The Interactive Advertising Bureau and the
American Association of Advertising Agencies on Thursday released new terms and conditions for long-form video -- a significant update to the T&Cs, which were last updated in 2009.
The Long Form Video Addendum to the T&Cs will be available for public comment through February 5, at which point an IAB and 4As working group will incorporate feedback and revise the
addendum.
The revised guideline define long-form video as “professionally produced content, eight minutes or longer in duration that is dynamically ad served, and delivered
in a digital environment.” The addendum also includes sections addressing viewability and brand safety, terms related to audience compositions and demo-guaranteed campaigns, and cancellation and
termination provisions for unified buys, such as when digital ad inventory is purchased alongside TV ad inventory.
“By providing clear, shared terms for ad tag and materials
preparation, testing, and notification, we expect that the addendum will help facilitate smoother delivery of video ads,” Eric John, deputy director of the IAB Digital Video Center of
Excellence, told Digital News Daily. “This includes those that leverage interactivity and advanced data collection -- to help ensure more relevant quality ad experiences over
the long term.
“Digital video now represents over $9 billion in annual ad spend with a growth rate that has surpassed display, search, and social media,” John added.
“Impressive as these numbers are, there is an urgency and need to streamline the way buyers and sellers transact around scarce ad inventory in TV and TV-like content for digital, upfront and
extended period contracts.”
Louis Jones, executive VP of the media & data practice for the 4As, told Digital News Daily that the addendum was written to
be aligned with the Media Rating Council’s Digital Audience Measurement Guidelines, which were unveiled last month, “so there is no ambiguity” between the two.
“Ultimately, this addendum is intended to give agencies and publishers a better starting point for inventory negotiations, as a number of key issues have been discussed and
agreed [on] by a working group represented by both sides of the business,” Jones says.
“Overall, this addendum helps to elevate video as a channel-neutral strategy and
unifies the TV and digital sides of the business. It will help facilitate an easier and more simple method for moving eyeballs between TV and digital and give agencies and clients better and fluid
control on attaining brand communication goals. This is a step in the right direction, and points to the revision of the baseline digital T&Cs in 2018, having now solved for a number of key
issues in the LFV addendum.”
You can read the proposed addendum to the T&C here.