AdsML Standards Approved, Issued

By: Jim Rosenberg The AdsML Consortium has issued AdsML Framework 2.0, Release 7. Members approved proposed standards for bookings, materials delivery and e-commerce usage rules and guidelines for magazine and newspaper advertising.

The AdsML Framework for E-Commerce Business Standards for Advertising is the first international data-exchange standard for managing the electronic transfer of information throughout the advertising industry.

Members also accepted updates to previously approved specifications, packaged with the new release and reflecting minor adjustments or changes that ensure the earlier specifications work properly with the new release.

"Member adoption of these specifications means that advertisers, publishers, and vendors can implement them and be confident that they will perform as promised," said AdsML Consortium Chair John Iobst, vice president of the Newspaper Association of America's Technology Group.

AdsML Technical Working Group Chair Tony Stewart, director of consulting for Rivcom Inc., New York, N.Y., said "scrutiny and testing" of the standards over two years of development "laid a solid foundation for their implementation."

The release contains the first public distribution of the Ad Ticket specification, which defines how to embed metadata in an ad's digital graphics files. A "proposed" standard ready for public assessment, the Ad Ticket standard is considered stable and ready to implement, according to the consortium, which said developers expect to present it to members later this year for approval.

"Member adoption of these AdsML specifications completes the AdsML Consortium's effort to formulate standards for the business processes that begin an advertisement's life cycle," said Harald Loeffler, the consortium's vice chair and research manager for Ifra in Darmstadt, Germany. The Technical Working Group now focuses on business processes at the other end of an ad's life -- e-invoicing and proof of publication, he said.

The consortium's mission is to develop an open standard to unify and extend existing advertising standards and automate advertising business processes -- across all types of media, throughout all stages of an ad's lifecycle and across all segments of the advertising industry. It is supported by Ifra, the international association for newspaper and media publishing, IDEAlliance, a print-industry organization promoting best practices in information technology, and the NAA. Strategic partners are Agfa, Associated Newspapers Ltd., and Time Inc. Members include companies and organizations united to create a set of media-neutral, internationally adopted specifications and business processes for the exchange of advertising information and content.