Continuing its push to bring more efficiency to the world of online video ad buying, yesterday, Adap.tv introduced "Unified Planner," a media planning solution for agencies and advertisers to optimize campaign performance. The idea is for buyers to have access to multiple data sources, and then easily buy recommended inventory, optimize the ongoing campaign and measure results.

According to Adap.tv, Unified Planner allows buyers to create online video media plans including goals such as recommended sites for targeting desired audiences, expected reach and frequency for the sites, estimated performance, and costs. Inventory is sourced from direct buys and online marketplaces. Once the plan is created, Unified Planner allows changes to be made with visibility into campaign impact.  Buying is done through spot, RTB, upfront commitment or direct buys through automated RFPs.

With Unified Planner, Adap.tv is looking to replace manual processes of traditional media buying such as analyzing multiple data sources, evaluating the potential of various sites, and projecting the results each, using different tools. Adap.tv notes that the result of all these steps has been sub-optimal campaign performance, long lead times and risk of errors.

Unified Planner furthers Adap.tv's positioning around helping drive more efficiencies in online video ad buying. Earlier this year, CEO and founder Amir Ashkenazi described to me the company's disruptive "programmatic" approach to media buying, a vision of enabling buyers and sellers with self-service tools.

And at this past summer's VideoNuze Online Video Ad Summit, one of our panel discussions (including Adap.tv's Teg Grenager) highlighted media buyers' pain points and how improved viewer measurement is the industry's top challenge to resolve.