CIMM and SMPTE Issue Industrywide RFI

NEW YORK — The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement and the Society for Motion Picture and Television Engineers have issued a Request for Information on an open-standard technology for binding Ad-ID and Entertainment Identifier Registry coding to all advertising and program content assets. Technical solution providers are encouraged to participate in the RFI, which is available http://cimm-us.org/initiatives-2/rfps/.

The media industry currently has no open, uniform method of content identification that survives compression and distribution through the supply chain. Putting such an identification method in place is a critical next step toward the establishment of an interoperable standard for all professional video content that can be used throughout the entire media ecosystem.

In August 2013, CIMM and SMPTE formed a study group comprising CIMM members and representatives from media organizations, ad agencies, and vendors that were charged with formulating an understanding of technologies and future standards requirements that can be applied to content identification. Authoring this RFI was part of the group's charter.

CIMM’s advocacy platform, Trackable Asset Cross-Platform Identification, has called on the media industry to coalesce around unique identifying codes — similar to the Universal Product Codes used in other industries — provided by either Ad-ID, the industry standard for identifying advertising assets across all media platforms, or EIDR, a global registry for unique identification of movie and TV content. Participating media companies that embrace this approach can better monetize video assets across distribution platforms, increase efficiency and accuracy of media workflows, and improve cross-platform media measurement by making it easier to track assets across television, broadband, and mobile video.

Technical solution providers may contact Study Group Chair Chris Lennon at clennon@medianswers.tv with any questions about the RFI.