NEW YORK – VINDICO, the leading online video ad management platform, announced the renewal of their Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation, which was initially granted in June 2010. Through this MRC accreditation renewal, VINDICO continues to demonstrate its commitment to building trust in online video advertising.  The accreditation will continue to benefit the global brands that work with VINDICO, as well as institute a benchmark for success in the industry.

Established to ensure audience measurement research is valid, reliable and effective, the MRC accreditation process requires companies to undergo rigorous third-party audits to guarantee compliance with industry standards. VINDICO’s accreditation indicates its video advertising platform is compliant with the MRC’s standards for Media Rating Research and the applicable guidelines published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. MRC members include leading media and technology companies, such as AOL, Microsoft, CBS and FOX, among others.

“VINDICO has taken strides to make online video as trusted and easy to work with as any other measured media,” said George Ivie, CEO and Executive Director of the Media Rating Council. “Renewal of its MRC accreditation further solidifies VINDICO as a quality leader in the industry.”

VINDICO has deep market penetration, serving almost forty percent of all online video ads in the United States. The company provides video advertising management solutions to over 200 brands through their leading agency groups such as GroupM, Havas, IPG, Publicis and Omnicom. The VINDICO solution reduces complexity for advertisers by providing an efficient and reliable way to serve video ads across multiple networks.

“Video advertising is one of the advertising industry’s fastest growing categories, with eMarketer estimating that online video ad spending in the U.S. will reach more than $7 billion in 2015,” said Matt Timothy, president of VINDICO. “Renewal of MRC accreditation reinforces our commitment of giving advertisers the confidence they need to make larger investments in online video and demonstrates our data remains up to the MRC’s rigorous standards.”

About VINDICO
As the first ad management platform dedicated exclusively to video, VINDICO allows advertisers to serve, track and measure all of their online video ad activity. Since 2006, VINDICO has been the gold standard in online video platforms, providing standardized reporting and analytics for the online video industry. The power of online video isn’t just the audiences it reaches and how it reaches them. Its strength also derives from its ability to track an ad campaign and precisely measure the campaign’s effectiveness. For more information, please visit http://www.vindicogroup.com or follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/VINDICO_Group.

About MRC
The MRC is a non-profit Industry association established in 1964 composed of leading television, radio, print and internet companies, as well as advertisers, advertising agencies and trade associations whose goal is to ensure measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective. Measurement services desiring MRC accreditation are required to disclose to their customers all methodological aspects of their service; comply with the MRC Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research; and submit to MRC-designed audits to authenticate and illuminate their procedures. In addition, the MRC membership actively pursues research issues they consider priorities in an effort to improve the quality of research in the marketplace. Currently approximately 70 research products are audited by the MRC. Additional information about MRC can be found at www.mediaratingcouncil.org.

NEW YORK – VideoHub, a division of Tremor Video, and Nielsen, a global information and measurement company, today announced an alliance giving VideoHub customers access to Nielsen Online Campaign RatingsTM gross rating points (GRPs) via VideoHub for Advertisers. The relationship marks the first time Nielsen has integrated its GRP data with an online video advertising platform.

The incorporation of data from Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings into VideoHub marries the standard GRP metric used in TV advertising to online video performance for the very first time. The collaboration gives advertisers a single metric for their gross reach — the total number of people exposed to an ad — and effective reach – more granular insight into the quality of the ad exposure and actual performance across all screens.

With Nielsen’s online GRPs, advertisers using VideoHub can now see what demographic audiences their campaigns reach online. Then, via the VideoHub advertising platform, they can understand how those audiences responded to their campaigns and identify the key signals driving performance metrics like engagement and brand lift.

Nielsen data is now available to every advertiser running campaigns through VideoHub, whether those campaigns run on the Tremor Video network or VideoHub is being licensed outside that network. Tremor Video is the largest independent online video technology company, with more than 2,000 campaigns currently running through VideoHub.

“Debate over whether the GRP is good or bad for the digital space has gone on for years, but those days are coming to an end,” said Kelly McEttrick, Director of Platform Strategy for VideoHub. “Advertisers can now look at their demographic reach, and then evaluate how their campaign performed within each audience segment. A single view into gross reach and effective reach is the kind of insight advertisers have only dreamed of until today.”

“Marketers want to cleanly compare the reach of online video media to other media – principally TV,” said Steve Hasker, President, Media Products and Advertiser Solutions, Nielsen. “Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings provides a standard GRP across platforms, so that online can be measured the same way we measure GRP’s on TV. We’re excited to work with Tremor to help advertisers understand the audience reach and brand engagement of online video, and we look forward to bringing the same service to VideoHub publishers in the future.”

Clients using VideoHub will also be able to order customized Nielsen Online Brand Effect reports to combine their GRP data with ad effectiveness metrics to further evaluate reach and brand impact of their ads.

Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings combines traditional Nielsen TV and online panel data with aggregated, anonymous demographic information from participating online data providers. It is the only Internet measurement system accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC) that provides GRPs for online advertising campaigns, enabling for the first time, consistent cross-platform reach and frequency metrics.

VideoHub for Publishers launches in 2012, also incorporating Nielsen’s online GRP data.

About Tremor Video

Founded in 2005, Tremor Video (www.tremorvideo.com) provides in-stream video advertising solutions to Fortune 1000 brand advertisers and top tier publishers and is widely regarded as the leading video company online. Leveraging their innovative video ad formats and publisher technology, Tremor Video delivers the mass reach and campaign results advertisers should expect from digital video. Tremor Video is the only video ad platform that can provide 100% brand safety by scanning and categorizing every single video stream before an ad is ever served. Powered by award-winning SE2 technology, Tremor Video’s video algorithm also gets smarter at finding and engaging viewers with every ad served, enabling the company to welcome and encourage pay-per-engagement pricing. Tremor Video is a privately held company headquartered in NYC with 10 national and international offices.

VideoHub, a division of Tremor Video, is a first of its kind analytics console that helps marketers and agencies monitor the complex video ecosystem to dynamically match ads with content and viewers, deliver upon marketing goals, and maximize brand impact. Unlike traditional video management platforms, VideoHub focuses on effectiveness and delivers real-time analytics for deep transparency across ads, content, viewers, and performance. To request a demo, visit videohub.tv

About Nielsen

Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and related properties. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA and Diemen, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.

MediaMind measured these results using its proprietary ‘Adjusted Unique,’ a metric that corrects for the over-counting of users as a result of cookie deletion and delivers an accurate measure of reach.   Accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC) as compliant with IAB standards for audience measurement, the new metric enables advertisers to assess the number of impressions they need to reach their desired size of audience.

