IAB introduces new set of guidelines to 'demystify' online advertising

Posted by Savita Sauvin on July 2, 2010 at 4:10 PM

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has introduced a new set of guidelines for online advertisers to help navigate the interactive-ad market, and work easily with ad networks and exchanges, CNet.com reported last week.

The final version of "Networks & Exchanges Quality Assurance Guidelines" aims to bring clarity and transparency to the world of interactive advertising by standardising the information ad networks and exchanges provide to advertisers and agencies, BtoBOnline.com reported. The IAB is a trade association comprising more than 460 media and technology companies responsible for selling 86 percent of online advertising in the United States.

The current online market place is "complex and confusing," and the IAB quality assurance guidelines aims to "provide marketers and agencies with a standardized approach that is designed to make buying easier and to give increased control over where ads are placed." In turn, marketers and agencies will benefit from "greater brand safety assurances that ads will not appear next to content that they decide is inappropriate", according to a blog posted on Journalism.co.uk.

Through provision of universally defined categories for advertisers, appropriate defining of illegal content, outlining data disclosure terms for off-site behavioural targeting and third-party data, this document increases buyer control over the placement and context of advertising, and builds brand safety, according to the press release posted on BusinessWire.

"The feedback we received from marketers, agencies and publishers confirms that the guidelines are truly game-changing," Sherrill Mane, SVP of industry services at IAB, stated in the press release.

Ad networks and ad exchanges are one of the fastest growing sectors in the interactive advertising business to maximise online revenue. The IAB's Network and Exchanges Committee aims to reduce complexities in online advertising by ensuring that adverts do not appear on pages carrying copyright-infringing content, TheRegister.co.uk reported. To understand and provide better service, the companies can voluntarily submit to these guidelines.

"Networks & Exchanges that voluntarily agree to be certified against these guidelines are providing marketers and agencies with a standardized approach that is designed to make buying easier and to give increased control over where ads are placed," according to TheRegister.co.uk. "Marketers and agencies will have greater brand safety assurances that ads will not appear next to content that they decide is inappropriate."

The guidelines are finalised in consultation with the stakeholders of the interactive advertising ecosystem including the Digital Committee of the Association of American Advertising Agencies and the Digital Marketing Committee of the Association of National Advertisers, according to the press release.