• by Tobi Elkin  @tobielkin, June 6, 2016

Video advertising marketplace Teads on Monday announced it’s launched a new accreditation program to offer media buyers training in outstream video advertising.

An outstream ad is a video ad unit that’s not tied to any publisher video content, unlike a pre-roll or mid-roll ad that's required  to wrap around content. Instead of running within a standard video player, outstream ad impressions can run within standard ad placements, on the corner of the page, or within the content of a written article. These type of ad units are designed to be 100% viewable.

Teads will offer advertisers, agencies and trading desks half-day training sessions in which they will earn an outstream video certificate.  Topics covered include: how outstream fits into the overall media mix, how to read and evaluate outstream metrics compared to other video formats, instructions on how to buy outstream programmatically via a demand-side platform, and the latest case studies.

Teads created the training to address a perceived lack of premium video inventory available in the marketplace and deliver more creative ads better positioned to attract the attention of consumers. Teads says its outstream video marketplace reaches 1.2 billion unique users and that all publishers on its marketplace have a direct relationships with Teads. That means they use Teads’ outstream ad server and supply-side platform; there is no third-party supply partner.

Teads hopes its training program will boost the industry’s understanding of outstream video. “We feel the responsibility to lead the charge towards education, knowledge and industry empowerment,” Jim Daily, Teads’ president, USA and Canada, told Real-Time Daily  via email.

Joshua Lowcock, EVP, digital at Universal McCann, U.S. told Real-Time Daily: “Outstream is the fastest growing category in video advertising, but there's still a need for further education and insight into how best to optimize outstream campaigns to ensure the format is being used most effectively. Teads' new accreditation program will help fill a knowledge gap in the industry and go a long way toward creating standards for this format. We look forward to participating in this program. Our teams will benefit from Teads' expertise in planning and buying outstream video."

A Forrester survey in 2015 found that 77%  of agencies and 70% of advertisers think that outstream ads will be important for an ad portfolio. Outstream video is perceived to bring more contextual opportunities for advertisers to tell their stories and expand the amount of available inventory.