“Advertisers who use traditional audience measurement metrics can never be certain of the number of users who were exposed to their marketing message,” said Gal Trifon, President and CEO at MediaMind. “Now, advertisers can use the ‘Adjusted Unique’ metric as a measure of campaign effectiveness  alongside other metrics such as clicks, engagements and conversions.”

The study also analyzed benchmarks for the ratio between impression volume and audience reach in different markets. According to the analysis, US advertisers need 50 million impressions to reach five million users, and 200 million impressions to reach 18 million users.

For more information on MediaMind, visit http://www.mediamind.com

About MediaMind
MediaMind is a leading global provider of digital advertising campaign management solutions to advertising agencies and advertisers. MediaMind provides media and creative agencies, advertisers and publishers with an integrated platform to manage campaigns across digital media channels and a variety of formats, including rich media, in-stream video, display and search. Headquartered in New York, MediaMind delivered campaigns during 2010 for approximately 9,000 brand advertisers, servicing approximately 3,800 media and creative agencies across approximately 8,200 global web publishers in 64 countries.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – For the first time, standardized key metrics for measuring advertisements have been established for the mobile interactive industry. Developed in a joint effort by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and with the assistance of the Media Rating Council (MRC), the “Mobile Web Advertising Measurement Guidelines” provide a framework to govern how ad impressions are counted on the mobile Web.

A joint task force, comprised of members of the IAB’s Mobile Advertising Committee and the MMA’s Measurement Committee, met for more than a year to develop these guidelines, which specifically cover WAP/Mobile Web advertising.

“The ‘Mobile Web Advertising Measurement Guidelines’ will help marketers accurately assess the delivery of ads within mobile websites and offer a clear way to count ad impressions, assuring them that their advertising messages are reaching mobile consumers,” said Anna Bager, Vice President and General Manager of the IAB Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence.

“More than anything, the guidelines demonstrate the mobile industry’s commitment to its marketing partners to create a transparent and consistent business environment for buying and selling ads,” said Greg Stuart, President and CEO, MMA. “Brands and their agencies will be further encouraged to devote resources towards marketing campaigns unique to the mobile web- reaching customers at critical times in the purchase cycle, enhancing brand relationships or providing critical information through mobile marketing.”

“The IAB and MMA are to be applauded for recognizing that the creation of measurement guidelines for all marketing platforms eliminates a huge barrier to entry for advertisers and opens the market for enormous opportunity and innovation,” said George Ivie, CEO, MRC. “We were pleased to facilitate writing this new set of guidelines.”

The objectives of the “Mobile Web Advertising Measurement Guidelines” include:

- Defining the mobile web ad impression
- Creating a common methodology that will be widely adopted in the U.S. and globally for counting mobile web ad impressions
- Encouraging U.S. mobile web ad servers to have their impression counts audited by an independent third party
- Providing marketers and agencies with greater clarity and certainty (via the auditing process) that key metrics used for buying mobile web ads are methodologically sound and meet the highest standards available to the media industry
- Reducing levels of discrepancies and spurring the industry’s growth by offering Internet publishers and ad servers a consistent, rigorous way to count the delivery of ad impressions

The IAB’s Mobile Advertising Committee is comprised of over 140 member companies who are dedicated to developing and expanding the mobile space as a viable advertising platform. This committee now sits under the newly created IAB Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, a new unit within the organization that will serve as an industry-wide resource for innovation in mobile advertising.

The MMA’s Measurement Committee is comprised of MMA member companies. The Measurement Committee’s charter is to provide global leadership in the following areas: (1) Advertising Currency Definition & Quantification, (2) Mobile success definition as part of cross media marketing mix, and (3) White Paper/Education on importance of measurement to brand marketer engagement of the mobile channel.

The Mobile Web Advertising Guidelines are available here: http://www.iab.net/mobilewebmeasurementguidelines and http://mmaglobal.com/MobileWebMeasurementGuidelines_final.pdf.

About the IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 500 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

About the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the premier non-profit trade association established to lead the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies. The MMA is an action-oriented organization designed to clear obstacles to market development, establish mobile media guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth, and evangelize the use of the mobile channel. The more than 700 member companies, representing over forty countries around the globe, include all members of the mobile media ecosystem. The Mobile Marketing Association’s headquarters are located in the United States and it has regional chapters including North America (NA), Europe (EUR), Latin America (LATAM), Middle East & Africa (MEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) branches. For more information, please visit www.mmaglobal.com.

About the Media Rating Council (MRC)

The MRC is a non-profit Industry association established in 1964 composed of leading television, radio, print and internet companies, as well as advertisers, advertising agencies and trade associations whose goal is to ensure measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective. Measurement services desiring MRC accreditation are required to disclose to their customers all methodological aspects of their service; comply with the MRC Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research; and submit to MRC-designed audits to authenticate and illuminate their procedures. In addition, the MRC membership actively pursues research issues they consider priorities in an effort to improve the quality of research in the marketplace. Currently approximately 60 research products are audited by the MRC. Additional information about MRC can be found at www.mediaratingcouncil.org.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – Three advertising trade groups have launched a major initiative to lead the industry in developing digital metrics and cross platform measurement solutions, with the goal of enhancing marketing and media management decision-making. The announcement was made during IAB’s fourth Annual Leadership Meeting, Ecosystem 2.0: The People vs. Data, at La Quinta Resort & Club, where leaders across the digital media landscape have converged to address the most critical issues facing the industry.

The initiative entitled “Making Measurement Make Sense” is a joint undertaking of the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) and the 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies). These organizations, which represent the entire value chain in marketing and advertising, have engaged the management consulting firm Bain & Company and the strategic advisory firm MediaLink, to support the initiative.

The absence of a consistent approach to measuring and assessing the effects of digital media has resulted in a cacophony of competing and contradictory measurement systems, contributing to a complex and costly supply chain for the industry. “Making Measurement Make Sense” has three primary objectives:

- Define standard metrics and measurement systems that are transparent and consistent to simplify the planning, buying and evaluating of digital media:
- Analyzing the current digital measurement situation from a business perspective
- Defining a common currency for measuring online exposures
- Developing generally accepted standards for brand impact measurement online
- Creating an effective methodology for cross media measurement
- Drive industry consensus around the solutions:
- Gaining stakeholder input and driving consensus around the solution
- Engaging industry leaders to champion the measurement process
- Establish a measurement governance model which encompasses:
- Creating a structure for an ongoing measurement governing body
- Establishing a governance and standards-setting process
- Developing an implementation plan for the roll-out of metrics, standards and management structure

“As more consumers have migrated to digital media, marketers have sought to follow them by deploying interactive campaigns,” said Sherrill Mane, SVP Industry Services, IAB. “The ‘Making Measurement Make Sense’ initiative gives the industry the opportunity to understand how to follow and connect with the consumers targeted by these campaigns, and how to measure both within digital and across media platforms.”

