Industry must speak one language before AI takes over

Before AI agents can transact on video inventory, the industry has to agree on what it is selling, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Media Center is trying to force the conversation. Jamie Finstein, IAB's VP of Media Center, told Beet.TV that "you ask five different people what video means, what streaming means, what CTV means, you're gonna get five different answers," and the inconsistency is now an automation problem: "If we as humans can't speak the same language, how can we expect the agents to be able to speak the same language?" The IAB is redefining media types with input from streaming platforms, agencies and brands, and Finstein singled out the convergence of connected TV and commerce media as "a mess" of two fragmented ecosystems colliding. The Media Center's 2027 priorities add live streaming (with IAB Tech Lab's LEAP playbook) and supply-chain transparency, where Finstein says "there needs to be more transparency around how an ad gets from point A to point B."

The crux

Standardized definitions are the precondition for the automated, agent-driven marketplace the industry is racing toward, and video is the highest-value inventory with the least agreement on what a unit actually is.

Sell-side read

Publishers selling video and connected TV should expect buyers to demand inventory classified against the IAB's new media-type definitions, and getting ahead of that taxonomy now means cleaner comparisons and fewer one-off negotiations later.

Watch

When the IAB publishes the finalized video media-type definitions and how quickly demand-side platforms adopt them in their buying interfaces.