Interactive Advertising Bureau issues standards for rich media ads
By Adnews Staff
The Toronto-based Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada has released a second version of its recommended standards for rich media Internet ads making use of animation, audio, video and user interaction. According to the bureau, the new standards reflect the higher penetration of broadband Internet access in Canada. The package consists of five sizes of ad banners and includes guidelines on elements such as file size, the duration of video clips and the controls to be provided for viewers. "Version one of the Canadian Universal Ad Package removed substantial roadblocks to using the Internet as a marketing tool by promoting a set of three, larger-sized online ad units that could be produced once and served across almost all Canadian websites," said Frank Duyvelshoff, head of the standards committee that assembled the package. "Version two goes a step further by allowing advertisers to showcase their brands on the larger canvases that the expanding, floating and between-page ads allow," said Peter Vaz, vice-president of the bureau's Emerging Platforms Council.