“It is indeed time for the industry leaders to develop a ‘currency’ that is widely and consistently accepted and adopted,” said Bob Liodice, President and CEO, ANA. “Online media has an abundance of metrics, but none that serve as currency across the ecosystem. This process will allow the industry to use consistent measurements to evaluate a program’s return.”

“The leading marketing and media trade organizations have united to spearhead an ecosystem-wide solution to many of the critical issues in measurement,” said Nancy Hill, President-CEO, 4A’s. “The confusion in this area has added costs to advertising agencies, which have been forced to use, subsidize and staff around increasing numbers of metrics and data in order to plan, purchase and post-analyze their media buys. This initiative will streamline and simplify those processes.”

Newspaper Association of America (NAA) has joined the “Making Measurement Make Sense” initiative as a supporter, and outreach to the rest of the advertising ecosystem is ongoing.

This initiative is intended to expand and accelerate the work done to date by the IAB and the Media Rating Council (MRC), which have developed some standards for digital measurement including Audience Reach Measurement Guidelines and Click Measurement Guidelines.

About the IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 500 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

About the ANA

Founded in 1910, the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) leads the marketing community by providing its members with insights, collaboration, and advocacy. ANA’s membership includes 400 companies with 9,000 brands that collectively spend over $250 billion in marketing communications and advertising. The ANA strives to communicate marketing best practices, lead industry initiatives, influence industry practices, manage industry affairs, and advance, promote, and protect all advertisers and marketers. For more information, visit www.ana.net, follow us on Twitter, join us on Facebook, or visit our YouTube channel.

About the 4A’s

The 4A’s is the national trade association of the advertising agency business. Its membership comprises virtually all of the large, multinational agencies and hundreds of small and mid-sized agencies from across the country. The 1,200 member agency offices served by the 4A’s employ 65,000 people; offer a wide range of marketing communications services, and place 80 percent of all national advertising. The management-oriented association founded in 1917 helps its members build their businesses, and acts as the industry’s spokesperson with government, media, and the public sector. For more information, visit the 4A’s Web site at www.aaaa.org.

This is the second year in a row Business.com has received the accreditation, which recognizes the organization’s ability to deliver high-quality, relevant traffic to its advertisers. The accreditation also signifies that Business.com is in full compliance with Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) measurement standards designed to eliminate potential “click fraud” – user- or computer-generated clicks for the sole purpose of costing advertisers money. Business.com joins an exclusive list of other high-profile companies, including Adify, Nielsen and others, that have been granted accreditation by the MRC.

“This accreditation signifies our commitment to providing Business.com clients with high-quality clicks in order to positively impact their bottom line,” said Sean Greene, senior vice president of interactive, Dex One. “We’re excited to be among an elite group of companies to have received this accreditation and look forward to continuing to connect advertisers with customers as we move into our 10th year in business.”

Business.com successfully connects buyers and sellers and assists business owners through all stages of the buying process. Via a combination of search and display advertising and social media tools, Business.com helps B2B marketers engage with 40 million monthly unique visitors on its Website and network of premiere partners.

For more information on the MRC Minimum Standards visit http://www.mediaratingcouncil.org. To learn more about the IAB guidelines, visit http://www.iab.net/media/file/click_measurement_022009.pdf.

About Business.com

Business.com (http://www.business.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of Dex One Corporation, is the Web’s leading B2B online destination for busy people interested in making more informed, more effective business purchasing decisions. The company helps marketers reach 40 million unique business users per month, and maintains strong presence in the emerging world of B2B social media through Twitter, blogging and its Business.com Answers question-and-answer platform. The Business.com site directly connects B2B advertisers with active business buyers searching for products and services across all stages of the purchasing process.

NEW YORK – VINDICO Group, a division of BBE, today announced its video advertising platform has been accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC), the industry association dedicated to establishing audience measurement that is valid, reliable and effective. VINDICO is the first demand-side video ad server to be accredited by the MRC, a process that requires companies to submit technology and processes to rigorous third-party audits to ensure compliance with industry standards.  VINDICO’s accreditation indicates its video advertising platform is compliant with the MRC’s standards for Media Rating Research and the applicable guidelines published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Established in 1964, the Media Rating Council was created to audit and accredit audience rating services in an effort to improve the quality of audience measurement and to help ensure accuracy and transparency. More than 115 companies, such as Time Warner, MSNBC and New York Times, are MRC members, representing a broad spectrum of the media industry, from radio and broadcast to print and online publishers. The MRC works with independent CPA firms to audit members’ measurement services and provide accreditation.

“We applaud VINDICO’s efforts and leadership to gain accreditation for its online video ad serving products,” said George Ivie, CEO and executive director of the Media Rating Council. “This accreditation underscores the importance of video advertising and helps prepare online advertisers and agencies for further growth linked with MRC accredited measurement.”

The first ad-serving and tracking platform dedicated exclusively to video, VINDICO Group works with entities such as VivaKi and Universal McCann to provide video ad serving, tracking and analytics for campaigns across all ad networks.  VINDICO offers a suite of planning and buying services that make it easy to buy, serve, track and measure video ad activity. Through VINDICO, online media buyers can work with multiple ad networks and receive standardized ad tracking and reporting for the entire online video industry. This accreditation will benefit dozens of VINDICO Group’s clients, which include The Pool™ participants such as BlackBerry, Denny’s, Disney Pictures, General Mills, General Motors, Kraft, Mars, U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless and Walgreens

“VINDICO is solving for the market what DoubleClick solved for the banner ad space, providing an efficient and reliable way to serve video ads across multiple networks,” said Matt Timothy, president of VINDICO Group. “Putting our technology through the rigorous MRC accreditation process demonstrates our continued commitment to making online video as trusted and easy to work with as any other measured media. With accreditation by the MRC, VINDICO aims to give advertisers the confidence to make larger investments in online video.”

“Industry benchmarks such as the MRC put video tracking and measurement on a solid foundation,” said Tracey Scheppach, Founder of The Pool  at VivaKi. “We know that VINDICO’s move will motivate more investment and accelerate the shift of advertising spend to online video. We are thrilled The Pool is working with the first third-party video ad server to receive the MRC’s stamp of approval.”

About VINDICO Group:
As the first ad-serving and tracking platform dedicated exclusively to video, VINDICO Group allows advertisers to buy, serve, track and measure all of their online video ad activity.  Since 2006, VINDICO has been the gold standard in online video platforms, providing standardized reporting and analytics for the online video industry.  The power of online video isn’t just the audiences it reaches and how it reaches them.  Its strength also derives from its ability to track an ad campaign and precisely measure the campaign’s effectiveness. For more information, please visit http://www.vindicogroup.com.

