and Viacom unveiled a new tool to help agencies buy ads across their new advanced TV offerings in April, it was described as “historical“.

But one of the partners says the move was just baby steps in what will become a much more full-fledged affair.

OpenAP is a way of introducing commonality around the ways the TV companies describe the many audience characteristics that are now targetable by advertisers through their platforms.

Until now, advertisers who were embracing the new TV targeting opportunity were getting confused by dissimilarities in those characteristics, when all they wanted to do was to to find their intended viewer.

“With OpenAP, we’re taking a first step here,” says Viacom data strategy SVP  Gabe Bevilacqua in this video interview with Beet.TV. “Right now, we’re building a foundation, built on consistent audiences, giving the advertiser and agency power and control over who sees their segment, where and how.”

Bevilacqua says OpenAP was a response to ad buyer demand.

“(We) are seeing a ton of demand in the market for ‘let’s do TV a little bit differently’,” he added.

“Pick-up truck intenders with (Fox) is a little bit different from pick-up truck intenders with (Viacom).”

OpenAP is powered by Accenture.

This video is part of Beet.TV’s coverage of the 2017 NAB Show in Las Vegas.   The series is sponsored by Ooyala.  For more coverage of NAB, please visit this page.