NEWS

INTERNET AD REVENUES SOAR
Internet advertising revenues grow 35% in '06, hitting a record close to $17 billion

The IAB/PriceWaterhouseCoopers Internet Advertising Revenue Report revealed that Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. continued upward totaling $16.9 billion in 2006, a new annual record exceeding 2005 by 35%. Q4 2006 internet advertising revenues totaled $4.8 billion, representing record revenues for a single quarter and a 35% increase over same period in 2005.

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THE AUDIT CHALLENGE: AN UPDATE
The IAB is committed to transparency in audience measurement metrics and to creating processes that secure true accountability.

On April 20, the IAB sent an open letter to comScore, Inc. and Nielsen//NetRatings (NNR), the two major Internet audience measurement services, challenging them to submit to a third-party audit and accreditation of their measurement processes by the Media Rating Council (MRC).

Since then, the IAB played host to an unprecedented summit meeting of media and marketing constituents who gathered in a spirit of collaboration to explore ways of evolving and upgrading the way interactive media is counted and assessed for advertisers. Among the outcomes was a statement from Nielsen//NetRatings that it had formally entered into a full audit accreditation process with the Media Rating Council and an announcement from comScore that it was in the final stages of its pre-audit with the MRC and finalizing the timeline for a full audit and accreditation within the next 90 days. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) agreed to work on updating standards for audience measurement and on marketplace education around the multiple ways Internet traffic can be measured and audience composition and behavior assessed.

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PUBLIC POLICY
The IAB coordinates member companies' outreach on protecting consumer privacy

On May 22, 2007 U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1525, the Internet Spyware Prevention Act of 2007 (I-SPY Act), designed to protect consumers while preserving their access to information and entertainment on the Internet. The IAB's Washington office has been actively involved in coordinating member companies' outreach to Capitol Hill for issues ranging from spyware and data security legislation to email and spam policy. The council's next meeting will be held in Washington on June 20th. For more information please contact Mike Zaneis, VP, Public Policy at mike@iab.net.

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EVENTS

Calendar of Events
The IAB has planned a calendar of events for 2007 that touches virtually every element of Interactive media.  Mark your calendars today for these upcoming events:

STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES

Ad Unit Guidelines

The Ad Sizes Working Group met on April 27 to finalize the first update to the Guidelines since they were released in 2004. The update is expected to be released within the next month. These Guidelines provide a simple list of standard display ad sizes for web pages and are used to simplify the buying and selling process.  Agencies can refer to the Guidelines to understand what standard sizes may be created and available from their publisher partners.  For more information, contact erica@iab.net.

	Click Measurement The IAB's Click Measurement Working Group will be making one of the final rounds of revisions to the Guidelines, in conjunction with the Media Rating Council. The Working Group will reviewed the latest draft at their last meeting. For more information, contact Erica DeLorenzo at erica@iab.net.
	Rich Internet Applications Measurement Guidelines Guidelines for when to count an ad in a rich internet application environment have been presented to the AAAAs Digital Marketing Committee for feedback and endorsement. The Guidelines were made available for public comment on May 7, and this peroid will conclude shortly. For more information, contact Erica DeLorenzo at erica@iab.net. Click here to comment.
	Rich Media Measurement Guidelines Rich Media Measurement Guidelines are currently in development with help from the Media Rating Council and will establish the standard, against which rich media ad impressions should be counted. The group will be finalizing their recommendation and presenting to the IAB Measurement Council in the next few weeks. For more information, please contact Erica DeLorenzo at erica@iab.net.

INDUSTRY INITIATIVES

What is causing your ad impression discrepancies? How much of your traffic is really from your customers vs. non-human agents? Are you filtering with the same list as the third party ad servers and other publishers? Who's really visiting your web site? How are your customers using your site?

The IAB/ABCe International Spiders & Bots List can help you answer all these questions. It is the most comprehensive and current public list of non-human user agents in the world. Updated monthly by some of the largest publishers and most experienced web-audit experts, this list is necessary for accurately filtering your advertising and web server logs. It knows which bots are still active and which are not. The major publishers and third-party ad-servers are using it, and if discrepancies are an issue for you, you should be using it too. Without it, you will never know what is real and what is not. Contact Jeremy Fain (jeremy@iab.net) if you have questions or subscribe now here.

Measurement Certification Update

The IAB continues its efforts in educating marketers, agencies and publishers on the critical importance of measurement certification. As more and more marketers demand audited numbers be used as the basis for billing with their Interactive campaigns, it is becoming imperative to take the requisite steps to obtain measurement certification. This movement continues to secure Interactive's place as the most accountable and measurable of media. A number of large publishers and ad serving organizations have already completed audits and certification against the Ad Impression Measurement Guidelines, including AOL, Atlas, CNET, DoubleClick, Univision, the Walt Disney Internet Group, Weather.com and Yahoo! with many more well underway. For more information on the Measurement Initiative or for auditing and certification questions, please contact Erica at erica@iab.net.

IAB COMMITTEES AND COUNCILS

Sales Executive Council

Over 40 of the top sales executives at IAB General Member companies attended the Sales Executive Council inaugural meeting on May 8th. Michael Rosen (WeatherBug) and Brian Quinn (Dow Jones Online) are the new co-Chairs. Working Groups will support the Council's work, which will focus on issues critical to the industry, including professional development, recruitment, and recognition programs. The next meeting is scheduled for late summer.