9 March 2006
An industry policy for charging for the late delivery of online advertising creative, agreed by AOP and the IAB, came into effect on 1 April 2006.
After a period of consultation in 2005 with media owners and agencies it became clear that the IAB workflow guidelines alone have not been enough to clamp down on the issue of late creative and that further measures were needed to tackle this long running industry issue.
Managing online inventory is complex and with some websites now reaching sell-out it is important that creative is received and tested in time, in order to ensure the successful delivery of the campaigns. Online has historically been treated as a secondary medium and owners have made allowances for late copy thus far. But other traditional media have fixed delivery schedules and late copy charges as common practice and without our own industry guidelines in place the resulting loss in efficiency and structure makes it harder for online to maintain an equal standing with traditional media.
Cracking down on the late delivery of creative ensures revenues for media owners and serves to streamline work practices.
Download the industry guidance>
Creative, correct to publishers’ specifications, should be delivered to the media owner within the standard IAB guidelines of three to five working days depending on format or to publisher specific guidelines. The industry bodies have agreed that charges will be made for creative received after 12.00 on the day before the campaign start date.
Charges will be at the publisher’s discretion and could take the form of:
• Fixed charge
and/or
• Full cost of campaign invoiced with impressions pro rated down for each day creative is not live
Online publishers continue to strive to provide the best client service and it is hoped that these guidelines will provide the foundation for efficient and effective practices.
It is advised that agencies submit generic creative assets to media owners in various formats that can be used in place of late creative until it arrives. Industry ASA ads could also be an alternative.
Media owners should formally communicate with the senior staff within media agencies with details of their late copy policy during this test-bed period. It is advised that sufficient notice (one month minimum is recommended) is given between formal communication and commencement of a charging policy.
If charges are incurred, the media owner should communicate this to a senior member of staff at the agency at time of offence.
Click here to download a spreadsheet detailing how individual AOP and IAB members are implementing the policy.
