HbbTV Association moves forward with targeted advertising spec

Hybrid broadcast-broadband standards group the HbbTV Association has published the second phase of its solution for targeted advertising.

The specification enables substitution of broadcast adverts with targeted adverts in situations where the broadcast TV signal is received by a set-top box and passed to the HbbTV TV set via a connection such as HDMI.

The HbbTV Application Discovery Over Broadband (ADB) specification already defines how broadcasters can add signalling to video and audio which survives the HDMI connection and can be used by a TV set to launch an HbbTV app. This specification has now been updated to enable broadcaster apps to use the HbbTV targeted advertising API to schedule a precise switch from HDMI to an advert and back again when the TV set is connected via a set-top, according to the association.

The HbbTV Association said that the combination of ADB and targeted advertising will enable broadcasters to reach more of their audience with targeted advertising, and also to offer targeted inventories to advertisers in a homogeneous way, enabling broadcasters to better compete with web and mobile advertising.
HbbTV’s work on targeted advertising has been done in cooperation with the DVB Project, which developed the original requirements and their own related specifications for signalling when broadcast adverts can be replaced.

Both HbbTV ADB and DVB targeted advertising employ US ATSC 3.0 video and audio watermark solutions to enable signalling to survive carriage over an HDMI connection.

“The release of the [targeted advertising] solution for STB markets is a perfect example of how HbbTV adjusts its specifications to the needs of industry players, enabling them to adjust to real market circumstances and grow their business through new revenue sources,” said Vincent Grivet, Chair of the HbbTV Association.