A slow start turned into a flat finish for the B2B Media and Information industry in 2016, with normal stalwarts such as events and digital advertising showing some weakness. Overall revenue grew less than a percentage point to $28.49 billion, up from $28.27 billion in 2015. According to upcoming Connectiv Operating Cost Report, 47.8 percent of respondents said that gross revenue was higher in 2016 than 2015, while 52.2 percent said it was lower (of that same group, 91.3 percent say they’re forecasting higher gross revenue in 2017 than 2016).

The proposed IAB standards are open for public comment until Nov. 28. In that spirit, we asked some digital media executives within the Connectiv community for their thoughts on the new proposals. The collective response seems to be that the new guidelines are welcome and not difficult for publishers to accommodate on the technical side. However, getting both B2B ad sellers and B2B ad buyers to actually embrace these new types of ad formats is a far bigger challenge.