About BBE:
Founded in 2004 by CEO Matt Wasserlauf, BBE is the digital media authority. The company helps advertisers, content producers and content distributors navigate the constantly shifting terrain in the online video space. BBE’s large-scale, online distribution network delivers original and syndicated content in a highly targeted, measurable way, making the online video space safe for advertising dollars. BBE’s online video network of over 2,400 Web channel partners delivers content 24/7. Collectively, these publishers have the capacity to reach an enormous audience, carefully segmented by specific viewer demographics. Please visit http://bbe.com/.
About MRC:
The Media Rating Council (MRC) is a nonprofit industry association whose members consist of the blue chip companies of our industry including television and radio broadcasters, cablecasters, print organizations, advertisers, Internet organizations, advertising agencies and industry trade associations. The MRC charter is to maintain audience research confidence and credibility with the goal of securing for the industry audience measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective.  The MRC was formed in 1964 at the urging of the United States Congress.  Audience measurement services desiring MRC Accreditation are required to disclose to the MRC membership (and all customers) all methodological aspects of their service; comply with the MRC Minimum Standards For Media Rating Research; and submit to MRC designed audits to authenticate and illuminate their procedures.  The membership evaluates these audits and the MRC Board grants Accreditation if deemed warranted.  In addition, the MRC membership actively pursues research issues they consider priorities in an effort to improve the quality of Research in the marketplace.  Further information about MRC’s accreditation and auditing procedures can be obtained from: www.mediaratingcouncil.org.

NEW YORK – To provide support for its large contingency of members with West Coast headquarters, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the opening of a San Francisco office. The IAB also announced that it had named Steve Sullivan as Vice President, Supply Chain and Revenue Solutions, a new position in the organization. Mr. Sullivan, who will lead the new IAB West Coast office, joins the organization from Microsoft Corporation where he served as Senior Program Manager, Ad Security within Microsoft’s Online Services Division.

“Many of our member companies are based on the West Coast so it has long been our intention to establish a presence there,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “Steve is the ideal person to head up that office while also contributing his deep expertise on advertising technology to help us drive toward improved supply chain dynamics and lower operational costs. We are thrilled to have him aboard.”

“The IAB has played a pivotal role in simplifying and improving the workflow surrounding digital media,” said Mr. Sullivan. “I look forward to working with our member companies to build on those efforts and drive ongoing growth and innovation in the interactive advertising industry.”

Mr. Sullivan, 42, was recognized with an IAB Service Excellence Award in 2009 and has served as an active member of IAB committees and working groups since 2005, including the Measurement Task Force and most recently the Ad Ops Council. His career in online advertising technology organizations began in the late 1990s, and he has since earned an industry-wide reputation for working collaboratively with partners and competitors on standards, guidelines and related data quality issues. Most recently he sat on the board of directors of the Media Rating Council (MRC) and was a member of its Internet committee. Before joining Microsoft, he held positions at Atlas DMT which was acquired by Microsoft in 2004, Foretelligence Inc., Expedia and BlueStreak. He received a Bachelor of Arts from The Evergreen State College.

The IAB’s West Coast office will be located at 1 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA, 94111.

About the IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 460 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

NEW YORK – Seeking to lend order and clarity to an increasingly important yet confusing component of the interactive advertising ecosystem, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) convened the interactive industry’s first interdisciplinary forum on ad verification companies and technologies. “Ad Verification Day: An Introduction and Discussion of Methodologies” is being held in New York City, with an invited roster of interactive industry executives representing marketers, agencies, publishers, ad networks, and technology companies.

Companies claiming the ability to verify online ad buys have arisen during the past several years in response to advertiser and agency concerns that ads are running within content environments that have not been expressly included in a media buy or could harm an advertiser’s brand equity. By verifying delivery of ad campaigns, advertisers and media buyers hope to identify and eliminate budget waste from their online campaigns and safeguard the reputation of their brands.

The IAB, which represents the interests of the sellers of interactive advertising industry, has been a driving force in creating transparency in and removing friction from all stages of the interactive advertising buying process. Ad verification tools, when employed with sound methodologies, hold promise as a new resource for further improving confidence in the process of buying interactive advertising. But members of the association have grown uneasy about the proliferation of ad verification companies with differing, unaudited technologies, and the cost that ad verification is adding to the implementation and reconciliation of advertising transactions.

“We need to make sure that the work of ad verification companies is about brand protection and not confused with currency,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB. “These companies are not audited against any industry guidelines for counting impressions. It is our hope that the IAB, working together with organizations like the Media Rating Council, will be able to create a process and a set of open standards for this new type of tool, with the twin goals of creating a brand-friendly environment for marketers while not adding complexity cost to the ad buying process. Ad Verification Day is our first step in understanding the needs of the market.”

“Ad verification processes should complement existing work agencies and publishers have undertaken to make the interactive advertising supply chain more efficient and effective,” said Dan Murphy, Senior Vice President Interactive Research & Ad Traffic for Univision Interactive Media, and co-chair of the IAB’s Ad Operations Council. “In an attempt to drive integrity into the digital ecosystem, the very real side effect of many current ad verification companies is friction in the form of inaccurate reporting. This is the antithesis of what publishers and agencies sought years ago in creating the joint 4A’s/IAB Reinvention Taskforce,” Murphy added.

The Reinvention Task Force is an ongoing and successful effort by the IAB and the American Association of Advertising Agencies to agree on workflow standards and processes, contractual relationships between agencies and publishers, and other friction-generating areas of the digital ecosystem.

“We are excited by the opportunity to learn about ad verification services and how these services function,” said George Ivie CEO and Executive Director of the Media Rating Council. “The value and trust these services bring is certainly enhanced by communication efforts such as today’s IAB event, and beyond today, value and trust may be enhanced by efforts to seek methodological guidelines and transparency among the verification services; the MRC encourages these steps forward and supports assurances that advertising appears in contextual environments expected by marketers.”

“Today’s summit gives ad verification companies a platform to explain how they use technology to validate impression delivery and provide a forum for publishers and ad networks to discuss the ongoing demand of accountability and transparency,” said David J. Moore, Chairman and Founder, 24/7 Real Media, and Chairman of the Board of the IAB. “Marketplace trust among all stakeholders in our industry is key to growing the digital share of advertising and ad verification is one of many tools that may help us provide that assurance to marketers.”

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 460 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

CARLSBAD, Calif. – In a move that standardizes the information networks and exchanges provide to advertisers, enhances buyer control over placement and context, and builds brand safety, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released “Networks & Exchanges Quality Assurance Guidelines” for public comment.

