The Interactive Advertising Bureau is asking the digital advertising industry to adopt a new language for video at a moment when connected television, streaming, social feeds, retail media and digital-out-of-home screens increasingly compete for the same budgets.
IAB introduced its proposed Redefining Media Types Standard on July 9, 2026, with technical support from IAB Tech Lab. The framework is intended to give advertisers, agencies, publishers and technology platforms a consistent way to classify video inventory according to the viewing experience and the characteristics of each impression. IAB says its public-comment window runs through Aug. 8.
From channels to viewing experiences
Legacy labels often describe how content is distributed or which device delivers it. The proposed standard instead begins with how people encounter the screen. Its first layer groups video into broad viewing environments, including lean-back viewing, personal-screen viewing and passive or communal viewing.
That distinction matters because identical creative can appear in substantially different contexts. A commercial watched during a television program, encountered in a phone feed or displayed on a public screen may use the same video file, but attention, sound, screen size and the opportunity to respond are not equivalent.
The second layer adds impression-level attributes such as whether sound is on, whether an ad can be skipped, whether it is full screen, what device carries it, whether the impression is addressable and which measurement signals are available. IAB says those operational attributes could be encoded into OpenRTB bid requests and other technical systems.
Why media buyers should pay attention
For marketers, the proposal is less about terminology than comparability. Inconsistent definitions can make cross-platform plans look unified while masking meaningful differences in inventory, audience experience and measurement. A shared classification system could make buying briefs clearer, reduce reporting mismatches and help media owners describe what they are selling with greater precision.
The framework also arrives as automated and agentic buying systems assume more planning and execution work. Machines cannot reliably optimize across media environments if platforms, publishers and agencies use the same labels to mean different things. Standardized inputs would not eliminate judgment, but they could reduce the risk that an automated system compares unlike inventory or directs spending according to ambiguous instructions.
Independent trade publication AdExchanger reported that the working group included measurement specialists, streaming product leaders, major agency holding-company investment executives and Media Rating Council participants. It also noted that adoption, rather than publication of the framework itself, will determine whether the proposal changes market practice.
What happens next
IAB and IAB Tech Lab are expected to refine the framework after the comment period, with a final version planned later in 2026. The proposed taxonomy is also designed to inform IAB Tech Lab standards and IAB Measurement Center’s Project Eidos work rather than remain a standalone glossary.
Marketing leaders do not need to redesign their media plans immediately. They should, however, compare the proposed categories with the definitions already used in buying briefs, platform reports and agency contracts. Any mismatch is a preview of the operational friction the industry is trying to remove.
The executive question is straightforward: Can every party involved in a video investment explain, in the same terms, what was purchased, how the audience experienced it and how the result was measured? IAB’s proposal is an attempt to make that answer more consistent before automation raises the cost of ambiguity.