IAB Proposes Rich Media Measurement Guidelines, Names Draizen Successors

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has unveiled a set of rich media ad impression guidelines and is asking for public review and comment before making them official. The organization also announced the hiring of three new executives, two of whom will handle duties previously performed by departing GM, SVP Sheryl Draizen.

The proposed Rich Media Measurement Guidelines define when Internet media, ad serving and rich media vending companies can state an ad impression has occurred and charge for that impression.

While the IAB has in place guidelines for traditional Internet ad impressions, the new guidelines deal specifically with rich media units. “These bring the rich media guidelines into the fold,” said David Doty, the IAB’s senior vice president for thought leadership and marketing — and one of the three newcomers.

When it comes to finding the “currency moment,” the point at which a charge can be levied for an impression, rich media “is much more complicated because it includes formats that are more complex, like trasitionals, over-page units, floating ads and page takeovers,” said Doty.

He said industry players “need to begin to agree” on how rich media ad impressions can be measured and he noted the IAB committee that drafted the proposed guidelines spent about 14 months at the task. After the 30-day public comment period ends, the IAB will review the suggestions and make any changes it deems necessary before officially releasing the guidelines.

The proposed guidelines can be found at the IAB’s Web site.

The rich media guidelines comply with the Global Ad Impression Guidelines principal that measurement is recorded “as late as possible in the delivery of creative material to the user�s browser and therefore closest to the actual opportunity to be seen by the user,” said the IAB in a statement.

Doty, who comes to IAB from a prior position as director of corporate branding and creative services at Booz Allen Hamilton, said the guidelines are part of the IAB’s mission to “increase accountability in the digital medium.” He said his years of editorial and marketing experience should help the IAB advance that goal and generally spread the word about digital advertising’s potential.

“As more marketers understand that digital is going to be at the center of what they do, we have to reach out to a new population group: traditional marketers who now need to understand how to use digital to their best advantage,” said Doty.

Also newly hired by the IAB — as its first senior vice president of industry services — is Sherrill Mane. Mane came from a position as Turner Broadcasting’s senior VP for market strategy. She sees her new position as a “tremendous opportunity to build a business.”

The third new hire, IAB SVP and Chief Administrative Officer Patrick Dolan, most recently worked as executive vice president and CFO of the Early Learning Coaliton of South Florida. Dolan said one of his priorities at IAB is to find new sources of revenue for the bureau. Noting that he worked “a few years back,” for DoubleClick, Dolan said he is excited to again work in the digital industry.

Mane and Dolan will have responsibilities previously handled by longtime IAB exec Sheryl Draizen, who last summer said she would leave the organization to launch her own online venture, built around social activism.