These guidelines provide full understanding of the sources and types of inventory offered, and the context and content surrounding advertising. The IAB announced these guidelines at its third Annual Leadership Meeting, Ecosystem 2.0: Revenue the Next Wave, in Carlsbad, California, where leaders across the digital media landscape have converged to address the most critical issues facing the industry.

“Networks & Exchanges Quality Assurance Guidelines” outline concrete measures that will allow for standardizing the buying and selling of advertising inventory in networks and exchanges and provide greater brand safety assurances to marketers and agencies. The guidelines:

- Allow for transparency of inventory sources, publisher relationships, content levels and ad placement details
- Provide universally defined content categories for advertisers
- Require that networks and exchanges rate content for audience segments
- Outline data disclosure terms for off-site behavioral targeting and third-party data
- Provide for mandatory IAB training of appointed compliance officers in each certified network or exchange
- Include a list of terms and definitions for targeting and data that will help eliminate confusion

“These guidelines are the first of their kind in the U.S., and we believe they will go a long way to building more marketplace trust,” said David J. Moore, Chairman and Founder, 24/7 Real Media, and Chairman of the Board of the IAB. “Networks and ad exchanges have transformed how advertisers can deliver targeted messaging to consumers and these guidelines further secure the promise of this extraordinary marketing resource.”

“‘The Networks & Exchanges Quality Assurance Guidelines’ represent a watershed moment in the ability of the marketplace to fully leverage the value of inventory placed on networks and exchanges. For the first time, there are definitions, standards and practices that will yield significant choice and brand safety when buying on networks and exchanges,” said Sherrill Mane, SVP, Industry Services, IAB. “Advertisers will have a high degree of confidence that consumers will get the right messages within the right environments and that’s what interactive media is all about.”

“The IAB is continuing the process of improving transparency and accountability through issuing these Network and Exchange Guidelines,” said George Ivie, CEO and Executive Director of the Media Rating Council. “The self-certification program outlined in the Guidelines represents a step forward in ensuring an appropriate contextual understanding surrounding network/exchange advertising, patterned after examples of existing processes for similar situations such as the Safe Harbor Program maintained by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The IAB has expanded upon these existing examples by requiring certain self-certification training and periodic testing which will help provide assurance to advertising buyers and their Network and Exchange partners.”

The public comment period for the guidelines will remain open until Friday, March 26, 2010.

About the IAB’s Networks & Exchanges Committee:

The IAB Networks and Exchanges Committee is comprised of senior leaders of ad networks and ad exchanges that are general member companies. The committee is dedicated to furthering the interests of ad networks and ad exchanges in today’s complex ad marketplace. Committee objectives are to foster the highest standards of professionalism and accountability in relationships with publishers, advertisers and the agency community, to develop programs that enable revenue growth, and to create best practices that protect consumers and the industry. A full list of Committee member companies can be found at: http://www.iab.net/networks_and_exchanges_committee.

“Networks & Exchanges Quality Assurance Guidelines” and public comment survey can be found on the IAB website at: http://www.iab.net/ne_guidelines.

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 460 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

“This seal confirms ADTECH’s quality performance in the delivery and reporting of digital advertising,” says CEO Dirk Freytag. “Only those systems that deliver banners in compliance with MRC and IAB standards receive accreditation. This is an important building block that will strengthen the credibility of online advertising. It will reassure our clients and it guarantees professionalism and trustworthiness in a very technical trade.”

MRC Executive Director and CEO George Ivie stated, “ADTECH’s commitment to the MRC accreditation process is a sign of its commitment to quality measurement, and we’re very pleased that ADTECH is now among the industry leaders who have the distinction of achieving MRC accreditation.”

About ADTECH

ADTECH is a leading international supplier of digital marketing solutions and is AOL Advertising’s ad serving platform. The company’s flagship product is an integrated ad serving platform. It enables networks, web publishers, advertisers and agencies to manage, serve and evaluate virtually any kind of online advertising campaign including display, video and mobile formats. ADTECH’s ad serving solution differentiates itself via its scalable, enterprise-class infrastructure and user-friendly tools, providing users with increased efficiency, reliability and ROI for their online advertising business. ADTECH customers include major players like Sky, Hi-Media, Gannett and Fox Networks. ADTECH AG is an ultimate wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL Inc.

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE:AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

NEW YORK – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced an update to the “Digital Video Ad Impression Measurement Guidelines” that addresses an increasingly common occurrence–digital video content and ads that play automatically when a webpage loads. The first part of a broader auto-play initiative by the IAB’s Digital Video Committee and the Media Rating Council (MRC), these revised guidelines address both measurement and disclosure and establish the latest parameters for the accurate counting of digital video ad impressions.

“Digital video advertising is growing exponentially and the transparency this update brings will enable that growth to continue.”

An auto-play video ad is defined as “a video ad or a video ad linked with video content that initiates ‘play’ without user interaction or without a user actively starting the video.” The revised Guidelines will now:

Require companies that have obtained certification against the IAB guidelines to disclose the presence of auto-play ads and their parameters, such as frequency settings, site location, initiation environment (for example, upon first arrival on a home page) and the type of video ads involved.
Not require web sites to disclose the presence of auto-play if users have a reasonable expectation that they are entering a video environment.
“The IAB’s measurement efforts over the past seven years have been focused on ensuring the continued high level of accountability the industry expects from interactive advertising,” said Jeremy Fain, vice president of Industry Services at the IAB. “Digital video advertising is growing exponentially and the transparency this update brings will enable that growth to continue.”

“Auto-play content and ads are a material part of the ecosystem and the IAB and the MRC want the marketplace to be clear on how they are used,” said George Ivie, Executive Director and CEO of the MRC. “This update will allow buyers to make informed decisions on how their digital video ad impressions are being presented.”

This update to the “Digital Video Ad Impression Guidelines” complements IAB guidelines for general ad impressions, rich media, click, and audience reach measurement.

The updated Guidelines will be effective for all certification audits beginning January 2010.

To view the guidelines please go to www.iab.net/dv_measurement_guidelines.

About the IAB’s Digital Video Committee:

The Digital Video Committee of the IAB is comprised of over 145 member companies actively engaged in the creation and execution of digital video advertising. One of the goals of the committee is to implement a comprehensive set of guidelines, measurement, and creative options for interactive video advertising. The committee works to educate marketers and agencies on the strength of digital video as a marketing vehicle. A full list of Committee member companies can be found at: http://www.iab.net/digital_video_committee

About the Media Rating Council (MRC):

The MRC is a non-profit Industry association established in 1964 composed of leading television, radio, print and Internet companies, as well as advertisers, advertising agencies and trade associations whose goal is to ensure measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective.

