IAB Seeks Comment on Rich Media Guidelines

In the week Microsoft achieved MRC accreditation for its ad impression counting, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has produced a set of guidelines for measuring rich media web sites, and is inviting comment and public debate.

The draft guidelines, for review by agencies, publishers and tech vendors, have been designed to gauge the level at which an ad impression is counted in rich online applications supported by AJAX and JSON technologies. Many newer web sites use these asynchronous scripting technologies to load content on a page without the user having to refresh that page. While improving the user experience, AJAX and JSON have undermined the traditional 'page views' metric on which so many ad buyers depend.

The new IAB proposals suggest that counting on rich sites could be linked to monitoring mouse and keyboard activity of users, rather than relying on potentially inaccurate page view rankings.

Sheryl Draizen, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the IAB commented: 'As these new technologies proliferate, it is critical to deliver a standardised set of measurement guidelines so that infrastructure development and business practices within the interactive industry are informed at the earliest stage.'

Meanwhile Microsoft has announced that its process for measuring ad impressions has received accreditation from the Media Rating Council (MRC), indicating that MSN complies with the IAB's Ad Impression Measurement Guidelines and the MRC's Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research. Through compliance with these guidelines, MSN can assure advertisers and agencies about the accuracy of campaign measurements.

Bill Shaughnessy, General Manager, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions said: 'These standards will help to free the market of existing confusion about how ad impressions are counted and satisfy the needs of our global media-buying community by offering consistent and accurate data.' He added that MSN and its leadership team have been supporters of the IAB guidelines for years.

The IAB exists to help online, interactive broadcasting, e-mail, wireless and interactive TV media companies increase their revenues, and is on the net at www.iab.net . MSN's www.msn.com address attracts 465 million unique users worldwide per month.

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