The Addressable TV Initiative (ATVI) has entered into partnership agreements with TV set manufacturers TP Vision (Philips) and Vestel.
The two companies represent around 30% of TV set sales in Europe, according to ATVI. The joint venture between RTL Deutschland and ProSiebenSat.1 aims to facilitate the introduction of addressable TV based on open standards such as HbbTV in the European market.
The HbbTV-TA specification enables precise replacement of advertising on linear TV channels. Through the ATVI certification, broadcasters will be able to identify suitable TV sets for showing targeted advertising in the future. ATVI’s certification process ensures manufacturers that their products meet the highest standards in addressable advertising technology, according to the company.
“We are heavily focused on developing advanced TV solutions with modern targeting concepts. ATVI paves the way for scaling addressable advertising in Europe,” said Nicole Agudo Berbel, Managing Director of Joyn, Chief Distribution Officer of Seven.One Entertainment Group and Co-Managing Director of ATVI.
Andre Prahl, Chief Distribution Officer at RTL Deutschland and Co-Managing Director of ATVI added: “The interest of major industrial partners in ATVI’s services confirms that we are meeting a market need. The partnerships we have now concluded will take addressable TV standards in linear television a big step forward. ATVI will continue to advance the Europe-wide harmonised implementation of addressable TV based on open standards.”
Elie Bonte, Innovation Lead at TP Vision, said: “TP Vision has consistently championed open standards like HbbTV, aiming to drive innovation for both TV sets and consumers. We are pleased that our dedication to contributing and implementing these open standards is being recognised through ATVI certification. We eagerly anticipate successful cooperation with European broadcasters as they deploy HbbTV-TA-based services.”
Antic Ogut, Vice President of TV Product Management at Vestel, said: “As a well-established consumer electronics manufacturer, Vestel sells millions of TV sets globally each year, establishing us as one of the largest providers to many European countries. We are happy to engage into the ATVI certification process so that our TV sets can be included in the innovative HbbTV-TA targeted advertising services.”
At the same time, ATVI announced the conclusion of a technical cooperation agreement with Seraphic, a provider of middleware for connected TVs. “Seraphic is a long-time member of the HbbTV Association and has always been keen to embrace open standards to enable CSAI – Client-Side Ad Insertion capabilities on connected TV devices. Every year, around 10 million TV sets are delivered relying on a Seraphic middleware to bring advanced functions to end users. We are very happy to partner with ATVI to make sure that TV sets using our middleware will be fully compatible with the addressable advertising requirements,” said Xinwen Xue, Vice-President Global Business Development at Seraphic.
ATVI has also initiated technical collaboration with leading Taiwanese suppliers of core microelectronic components for TVs (‘chipsets’) to facilitate upstream compliance of TV models in the supply chain.
ATVI plans to expand its network of technology partnerships in 2024 to certify the vast majority of TVs sold in Europe as HbbTV-TA compatible.