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 375 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

SAN FRANCISCO – As consumers spend more time playing in immersive gaming environments, marketers and game publishers have been struggling to compare campaign results because different measurement methodologies are used by different platforms. To establish a common methodology for counting impressions and to simplify the process of buying and selling in-game advertising, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the release of In-Game Advertising Measurement Guidelines, the first of their kind.

The public comment period for these guidelines was formally opened at the premier IAB Marketplace: Games event, taking place in San Francisco and focused on educating marketers and agencies about the increasing brand opportunities in PC and console-game advertising.

In order to encourage market growth, the IAB Games Committee worked with key industry stakeholders to develop a single methodology for in-game advertising measurement. The IAB’s proposed new guidelines cover dynamic, in-game advertisements that appear in PC or console-based games and:

* Establish a common methodology for counting impressions, thus making it easier to buy and sell in-game advertising
* Provide key measurement definitions to help marketers better understand and quantify the value of advertising exposure within the gaming environment

“Because the in-game environment is unique in advertising with regard to its level of consumer engagement and the way advertising is experienced within those environments, it requires specific methodology for counting impressions,” said Jeremy Fain, Vice President of Industry Services of the IAB. “When these guidelines are widely adopted by game publishers and ad servers, it will be easier for marketers and agencies to justify larger investments as consumers spend more time playing immersive games.”

“This is an important step in clarifying and simplifying the process of buying advertising within the in-game environment,” said David Sturman, IAB Games Committee Co-Chair and Principal Architect for Microsoft’s in-game ad company Massive. “Clear standards and methodologies help to demystify a new and exciting form of advertising which will only bring more marketers into games.”

“The IAB’s work in providing measurement guidelines across the interactive advertising ecosystem has supplied critical tools to the industry, and these guidelines are another component of this important work,” said George Ivie, CEO and Executive Director of the Media Rating Council (MRC). “In-game advertising is an emerging medium with lots of opportunity for growth. These guidelines help build the foundation for a strong future.”

Members of the industry—advertising agencies, advertisers, online publishers and technology vendors—are encouraged to read the proposed guidelines and submit comments on the IAB site at: www.iab.net/in-game

After the comment period closes on July 17, 2009, the feedback will be reviewed and the guidelines will be finalized and released.

About the IAB Games Committee:

The mission of this committee is to articulate the value of gaming as an advertising platform.

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 375 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

NEW YORK – To an Internet user, a click is a simple action. Accurately counting those clicks, however, is a complex operational task. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the release of its Click Measurement Guidelines, which establish parameters for the accurate buying and selling of cost-per-click advertising. The guidelines, agreed upon by key industry stakeholders, provide a strong framework for identifying and discarding invalid or fraudulent clicks, helping ensure that only legitimate clicks are counted.

The Click Measurement Guidelines:

* Define the technical life-cycle of a “click” and outline standard methodologies by which clicks should be measured and counted, including provisions for identifying invalid and/or fraudulent clicks.
* Establish standard terms that will help streamline the buying and selling of click-based media.
* Increase transparency and consistency in click measurements for media companies, ad-serving organizations, advertisers, and third-party click auditors.

“The fact that we’ve obtained agreement within the online industry on the precise definition and measurement of a click and a procedure for identifying and eliminating fraudulent clicks is a huge win for the industry,” said Joe Laszlo, research director of the IAB. “These guidelines help assure marketers that the clicks they are paying for are generated by real people with a real interest in the product or service being advertised.”

The guidelines are the latest addition to the IAB’s ongoing efforts to harmonize interactive measurement. They complement IAB guidelines for general ad impressions, digital video commercials and audience reach measurement.

“The ability to measure consumer interactions with ads has been one of the hallmarks of the interactive advertising industry,” said George Ivie, Executive Director and CEO of the Media Rating Council (MRC). “The IAB has taken a leadership role in bringing this important work on Click Measurement to fruition and marketers and agencies will benefit enormously from it.”

“The work of the IAB and member companies has produced an excellent document that is a solid first step in this process,” said Tom Cuthbert, President, Click Forensics. “We are proud to have been a part of the process every step of the way and will continue to support the efforts of the IAB and other organizations that work to improve traffic quality.”

To view the complete document, please go to www.iab.net/clickmeasurementguidelines.

About the IAB’s Click Measurement Working Group:

The Click Measurement Working Group includes representatives from 38 IAB member companies, including sellers, measurers, and auditors of online media. Initiated in late 2005, the working group, together with the Media Rating Council, has spent the last three years developing these important guidelines and achieving consensus around them.

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 375 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the release of the final version of its Audience Reach Measurement Guidelines at its Annual Leadership Meeting, Ecosystem 2.0: Brands Battle Back, in Orlando, Florida. These guidelines provide clear, consistent definitions of key metrics and create a single standard for measuring Web audience sizes. The guidelines are the result of a major industry-wide initiative led by the IAB and included the participation of publishers, agencies and auditing organizations.

These new guidelines:

* Define key industry metrics such as unique users, unique cookies, unique browsers, visits and time spent.
* Establish a framework for all measurement providers to have their methodologies audited, providing greater certainty for the industry.
* Foster greater accuracy and reliability of all forms of online audience measurement, whether based on server data, online panels or user registration.

Marketers, agencies and online publishers rely on audience metrics reported by vendors that use a variety of methodologies. Transparency into these methodologies and clear definitions of commonly used terms are critical to the ongoing growth of interactive media as marketers increase their investment in interactive media.

“Establishing a broad industry consensus in favor of these guidelines is critical to ensuring that they gain traction in the marketplace,” said Joe Laszlo, Director of Research at the IAB. “As providers of measurement data adopt the guidelines, marketers can be increasingly confident they are planning their campaigns based on sound, reliable data.”

“Effective interactive advertising campaigns rely on accurate audience measurement,” said Kate Downey, director of audience analytics and insights, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network. “These guidelines provide accountability in audience measurement for marketers, agencies and other industry stakeholders.”

“By issuing these guidelines, the IAB has given measurement organizations across the industry a set of rigorous and consistent guidelines to help ensure standardized measurements of unique cookies, unique devices, or unique users,” said George Ivie, CEO and Executive Director of the Media Rating Council (MRC). “This is an important and commendable step towards full accountability.”

To review the complete guidelines, please go to www.iab.net/audiencemeasurement.

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 400 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

NEW YORK – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the release of Click Measurement Guidelines, a document that will establish parameters for the accurate buying and selling of cost-per-click advertising, an important and growing category of interactive advertising. Marketers will now have a standard for consistently and reliably measuring their performance-based marketing efforts. The guidelines also provide a strong framework for filtering fraudulent clicks, giving buyers and sellers confidence that only legitimate clicks are being counted.

