• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, May 10, 2007

The Interactive Advertising Bureau has issued a public set of guidelines on the measurement of digital media in general, and rich online media in particular. The IAB is also inviting members of the industry to publicly comment on the guidelines through the first week of June.

The guidelines attempt to gauge the level at which an ad impression is counted in rich online application environments supported by AJAX and JSON technologies. The best-practice tips are geared to online browser or browser-equivalent-based Web activity that no longer link page content changes and ad serving.

Ajax and JSON technologies have grown increasingly popular by providing updated content to Web users without having to refresh an entire Web page. While improving the user experience, however, Ajax and JSON make traditional metrics such as page views and ad impressions less relevant and more difficult to gauge.

The IAB officially unveiled its Rich Internet Application Ad Measurement Guidelines at an IAB Leadership Forum earlier this month in New York. The IAB has now called on agencies, publishers and tech vendors to review these guidelines, and to offer ideas and criticisms up for public debate.

"New and emerging technologies play a vital role in improving online browsing experiences for consumers," said Sheryl Draizen, senior vice president and general manager of the IAB. "As with all IAB measurement guidelines, these guidelines create efficiency, accountability and transparency for the interactive marketplace: principles that the IAB and its members are steadfastly committed to and know are key to building a world class medium with sustainable growth."

The guidelines state that "in instances where significant user activity (click-through and responding to mail and changing search options through clicking or typing, etc.) is present, this activity can be directly tied to ad-serving and counting provided that counting rules are defined in a consistent and fully disclosed manner."

The guidelines go on to acknowledge that "in special circumstances, due to the nature of the application, there may be no material user activity, for example, a single streaming event (e.g., financial tickers, sports game coverage, long single-stream video content). In these cases disclosure and counting must abide by the auto-refresh guidelines of the current IAB Ad Impression Measurement Guidelines.

"As these new technologies proliferate, it is critical to deliver a standardized set of measurement guidelines as soon as possible so that infrastructure development and business practices within the interactive industry are informed at the earliest stage."