U.S. JIC conditionally certifies Comscore, iSpot and VideoAmp currencies

U.S. Joint Industry Committee Grants Conditional Certification in Next Stage of its Currency Certification Program

NEW YORK — OpenAP on behalf of the U.S. Joint Industry Committee (JIC) today announced that following a rigorous RFI scoring process, the JIC has granted conditional certification to Comscore, iSpot and VideoAmp as part of its ongoing currency certification efforts. The three companies were scored to be transactable through the JIC’s first stage of analysis, with full certification anticipated to be awarded in early 2024 to those who pass the data evaluation. The news marks an important milestone in bringing transparency to the industry on transactional readiness at scale for new cross-platform solutions and in enabling more competition in a multi-currency marketplace.

Overview of the Grading Period

Following the public release of the JIC’s Scoring Rubric in June, a JIC subcommittee with equal representation of buyers and sellers entered a scoring process to evaluate all RFI responses from participating measurement companies. The JIC’s Scoring Rubric was created to be a standardized instrument for all subcommittee members to use in scoring the RFI submissions. Companies were evaluated and graded based on the level of transactability as outlined in the rubric, with each company required to receive a score of three in all categories to receive conditional certification as a cross-platform currency. The scores were reviewed by the subcommittee on August 1, 2023, and a vote on conditional certification was taken. This vote was reviewed and approved by the full Joint Industry Committee on August 24.

Certification Roadmap

Conditional certification is granted to those who are moving forward into the data evaluation stage, with the JIC’s goal of issuing full certification in early 2024. Currency certification status will be granted on a two-year term spanning the calendar year. Companies will be up for recertification every two years and will be subject to further audit and evaluation within that window to maintain full certification status. Companies who receive and maintain full certification status will be granted access to the JIC Streaming Data Service set to launch in beta next year.

In addition to the currency certification program underway, the JIC will introduce a new measurement certification track in 2024 to bring additional standards and enable further innovation in cross-platform measurement solutions. This effort will complement the currency certification.

“We applaud the efforts of all companies who leaned in with the JIC’s currency certification efforts and participated in the RFI stage. Throughout the process thus far, it is clear that — while there is still work to be done — we are moving closer to having more currencies that are commercially ready for scalable transactions across both buyers and sellers. We look forward to continuing to work with the companies in both the next stage of the currency data evaluation process, as well as with those who will be partnering on measurement certification next year, as we thoughtfully and collaboratively work toward ushering the industry toward a modern measurement and currency ecosystem,” added a statement on behalf of the U.S. Joint Industry Committee.

About the U.S. Joint Industry Committee

The U.S. Joint Industry Committee (JIC) was created in January 2023 as a collaborative forum for both media buyers and video suppliers to work together to define a more sustainable model for long-form video measurement. Its initial charter at launch is executing a certification for new currencies and creating a harmonized streaming viewership dataset through OpenAP. By defining common standards around cross-platform measurement, it will seek to provide transparency into transactional readiness of cross-platform currencies and ultimately enable more competition of measurement solutions.