The Click Measurement Guidelines will:

* Provide a detailed definition of a “click” and outline standard methodologies by which clicks should be measured and counted, including the identification of invalid and/or fraudulent clicks.
* Define standard terms that will help streamline the buying and selling of click-based media.
* Increase transparency and consistency in click measurements for media companies, ad-serving organizations, advertisers, and third-party click auditors.

“These guidelines demonstrate our continued commitment to being the most accountable advertising medium and providing marketers with the highest possible level of transparency,” said Sherrill Mane, Senior Vice President, Industry Services of the IAB. “It is critical that the advertising industry agree upon the precise definition and measurement of a click and establish procedures for weeding out fraudulent clicks. The IAB is proud to have organized our members around this effort.”

The guidelines are the latest addition to the IAB’s ongoing work to harmonize interactive measurement. They complement IAB guidelines for general ad impressions, digital video commercials and audience reach measurement.

“I applaud the IAB for taking a leadership role in bringing the Click Measurement Guidelines to fruition,” said George Ivie, Executive Director and CEO, of the Media Rating Council (MRC). “The interactive industry has consistently met the marketplace need for increased reliability in measurement, and this is yet another example of how the IAB has mobilized its members on behalf of both agencies and marketers.”

“Helping the interactive industry define a click and the standard for measuring one has been an extraordinary effort on the part of the IAB and its members,” said Shuman Ghosemajumder, Business Product Manager for Trust & Safety, Google, and a leading member of the IAB’s Click Measurement Working Group. “It is an important step that continues to reinforce interactive media’s role as the most accountable and measurable form of advertising.”

“IAB’s guidelines will provide users, advertisers and partners with further confidence that the industry, including Yahoo!, is taking click fraud issues seriously,” said Reggie Davis, VP of Network Quality at Yahoo! “Yahoo! worked on the IAB’s Click Measurement Working Group to develop these guidelines for identifying and filtering potential invalid or fraudulent clicks as part of its commitment to a transparent process for the measurement of valid clicks.”

Members of the industry—advertising agencies, advertisers, online publishers and technology vendors—are encouraged to read the proposed guidelines and submit comments on the IAB site at: www.iab.net/clickmeasurementguidelines. After the comment period closes on Friday March 27, 2009, the feedback will be reviewed and the guidelines will be finalized and released.

About the IAB’s Click Measurement Working Group:

The Click Measurement Working Group includes representatives from 38 IAB member companies, including sellers, measurers, and auditors of online media. Initiated in late 2005, the working group, together with the Media Rating Council, has spent the last three years developing these important guidelines and achieving consensus around them.

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 400 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

MRC accreditation certifies that Edmunds.com has adhered to the MRC’s Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research and the Measurement Guidelines of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in counting online advertising impressions and traffic measurements. The accreditation also certifies that Edmunds.com provides full and complete information to the MRC regarding all details of its operation, conducts its processing and reporting substantially in accordance with representations to its clients and the MRC, and submits to annual audits of its procedures by CPA firms engaged by the MRC.

“This accreditation helps ensure advertisers and their agencies that Edmunds.com’s audience measurement practices are valid, reliable and effective,” said Bradley Spannbauer, Edmunds.com Director of Advertising Operations. “This is a validation of both the custom reports we deliver to advertisers and to the site traffic analysis we collect to report on the trends in the automotive industry.”

“Media Rating Council standards and IAB Measurement Guidelines resonate with clients and industries seeking valid and reliable advertising impression measurement data,” said George Ivie, Media Rating Council Executive Director. “And Edmunds.com is the first dedicated automotive website to meet our stringent requirements and receive MRC accreditation.”

Other industry-leading properties that have achieved MRC accreditation include 24/7 Real Media, AOL, Atlas, CNET, Disney Internet Group, DoubleClick, Forbes.com, Google, MSN, Turner Digital, Univision.com, The Weather Channel Interactive and Yahoo!.

About Edmunds Inc. (http://www.edmunds.com/help/about/)

Edmunds Inc. publishes four Web sites that empower, engage and educate automotive consumers, enthusiasts and insiders. Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive consumer information, launched in 1995 as the first automotive information Web site. Its most popular feature, the Edmunds.com True Market Value®, is relied upon by millions of people seeking current transaction prices for new and used vehicles. Edmunds.com was named “Best Car Research Site” by Forbes ASAP, has been selected by consumers as the “Most Useful Web Site” according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study(SM), was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites by The Wall Street Journal and was rated “#1″ in Keynote’s study of third-party automotive Web sites. Inside Line launched in 2005 and is the most-read automotive enthusiast Web site. CarSpace launched in 2006 and is an automotive social networking Web site and home to the oldest and most established automotive community. AutoObserver.com launched in 2007 and provides insightful automotive industry commentary and analysis. Edmunds Inc. is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and maintains a satellite office in suburban Detroit.

NEW YORK, NY (September 22, 2008)—The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today announced the release of “Ad Campaign Measurement Process Guidelines,” at its annual MIXX Conference & Expo in New York. The guidelines address the process of a publisher’s or advertising agency’s use of a third-party ad server and its application service provider. The result of a consensus of participating auditing organizations and the IAB, it provides definitions and guidance on how to audit the processes used in the placement, trafficking and reporting of interactive advertising.

This document will:

* Help the IAB, publishers and ad agencies drive greater transparency and consistency in ad measurement through certification achieved by an audit of technology, process and data.
* Provide a Self-Assessment Questionnaire that allows publishers, third-party ad servers and agencies to perform a self-assessment of their compliance using methods outlined in the document and meant to help the industry reduce discrepancies.

“These guidelines establish methods that, when followed, reduce discrepancies and errors in the process of buying, selling, and delivering interactive advertising—this is a top priority for the IAB,” said Jeremy Fain, Vice President of Industry Services for the IAB.

“The completion of this document is a milestone for the industry as interactive advertising continues to deliver on the promise of accountability and cost effectiveness, and I encourage all stakeholders to quickly adopt these guidelines into their business practices,” said Sherrill Mane, Senior Vice President of Industry Services of the IAB.

“These guidelines help all parties in the ad serving process reduce human errors which are one of the leading causes of large impression discrepancies,” said George Ivie, President of the Media Rating Council. “Solving the discrepancies of media measurement is critical and the IAB’s guidelines make real inroads in improving our ability to accurately measure and report ad campaigns.”

To review the complete document, please go to, www.iab.net/campaign_measurement_process

About the IAB:
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 375 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

NEW YORK, NY (July 24, 2008)—The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB ) today announced the public comment release of “Ad Campaign Measurement Process Guidelines,” a document that addresses the process of a publisher’s or advertising agency’s use of a third-party ad server and its application service provider. The guidelines supplement current measurement guidelines and provide definitions and guidance on the auditing of processes used in the placement, trafficking and reporting of interactive advertising. The document is the result of a consensus of participating auditing organizations and the IAB.

