The IAB proposes online video ad guidelines. Masha Geller wonders why.

The IAB is a columnist’s dream. Forgive the generalization, but other than the XMOS research, their releases are to me what President Bush’s speeches are to Daily Show’s Jon Stewart: impossible to ignore because they do, after all, claim to represent the interests of the very industry that is the bread and butter of my audience, yet irresistible in entertainment value.

Take their latest, for example. At their Leadership Forum in New York earlier this week, they announced a “Call for Feedback” on proposed Broadband Ad Guidelines.

It’s beyond me why they try to propose new terminology ("broadband video commercial") for “in-stream ads,” but let’s summarize the facts of the release, shall we?

First, the IAB recommends that publishers should make the following placements available:

Pre Roll = Before Content (content being streaming video, animation, gaming in an interactive environment, etc.)

Mid-Roll = During Content

Post Roll = After Content

Question: where else can an advertiser possibly put their ad?

Second, The IAB recommends commercial length of 15 and 30-second ads for pre- and mid-roll placements and sets no minimum or maximum for post-roll.

Question: I know we’re trying to bring more traditional dollars onto the web, and using the 15 and 30 second spots really supports re-purposing TV ads online, but shouldn’t we also allow for web-specific video content? As one industry expert (I’m withholding the name because this person works for one of the companies on the IAB committee that put this release together and the company's PR team predictably jumped through several hoops to prevent me from using this quote) aptly put it, “Why, oh, why are they limiting the video length to 15- and 30-second video? The web is all about “no limits,” especially when it comes to advertising and video. I think it would better to propose “up to 30 seconds on pre and mid,” giving the advertiser the ability to be compliant with a 5, 12, or 22 second ad spot.”

At the very least, as Jupiter’s Nate Elliott told me, “It would've been nice to see them take a stance on whether 15-second or 30-second spots are more appropriate, but that would've been unrealistic.”

Third, The IAB also recommends a minimum panel size of 300 x 225 and aspect ratios of 4:3 (e.g. 400x300) or 16:9 (e.g. 480 x 270) with a minimum encoded bit rate of 200 Kbps.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t they just write down the basic guidelines that Yahoo!, ESPN, MSN and other in-stream video pioneers have created and everyone already agrees with?

From here on, the recommendations get downright poignant.

Considering the IAB represents the interests of online publishers -- they don’t actually say that in their charter, but they very obviously couldn’t care less about the agencies -- they left the content-to-commercial ratio, which is one of the more important guidelines they could have addressed in this release, completely up to the publishers.

The guidelines don’t address frequency capping either, since these are “user-initiated experiences.” Yes, the actual video content is user-requested, but the advertising is obviously not, so what if you simply want to replay the content you just watched? You have to see the ads again? What if you are watching a sports highlight? How many commercials do you have to see if you want to watch the winning home run three times?

Thankfully, most publishers already have guidelines in place that maximize the benefits of video ads for their advertisers without endangering the users’ experience on their sites. My question is, what is the purpose of guidelines if not to propose a standard that all advertisers can easily follow? “It’s up to you and your clients to decide on a case-by-case basis” doesn’t seem like much of a standard to me.

I agree with Falk’s CEO and Klipmart board member Joe Apprendi, who said that the real issue here is the ad serving/management process. “Right now, publishers are ill-equipped to schedule/manage volume, reach and frequency of ad impressions within this environment, especially with ‘mid-roll’ delivery,” he said. “We need to provide publishers with the same ad management capabilities ‘in-stream’ as they enjoy with ‘in-page’ display advertising.”

Commercial interactivity is also left up to the publishers, simply requiring Start/Stop and Volume On/Off controls, which has been the unwritten standard for years. As Elliott said, “It's not like there's a lot of room for disagreement on this stuff. It's not contentious like floating ads or impression counting.”

The only IAB recommendation favoring advertisers is disabling Fast-Forwarding through ad play. As Apprendi told me, “This will certainly trigger a lot of debate among publishers, marketers, and online users. However, I certainly understand the intent as online publishers/content providers are making an effort to invest in broadband content and advertiser/audience support is critical from a financial perspective. We’ll have to see what the feedback is from a consumer perspective (especially the TiVo clan).”

And finally, the IAB recommends, “non-interactive synchronized banners or text links may appear in close proximity to [the broadband video] commercial.”

Um, ok.

In conclusion, the IAB says it will “develop a compliance program for IAB Members that subscribe to the above standards. Self-attested compliance can be achieved by both publishers and rich media technology providers, as follows:

For publishers: “If an agency or advertiser provides creative executions following the specifications as described [above], my company will accept these advertisements assuming we accept that particular rich media ad unit size.

For technology providers: “My company's rich media ad serving system will support the serving of all ads conforming to specifications described [above] and highlight or indicate those units which are IAB compliant.”

Read: “I voluntarily support the IAB guidelines that allow for video ads with a close button and a volume control to run before, during or after video content as frequently as I deem prudent.”

In any case, the evaluation period on this proposal will last for the next two months. I encourage everyone to stop by and comment.

To turn the spotlight away from IAB and live up to the title of this column, a few updates:

• JupiterResearch says that 44 percent of online consumers are interested in viewing video on their cell phones for free, but only 19 percent indicate they would be willing to pay anything for those services.
• According to recently released Hewlett-Packard data, small businesses are beginning to factor blogs into their marketing plans.
• Looks like we can expect some spyware legislation in the next year. Take a look at Isaac Scarborough’s report on last week's NAI conference on spyware.
• And finally, would you have guessed that flower and greeting card sites came up on top in the Nielsen charts during Mother’s Day week?

That’ll be quite enough sarcasm out of me for one week, thank you. Next week -- the iMedia Agency summit in Amelia Island, where the IAB will not be releasing anything.

iMedia editor-at-large Masha Geller is the founder of interactive marketing and corporate communications consultancy Geller Public Relations in New York. She has been covering the interactive advertising industry since 1999 as the former editor-in-chief of MediaPost.com, and is a widely-published thought leader in the interactive arena.