As announced in April, IAB Canada continues to forge ahead with a database that will provide local Canadian content with a fighting chance to compete within the programmatic marketplace. While most advertisers are steering clear of unpredictable content and are thereby painting all news with the same brush, this database will provide the ability for brands to address the crux of their brand safety issues while continuing to support local content as a matter of protecting this vital source of information for Canadians.
As a part of this initiative, IAB Canada announced several weeks ago that we have formed a partnership with #NosMediasLocaux/#OurLocalMedia and will be merging the IAB Canada database content with the existing work that has been championed by M32 alongside its partners in Quebec to create a national directory including both English and French content providers. IAB Canada will take on the maintenance and provide access of the database to the digital media industry. Discussions will continue next week as we roll up our sleeves to this national initiative further off of the ground.
Concurrently, we have also reached out to the IAB Tech Lab who will help curate and incorporate our list of news domains within a directory of credible news publishers. Other local IABs will be adding to this directory making it a truly global “local” initiative. We have also instructed the IAB Tech Lab to include data points about the supply chain in the list to develop greater confidence among buyers placing ads via programmatic real time bidding methods on these sites. The first iteration of this initiative will begin with news only and will grow to include all Canadian content and we will let you know when it is ready and accessible.
The second stage of this initiative will include a deep dive into taxonomies used for blocking content. IAB Canada will be working with Councils and Committees to closely examine the impact that some broad terms might have on scale and exposure as well as the implications around missed opportunities that exist in some cases.
In the meantime, once both of the database initiatives are up and running, they will be made fully accessible to the industry at large.