The rise of streaming is ushering in a format revolution that echoes the early days of digital advertising. But getting the most out of CTV for advertisers, media companies, and consumers is going to depend on a number of choices by the industry at large, said Cory Greenberg, head of Streaming, North America, at Index Exchange.
“Emerging formats are taking over the landscape in a really interesting way,” Greenberg told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the post-upfront leadership summit with Omnicom Media Group. “What we see coming out of the upfronts is this really leaned-in experience across not just the MVPDs and the OEMs, but broadcast as well.”
These platforms are now offering media buyers the ability to purchase non-standard formats that create unique advertising experiences beyond traditional 15 and 30-second spots. But, as always, with great innovation comes even greater complexity.
History repeating itself
Greenberg pointed to parallels between today’s streaming format proliferation and the early 2000s digital advertising landscape.
“In 2003, the [Interactive Advertising Bureau] rolled out the standards around traditional display ad sizes,” he said. “300-by 250, 728-by-90 is giving people the consistency to purchase media across multiple publishers.”
The current non-standard streaming formats face similar issues. “The inconsistencies around ad sizes and format file sizes, execution across media owners has created a challenge for some media buyers in terms of scaling these campaigns,” Greenberg said.
The standardization imperative
Index Exchange is betting heavily on standardization as the key to unlocking value across the ecosystem. The company is working closely with the IAB’s Ad Format HERO working group to establish future standards.
“Just like we did in OpenRTB 2.6, we’re leaning really heavily into the notion that standardization will unlock the true value,” Greenberg said. “Not just from a monetization perspective, but from a workflow automation and scale perspective for both buyers and sellers.”
This push for standards isn’t about limiting creativity — it’s about enabling scale. Without consistent formats, buyers struggle to execute campaigns efficiently across multiple platforms.
Full-funnel opportunities
Despite the current fragmentation, advertisers are embracing non-standard formats across their entire marketing funnel.
“We’re starting to see advertisers allocate dollars across the full funnel of these opportunities,” Greenberg noted. “Non-standard ad formats are now becoming a much larger part of the media mix.”
These formats aren’t limited to one type of campaign objective. “It touches not just performance, touches not just brand. It touches shoppable, measurement, reach and frequency,” he explained. “All of the things you would think about wanting from your traditional spots, you’re also now having the ability to do with non-standard formats.”
The path forward
While media fragmentation has created what some might call chaos, Greenberg sees opportunity. The key is establishing the right infrastructure to support innovation at scale.
For Index Exchange, the message is clear: standardization doesn’t stifle creativity—it enables it to flourish at scale. As streaming continues to evolve beyond traditional TV spots, having consistent technical standards will be crucial for both buyers looking to efficiently reach audiences and sellers seeking to maximize their inventory value.
“As a result of the standardization work that we’re hearing about from the IAB,” Greenberg said, “we’re starting to see things shift into these formats and we’ll continue to see so over the coming years.”
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