Interactive Advertising Bureau updates gaming advertising guidelines

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has updated its intrinsic in-game (IIG) measurement guidelines for gaming and in-game advertising, which were first released in 2009.

IAB, IAB Tech Lab and Media Rating Council have joined forces for the release which updates the guidelines for ads that appear within gameplay and are open for public comment until July 15 2022.

IAB said that the standards address ad viewability, measurement, inactivity and fraud, reflecting the evolution that has occurred in the gaming industry alongside its swift acceleration.
“Gaming represents a huge opportunity for marketers,” said Zoe Soon, VP, IAB Experience Center.

“With 227 million gamers in the US, and over 3 billion globally by the end of this year, it’s a major entertainment channel, especially for Gen Z, the next generation of household decision-makers and spenders. We are updating the 2009 in-game guidelines to help marketers tap into this attention oasis and measure outcomes with confidence and transparency.”

Key updates to the IIG measurement standards:

• Changes to the definition of an impression
• New formats and new ways of viewing including 3D are accounted for 
• In-game product viewability standards addressed
• Aligning game measurement term definitions with cross channel measurement

“With IIG, we will have viewability standards within in-game environments and guidelines for tracking impression measurement, display ad viewability, and invalid traffic, taken into account with various technical factors such as screen size, resolution, angle, and lighting,” said Shailley Singh, SVP, Product Management & Global Programs, IAB Tech Lab.

“These will be important factors as we prepare to scale advertising in gaming and expand growth in advertising for marketers and their partners as they operate in a relatively new space.”

George W. lvie, executive director and CEO of Media Rating Council said that the updates reflect changes in the technology have taken place in gaming since the guidelines were initially released.

“Through the IIG measurement guidelines, we can now have greater consistency versus having vendors create their own rules for their measurements, which enables publisher and buyer trust as the industry works together to create a non-intrusive ad experience,” he said.