MRC Updates In-Game Ad Measurement

Citing “significant changes in the in-game advertising landscape” since the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) issued “In-Game Measurement Guidelines” for the ad industry in 2009, the Media Rating Council (MRC) issued new “interim guidance” to update it.

“[The] MRC believes updated guidance on how to measure in-game ads is urgently needed in light of the rapid growth of this advertising segment in recent years,” the MRC said in a statement releasing the new guidance.

The MRC, which co-developed the original guidelines with the IAB, characterized its memo as a “step to begin” providing a more thorough industry revision of in-game advertising measurement guidelines, noting: “It calls out areas where the prior ‘In-Game Measurement Guidelines’ are still largely relevant, other areas where measurement guidance that was later developed for other advertising environments exists and is applicable to in-game, and yet other areas where further study is needed to develop measurement rules that are fully appropriate for unique attributes of today’s in-game advertising.

Specifically, the MRC said its new interim guidance addresses newer in-game advertising settings that have evolved since the PC and/or console-based games that were the basis of the original guidelines, including augmented and virtual reality, and 3D ads.

The MRC also noted that areas such as “rendered ad impression measurement” and invalid traffic filtration “may need to be supplemented for certain in-game advertising-specific considerations.”

As for next steps toward formalizing its new interim guidance, the MRC said a working group is being formed by the MRC and the IAB Tech Lab to address various other issues that were not covered in the original guidelines.

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