IAB US releases intrinsic in-game measurement guidelines for public comment

In a joint collaboration with IAB Tech Lab, and the Media Rating Council (MRC), IAB US has released its ‘Intrinsic In-Game (IIG) Measurement Guidelines’ to establish updated measurement guidelines for ads that appear within gameplay. The release is open for public comment for a 30-day period until July 15 2022.

When IAB released its current standard of in-game ad measurement standards in 2009, video games and advertising technology were in a vastly different stage of development. The updated standards will address ad viewability, measurement, inactivity, and fraud with intrinsic in-game ads - bringing them up to par with the rest of digital media. Intrinsic in-game ads refers to native in-game or in-play ads that are placed ‘in the game’ enabling a seamless part of the gameplay environment. 

The project is a joint effort between the IAB Experience Center, IAB Tech Lab and the Media Rating Council, with considerable input from members of IAB UK and a task force of prominent in-game ad companies, brands, and agencies.

The updated IIG measurement standards:

• Re-examine the 10-second cumulative exposure duration for counting a valid impression including “sight, sound, and motion”, as well as 3D and virtual environments
• Incorporate new advertising formats beyond two-dimensional and video as it relates to viewability within in-game environments
• Define in-game measurement terms (impressions, reach / frequency, and engagement) to align with broader cross-channel measurement efforts

“With IIG, we will have viewability standards within in-game environments and guidelines for tracking impression measurement, display ad viewability, and invalid traffic, taken into account with various technical factors such as screen size, resolution, angle, and lighting,” said Shailley Singh, SVP, Product Management & Global Programs at IAB Tech Lab. “These will be important factors as we prepare to scale advertising in gaming and expand growth in advertising for marketers and their partners as they operate in a relatively new space.”

You can review the proposed updated guidelines here. Please send any questions or comments to [email protected]