This document will:

• Help the IAB, publishers and ad agencies further establish transparency and consistency in the area of ad measurement through certification by having all phases of ad serving put through a technology, process and data audit

• Provide a Self-Assessment Questionnaire that allows publishers, third-party ad servers and agencies to perform a self-assessment of their compliance using controls outlined in the document and meant to help the industry reduce discrepancies.

“As an industry, we are providing marketers with the most powerful, accountable and cost effective way to reach consumers,” said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB. “To continue to deliver on this promise, we must establish methods that reduce discrepancies in the buying process of interactive advertising—we’ve made great strides by bringing these guidelines to fruition.”

“The IAB’s work both with its members and the auditing organizations in completing this document is a critical step in solving the ongoing challenges of media measurement discrepancies,” said George Ivie, President of the Media Rating Council. “Our research has found that human error plays a material role in large impression discrepancies and these guidelines, when followed, will assist in reducing those errors and improve overall efficiencies in the measurement process.”

After the 30-day comment period, ending on September 10, the feedback will be reviewed and the guidelines will be finalized and publicly released.

To review the complete document, please go to, www.iab.net/campaign_measurement_process

About the IAB:
Founded in 1996, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (www.iab.net) represents over 375 leading interactive companies that actively engage in and support the sale of interactive advertising. IAB members are responsible for selling over 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices, fields interactive effectiveness research, and educates marketers, agencies, and media companies, as well as the wider business community, about the value of interactive advertising.

Check out their press release below, it seem they’re the first to be properly audited for in-game ad impressions counting.

NEW YORK — June 3, 2008 — Massive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. and a leading network for video game advertising, today announced that it has successfully completed an audit by Interactive Media Services Group Ltd. (ImServices) to verify the accuracy of Massive’s process for impression counting. As the first dynamic in-game advertising network to undergo a third-party impression audit, Massive provides advertisers and agencies with the accountability required of a mature media form.

“Our audit by ImServices, an industry leader in auditing Web sites and advertising networks, is the latest affirmation that the Massive in-game advertising network is taking the necessary steps to rapidly evolve and to deliver the level of measurement and accountability our clients expect,” said Cory Van Arsdale, chief executive officer of Massive. “As the pioneers and leading innovators in the in-game industry, we remain committed to a high level of transparency and integrity in our processes, and third-party auditing is a critical step.”

“Our review of Massive’s controls over advertising delivery, measurement and data security shows Massive to be compliant with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Ad Impressions Measurement and Audit Guidelines and applicable Minimum Standards as published by the Media Rating Council (MRC),” said Dick Bennett, CEO of ImServices. “I believe it is significant that Massive, one of the top players in online gaming, has taken the leadership role and become the first in-game advertising network to seek a third-party audit.”

Massive will undergo annual audits on the performance of its current procedures based on standards for accuracy and accountability. Specifically, the audit verifies that Massive’s process for impression counting is consistent, and that the sizes, angles and cumulative second thresholds cited are accurately reflected in the network’s technology and operations.

While no industry standards currently exist for in-game advertising measurement, Massive will be one of a number of in-game advertising companies working with the IAB and the MRC to develop acceptable standards. Once such guidelines are in place, Massive will evaluate its processes and make necessary adjustments so that it is in full compliance, and will make them the basis of all subsequent audits.

The team’s broad industry experience at ImServices has given them considerable insight into the needs of online advertisers, content providers and service providers. They possess a thorough knowledge of the processes involved with developing independent measurement standards and have been deeply involved in initiatives to create these critical standards for the online advertising community. Through active participation in key organizations such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), they have helped to shape evolving online measurement and verification standards.

About Massive Inc.
Massive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp., is the creator of a leading network for dynamic video game advertising. The Massive Network offers advertisers the ability to engage an aggregated gaming audience in real time across multiple platforms. Over 200 blue-chip advertisers have run campaigns across the Massive Network throughout North America and Europe. Publishers in the Massive Network generate revenue through dynamic in-game advertising, enabling them to fully realize the value of their content while preserving and enhancing the game experience. Massive’s technology allows for all forms of downloadable media and advertising content to be contextually integrated into the game environment, including image, audio, video and game object formats. More information can be found online at http://www.massiveincorporated.com.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

• Ad Campaign Measurement and Audit Guidelines

• Broadband Video Commercial Measurement Guidelines

• Rich Media Measurement Guidelines

Eyeblaster is also the first partner to demonstrate compliance for rich media ad serving, further cementing Eyeblaster’s leadership role in the digital marketing industry and commitment to bringing a new level of accountability and transparency to digital advertising metrics. Ad Campaign Manager (ACM), Eyeblaster’s collection of tools for end-to-end campaign management, integrates metrics for display, rich media and digital video commercials under industry standards for these types of impressions.

“As digital mediums start to mature, it is imperative that we have standardization of specs and metrics across an aggregate of delivery platforms in order to show clients the true value of digital mediums,” said Mike Racic, senior vice president and director of digital media for Universal McCann in New York. “Eyeblaster’s platform enables us to show the value of digital experiences as a whole – incorporating results for display, video and rich media as part of an integrated campaign.”

“Reliable metrics is an ongoing concern as the online advertising industry grows,” said Gal Trifon, co-founder and chief executive officer at Eyeblaster. “To provide the most powerful consumer experience, our clients must fully engage all the tools available. This broad IAB guideline compliance ensures client confidence in the accuracy and reliability of the data, encouraging an integrated approach to their whole campaign.”

“As a partner of Eyeblaster, we are pleased that they have taken this step so that we as an agency can increase our accountability to our clients,” said Amy Auerbach, vice president, director of phdiq east. “In this new age of ad server mergers and acquisitions, it is extremely important for us to have a reliable, independent third party ad server to ensure the integrity of our clients’ data and execute their campaigns flawlessly. Having a single serving and reporting source for all types of digital creative that is fully compliant reduces friction in an already labor intensive process.”

According to Randall Rothenberg, president and chief executive officer of the IAB, “We applaud Eyeblaster on its recent achievement, and we encourage any organization to follow its lead. This effort by Eyeblaster is a welcome step in advancing the state of the industry as we strive for the highest levels of transparency and validity.”

The IAB Rich Media Ad Impression Measurement Guidelines establish the minimum acceptable counting procedures for these types of advertising impressions and are focused specifically on the actual revenue event. Using a certified vendor helps to align the advertiser, agency, publisher and provider, maximizing budget efficiency and ensuring consistent and reliable data.