IAB Calls for Public Comment on Broadband Video Ad Measurement

In the USA, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), in conjunction with its Broadband Committee and Measurement Task Force, has this week announced a call for 'public comment' on a set of Broadband Video Commercial Measurement Guidelines.

These guidelines will determine the definition of viewing for broadband video commercials. Specifically they address on-line browser or browser-equivalent based Internet activity that involves streaming video and audio advertising content and are principally applicable to Internet media companies and ad-serving organisations.

According to the Chief Executive of the IAB, Greg Stuart, 'With the aggressive growth of broadband, a need for measurement guidelines for video commercials within a broadband content experience became clear. As with all IAB measurement guidelines, these guidelines will lend efficiency to the buying and selling of interactive advertising and further solidify the medium as mainstream.'

The guidelines attempt to discount cases where ads fail to complete downloading and cannot be viewed. They state as follows: 'a valid broadband ad impression may only be counted when an ad counter (logging server) receives and responds to an HTTP request for a tracking asset from a client. The count must happen after the initiation of the stream, post-buffering, as opposed to the linked broadband content itself. Specifically, measurement should not occur when the buffer is initiated, rather measurement should occur when the ad itself begins to appear on the user's browser, closest to the opportunity to see.'

A 'Broadband Video Commercial' is defined as a commercial that may appear before, during, and after a variety of content including streaming video, animation, gaming, and music video content in a player environment. This definition includes Broadband Video Commercials that appear in live, archived, and downloadable streaming content.

The industry (including advertising agencies, marketers, online publishers and technology vendors) is encouraged to submit comments on the IAB site at www.iab.net/standards/broadband_video.asp . The comment period will last for thirty days. Following a review of the feedback, the guidelines will become final and will be released at the IAB Leadership Forum: Broadband and Beyond on May 15 in New York.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.