Better Ads Standard for short-form video announced

The Standard will apply to ad experiences that appear in short-from video content that is defined as 8 minutes or less in these online environments.

Three ad experiences fall beneath the Better Ads Standard for short-form video:

• mid-roll ads;
• pre-roll ads or pods longer than 31 seconds that cannot be skipped in the first 5 seconds; and
• non-linear display ads that are in the middle 1/3 of a playing video or are larger than 20% of the video content.

The ad experiences identified in the Standard are based on the Coalition’s extensive research related to short-form video, which involved nearly 45,000 consumers in 8 countries representing 60% of global online advertising spending.

The research found strong alignment of consumer preferences across countries and regions for the most- and least-preferred online ad experiences, supporting the adoption of a single Better Ads Standard for these environments globally.

The Coalition’s Better Ads Standards identify the ad experiences that fall beneath a threshold of consumer acceptability and are most likely to drive consumers to install ad blockers. More than 100,000 consumers have participated to date in the Coalition’s research to develop its set of Better Ads Standards.

Commenting on the announcement, WFA's CEO, Stephan Loerke, said: “Although the growth of ad blocking has slowed down in recent years, the industry still has a long way to go to ensure that the ads they serve are relevant and enhance consumers’ online experience. The new Standard for video ads is a positive step forward, following the Better Ads Standards and the work the Coalition and its members are doing globally and locally.”

The Standard for short-form video does not apply to other environments like feeds or OTT.  It complements previous Standards for desktop and mobile web advertising.

To read the full press release and for more information visit  www.betterads.org/standards.