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Following a period of consultation with media owners and agencies, members of the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) and the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) have agreed an industry policy for charging where there is late delivery of online advertising creative, effective from 1 April 2006.
Between now and April, a test period will see online publishers tracking the potential impact of charges, and communicating this back to media and creative agencies.
Managing online inventory is complex and with some websites now reaching sell-out it is important that creative is received and tested in time in order to deliver campaigns in full.
Creative, correct to publishers’ specifications, should be delivered to the media owner within the standard IAB guidelines of three to five working days depending on format or to publisher specific guidelines. The industry bodies have agreed that charges will be made for creative received after 12.00 on the day before the campaign start date.
Charges will be at the publisher’s discretion and could take the form of:
· Fixed charge
and/or
· Full cost of campaign invoiced with impressions pro rated down for each day creative is not live
Online publishers continue to strive to provide the best client service and it is hoped that these guidelines will provide the foundation for efficient and effective practices.
Alexandra White, director of AOP, said: “Online publishers will of course do their utmost to get campaigns live for their clients, but it’s just not practical for creative to be delivered at the eleventh hour – or in many cases, well after the campaign was due to launch. These guidelines are intended to provide some clarity and consistency for the industry and should lead to a more efficient workflow."
Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the IAB, said: “As online becomes a £1 billion medium, tougher guidelines are needed in order for us to maintain an equal standing with traditional media. It is therefore essential we crack down on the late delivery of creative, which has been an issue within the industry for some time. The IAB fully supports this joint initiative with the AOP, which will serve to streamline work practices and ensure revenues for our media owner members.”
John Owen, chairman of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising’s Digital Marketing Group (DMG), said: “We welcome this initiative and the sensible manner in which it is being introduced. As online becomes more and more important as an advertising medium, it needs to embrace the best practice procedures that have been tried and tested by other channels.”
About AOP
The UK Association of Online Publishers (AOP) is an industry body representing online publishing companies that create original, branded, quality content. AOP champions the interests of approximately 160 publishing companies from diverse backgrounds including newspaper and magazine publishing, TV and radio broadcasting, and pure online media. Together they publish around 1,150 products and attract more than five billion page impressions per month.
AOP presents a unified voice to industry and Government, specifically to address issues and concerns relating to all areas of online publishing. AOP publishes original research, hosts forums, conferences and events, covering a range of topics from paid-for-content, subscription models and data protection, through to copyright, content management, new technologies and audience measurement.
Last year AOP produced the highly acclaimed research ‘Reaching the Online Elite’ and every year it delivers the annual member benchmarking study, the ‘AOP Census’. This year AOP will add to its original research with two new studies.
The AOP autumn Online Publishing Conference & Awards is its annual industry event. It attracts the biggest names in online publishing to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the industry and celebrate outstanding achievement. The 2005 event will be held on 7 October at the London Hilton, Park Lane.
Members include Associated New Media, BBC, BSkyB, Capital Radio Group, CNET Networks, Channel 4, Dennis Interactive, The Economist Group, Emap, FT.com, Future Publishing, Guardian Unlimited, Haymarket Publishing, Independent Digital, IPC Media, ITV Online, News International, Reed Business Information, Telegraph Group Limited and Which?. In addition, PPAi (Periodical Publishers Association Interactive) retains a corporate seat on AOP board: representing the interests of magazine publishers online.
About the IAB
The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) is the trade association for online advertising. With over 200 members, it's run for the leading media owners and agencies in the UK internet industry. Online is an exciting and fast-growing medium and our job at the IAB is to work with members to ensure marketers can identify the best role for online, helping them engage their customers and build their brands. Through the dissemination of research and the organisation of regular events, we aim
to put online on the agenda of every marketer in the UK, acting as an authoritative and objective source for all internet advertising issues.
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