Search

The online ad ban for products high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) was originally due to come into force from 1 January 2023, but will now be delayed by a year to give the advertising industry longer to prepare for the changes. Pushing for this outcome has been a key part of the IAB’s recent lobbying work, in partnership with other industry bodies such as ISBA, the IPA and the Advertising Association. The postponement will also apply to the 9pm TV watershed for HFSS ads. DCMS has said that the...

The latest AA/WARC full year figures reveal the 2021 ad market emerged £8bn larger than April 2020’s original forecast of £24bn set at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This growth is in part due to inflationary pressures on the cost of advertising, but also a higher-than-expected growth in key forms of online advertising during the past year. Three in every four pounds spent on UK advertising today is invested in one of a wide range of online formats. IAB UK’s Digital Adspend Report...

Opening our 16th annual Engage, IAB UK’s CEO Jon Mew had a clear message for delegates: “Be more Levi.” He was referencing Levi Strauss, who arrived in San Francisco in 1850, just as the gold rush was starting in California - but instead of mining for gold, Strauss thought “what do these people need? The answer was better trousers”. Jon urged the audiences to follow Levi’s lead: “Don’t just follow the crowd, but don’t do nothing. Learn from other people and that’s what today is all about.” He...

Our full-year Digital Adspend report for 2021 shows that the digital advertising market saw its biggest full year growth for 15 years last year, with investment up 41% year-on-year to £23.5 billion . The report, which is conducted with PwC , shows that 2021 spend was also up 50% on 2019, the last full year in which the pandemic did not have an impact on activity. With the market having seen modest growth in 2020, the latest results show that advertisers’ confidence rebounded in 2021 - a year...

After a lot of noise in the press about the HFSS online ad ban last summer, 2022 has been comparatively quiet on this front so far - but that’s not to say that there aren’t developments to take note of. So, what’s happening with the ban? And is the Government still planning to implement it at the start of next year? Having been through the House of Lords, the Health and Care Bill (which the HFSS ad ban forms a part of) is now nearing the end of its journey through Parliament, and looks set to...

1. What is the Gold Standard? The Gold Standard is an industry initiative run by IAB UK that aims to reduce ad fraud, uphold brand safety, improve the user experience, bolster supply chain transparency, and help compliance with GDPR e-privacy law. It does this by combining existing industry initiatives and tools from IAB Tech Lab, IAB Europe, TAG, and the Coalition for Better Ads. 2. How long has the Gold Standard been around? The Gold Standard launched in 2017, following a high-profile brand...

The latest data for Winter 2021 shows that 33.2 million people in the UK are listening to online audio every week, comprising 60% of the population aged 15+. This figure is up from 29 million in spring 2020. Download the infographic below for further insight, with key points including: Share of listening among over 55 has gone from 24% in spring 2020 to 30% at the end of 2021, indicating that older demographics have turned to online audio during the course of the pandemic Total time spent...

In its statement, IAB Europe explains: “The submission of the action plan marks a key milestone in the two-phase remediation period foreseen in the decision, and should enable a version of the TCF with a broader compliance functionality to be rolled out over a 6-month period under the supervision of the APD. “The action plan outlines how IAB Europe, in its capacity as Managing Organisation of the TCF, will deliver on the formal orders laid down in the decision and reflects in-depth discussions...

Under the title of ‘ Intermediary and Platform Principles’, the pilot will explore formalising and bringing more accountability and transparency to the role that these companies play in helping to uphold the UK’s world-leading system of advertising regulation. The initiative is the result of collaboration between the ASA - the UK’s independent advertising regulator - and members of IAB UK including Adform, Amazon Ads, Google, Index Exchange, Meta, TikTok, Twitter and Yahoo . It will pilot a set...

What do we know? There have been several notable changes to the Online Safety Bill (OSB) since it was published in draft form in 2021, regarding the duties placed on online platforms to tackle fraudulent advertising. DCMS has introduced a new standalone duty into the OSB requiring ‘Category 1 and 2A’ services (see below) to take action to minimise the likelihood of fraudulent adverts being published on their service. Fraudulent advertising is defined as: Paid-for; amounts to an offence (defined...