• by Tanya Gazdik , February 27, 2009

The Interactive Advertising Bureau is inviting public comment on its newly issued Click Measurement Guidelines, which establish parameters for the accurate buying and selling of cost-per-click advertising. Perhaps most important, with the new guidelines, search advertising providers have a common set of agreed-upon industry standards by which to identify invalid clicks and/or fraudulent clicks.

"These guidelines demonstrate our continued commitment to being the most accountable advertising medium and providing marketers with the highest possible level of transparency," said Sherrill Mane, IAB's SVP industry services, in a statement. "It is critical that the advertising industry agree upon the precise definition and measurement of a click and establish procedures for weeding out fraudulent clicks. The IAB is proud to have organized our members around this effort."

The IAB is asking members of the industry--advertising agencies, advertisers, online publishers and technology vendors--to read the proposed guidelines and submit comments at www.iab.net/ clickmeasurementguidelines. After the comment period closes on March 27, the feedback will be reviewed and the guidelines will be finalized and released.

The guidelines were developed via the Click Measurement Working Group, which includes representatives from 38 IAB member companies, including sellers, measurers, and auditors of online media. Initiated in late 2005, the working group, together with the Media Rating Council, has spent the last three years developing the guidelines and achieving consensus around them.

"Helping the interactive industry define a click, and the standard for measuring one, has been an extraordinary effort on the part of the IAB and its members," said Shuman Ghosemajumder, Google's business product manager for trust and safety and a member of the IAB's Click Measurement Working Group. "It is an important step that continues to reinforce interactive media's role as the most accountable and measurable form of advertising."

The guidelines are the latest addition to the IAB's ongoing work to harmonize interactive measurement, which has included guidelines for general ad impressions, digital video commercials and audience reach measurement.