Today the Internet Advertising Bureau announced guidelines for rich media advertising. This industry association has a tremendous amount of credibility with the press and the market place - both buyers and sellers. The involvement of the industry is strong, too, so though it’s difficult to create standards that make everyone “happy,” the standards are instituted by all when they are ratified.

This quote, from a MediaPost article, by Jeff Lanctot perfectly expresses the value of ad standards:

Jeff Lanctot, senior vice president for global media at Avenue A | Razorfish, said the guidelines were an important step for the industry. “The more closely aligned publishers and ad servers are on operational standards, the more efficient digital channels will become for advertisers,” he said.

If you are going to offer advertising in your downloadable content, I encourage you to join this ADM committee:

Advertising Standards
Committee Chair: Brian McMahon
Contact: advertisingstandards@downloadablemedia.org