I-COM worldmeasurementnews

In US, IAB Releases Guidelines for the Conduct of Ad Verification

Common Methodologies for the Evaluation of Campaigns Will Promote Growth, Consistency and Greater Transparency in the Interactive Advertising Buying and Selling Process

NEW YORK, NY (February 14, 2012) — The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today released the final version of “Guidelines for the Conduct of Ad Verification.” This advanced framework, developed in conjunction with the Media Rating Council (MRC), will ensure a common set of methods and practices for ad verification, ultimately providing vital assurances to marketers and publishers alike that companies engaged in the verification of interactive advertising campaigns can themselves be audited against a common, transparent standard.

“These guidelines introduce a transparent and auditable approach to ad verification practices in the industry,” said Steve Sullivan [pictured, left], Vice President, Advertising Technology, IAB. “While ad verification in principle is valuable to the digital advertising industry, the lack of accountability created tension between the publishers and marketers. We developed these guidelines to introduce a level of consistency into campaign assessments commensurate the industry's standards for impression measurement.”

“Consistent and transparent conduct of ad verification is vital for deepening confidence in the industry and driving the advancement of digital advertising,” said George Ivie [pictured, right], Executive Director and CEO of the Media Rating Council. “We believe the issuance of these guidelines represent a major step toward achieving these goals.”  More...

Google Widens Its Tracks - Privacy Changes to Combine Data on Users, Making Anonymity Harder to Keep

Julia Angwin of The Wall Street Journal writes: In a move that could make it harder for Google users to remain anonymous, Google Inc. said it would start combining nearly all the information it has on its users.

With Tuesday's changes, Google is "setting the stage for one-upping" Facebook in terms of being able to better target online ads to website visitors based on what it knows about their interests, said Brian Kennish, a former Google programmer who runs Disconnect Inc., a firm that offers software to block Google and other companies that collect information about Web users. More…

"We'll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience," Alma Whitten [pictured], Google's director of privacy, product and engineering, wrote on the company's blog. More…

In EU: Take Action on the ePrivacy Directive with Evidon

Leading speakers including Gary Davis, Ireland's Deputy Data Protection Commissioner, will outline what businesses can do to comply with the EU ePrivacy Directive

LONDON, Jan 24, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Following the well-attended inaugural Evidon Empower Europe event in December, Evidon, the world's largest dedicated provider of privacy and compliance solutions for digital media, is to host a webinar on 31 January for businesses looking to take the next step towards compliance with the EU ePrivacy Directive.

"Transparency, control and education were the three takeaway watchwords from the Interactive Advertising Bureau at Evidon Empower Europe," said Scott Meyer [pictured], Founder and CEO of Evidon. "But how are you supposed to execute on that? The emphasis is on website owners to show initiative, but it's all wide open to interpretation. We're here to explain some best practices for demonstrating compliance - from conducting audits on trackers and cookies on websites, to displaying privacy notices on ads that will furnish attendees with the knowledge and confidence they'll need to move forward. Anyone operating in the EU online ecosystem is welcome to join us." More…

In Europe, EU regulators threaten the fundamentals of the internet ecosystem

Likely to hit advertising revenue, the fuel of the digital economy
Hinder long-term innovation, competitiveness and growth in Europe

Brussels, January 25th 2012: The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has expressed serious concerns about proposals published today by the European Commission to overhaul EU Data Protection rules.

Said Stephan Loerke [pictured], WFA Managing Director:"There's no denying that the current data protection framework needs updating but today's proposal would have damaging consequences for jobs and our economy. It would stifle both growth and innovation across Europe – the opposite of what is needed in the current economic climate. Proposals for data protection must protect people's legitimate rights to privacy while also enabling business opportunities. These proposals have failed to achieve that balance." More...

Location-Based Analytics, Carrier IQ and Your Mobile Privacy

Linda Rosencrance writes at TIBCO Spotfire's Business Intelligence Blog : If you’ve been following the news recently, you’ve heard the buzz about an invasive Carrier IQ software that’s likely installed on your smartphone. Now that security experts have discovered this apparent spyware, privacy and security alarms are sounding off.

And as much as we tout the importance of analytics for collecting and analyzing pertinent data to help businesses be more competitive, tracking people’s movements via their cell phones – or by any other means – to collect that information, without giving them the opportunity to explicitly agree to it, isn’t the right thing to do, according to a number of privacy groups including the Electronic Privacy Information Center.  More…

Social-Influence Site Klout Partners With Brands to Distribute Freebies

But 'Perks' Program Could Fall Outside Lines of FTC Regulations Requiring Blogger Disclosure About Free Goods

Cotton Delo [pictured], Digital Reporter at Advertising Age, writes: Through the Perks program, Klout, which measures social-media influence (a.k.a. Klout scores), brokers deals with marketers to send free stuff to "influencers" presumed to have a higher likelihood of igniting social buzz around a product.

