UK trade bodies representing advertisers, publishers and the ad tech sector have laid down guidelines on viewable ad impressions in a move designed to introduce viewability as a media trading standard for the first time.

The IAB has this morning (15 April) published standards stating that 50% of pixels must be in the viewable portion of an internet browser for a minimum of one continuous second to qualify as a viewable display impression for a standard display ad.

In addition, the trade body has also issued further specifications for IAB Rising Stars/large canvas ad formats (those that measure in excess of 242,500 pixels, equivalent to the size of a 970 x 250 pixel display ad) stating that 30% of pixels must be in the view for a minimum of one continuous second to qualify as viewable.

The move echoes similar guidelines issued by the IAB’s US counterpart earlier this month, with industry sources claiming the guidelines will help add accountability to online marketing, with the further ambition that the standards will be used as a trading metric for media sold either via direct deals or automated channels.

Standards, for video, mobile and tablet have not yet been determined (these agreements are much more complicated to agree according to sources) but the trade body has issued a statement claiming standards for video are expected later in 2014, with guidelines for wireless devices issued thereafter.

Nigel Gwilliam, IPA, consultant head of media & emerging tech, adds that cross-industry efforts were crucial to resolve issues around trading standards on video and wireless devices.

Speaking earlier with ExchangeWire, he said: “When you have new ad formats [coming on to the market] complications arise. For instance, when you take video into consideration this standard is a non-starter, and mobile is a whole other box of complexity.”

Steve Chester, IAB, director of data and industry programmes, says: “As with any major change, a bedding-in period will be required to fully implement and take advantage of the benefits such as increased brand effectiveness of online, and address challenges such as discrepancies between viewability vendors.”

David Ellison, ISBA, marketing services manager, adds: “The viewable impressions standards will go some way to answer ISBA members’ demand for a move away from ‘served’ ad impressions to ‘viewable’ ones. Ultimately we want online ads to be comparable to other media that offer the ‘opportunity to see’ as the basis of an ad measurement currency.”

AOP, managing director, Tim Cain says: “We see the importance of a standard for viewable impressions acting as a benchmark and enabling viewability to be considered as a metric, we would suggest however that discrepancies between vendors in the measurement of viewability is a challenging issue that needs to be resolved to enable discussions around trading on viewable impressions to progress.”

The landmark follows the publication of the Digital Trading Standards Group (DTSG) – a cross-industry body representing the IAB, AOP and IPA – issuing Good Practice guidelines in late 2013 in a bid to prevent ad misplacement.