IAB U.K. Talks to Ad Exchanges after Right Media Ad Misplacement

Following recent instances of ad misplacement involving major U.K. brands, the IAB U.K. has announced it will meet with ad exchanges in order to bring them in line with its IASH (Internet Ad Sales House) accreditation system.

IASH is the IAB U.K.’s official ad network council, which seeks to “encourage best practice among online advertising sales houses through the adoption of an effective code of conduct.”

Although only ad networks qualify for full IASH accreditation, IAB U.K. President, Guy Phillipson, believes that exchanges should still follow the council’s guidelines.

“Although exchanges, in my opinion, cannot be fully IASH accredited, what they can be is IASH affiliates. Exchanges are showing a willingness to come and discuss this with us, and we will conduct meetings to assess how they can be IASH compliant,” he said.

One exchange under scrutiny is Yahoo-owned Right Media. Philipson confirmed that it had been implicated in an ad misplacement, and that it would engage in talks with IASH to address the issue.

He added, “This highlights the way the market is becoming more complicated. The message to advertisers and agencies here is to only deal with networks and exchanges that are IASH compliant.”

IASH currently has a total of 19 fully audited and accredited networks, including the likes of Tacoda, ValueClick and Oridian.