The popular measurement service, integrated in apps such as Hootsuite, has generated more than 100 million scores, a total that includes public Facebook and Twitter accounts. Scores, which range from 0 to 100, take engagement with a user's content and the social cachet of their following heavily into account. More..

In US, IAB Releases Ad Verification Conduct Guidelines

Public Comment Period Opens for a Common Set of Tactics and Principles to Create a Transparent, Accountable and Equitable Evaluation of Campaigns

NEW YORK, NY (November 3, 2011) — The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today released its “Guidelines for the Conduct of Ad Verification” for public comment. This advanced framework, developed in conjunction with the Media Rating Council (MRC), will ensure a common set of methods and practices for ad verification, ultimately providing vital assurances to marketers and their agency partners about the coordination, execution and accuracy of interactive advertising campaigns.

“The volume of advertising impressions served at any given moment is enormous, and this volume makes it difficult for agencies to verify and measure the success of campaigns,” said Steve Sullivan [pictured], Vice President, Digital Supply Chain Solutions, IAB. “The new technologies that cycle regularly through the industry complicate the verification process further, adding urgency to the need to develop a set of common, uniform guidelines that apply equally to all stakeholders in the ad verification process. These new guidelines will help agencies, publishers and their customers collaboratively create an environment of greater transparency and accountability in their campaign assessments.” More…

In US, CASRO Announces Social Media Research Guidelines

Jeffrey T. Resnick [pictured], Global Managing Director, Innovation and Strategy at ORC International and Chair-elect, Social Media Task Force, Council of American Survey Research Organizations(CASRO) announces: With the advent of social media research, many of our members have requested that CASRO issue a set of guidelines that will address the associated ethical and pragmatic issues, as well as maintain research integrity and our industry’s continued self regulation. The guidelines that follow are the product of many thoughtful and often intense discussions, writing, and re-writing by and among a team of dedicated professionals with strong, relevant experience.

We will be scheduling regular meetings to review the changes in the dynamic field of social media and to address your comments. More...

In US, DoubleVerify Report Shows that Media Verification Improves Compliance for Online Advertising Industry

Trust Index Recognizes Best Performing Ad Companies – Ad Networks are Proving to Be Brand Safe, and Advertisers are Finding Value in Top Platforms

NEW YORK (September 30, 2011) – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, today published its 1H 2011 Trust Index. The report found a significant reduction of non-compliance among the industry’s best-performing ad networks and platforms. The findings illustrate that advertisers and networks are continuing to standardize their brand protection and compliance practices, ensuring their online media spend brings the highest return on investment. The worst-performing online advertising companies continued to demonstrate inconsistency in their ability to comply with advertisers’ preferences. According to the report, the most compliant ad networks from January to June 2011 were (alphabetically): AudienceScience, Casale Media, Dedicated Media, Epic Marketplace, interclick, Microsoft Media Network, Specific Media, Spectrum, a Centro product, Undertone, and Yahoo! Network Plus. Advertising platforms that were most compliant include (alphabetically): DataXu, Invite Media, The MIG’s Zeus Advertising Platform.

“The Trust Index has emerged as the industry standard for measuring advertising compliance and is a strong indicator of the positive impact media verification has had in online ad campaigns. Over the past 18 months, we’ve seen the continual decrease in the incidence rate of non-compliance when verification is applied,” said Oren Netzer [pictured], CEO of DoubleVerify. “Advertisers, networks and platforms that actively and consistently use verification on all of their campaigns and inventory are experiencing vast improvements in brand protection. This further indicates that online advertising needs to integrate verification on a long-term basis so that trust is permeated throughout the ecosystem.” More...

Data With Benefits

Omar Tawakol [pictured], CEO of BlueKai writes at MediaPost: Data has real monetary value.  However, wherever there is real monetary value, various forms of skimming and cheating may follow. As a result, many data users are trying very hard to get access to this data without having to pay for it In other words, it should be called "data with benefits."

So what can we do as an industry to prevent data skimming from spreading? A data exchange can help in this effort by empowering data sellers with the ability to collect, classify, qualify, sell, integrate and bill data usage in a standard way with a standard set of buyer Terms and Conditions. More...