Why You Need To Get Your IAB Gold Standard Immediately!

While attending a session at the IAB UK on the Gold Standard Initiatives, I have been given the following guide which I wanted to share with you:

The IAB UK Gold Standard brings together three cross-industry initiatives, each of which successfully tackle one of the industry's key issues:

What is ads.txt and how does it help with ad fraud?

Ads.txt is an initiative developed by IAB Tech Lab. It allows publishers to list the vendors authorised to directly and indirectly sell inventory on their behalf and publically display this on a simple file attached to their URL (e.g. example.com/ads.txt). Buyers can use this list to ensure that the vendors they buy from are legitimate sellers who have been authorised to sell a publisher's inventory.

What is JICWEBS DTSG and how does it help with brand safety?

JICWEBS is an independent cross-industry organisation representing all sides of the digital advertising industry. JICWEBS oversees the development of good practice and standards initiatives, including the Digital Trading Standards Group (DTSG). The DTSG sets out six Principles for digital advertising businesses, which aim to increase brand safety by significantly reducing the risk of ad misplacement online.

Companies who register for the DTSG undergo a third-party audit within six months of registration, to have their policies verified against the Principles. DTSG certification is awarded if the policies meet the Principles. The audit and certification are renewed annually.

What are the CBA and LEAN Principles and how do they address ad blocking?

The Coalition for Better Ads (CBA) is a global coalition of digital advertising entities that develops standards to improve the digital advertising experience for consumers. The CBA conducted consumer research to find which ad units are considered 'annoying' and likely to drive users to download an ad blocker. The CBA established the Initial Better Ads Standards, a list of 12 'bad ad formats' for desktop and mobile web, based on this. Publishers who breach the Standards are blocked from serving ads on Google Chrome by default.

The LEAN (Lightweight, Encrypted, Ad Choices-supported and Non-invasive) Ads Principles were developed by IAB Tech Lab and form a part of the IAB New Ad Portfolio. The guidelines are aligned with the CBA Standards, but go further as they consider other elements of the ad unit, for example file weight.

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