Governance

The JIC operates as a 501(c)(6) non-profit trade association governed by a board of directors and a full committee that includes buy-side and sell-side organizations. The U.S. JIC adheres to bylaws and policies developed with oversight of retained legal and antitrust counsel. Its operating model includes:

  • Full Committee: Comprised of all member organizations with cross-disciplinary representation from Research, Ad Sales, Product and Data/Technology leadership. 

  • Subcommittees: Subcommittees are the operating groups where the work is done on behalf of the U.S. JIC. Buyers and sellers will have equal voice in decision making. To achieve this, the JIC strives for an equal number of representatives from the buy- and sell-side serving on the subcommittee.

  • Working Groups: Within the various Subcommittees, Working Groups are established to advise the Subcommittee where more niche expertise is needed.

  • Third Party Management, Counsel, Advisors and Consultants: The U.S. JIC retains an outsourced association management vendor to handle Governance, Finance, Tax and Membership Management.  Independent antitrust and legal counsel is also retained to further support the management of bylaws and governance, in addition to the employment of independent consultants with combined decades of buyside experience to support its ongoing initiatives.

  • Service Provider: OpenAP provides its technology for the use of Streaming Data Service, as well as operational and administrative support to execute the initiatives and decisions made within the Committee. OpenAP does not serve on the Board, nor does it have a vote in any Committee decisions.

The Role of the JIC versus the MRC

A common question is: “Why do we need a JIC if we already have the MRC?” The answer lies in the distinct roles. 

The MRC is an independent regulatory body. It ensures measurement companies meet minimum standards and validates that methodologies are technically sound and properly disclosed.

The JIC, by contrast, is a market governance body made up of buyers and sellers. It drives consensus on which measurement solutions are fit for specific use cases. It reviews methodologies, defines readiness standards, and ensures currencies are usable in the real world.

The need for nimble standardization in currency and national cross-platform measurement

The JIC joined other efforts in the market, such as the Media Rating Council (MRC), a historic regulator in the space. But the JIC isn’t competing against existing organizations. Rather, the JIC offers a new avenue for certification in a more specific application, which will ensure the deluge of new national cross-platform currencies flooding the market are operationally ready for transacting at scale. 

Buyers and sellers need to know which cross-platform currencies they can trust, which will inform the steps toward operational readiness and shape business models for the new reality of TV advertising. That’s why the JIC’s standards focus on key priorities for enablement, covering both transactional methodology and actual product features to determine permitted uses of data. 

The certification process examines a solution’s use of big data, its technology and infrastructure, the interoperability it provides, how it’s meeting privacy regulations, the level of data transparency, completeness and stability, the flexibility of workflows and transactions, and its media stewardship, among other factors.

By focusing on currencies and transactability rather than drilling deep into measurement methodologies and technical details, the JIC can keep pace with the solutions that buyers and sellers are using to negotiate media deals as the TV landscape evolves, all while supporting the important role of the MRC in validating methodology, revered as the gold standard for decades. The JIC and MRC serve different needs and envision working together to further the quality and utility of TV measurement.