IAB Sets New Video Guidelines

As the debate continues over whether it is appropriate for online video to begin playing automatically when a user visits a site, the The Interactive Advertising Bureau has announced an update to its Digital Video Ad Impression Measurement Guidelines—which are designed to provide industry standards for the way traffic and ads are tracked on the Web.Now, Web publishers that have received official video measurement certification from the IAB must disclose that they employ auto-start video, and just how they use it. That is, unless their sites are designed in a way that consumers should expect that video is inherently part of the content experience. In those cases, sites are not subject to the new guidelines, according to Jeremy Fain, vp of industry services at the IAB.The IAB says these new guidelines are just the first step in addressing a larger issue. But the organization—in conjunction with the Media Rating Council wants to get out in front of an increasingly controversial side of Web video’s explosive growth: the increased incidence of auto-initiated Web video that runs on long tail sites—often below the fold where users are unlikely to ever see it.But the IAB is not trying to eliminate auto-play video altogether. Rather, Fain said that the goal was to better educate the industry—particularly digital buyers-- on what to look out for when buying online video inventory. “This is really about trying to be buyer beware,” said Fain. According to the new IAB guidelines, sites “that have obtained certification against the IAB guidelines [must] disclose the presence of auto-play ads and their parameters”--parameters such as frequency and location of such ads.However, the IAB has provided a loophole to content sites that prominently incorporate video within their content. Fain explained that there is a big difference between sites that have a video player built into their home pages and a blog that pops a small video player at the bottom of its pages. Per the IAB’s new guidelines, “Web sites [are not required] to disclose the presence of auto-play if users have a reasonable expectation that they are entering a video environment.”

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IAB Sets New Video Guidelines

Mike Shields

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