Advertisers go digital

NEW YORK – Top marketers are going digital to track the delivery of commercials into US homes with a system some advocates say will revolutionise advertising the way product codes changed the selling of sliced bread.

One day, it could even enable advertisers to target individual households. The top four US broadcast networks – CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox – have signed on to comply with a new 12-character code for tracking all advertising, a system heralded as a new standard for monitoring the US$263 billion US ad industry, the two advertising trade groups behind the system said.Called Ad-ID, the technical switch is being compared to the introduction of the universal product code, or UPC – the tiny bar codes that 30 years ago changed the way supermarket chains tracked and delivered inventory across the country.Ad-ID gives advertisers a centralised Web-based system that helps assign unique codes to their properties.More than 100 leading advertisers and other trade groups have endorsed the system.The compliance of top broadcast networks paves the way for making it a standard.- Nampa-ReutersThe top four US broadcast networks – CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox – have signed on to comply with a new 12-character code for tracking all advertising, a system heralded as a new standard for monitoring the US$263 billion US ad industry, the two advertising trade groups behind the system said.Called Ad-ID, the technical switch is being compared to the introduction of the universal product code, or UPC – the tiny bar codes that 30 years ago changed the way supermarket chains tracked and delivered inventory across the country.Ad-ID gives advertisers a centralised Web-based system that helps assign unique codes to their properties.More than 100 leading advertisers and other trade groups have endorsed the system.The compliance of top broadcast networks paves the way for making it a standard.- Nampa-Reuters